Welcome to March which is beginning to look like a full month with Lent beginning on the 5th, daylight savings time beginning on the 9th, St Patrick's day on the 17th and the first day of Spring on the 20th. Plus the very first Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1901 went to Frenchman Sully Prudhomme whose birthday is March 16, 1839. In fact, other Nobel Prize literature winners from France include:
Frederic Mistral 1904
Count Maurice Maeterlinck 1911 - Born in Belguim, lived and died in France
Romain Rolland 1915
Anatole France 1921
Henri Bergson 1927
Roger Martin Du Gard 1937
Andre Gide 1947
Francois Mauriac 1952
Albert Camus - 1957
Jean-Paul Sartre 1964
Samuel Becket 1969 - born in Ireland but moved and died in France
Claude Simon 1985
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio 2008
So while we are armchair traveling through France this month, consider reading a book or poetry written by one of the Nobel Prize Winners.
I do seem to have one foot stuck in Italy and the other foot in France and have both Italian and French authors in my backpack. And since I've delving into the 14th century this month, Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, fits the bill perfectly. As well as his Foucault's Pendulum which actually is set in Paris. Another author I've been meaning to try is Marcel Proust and discovered Swann's Way available for free on Kindle. For fun I have 3 of Cara Black's books in her Aimee Leduc investigation mystery series as well.
For those who prefer a culinary approach to France, Nancy Pearl from Book Lust to Go recommends checking out Julia Child's My Life in France or Kathleen Flinn's The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry. Take a food tour through France with Balzac's Omelette by Anka Muhlstein or Ann Mah's Mastering the Art of French Eating.
For more ideas, check out Goodreads popular French Literature list with includes Camus, Voltaire, Dumas, Balzac, Verne and Sartre to name a few.
Join me in reading all things French, with a little bit of Italian thrown in on the side.
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Oooo, France! I'm reading both Candide by Voltaire and La Curée by Émile Zola, so I've have this theme covered!
ReplyDeleteKathleen Flinn's The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry is a total must-read for those looking for inspiration or maybe considering a mid-life existential crisis. Flinn writes with so much honesty. The book is encouraging at any stage of life; but provides hope to those wondering 'if this is it' and encouragement for those looking for an escape.
ReplyDeleteOk, my book (The Indigo Necklace) is not set in France, but it is set in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea...but I'm busy with a massive history of modern physics project right now and only have time to read relevant tidbits out of the books I have, let alone starting something as appealing as your French Nobel list. I'd never get anything else done! LOL
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