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Post by bjd on Mar 19, 2016 6:16:38 GMT
I'm re-reading old Nestor Burma stories by Léo Malet. Haven't been to the library for a few weeks.
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Post by whatagain on Mar 19, 2016 8:08:07 GMT
Excellent ! Did you ever read them under the form of cartoons ? I think the first were illustrated by Tardi.
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Post by bjd on Mar 19, 2016 12:01:13 GMT
Yes, 120 rue de la gare as well as the one in the 5th arrondissement. But I prefer to imagine characters rather than see them drawn by Tardi.
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Post by htmb on Apr 2, 2016 16:01:36 GMT
I've just finished The Marseille Caper, by Peter Mayle. My physician had recommended it, saying it was "a bit cheesy, but good enough if you can get a library copy." She was right. It's a fun and easy read, and would be interesting to someone planning to visit Marseille in the near future. However, cheesy it is, and I certainly would not recommend paying full price for a copy.
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Post by bjd on Apr 2, 2016 18:00:13 GMT
I just picked up (and paid for) a bunch of novels, mostly detective stories, at my favourite junks store. One of my finds was in English: Donna Leon's Through a Glass Darkly. I like her books, they are set in Venice but she doesn't overdo the local colour aspect of things. I guess she has been living there long enough not to do that.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 2, 2016 18:08:38 GMT
I think the first Donna Leon I tried to read started out with an exhaustive description of making espresso and I lost interest. I should give her another shot. I'm reading Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels. It is beautifully written and the story is absorbing (orphaned Jewish boy rescued by Greek geologist, all I know so far). However, last night as I was reading it in bed I was thinking about abandoning it because the litany of atrocities was depressing me too much. I gave it another paragraph and it went on to something else and continued to keep my interest. Again, beautifully written.
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Post by bjd on Apr 3, 2016 12:28:54 GMT
Yes, I have that book, bixa. I remember liking it.
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Post by whatagain on Apr 3, 2016 12:51:44 GMT
I am a fan of Donna Leon. I just started yesterday death in a strange country. I like in a dark glass - working for a glass company if rang some bells. I am finishing first tome of the war of the roses by conn Igulden - love it. Second tone is at home though. I have trouble with Anthony Beevor book about the battle of the bulge. I don't like the wAy he is so anti British and he puts a lot of anecdotes about Hemingway and such that I find totally uninteresting. 2 very good books out of 3 - not bad. I have one on reserve about invasion of the Normands in UK. Title is 1066. Not subtle ;-)
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Post by htmb on Apr 9, 2016 17:34:03 GMT
I've just finished the book Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening, by John Elder Robison. I'm sure I reported here after reading Robison's excellent, and very readable, first book, Look Me in the Eye, a year or two ago. John Robison is a very brilliant and creative individual, as well as a talented writer, who also happens to be autistic. In his latest book he relates his experiences as a participant in a set of Harvard research studies to determine how transcranial magnetic stimulation, also known as TMS, affects the brain of autistic individuals.
Incidentally, Robison's brother is Augusten Burroughs, who wrote the book, later made into a film, Running with Scissors.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2016 13:34:22 GMT
Since becoming a member of the local Jungian Society I have been reading a number of his works.
In the mean time as "fill in"I have been rereading a lot of Jim Harrison's works spurned on by his recent death. And, all the NYer magazines that I have allowed to pile up unread, recreating a tendency to hoard that I'm trying to avoid again.
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Post by htmb on May 21, 2016 11:57:07 GMT
I'm reading Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France, a memoire by Thad Carhart. In the early 1950s, the author's father was a NATO officer whose office was located in wing of the Château. The family rented a house nearby, and the children attended French schools. Years later the author visited the area and toured the château once again with one of the renovation supervisors. It's light, but interesting reading if you like this type of thing.
I've also just pre-ordered Alan Furst's next book, due May 31.
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Post by bjd on May 21, 2016 13:15:10 GMT
After over 200 pages of Robert Harris' "political thriller" called Imperium about Cicero, supposedly written by his slave, I gave up. Booring. I had kept on going because I kept hoping it would take off, but it never did. I gave it to my son to put in a book box in Bordeaux, but he read it first and said it wasn't too bad.
I finally went to the library and am reading 2 books: one in Spanish called Los Amigos del Crimen Perfecto, not too exciting so far but it's for the language, and last night I started Ville Rose Sang, a detective story set in Toulouse. It's a bit gruesome though and I'm not really a fan of French detective fiction, but I took it because it's set in Toulouse.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 21, 2016 17:31:43 GMT
I'd probably like the Fontainebleau book because of the American child in Europe in the 50s angle, although I imagine the renovation details are quite interesting as well. I liked Imperium okay, I guess. Ancient Rome doesn't really grab me. I'm reading Love and Hate in Jamestown, which is fascinating history presented in a very sprightly and readable way. Also reading Things We Set on Fire, which is holding my interest so far. Htmb, did you mention sometime back that the author was from your area? I tried the stoopid Search engine here, but no joy. A friend recently lent me "My Brilliant Friend", the first of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. I'd been waffling about whether or not to get the book, but now don't have to decide & it will be my next read. I did dip into the first fifteen pages & they were immediately absorbing.
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Post by bjd on May 21, 2016 17:48:29 GMT
Bixa, I thought you said you wouldn't read Elena Ferrante? Or did I misremember? Am I mixing her up with Clarice Lispector?
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Post by htmb on May 21, 2016 17:59:38 GMT
I'd probably like the Fontainebleau book because of the American child in Europe in the 50s angle, although I imagine the renovation details are quite interesting as well. I liked Imperium okay, I guess. Ancient Rome doesn't really grab me. I'm reading Love and Hate in Jamestown, which is fascinating history presented in a very sprightly and readable way. Also reading Things We Set on Fire, which is holding my interest so far. Htmb, did you mention sometime back that the author was from your area? I tried the stoopid Search engine here, but no joy. A friend recently lent me "My Brilliant Friend", the first of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. I'd been waffling about whether or not to get the book, but now don't have to decide & it will be my next read. I did dip into the first fifteen pages & they were immediately absorbing. Bixa, Lauren Groff, the author of Fates and Furies, lives in Gainesville.
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Post by chexbres on May 21, 2016 19:20:50 GMT
Since the movie "Dalton Trumbo" is currently playing here, I dug out my ancient copy of Johnny Got His Gun, which was also a pretty fine movie.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 21, 2016 21:47:40 GMT
I was mistaken, Htmb. The book I read (finished it today) is set in central Florida & was written by Deborah Reed. It turned out not to be a very satisfying book, despite a good premise and decent writing.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 22, 2016 3:06:00 GMT
Sorry, Bjd -- somehow I missed seeing your comment.
Yes, you are right that I said I wouldn't read Ferrante, pretty much for the same reasons you'd decided to skip her. Then Jazz said that the books were not romancey or cozy, in fact compared Ferrante to Margaret Atwood. So then I was sort of on the fence again, but a friend just finished the first one in the series & really wanted to lend it to me. Even though I respect my friend and her literary taste, she did also lend me Brooklyn, which I found terribly over-rated.
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Post by bjd on May 22, 2016 5:41:36 GMT
Ah, well I like Margaret Atwood's writing but I guess I will skip Elena Ferrante unless it is translated into French and I can get it from the library. I am trying to limit my book buying.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 17:42:27 GMT
I'm reading a book about a trip on a cargo ship (Le Goût du Large by Nicolas Delesalle) in view of an upcoming project of mine.
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Post by bjd on May 23, 2016 18:12:28 GMT
You better hurry up -- the age limit for cargo ships is 80.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 18:20:03 GMT
Bitch.
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Post by Kimby on May 23, 2016 22:47:37 GMT
I'm trying to thin out my collection of books, as part of my spring-purging (see Hoarding thread). I weeded out about half the books in one box from the garage and made the mistake of showing them to Mr. Kimby, who was appalled that I would toss (donate) "classics" (even paperback versions, so he "rescued" all but 5 of my discards. I also found a couple books I might want to (re)read, and brought them in the house. (We're going the wrong direction here!)
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Post by bixaorellana on May 23, 2016 22:59:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2016 21:40:47 GMT
I got around to Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson really late, but what pleased me the most was that I got hold of an edition in English published by a German company to help people learn English. So it is full of footnotes with the German translations of some of the words, so I learned quite a bit of German by reading it.
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Post by whatagain on Jul 10, 2016 20:34:59 GMT
Finished ANthony Beavor - didn't get any better. I'm reading the last pages of a Mark Billingham whatever title. I love his books - don't know why. I'm well into second tome of War of the Roses still by Conn Iggulden - gripping, with a great description of plots of English noblemen (hem) and perfectly vivid description of battles. Great book. Have lost sight of 1066 and my book on Churchill - don't want to take that one when I travel but don't read much at home. Read one or two Yesbutno in the meantime (I mean Simenon), a Belgian by the way.
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Post by bjd on Jul 11, 2016 6:30:28 GMT
A friend kindly gave me the latest Alan Furst book, A Hero in France, but I'm sorry to say that Furst has completely written himself out and should change subject. No suspense, lots of unnecessary explanations to fill the pages, an unsatisfying ending. A real disappointment after so many good books set in the 1930s-1940s.
Meanwhile, I started a history book about Wroclaw called Microcosm, the story of a Central European city by Norman Davies. It starts with the battle for the city in 1945, then goes back to the early first millenium and moves forward.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 12, 2016 7:23:08 GMT
Meanwhile, I started a history book about Wroclaw called Microcosm, the story of a Central European city by Norman Davies. It starts with the battle for the city in 1945, then goes back to the early first millenium and moves forward. I keep meaning to read that one, having read several of his other (massive) histories - The Isles about Britain and Ireland, Europe, and Vanished Kingdoms, which is all about the European kingdoms and states that came and went over the centuries since the Roman Empire. If you want to know about the tangled history of Prussia/Lithuania/Poland, or the complications of the various forms of Burgundy, this is the book for you! My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by bjd on Jul 12, 2016 9:37:41 GMT
Thanks, Patrick. I did buy and read Vanished Kingdoms after you mentioned it on here. I haven't read The Isles but have read most of his other books.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2016 18:55:06 GMT
I have moved on to Virginie Despentes' Vernon Subutex volume 1. Her first novel was the widely acclaimed Fuck Me, which was translated in more than 20 countries and made into a movie as well. I won't buy Vernon Subutex 2 unless the first volume satisfies me.
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