I am looking for all the French novels you loved! Last year my favorite book was My Husband. Next year I want to read a bunch of French books. I have and will read all of the Valerie Perrin books that are available in English, I am working my way through Edouard Louis, and Philippe Besson. I need more modern day ladies!
All suggestions appreciated.
Photo from UK Vogue
so-soThis one was just ok to me. I found the central story of a man struggling to get through a breakup fairly dull. And by the time we got to the former girlfriend‘s breakup aftermath, I just didn‘t care. Where it shines is with some of the supporting characters and stories, like the flatmate Andy ends up with and the houseboat bit. I don‘t think I would have made it through in print. #TOBlonglist
so-soI liked the message of this book but found the reading part so boring 😴😴
Just not for me I guess.
#ToB
pickNow *this* is why I love #ToB so much!
This is a book / author I‘d never heard of and wouldn‘t have thought of reading. I wasn‘t sure at the start - the dialogue felt stilted and the storyline a bit simplistic but I soon became completely engrossed.
A Hollywood screenwriter refuses to kills off his gay characters, and weird s*** starts to happen. There‘s body horror / psychological horror but also a warm heart to the story.
#ToB books picked up from the library yesterday. Two are on the shortlist - I‘m not overly enthused about the Link as I bailed on the only other one of hers that I tried ( and it‘s a chunkster) but it‘s a library book so 🤷♀️.
The tagged didn‘t make it onto the shortlist but it was waving at me 👋 from the new books shelf and I do like the sound of it, so couldn‘t really say no.
pickAfter Manhunt, I wasn‘t sure about GFM (I found it one note), but she proved to me with book 2 that she can really write. She tells the harrowing, capital H Horror story of a conversion camp here and writes the characters with more depth than the typical horror book. And I kept seeing villain pastor Eddie as looking just like Mike Johnson for some reason.
#TOB longlist
New York Times Best Books of 2024.
What do we think of this list?
I have only read 2
Fiction
All Fours - Miranda July ✅
Good Material - Dolly Alderman
James - Percival Everett ✅
Martyr! Kayeh Akbar
You Dreamed of Empires - Álvaro Enrigue
NF
Cold Crematorium -
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
I Heard Her Call My Name
Reagan
The Wide Wide Sea
pickI loved this collection of short stories from the #ToBlonglist.
I‘m not usually a fan of the genre but I appreciated that these were all beautifully written with proper endings. They‘re also linked to each other in some way, even by just a small object, which was lovely.
The whole book felt like a lively warm bath (even though 1 or 2 of the stories were sad / upsetting)
Definitely on my shortlist.
I have a review to post and one weekend book to finish but I am thinking about the first December books already. Week one of the final countdown!
I am going to tackle 2 of my #10BeforeTheEnd (Ours is a chunkster expecting it to take all month) and 2 from the #ToB both Creation Lake & Wandering Stars are on that list and the NYT best books of 2024.
Are you looking for French works by mainland France authors or for works originally written in French? Just novels, or also graphic works? How modern? Do authors have to be alive? 😁