You're going to love the next six books in our upcoming French series. In 2010/2011, we bring something for everyone and a collection of writings that will bring you even closer to contemporary France.
La place
Annie Ernaux was awarded the Prix Renaudot (1984) for her tome; a fragmented and largely retrospective description of a daughter's relationship with her father, largely an autobiographical narrative recounting her experiences growing up in a small town in France, and the subsequent process of moving into adulthood and away from her parents' place of origin. La place deals with issues of sexuality, social standing and alienation. This prize winning account is a highly accessible book for anyone looking to improve their French.
Les aimants
French book news has this to say about Jean-Marc Parisis' novel: "This is a story of a man who hopes he can find through his writing, the young woman he has lost in life. Ava, his love, his friend, his soulmate. Ava, whose light went out, though she was ablaze with life. And life truly does blaze in this novel: sparks of wonderment, innocence, and violence, too. They met at 20 and parted at 30. In the middle, they discover love's miracles and mysteries. This novel, with its proud, contemplative beauty kills time while looking death in the eye; in order to carve out a magnificent portrait of a woman somewhere between heaven and earth, of a love as secret and solitary as poetry."
Rapport sur moi
In this first novel, Gregoire Bouillier, with wry humour, recounts his amorous encounters and obsessions, starting with his parents relationship and how he was conceived during a three-way tryst. From the New York Times Book Review: "The winner of France's prestigious Prix de Flore, 'Report on Myself' is a study in raw angst and mortifying self-disclosure: a portrait of the artist as a lover who just can't catch a break."
Saut à l'élastique dans les temps
"It was Friday, 29 June 1951, i.e., for one day, there is precisely one hundred years. The chronotron has never been so accurate. The previous time that I had tried to go back a century, I was lost halfway, on the depressing side of the year 2000. And I remember la Belle Epoque was heralded in in 2018, at a time when humanity began to be decimated by the epidemic of CJD! Using the chronotron, I must admit, is like bungy-jumping -- whereby one must always avoid an unfortunate bounce, or even a fatal accident." Irony, caustic humor and derision are the weapons of Dominique Noguez who, speaking in the past, questions our time.
Moi Nojoud, 10 ans, divorcée
Nojoud, a Yemeni child bride, is the first person to buck the patriarchal tradition by getting in a taxi and asking a judge for a divorce from her husband, 20 years her senior. She recounts her courageous story with the help of Delphine Minoui, a journalist and mid-east correspondent with the Figaro newspaper.
Le scaphandre et le papillon
On December 8 1995, Elle magazine editor-in-chief Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. He awoke 20 days later, mentally aware of his surroundings but physically paralyzed with the exception of some movement in his head and left eye. Bauby had Locked-in-Syndrome, a rare condition caused by stroke damage to the brain stem. Eye movements and blinking a code representing letters of the alphabet became his sole means of communication. It is also how he dictated this warm, sad, and extraordinary memoir. Bauby's thoughts on the illness, the hospital, family, friends, career, and life before and after the stroke appear with considerable humor and humanity.
Books are released every two months with the first book of the series expected in July 2010. Please keep an eye on this space for updates. Bonne lecture!
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