frankie Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I happened to catch Ensemble, c'est tout the movie last night and I started to think about re-reading Hunting and Gathering (interesting about the different titles. The French original apparently translates to 'Together, that's everything' according to wiki. How they got the English title I have no idea), and that made me think about The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and that in turn made me think about Katherine Pancol's The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles which I picked up at the library months ago and it seemed like the kind of book I wanted to read. There's something very appealing and interesting to these books and I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly. The titles are all French, they have been written by women and they are contemporary novels. I wouldn't categorize them as chick-lit, but they aren't exactly classics material either. There's something very homey feeling in the books, and yet there are some very quirky and eccentric characters. My question is: I'm very interested in reading more of these types of books by French (female) authors and I was wondering if any of you had any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ummlilia Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 do you know about Gallic Books? http://gallicbooks.com/ I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and loved it too.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 do you know about Gallic Books? http://gallicbooks.com/ I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and loved it too.. No, that's definitely new to me, thanks for the link! I have to take a closer look at the site... I came across with a French title that sounded great: The Ingredients of Love, by Nicolas Barreau. I just got my reserved copy from the library, and I'm really looking forward to reading it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 I came across with a French title that sounded great: The Ingredients of Love, by Nicolas Barreau. I just got my reserved copy from the library, and I'm really looking forward to reading it I've just looked the book up, and it sounds really good. I've added to my wish list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Great, I hope you shall like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 Thanks! I was just looking through my wish list and I also have No and Me by Delphine de Vigan who is another French author. Actually, I've been meaning to download it as the Kindle version is on offer this month for just 99p. I can't recommend it as I haven't read it yet, but I'll report back when I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Please do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Butter Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 If you haven't read Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's not exactly contemporary - it tells the story of a Jewish family's flight from occupied Paris and is more or less autobiographical - but it's one of the most powerful and moving books I've read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 If you haven't read Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's not exactly contemporary - it tells the story of a Jewish family's flight from occupied Paris and is more or less autobiographical - but it's one of the most powerful and moving books I've read. Ooh that's good to know Geoff .. I have that waiting on a shelf somewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Butter Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Then move it up the queue a bit, Kay ... you won't regret it, I promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Suite Française is a fantastic book, I agree, but definitely not contemporary! I only wish she'd lived to finish it. I've also read Fire in the Blood by Némirovsky, which was also wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 (edited) Yep, it's not the kind of books I was talking about in the first post, but I bet it would be a great read anyways. I've read another book by Némirovsky and really liked it, and I've written her name down on my wishlist as an author I'd like to read more by Edit: The book I'm talking about, I think it's Le Ball in English? I don't know. It's too hot to google over here Edited June 28, 2013 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleonora Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 If you haven't read Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's not exactly contemporary - it tells the story of a Jewish family's flight from occupied Paris and is more or less autobiographical - but it's one of the most powerful and moving books I've read. I really loved it!! Nemirovsky is such an interesting author.. well, was interesting. I read ok, let's call it The Ball (in italian is Il ballo) and Suite Francaise.. both nice, but not contemporary, i must admit. There's another french writer, he's contemporary but I don't know if his book are translated in english nor in finnish. It's called Emmanuel Carrere. His last book is a sort of biography called Limonov. I haven't read it yet, but a friend of mine have and he says the book is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 I read your post earlier but didn't recognise Carrere's name at that point. I've only now realised I tried reading his book The Moustache some years ago, it was supposed to be really good but I didn't like it I've just remembered the book I happened to come across on Goodreads and on which I started a thread here some time ago: The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 I started reading The Ingredients of Love by Nicolas Barreau last night and I have to say, if the story's going the way I think it will be going, the blurb of my copy is basically rather spoilery, and the book is as predictable as a book can get. It's been all done before I mean it might not turn out that way but it's looking bad. I will be very disappointed if I'm correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleonora Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 So let's hope you just had a wrong first impression, Frenkie. I truly hope you won't be disappointed, because it's so annoiyng when it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 I've read further and the storyline is just as I thought it would be. I mean the main plot. All I can hope is that there's something unique in the execution. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Sorry to hear that, frankie . I really don't like it when the blurb spoils a lot of the plot. It should set the scene but anything happening later on in the book shouldn't be spoiled imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 The thing is that I'm sure I've read a book with the same main plot before! Or maybe it was a movie. But it's such a common feeling thing, I'm sure this has been done many times before. Not a very promising sign for a debut author... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Then move it up the queue a bit, Kay ... you won't regret it, I promise. Ok I will .. I promise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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