Sunday, November 28, 2010

Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent, Fred Vargas



Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent (Those who are about to die salute you) is one of French writer Fred Vargas' first novels. It is also the first novel from that author that I read. I must say I fell into it right after the first page. It is the story of three young mens living in Rome who all wear Roman emperor names. Claude, Tibère and Néron. Claude's father, Mr. Valhubert hears about an unknown work from Michelangelo which appeared on the public market and which can only come from the Vatican Library. He comes to Rome and is immediatly assassinated. There begins a complicated inquiry in which Valence, a French jurist has to find the truth in what the three emperors and their protectors may say. The story is full of manipulation and the reality is often distorted. The whole book is tinted with the Roman Catholic Church. Through the author's writing, we have access to some aspects of the higher scales of the Church without going too much into useless details. It is definitively not a book about church and religion.

I liked a lot the direct genre of the author which is always straight to the point, unpretentious (although the characters are pretentious!). Chapters are sometimes long, sometimes only a page. It keeps the reader alert. As for the characters, I think the three emperors are very charming in their peculiar way. Neron's self-esteem and weird habits are worth the reading. He is the guy who doesn't think. He only sees. It reminded me of that song from Iggy Pop, the song about the thinking fish. Anyway, Neron is too intellectual to even think. The characters are all very nice and well-developed. However, I must admit I did not get why they are all so obsessed with Laura (Claude's stepmother, you'll see, she seems to be quite the hot bomb). Too me, she has a very tiny role in the novel and do not deserve all the attention she gets.

Verdict: a very good polar to read on the bus. If you are really into polars, buy it. I'll definitely read other stuff from Fred Vargas from now on. If you usually don't like that type of books, try it nevertheless. You might realize you like it!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Let's start by the beginning

First of all, I did not choose English as the language of my blog just for fun. I love English, and writing in English. Plus, it will be a good opportunity to practice a skill that should be useful in my future career. Also, it is true that nowadays, English is a global language and that most people can read it. However, I don't think that should matter since I will probably be the only one reading this blog except for some close friends. But who cares? Ifever some people I don't personally know end up here, let's French not be a reason not to communicate.

You might wonder why I named my blog The Shop around the Corner. I should say it is absolutely not an allusion to a specific Christmas movie in which a lady holds a bookstore around the corner. The lady reads stories to children in the shop and discusses literature with a penpal of hers. Of course, there is some love included in the plot. All great stuff. You ought to watch this. But the most important thing is that it talks about books. And I decided to do my own shop around the corner here. So unless I get really crazy with school stuff or forget that I have a blog, I should come here and tell you about the books I have been reading or intend to read. I also invited some friends to write here, because I know they love to read. So I hope they'll be willing to participate to my new fancy :D

Enjoy it and feel free to leave comments as long as it is not too mean!!!