Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes, par Jean-Michel Guenassia

Le titre m'a tout de suite plu, le livre avait l'air neuf sur le stand des nouvelles acquisitions (j'y ai parfois vu de vieux livres hmm). Ma première expérience avec un livre de la même collection m'a beaucoup plu. Donc j'ai emprunté Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes et j'ai plongé dans le livre.

J'ai tout de suite apprécié le ton même si je m'y perdais un peu dans les personnages. Nous suivons principalement Michel, un adolescent parisien. A travers lui nous découvrons non seulement sa famille et la vie en France au temps de la guerre d'Algérie, mais aussi un club exotique. Malgré ou peut-être plutôt grâce à sa jeunesse, Michel se lie d'amitié avec Igor, Werner, Sacha et les autres membres du Club. Tous sont des réfugiés venus d'Europe de l'Est.

Au fur et à mesure du roman, le lecteur suit Michel et son drame familial, le développement de son amitié avec les membres du Club, et la vie de ceux-ci. Les sujets abordés sont nombreux, mais l'histoire reste entrainante du début à la fin. Il y a même un véritable moment de suspens et des découvertes bouleversantes à la fin. Je me suis sentie à la fois dans un livre sérieux (en plus des thèmes évoqués, on y côtoie Sartre et Kessel) et dans un film d'action.

Bref, j'ai adoré.

La conclusion qu'aussi bien lors de l'Allemagne nazie que lors de la période noire du communisme, personne n'est vraiment innocent reste troublante pour moi. Parce qu'aujourd'hui même, nous assistons à d'innombrables injustices et à la montée de l'état policier dans le monde en général et en France en particulier. C'est tellement plus facile de dire après coup "mais pourquoi n'ont-ils pas réagi ?" tandis qu'au jour le jour on laisse passer sans savoir ce que l'on peut faire.

The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

I know I know the illustration is horrible ! I really really wonder why they keep choosing the cheesy graphics. Sorry for the artist, but I just can't stand them. Luckily I bought the hard cover book by mistake on Amazon and the illustration is just on the jacket ! So when I took the book with me during my train trip and on the bus, I had a very smooth book with me. By the way, I am used to reading this series in the cheap edition (pocket edition) but the hard cover book is really nice ! I love the feel of the pages, how thick the book is, and yet so light ! Perfect.

On with the story. I have re-read all 11 books I had from the series before buying "The Knife of Dreams", the last book entirely written by Robert Jordan before his death. While the beginning of the series is great, books 9 and 10 are exceedingly slow and boring. Number 11, that I read a couple of months ago, gets back on track.




All 11 books are in the picture below (the first one is a prequel I think .. I haven't read it yet anyway).


Then Robert Jordan died. Luckily for all the fans, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy author and WOT fan, was able to take on the job to write the end of the series, based on notes from Robert Jordan, sometimes even entire chapters already written down. There are still two more books to be published, but "The Gathering Storm" was really really good.

So many things happening, and a great end. I am already re-reading "The Knife of Dreams" (slowly this time) and will re-read "The Gathering Storm" after that. I just love being in the universe Robert Jordan created. Like many fans, I feel as if the main characters of the series were old friends.

Looking forward to the two last books !

Des chrétiens et des Maures, by Daniel Pennac

I've enjoyed so much reading "Messieurs les enfants" from the same author, that I also spent some time in the French section of the library looking for more from Daniel Pennac. And then again, I found the smallest book. The story, as unusual as ever, starts when "le Petit" stops eating and wants his father. And so we meet him .. in Pennac's way of course !

Would that qualify as a short story ? If so, that would be the first short story I ever liked. But maybe it's too long already ...

Messieurs les enfants, by Daniel Pennac

A friend introduced me to Pennac a couple of years back, with "Aux fruits de la passion". I found the book completely crazy but enjoyed it. That's why I immediately pulled "Messieurs les enfants" out of their shelf in the library and put them in my basket.

The book was pure pleasure. I enjoyed the spicy dialogues and the diverse characters. The subject: "You wake up one morning and realize that during the night you have been turned into an adult. Freaking out, you run to your parents' room. They've been turned into children. Tell the continuation.

(That's my translation .. I might change it when I find more appropriate phrasing)

I'd definitely recommand this book to anybody who can read it in French. And to anybody who comes across a translated version too :D

Un peu plus loin sur la droite, by Fred Vargas

I discovered the author during my last holidays in France: my friend AL was reading one of her books (Fred Vargas is a woman -- I only just discovered that while reading the Wikipedia article) and told me she had a great writing style and that the plots were really good.

After reading it (borrowed from the library, no surprise here), I confirm. The characters have a good humor and an interesting history, independently from the plot, which was really good nonetheless. I loved the dialogs with and about the toad. A lot of the dialogs just sound so right and witty, I laughed out loud several times. Also a page turner.


[Wikipedia article on Fred Vargas (in French)], [Wikipedia article on Fred Vargas (in English)]

L'identité, by Milan Kundera

I really enjoy the chance offered by the library to read the classics. All in all, it is a good thing that I had to pay for my library card, it motivates me to use it. And once I manage to get in the library, it's like being in wonderland. I pick the German and English books on how much I like the cover, and for the French books, I pick some of the classics.

So far, so good. This novel is a jewel. Although I enjoyed Kundera's writing style less than that of Camus, the plot -- and the way it gets the reader confused -- is great (and simple). Considering the complexity of the themes this novel presents, I wonder how much I actually get out of the book. Why do I always have the feeling that I need to read books a second time these days ? I can't help it, at the first reading, I am so taken by the plot that I don't pay enough attention to anything else. So. I'll read the book again. And try to find other works of Kundera, too.

[Wikipedia article on Kundera (in French)], [Wikipedia article on Kundera (in English)]

L'étranger, by Albert Camus

One more book I borrowed from the library. Half through the novel, I realized that I had actually already read it. It must have been during high school.

In any case, I love it. I love the style, I love the content. Of course, it is sometimes frustrating to see what the character does, but I like the ideas, the position towards the justice system, towards religion, what it says about communication and understanding another person. Nothing pretentious in this book. I really appreciated the tone.

I think I'll buy the book one day. And I definitely want to read more from Camus. I might have read "La peste" (the pleague ?) but I don't remember well.


Oh. I wanted to add a citation, that I really like. Although I doubt it is the most philosophical part of the novel, I totally relate to it (and I won't risk any translation mistakes, so here you go, in French):

"Avant de quiter le bureau pour aller déjeuner, je me suis lavé les mains. A midi, j'aime bien ce moment. Le soir, j'y trouve moins de plaisir parce que la serviette roulante qu'on utilise est tout à fait humide : elle a servi toute la journée. J'en ai fait la remarque un jour à mon patron. Il m'a répondu qu'il trouvait cela regrettable, mais que c'était tout de même un détail sans importance."

[Wikipedia article in French], [Wikipedia article in English]