Thanks to @vero, I have belatedly started on a book she recommended a while back. It takes me a long time to work my way through a book of any quality! This one is taking some getting into but I am getting a grip on the style of the author, I think. However, some of the vocabulary is proving troublesome and I could do with a bit of help.
To start with, from the context l’oeil-de-boeuf seems to be a spyhole in the wall - equivalent to one of those little fish-eye lenses I’ve seen in doors in the UK, perhaps. I don’t know what they are called in English either, but all the French-French dictionaries I’ve looked at so far just seem to have a meaning equivalent to “Bulls-eye” being some sort of target. Can anyone confirm or correct this for me please?
Your assumption is excellent. The oeil-de-boeuf is the small circular or horizontal oval window, often found next to a main door. I assume the purpose was the same as a spy-hole - to give you a view of whomever is outside so you could decide whether or not to gain admittance!
It’s also used for larger oval or circular windows that are mainly decorative in nature.
What is the book, by the way? I’m always keen to learn
Thanks @_Brian. The book is “L’élégance du hérisson” by Muriel Barbary. It’s not huge but is interesting. The one I’ve just finished was also very interesting once I got used to it " Changer l’eau des fleurs" by Valérie Perrin. That one started by being a Marilynne Robinson and ended up closer to IanMcEwan
My grandparents had something called bull’s-eye-window, if I remember the term correctly, in their front door. Maybe a hand’s span across, with the “pupil” being maybe a centimetre in diameter.
Just wanted to add here a big “Thank you” to @vero for her book suggestion. I couldn’t make head or tail of it at first and had to abandon some of the early difficult grammatical structures but after a while I became increasingly gripped by it and it became easier. I was sorry when it finished! I need to read more and this one stretched me…
@AngelaR oh I am super happy - I love it when someone has enjoyed a book I like If I haven’t already recommended it/you haven’t read it yet, you might like Une Vie Française by Jean-Paul Dubois, it came out in 2004 and is fab.
Brilliant @vero! Thank you - I shall give that one a go My reading so far has been restricted to some rather turgid classics, the Michel Barnier book (which was very useful for my French but not, I think, great literature), a series of English detective fiction books in French translation and “Changer l’Eau des Fleurs” which I struggled with for a very long time but became gripped by towards the end.
No way can I cope with Danielle Steel in French, much to the bemusement of a neighbour… even though I’d read them in English… I tried the French and failed to enjoy…
But I do enjoy cookery books, gardening books, nature books… where the language doesn’t always need to translate itself word for word in my head… but a general understanding is taken on board.
and I read the French News daily… as many varieties as possible to get the complete picture (if one ever really can).
One of my well-thumbed French books is “Jardinier avec la lune et le ciel” which is absolutely fascinating and, come to think of it… perhaps it’s time to sit by the fire and wander through its pages once again… just for the fun of it.
It’s great when you start to read things and a picture of the thing associated with the French word pops into your head so you don’t need to translate at all… Doesn’t happen that often though. Better when it’s something that you’ve learned here so don’t have a fixed English word for it anyway - now I shall think “Oeil-de-boeuf” when I see those little round windows rather than any English term.
One of the good things about reading French books is that they take me so much longer than English ones - very good value
The recent kindles have terrible dictionaries - my old one was very much better but I haven’t been able to find a way of getting a good dictionary on my new one
to @vero, I have belatedly started on a book she recommended a while back. It takes me a long time to work my way through a book of any quality! This one is taking some getting into but I am getting a grip on the style of the author, I think. However, some of the vocabulary is proving troublesome and I could do with a bit of help.
If I haven’t already recommended it/you haven’t read it yet, you might like Une Vie Française by Jean-Paul Dubois, it came out in 2004 and is fab.
