Tag: Balzac

#ParisInJuly: Books Set in Paris

As you might know, Emma from Words and Peace blog, hosts a Paris in July link, which is not just limited to books, but also watching, eating, drinking and all other encounters with Parisian things. Having lived for a total of seven years in France, how could I let this pass me by, even though I’m in the throes of moving?

I forgot that I’d already written a post a long, long time ago about favourite books set in Paris, back in the days when we were still living in France. So I will try not to repeat myself and instead pick additional, perhaps quirkier titles this time round. And I’ll wrap up with a few of my favourite French things to eat and drink (although they might be more Savoyard or Franche-Comte than Parisian).

BOOKS

Qiu Miaojin: Last Words from Montmartre, transl. Ari Larissa Heinrich – not the cheeriest title to start on, but this epistolary novel published posthumously (after the very early death of its Taiwanese author) captures what it means to be young, in love and very much adrift in a different culture, and that even one of the most beguiling neighbourhoods of Paris cannot cure you of heartbreak. (The book is also partially set in Taipei and Tokyo, but Paris plays a central role.)

Raymond Queneau: Zazie dans le metro, translated as Zazie in the Metro by Barbara Wright – exploring Paris through the eyes of a precocious, irrepressible young girl, this is a wild ride through the sights, argot and people of Paris.

Muriel Barbery: Une gourmandise (translated as Gourmet Rhapsody by Alison Anderson) – not as well-known as Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog, it is a sort of fictional memoir of a food critic who is on the verge of dying and reminds himself of all the delicious meals he has enjoyed throughout his life.

Delphine de Vigan: No et moi, transl. George Miller – a moving story of the friendship between two girls, one from a relatively well-off family and the other a homeless person, this has been officially classed as YA literature (it’s read in French secondary schools), but it certainly doesn’t sugarcoat things.

Patrick Modiano: In the Cafe of Lost Youth, transl. Euan Cameron – many of Modiano’s books are set in Paris, but this one is perhaps the most Parisian of them all, an atmospheric story shot through with nostalgia about the people congregating at a cafe in Paris, all people who seem to ‘fall through the cracks’ and become invisible to most of us.

Faiza Guene: Kiffe kiffe demain, transl. as Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Sarah Adams – life as a second-generation immigrant from Morocco living in the banlieue of Paris, Doria captures our hearts with her indomitable spirit – best seen in combination with the gorgeous Celine Sciamma film Girlhood.

Enrique Vila-Matas: Never Any End to Paris, transl. Anne McLean – I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s been strongly recommended as a sort of more realistic reply to Hemingway’s famous A Moveable Feast about living in Paris as an artist

Karim Miske: Arab Jazz , transl. Sam Gordon – a crime novel set in one of my favourite areas of Paris, the multicultural 19th arrondissement, it perfectly captures the sounds, smells and rhythm of the place

Balzac: Illusions perdues, various translations – how an idealistic country bumpkin goes off to Paris with the hope of becoming a famous writer and journalist… only to be disappointed – shows how things have not changed all that much since the early 19th century

Didier Daenincx: Le Der des ders, transl. as A Very Profitable War by Sarah Martin – Paris in the early 1920s, just after the First World War, and the chaos, corruption and rampant black market of those years, wrapped up in a noirish mystery

Hervé Le Corre: In the Shadow of the Fire, transl. Tina Kover – a third historical view of Paris, this time set in 1870 at the time of the Paris Commune – it can get quite graphic and challenging to read in parts, but Le Corre has done some meticulous research for this

Bonus point (book and film)

Brian Selznick: The Invention of Hugo Cabret was adapted into a film by none other than Martin Scorsese, shot in 3D at Gare Montparnasse (supposedly), which makes for an unforgettable backdrop.

Food and drink

I have a lot of favourites in French cuisine, so it will be hard to narrow it down, but let me recommend a summer menu suitable for July, although it might not be very Parisian: a tomato salad for starters (or even better, a tomato tarte tatin), followed by a tuna tartare with simple pommes frites, and a raspberry or plum clafoutis for dessert, plus a bit of my favourite Comté cheese. My mouth is salivating already!

I’d pair this with a French 77 cocktail aperitif (St Germain elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and champagne), then a Vacqueyras rosé with the fish, and, if you’re not drunk by then, of course the local vin jaune of the Jura region to go with the cheese.

Photo credit: Nicolas Gascard for Jura Tourisme.

Can you tell I’m missing France?

Last Few Acquisitions of 2022

And when I say ‘few’, I don’t really mean it!

Let’s take it from left to right, shall we?

As you know, I am always susceptible to book recommendations on Twitter (even though I am rapidly falling out of love with Twitter because of recent changes and furore). I saw Lauren Alwan wax lyrical about Emma Thompson’s diary of the filming of Sense and Sensibility, and I love that film and script, so I thought it would be a good investment.

The following five are all acquisitions from Newcastle Noir. Tony Mott is the author I am currently translating for Corylus (Deadly Autumn Harvest), and she kindly brought other books in her Gigi Alexa series, also featuring seasons in the title (Poisoned Summer and One Last Spring – provisional titles in English). I got talking with author Tom Benjamin who lives in Bologna and has written a series of crime novels set there, featuring an English private investigator, so that he could comment on cultural differences (my cup of tea, as you can imagine!). Passionate about social issues as I am, especially in my crime fiction, I instantly picked up the first in Trevor Wood‘s trilogy featuring a homeless man solving murders almost in order to protect himself. I’ve already read it and it is gritty, moving and quite unlike the run-of-the-mill police procedurals or psychological thrillers that seem to be a dime a dozen. Last but not least, although action thrillers are not my staple reading matter, after hearing author Amen Alonge talk about his book, life choices, stereotyping and the emptiness of vengeance, I had to get his first book in the Pretty Boy series, A Good Day to Die. Experts are saying that literary festivals don’t sell a lot of books anymore, but clearly they have never seen me in action! The only reason I stopped buying was because I had a rather heavy suitcase and a dodgy elbow to contend with on the way back from Newcastle.

I am not immune to book buzz, and I’ve been hearing about the next two books all year, so finally caved in and got them: Stu Hennigan‘s Ghost Signs is an examination of poverty in Britain today, made worse by austerity and the pandemic. And of course everyone has heard of Percival Everett‘s The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize this year.

I have received the first in the 2023 Peirene subscription, History. A Mess. by Icelandic author Sigrun Palsdottir, translated by Lytton Smith, and it sounds intriguing, about an academic who makes a mistake and then is prepared to go to any lengths to hide that.

The next few books are all in German and took quite a while to be shipped over from Germany (and some were quite expensive). I’ve been fascinated with Hilde Spiel since I read her wonderful memoir of returning to post-war Vienna, so I ordered a whole bunch of her fiction in German (she also wrote in English), some of which has not arrived yet, as I hope to pitch her work to various publishers. Same applies to Ödön von Horváth, who is still mostly unknown outside Austria. Meanwhile, the book by Ingrid Noll was once again recommended by someone on Twitter – I’m afraid I can’t even remember by whom!

I’ve read a fair amount of Balzac over the years, but I think I only partially read Lost Illusions (or an abridged version). This is the long winter read for our London Reads the World Book Club, and I hope to find a way to see the latest French adaptation of it as well, because it looks very good (and evergreen topic, don’t you think?).

In addition to the above, there are a few that are still on their way and which might even make it here before 2023: Euphoria by Elin Cullhed, because I can never resist a book about Sylvia Plath; The Mermaid’s Tale by Lee Wei-Jing, because I’ve always been on the hunt for a worthy ballroom dancing partner; and a self-help book, believe it or not: The Little ACT Workbook by Sinclair & Bedman, as I’ve been looking for an alternative to CBT, which may be effective therapy for most people but doesn’t work for everyone.

Disclosure: I have set up my stall on Bookshop.org and if you go there, you will find not only find all the Corylus books available on that site, but also other lists with translated crime fiction that I particularly enjoy or books that I have recently bought myself or would heartily recommend. If you buy via those links, I get a very small commission myself, at no extra cost to you, and all the pennies will be ploughed back into producing better books for you at our tiny, very part-time publishing venture.