While I'm not entirely sure I want to fill you all in on just how big a book hoarder I am, I've been toying with the idea of typing out a copy of my TBR list for ages. So here are the French books currently in the collection waiting to be read, not counting the three I'm reading right now (Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Perec's A Void, and Proust's Swann's Way), library books, or the many novels I'm merely coveting at this point. Since this may or may not be the last post of this kind here, I'll go ahead and let stats freaks and any other curious types who come across this know that French authors probably account for the second most books on my TBR list by country after the presumptive winner: Argentina. In any event, feel free to let me know if there's anything good or bad you care to share about the following titles and/or whether you have a favorite country or countries represented within your own TBR list. Always interested in hearing about stuff like that!
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1) Anonymous. Aucassin et Nicolette (GF Flammarion).2) Anonymous. Raoul de Cambrai (Le Livre de Poche).
3) Balzac, Honoré de. Eugénie Grandet (Le Livre de Poche).
4) _____. The Girl with the Golden Eyes (Melville House).
5) Baudelaire, Charles. The Flowers of Evil [with parallel French text] (Oxford World's Classics) [partially read].
6) Bernard of Clairvaux. On the Song of Songs I (Cistercian Publications) [partially read].
7) Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle. La femme cachée (Folio).
8) _____. The Pure and the Impure (NYRB Classics).
9) Flaubert, Gustave. Un coeur simple (Le Livre de Poche).
10) Flori, Jean. Chevaliers et chevalerie au moyen âge (Hachette Littératures).
11) _____. La première croisade: L'Occident chrétien contre l'Islam (Éditions Complexe).
12) Gautier, Théophile. My Fantoms (NYRB Classics) [partially read].
13) Gide, André. Les caves du Vatican (Folio).
14) Goncourt, Edmond and Jules. Pages from the Goncourt Journals (NYRB Classics).
15) Grimaud, Hélène. Leçons particulières (Robert Laffont).
16) Huysmans, Joris-Karl. Against Nature (À Rebours) (Penguin Classics) [reread].
17) Joinville, Jean de. The Life of Saint Louis. In Chronicles of the Crusades (Penguin Classics).
18) Kehew, Robert (ed.). Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadours (The University of Chicago Press).
19) Laclos, Choderlos de. Les liaisons dangereuses (Hachette Classiques).
20) Leblanc, Maurice. Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur (Le Livre de Poche).
21) Maupassant, Guy de. Contes de la becasse (GF Flammarion).
22) _____. Monsieur Parent et autres nouvelles (Folio Classique) [partially read].
23) Nerval, Gérard de. Aurélia et Les Chimères (Le Livre de Poche).
24) Proust, Marcel. Remembrance of Things Past, Volume III: The Captive; The Fugitive; Time Regained (Vintage).
25) Rabelais, François. Gargantua and Pantagruel (W.W. Norton) [partially read].
26) Radiguet, Raymond. Count d'Orgel's Ball (NYRB Classics).
27) Roquebert, Michel. L'épopée cathare (Perrin/Privat).
28) Schwob, Marcel. Vidas imaginarias (Longseller).
29) Soupault, Philippe. Last Nights of Paris (Exact Change).
30) Stendhal. Le Rouge et le Noir (GF Flammarion).
31) Yourcenar, Marguerite. Nouvelles orientales (Gallimard).
32) Hollier, Denis (ed.). A New History of French Literature (Harvard University Press).*
*Not all French authors here but whatever!
Entradas
I would be shocked and stunned and then shocked again if you did not totally dig the Nerval.
ResponderBorrarWhat a fine list.
I need to get my act together with Nerval, Amateur Reader (forgive me if I've already told you that before). Thanks for the reminder and the encouragement!
ResponderBorrarI'd love to join you when you read Eugénie Grandet. Also, I loved Zola's work Therese Raquin this summer. Much as I adore les livres en francais, I must admit a marked preference for Russian literature. Oh, and Japanese. ;)
ResponderBorrarp.s. Am currently reading our Gorg Prc (love this in your sidebar!) and am liking it. See my post tomorrow on my initial thoughts.
I'm not that organised but probably French and Russian
ResponderBorrarQuite a list. I could add many but there are a few I have not read yet either. I used to read only French, German, South American and Carribean novels for a long time and am now reading more British and American novels. I got a huge German, French and English pile. Everybody who likes and reads Mme Bovary should try Fontane's Effi Briest. The adulterous woman German style. Fantastic. I am looking forward to reading Le bal du Comte d'Orgel. I read it is based on Mme de Lafayette's La princess de Clèves. I am planning on writing a post on Balzac. I think his best is Les illusions perdues. One of my ten all-time favourites (all books and countries). The only Balzac I did not like was La fille au jeux d'or. I hated Stendhal. Curious to see if you will like it. Which is your favourite Argentinian writer/book?
ResponderBorrarThat's quite a long list you have there. I too have been wanting to read Dangerous Liaisons and I believe Emily plans on reading it as well.
ResponderBorrarMaupassant and me don't get on so well, and I'm unsure about Balzac. I thought I'd adore Huysman's Á Rebours but didn't and must make another attempt. One day I will read Proust again, but will not reread Rabelais , though Gargantua and Pantagruel is a must, once.
ResponderBorrarOf all on that list I would emphasise Gide. I had a long Gide phase, best of which the four volumes of his diaries. These I intend to reread again sometime.
Yet another reminder that I have read very little by Continental Europeans! I've read Dumas' most famous novels, but that's it for France. Sigh. Part of my continuing reading goals are to expand my horizons to other countries though (I've been very Anglo-centric), so I may have to bookmark your list for future ideas/reminders.
ResponderBorrar*Bellezza: I'm hoping to get to Eugénie Grandet before the end of the year, so I'll keep you posted if/when that actually happens (it would be nice to have the company!). Haven't read any Zola yet, a big shame, I know (Thérèse Raquin and Germinal are the titles calling my name). And I am weak on Japanese and Russian lit, so I'll have to continue looking to you and others for tips in that regard. P.S. Glad you're enjoying M. Prc!
ResponderBorrar*Guy: French and Russian make a lot of sense to me, but I'm not very widely read in the latter. And I'm not organized either, by the way!
*Caroline: Thanks for the tips on Balzac and Fontane and the info on how your reading tastes have evolved over the years--how interesting! If I'm not mistaken, Amateur Reader (see comments above) is another big Balzac fan who dislikes La fille aux yeux d'or. As for Argentinean novels, I'm incredibly fond of Ricardo Piglia's Respiración artificial and Plata quemada, Juan José Saer's Cicatrices, Roberto Arlt's Los siete locos (a weird one, that), and Tomás Eloy Martínez's Santa Evita. Also enjoy Borges' and Cortázar's short stories, but I need to get back to Rayuela one of these days. Cheers!
*E.L. Fay: It's a long list, but it's not long enough! Now that I finally read The Monk this year, Dangerous Liasions might be the oldest book left on my TBR. Not sure what to make of that, I'm afraid...
*Anthony: I loved that Huysmans as a "lad," and I'm looking forward to rereading it again after a one or two-decade wait. What an "amusing weirdo," as Emily from Evening All Afternoon likes to say! Very interesting to hear about your experiences with Gide--with the exception of The Immoralist, it seems his works get little attention in the blog world compared to the other big names from his generation. Encouraging news, thanks!
*Amanda: Your plans for your continuing reading goals sound great, but then again I'm kind of biased because Europe and South America are my two "favorite" continents for novelists! In any event, at least three of my all-time favorite novels come from France: Céline's Journey to the End of the Night, Lautréamont's Maldoror, and Georges Perec's Life A User's Manual (a new addition this year). And I maintain high hopes for something by Proust joining that list, but I don't want to put any pressure on the guy, ha ha. Cheers!
I have a leaning toward France over almost any European country, but I want to spend more time with the Germans. Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain stunned me, and his Doctor Faustus is high on the TBR list.
ResponderBorrarOther essential Germans include Herta Müller, Döblin, Goethe, Hölderlin, Kleist, and more W. G. Sebald.
Thanks, Richard for this list. I will try and see if I can get the one or the other here. Need to have a look at The Amateur Reader's Blog.
ResponderBorrarI ve not so many from a single country in my tbr pile but books from maybe thirty countries waiting to be read ,the most from single places Argentina and French probably 6 or 7 to read from each ,all the best stu
ResponderBorrarI smell a Laclos readalong in the works. :-)
ResponderBorrarWhat a great list! I almost bought that parallel English/French Oxford Classic Baudelaire the other day - great minds. I was reminded of EL Fay's post on Soupalt when reading Simone de Beauvoir; she really liked Last Nights of Paris and now I want to read it doubly much. And it makes me happy that you're reading Swann's Way!
*Anthony: I'm more a France, Italy, and Spain guy myself when it comes to Europeans, but about half the German authors on your list keep calling my name (the other half probably will someday, too). Also interested in more German language fiction by Canetti, Musil, and Walser, which I already have lying about the house biding its time. Am reading a Mexican author by the name of Sergio Pitol right now, who has spent quite some time raving about Doctor Faustus. He's making me want to add that one to my list, too!
ResponderBorrar*Caroline: You're very welcome! I believe all the titles I mentioned except for the Saer book are available in English translation, but I've heard some complaints about one of the Piglia translations being a little wooden or awkward or something. The Saer book is available in French if you prefer that to the Spanish. Amateur Reader's blog, Wuthering Expectations, is one of my favorites, so I'd say it's well worth a peek. Cheers!
*Stu: I guess you're just not as unrestrained as I! Seriously, 30 different countries is a great figure (not sure what my count would be)--and how nice to see that Argentina and France top your list as well. I sometimes wonder if my Argentine lit fetish might seem a bit cultish to the typical English-reading blogger, but thankfully folks like you and my Spanish-speaking friends seem to understand. Cheers!
*Emily: If you set up a Laclos readalong, I'm in! (Ditto for the off-topic Tristram Shandy!) And since the English version of the Soupault was translated by WC Williams, maybe Frances will want to join in on that one, too. I'm loving Swann's Way so far, and I'm happy to tell you that all the Flaubert/Proust talk during the Madame Bovary threads had a great deal to do with me wanting to read Marcel again. So thanks!
Wow loving it.. hope to read more of your lists, especially the Argentina as I would love to discover new-to-me authors from there. Probably my most-numbered tbr would be Italian. Oh and I just finished The Late Mattia Pascal.. looooved it. It was so refreshing reading something like it again.. reminded me a bit of Perec.. and now I realize why he mentioned Pirandello so much in Life..
ResponderBorrar*Claire: How nice to hear from you again--and your "retirement" must be treating you well since you've already finished the Pirandello well before me! Italian lit is a fine choice to head your TBR list, so I look forward to hearing about what you're reading on that front if you ever have the time to share. In the meantime, I'll be getting that Argentina TBR list together sometime soon. Cheers!
ResponderBorrarHave you read her books?
ResponderBorrarSofi Oksanen She seems to be getting some prizes every once in a while.
Currently finishing the second book of Stieg Larsson myself.