What should I be reading?

Oh, aren't we all bored with Sarko yet?

Easy readers are good too for learners, check them out on amazon. Sophie, French teacher

Hello,

Penguin do a series called Parallel Texts, in which short stories are reproduced in English and in French. Good to see how idiom is translated. Reading with a dictionary sometimes a bit difficult as even if you know the meaning of every word the sense of the phrase can be lost on you. I'd also second the Maigret novels, [although sometimes the usage is a little dated, the equivalent of gadzooks, but still good fun}. Oh, and we've got a version of jean de Florette with a useful little booklet in English indicating what some of the less obvious French usages are.

Angela

The French publish a lot of book about current affairs and politics, so this can be interesting. So there are plenty of them about the presidential (ex) candidates, former and future presidents and their 'cour'.

You can also read Beigbeder's books, Anna Gavalda, Amélie Nothomb. She published a lot of thin books.

Hi Colin

Some of the more classic novels use the "past historic" tense which is only used in written work and not verbally, so may not be immediately helpful. Well know authors who I think might be worthwhile, are Marcel Pagnol (Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources, Chateau de ma Mere. Gloire de mon pere ) and André Gide (Symphonie Pastorale, La Porte Etoite ) They are relatively short, so not too outfacing and of course you would be reading French literature rather than translated novels.

Of course it depends on what your taste is. I would start by looking at the "Livres de Poches" in your nearest booskhop.

Happy reading

Try the novels of Henri Troyat, readily available in paperback and probably for Kindle. I also devour anything by Jean-Christophe Grange. Big heavy tomes but real page-turners. I am about to buy his latest Le Passager as I have a long flight coming up. The vocab gets difficult but the gist comes through.

Shouldn't that be tomato ketchup, Andrew?? Or Marmite? Wonder what it tastes like with Worcestershire sauce.

Sulk, sulk. I make a mean snake and pygmy pie that my family (inc OH) love! It has (dare I blaspheme, oh go on...) garlic in it.

Oh gosh, not Tunbridge Wells, civilisation has ended!

My daughter has had ketchup on foie gras. I left the room (laughing, I shall admit).

But to the point. Try a book you have read more than once and want to re-read but you really know well and buy a translated version and that might help. My wife did that with books originally written in Italian until she could cope with enough English and it worked for her.

I read books I've already read in English, but translated in french. That way I can know if I'm missing a major point in the plot, lol. i also read for the story, and pleasure, moreso than for the "I'm currently reading..... how cultured am I?" status. I read a lot of action, thrillers.

I've found that going to the cinema has helped me as its good to hear the spoken word, whilst getting the gist from the screen

How about Marcel Pagnol? Contemporary - 20th century - 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des Sources', published in the 60s, you've probably seen the films so you sort of know the story, really well written, funny, moving, sad.. I loved them! Camus is jumping into the deep end, but also very good...

Le Heures Souterraines - Delphine de Vigan.

Modern, short and doesn't really have a 'proper' story, so doesn't matter if you can't understand it all. The reviewer from The Express called it 'Triste, donc superbe.' which I found amusing.

I bought a few years ago Nick Hornby's french version of 'a long way down' which in french is entitled 'Vous decendez? In the hope of being able to read a book that at least I had read in English and understood the plot. I couldn't at that time and gave up. I have just tried again and got through the first paragraph without too much trouble.

Not that I would know as i am very thick but I would suggest you just keep reading English written gear. The reaon I say that is simply because if you are not darn near completely literate in the French language and the reading of it then you won't , either understand it ,or, go to bed every night with a headache ( and that wouldn't please him indoors --joking).

I daresay you get all the advertising blurb in your post every Monday and Tuesday as we do, I suggest you sit down and try and READ what is said ---- NOT look at the picture, recognise a few words and then think you know what they are on about --------------- READ THE TEXT --FULLY COMPREHEND IT --- then do the same with a newspaper, when you can FULLY understand you are then ready to move onto French literature.

Me !!!!!!!!!!! Nahhhh I'm thick, I just look at the pictures and try and work out if i get one free.

Why do you feel you have to read French literature, why not start off with French translations of English books you know, so at least you will have some idea and may actually enjoy what you're reading? Chris

I read all the Le Petit Nicolas books, then the volume of unpublished stories when it was issued. Children's books, perhaps, but lots of very nicely observed humour in there too.

mdr / lol ;-D

oh you missed smothering foie gras with HP sauce!!!

Andrew - we all know that you try to pretend to be ever so, ever so integrated but my spy satellite in the region has revealed that you actually:

smoke a pipe, want to bring back hanging, only ever listen to the world service, refer to anything other than steak and kidney pie as 'foreign muck', shout loudly at the 'natives' - they understand you better that way -, call the neighbours 'garlic munchers' and only moved to France for the wine. And because Tunbridge Wells has gone to the dogs.

*cackles*

Dyed in the wool BBC Brit - couldn't be further from the truth ;-) but that's the nice thing about this site (unlike others I looked at!)

1) try and read for the pleasure without a dictionary and you'll be amazed how your brain will fill the gaps and how much you will understand in a global sense rather than at single word level.

2) If you do get stuck and want to know more - use a french-french dictionary rather than a french-english one

3) last resort, go for the french-english dictionary

That's my personal and professional (languages teacher) advice but there is no right or wrong way - all exposure is good - motivation and enjoyment are the key - enjoy et bonne lecture ;-)

It's great that many of you clearly read in French....I had the impression most people who use this site are dyed in the wool Brits who watch BBC all day and try not to mix with the locals! It is a real pleasure to be proved wrong.

A question then: do you read (or did you read, when you were at my level) with the aid of a dictionary, and if so, is/was it a French dictionary or an English/French translation type? We have both and I am trying to understand what I am reading using a Petite Robert but I dont want to let that ruin the flow of a novel.

Update: I have just been to the local mediatheque and the people there sorted me out with a card and found me many of the books from my list. I also chatted to a local English teacher at his Saturday market honey stall. He had more suggestions which I am following up. Finally, I have just downloaded 600 French novels (a fair few are American translated novels) which I am currently converting from epub to modi format (for the Kindle).

Now all I need is a few moments to read in peace!