the disappearance of Joseph Mengele by Olivier Guez
reading another novel about nazis, but this is not a romp
Tag: French literature
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal
a pre-release post on a novella about Russian conscripts
The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir
some things are worth dying for – what is worth killing for?
Poetics of Work by Noemi Lefebvre
rare writing depicting middle class rootlessness not as tragedy
The Years by Annie Ernaux
cracking under lockdown and stunning books
Story of O by Pauline Réage
a real dirty french novel
The Counterfeiters by André Gide
a not-dirty-enough-to-be-dirty french novel
Happening by Annie Ernaux
feeling sad so read a sad book on abortion
Now, Now, Louison by Jean Frémon
an enjoyable but intellectually presumptive novella
Tell Them Of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Enard
high grade historical fiction and the blogger hits some snags
Street of Thieves by Mathias Enard
another ruddy belter from enard who i love
Journey To The End of the Night by Céline
accidentally read a book by a nazi
Against Nature (A Rebours) by Joris-Karl Huysmans
infamous for the wrong reasons…
Compass by Mathias Enard
A beautiful novel for an ugly world.
Blue Self-Portrait by Noémi Lefebvre
Some newly-translated cracking French fiction
Sodom and Gomorrah (À la recherche du temps perdu 4) by Marcel Proust
A La Recherche du Temps Perdu 4: This Time It’s Gay
A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments by Roland Barthes
Love is not the preserve of the randy, love is not just something that happens with pants off or about to be off…
The Devil in the Flesh by Raymond Radiguet
It is 1230am on a Friday night, I am (which is very rare for me) not at work, my girlfriendContinue Reading
In The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (À la recherche du temps perdu 2) by Marcel Proust
Volume 2 of Marcel Proust’s giant novel, In Search of Lost Time, is a joy to read. I don’t knowContinue Reading
Justine by Marquis de Sade
Last night I cut my hand in several places on a broken champagne flute, and to recuperate took myself offContinue Reading
Swann’s Way (À la recherche du temps perdu 1) by Marcel Proust
I’m writing this in the beautiful Spanish Pyrenees, having spent a day doing little more than reading Proust and lookingContinue Reading
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
Phwoar! Actually, I retract that. Other than the bit where a priest is raped by a woman and two menContinue Reading
Nadja by André Breton
Urgh. Nadja by André Breton is the worst book I’ve read for fucking ages. Dull, poorly structured, self-important and smug,Continue Reading
Opium: The Diary of his Cure by Jean Cocteau
Opium: The Diary of his Cure is an odd, but engaging, book by the French not-Surrealist modernist Jean Cocteau. FriendContinue Reading
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
A classic, yes, I should probably have read it by now… But nineteenth century, French, more than 300 pages –Continue Reading
Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau
This is edited from a brief presentation I gave in a class. So it’s more literary than usual and doesn’tContinue Reading
The Plague by Albert Camus
Albert Camus was (according to the blurb of this 1960s Penguin edition) active in the French resistance during the NaziContinue Reading
Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant is a fun romp through the bachelor pads, newspaper boardrooms, restaurants and theatres of glamorous,Continue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 