Episode 2: La Fille de Maggie

Searching for Justice: Proust and the Dreyfus Affair – Les Bookworms

We're back on the Proust train. This episode covers the first chapter of Volume 3 – The Guermantes Way (Le Côté de Guermantes). We focus on the Dreyfus Affair and its role in French society at the time of Proust and today.

1. Searching for Justice: Proust and the Dreyfus Affair 40:50
2. Through the Pages of Time 55:01
3. In Search of Lost Podcasts: Les Bookworms Revival 28:08
4. 2 Down 5 to Go: Reflections on Volume II of Proust 30:07
5. A mix of gumption and courage: Paris memoirs 26:56

Aperçu du livre

Ce livre raconte la vie de Maggie, une jeune fille qui habite dans un petit village en Québec, travaillant dans le magasin de semence de son père. Elle rencontre un garçon français Gabriel, et ils tombent amoureux malgré les objections de son père anglophone. Maggie tombe enceinte après une agression terrifiant de son oncle et elle est obligé de mettre sa fille en adoption pour éviter l’humiliation de sa famille. Le roman raconte les vies sépare de Maggie et sa fille Elodie et leurs efforts de réconcilier. 

Pays

le Canada

Les thèmes déterminants

1. Les parents et les enfants
2. La religion (le catholisme)
3. Québec anglophone contre Québec francophone

Comment ce livre raviver, approfondir, ou contester ton idée de la francophonie?

Oui!

Episode 1: The Home for Unwanted Girls

Overview

The book follows Maggie who is a young girl living in Quebec helping her English-speaking father run his seed shop in a rural town. Maggie meets French-speaking Gabriel, and they fall in teenage love however they are banned from seeing each other due to her father’s prejudice against French speakers. She becomes pregnant after a terrifying assault and her family forces her to put the child up for adoption. The novel flips between her attempt to build a life and her daughter Elodie’s tragic and abusive childhood. 

Country

Canada (Quebec)

Overarching Themes

1. Parents vs. Children
2. Religion
3. English vs. French

How does this book question the idea of the Francophonie? (Does it go against the grain? Does it stay stereotypical?) 

Yes!

Welcome to les Bookworms

Check out our first ever podcast on Les Bookworms Pod! This is the podcast that explores the diversity of the Francophonie – come travel with us through dozens of countries and listen to over 300 million voices. This week we introduce ourselves in English and explain our motivations for starting this literary and Francophile podcast. We release episodes in both English and French so stay tuned for our introduction en français si vous êtes intéressé!

Listen here!

Normally, we will release an outline of our discussion to help you follow along with the book. Our first read together will be “A Home for Unwanted Girls” by Joanna Goodman or “La Fille de Maggie”.

A bientôt!

Helen & Miranda

Coucou tout le monde! Bienvenue!

Coucou tout le monde, c’est les Bookworms !

Salut – c’est Helen. Je viens d’Indiana aux Etats-Unis, mais j’habite en Europe depuis la fin de mes études. 

Et, c’est Miranda, née et grandi à Toronto. J’habite et travaille à Ottawa. 

Ceci est le podcast qui explore la diversité de la francophonie – voyagez avec nous au travers une dizaines des pays et écoutez plus de 300 millions de voix. 

C’est notre moment de faire un petit rappel à penser des autres. Nous sommes anglophones et nous savons qu’on parle avec un accent. Mais ce podcast donne une opportunité de parler et créer une communauté franglaise ! 

On fera des erreurs et on va oublier la bonne liaison, mais nous essayons de nous améliorer chaque épisode. Nous espérons que nous donnons la confiance aux autres pour pratiquer parler dans une autre langue. Ce n’est pas toujours facile mais ce n’est pas grave ! Essayez ! Peu importe que vous veniez de commencer le français ou l’anglais ou plusieurs d’années dans ce monde bilingue, n’oubliez pas que la langue et la culture sont le miroir de ce que nous sommes. Il y a toujours des nouvelles histoires à partager et à découvrir. 

Merci d’avoir écouté notre premier podcast en français. La prochaine fois sur les Bookworms « La Fille de Maggie » ou « A Home for Unwanted Girls » par Joanna Goodman.  A bientôt ! 

Écoutez ici!

Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

Author

William Alexander

Back Cover

“William Alexander is more than a Francophile. He wants to be French. There’s one small obstacle though: he doesn’t speak la langue française. In Flirting with French, Alexander sets out to conquer the language he loves. But will it love him back?

Alexander eats, breathes, and sleeps French (even conjugating in his dreams). He travels to France, where mistranslations send him bicycling off in all sorts of wrong directions, and he nearly drowns in an immersion class in Provence, where, faced with the riddle of masculine breasts, feminine beards, and a turkey cutlet of uncertain gender, he starts to wonder whether he should’ve taken up golf instead of French. While playing hooky from grammar lessons and memory techniques, Alexander reports on the riotous workings of the Académie française, the four-hundred-year-old institution charged with keeping the language pure; explores the science of human communication, learning why it’s harder for fifty-year-olds to learn a second language than it is for five-year-olds; and, frustrated with his progress, explores an IBM research lab, where he trades barbs with a futuristic hand-held translator.

Does he succeed in becoming fluent? Readers will be as surprised as Alexander is to discover that, in a fascinating twist, studying French may have had a far greater impact on his life than actually learning to speak it ever would.”

Our Thoughts

H: I picked this up on my first trip to Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. William Alexander goes in deep to learning French which I respect. Sometimes the actual language learning process is described as effortless and natural. I would beg to differ as would William. His struggles are so relatable. I commend his efforts and the extensive lengths he goes to learn a language and culture.

Page Count: 212

The Bonjour Effect: The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed

Author

Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau

Back Cover

“Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow spent a decade traveling back and forth to Paris as well as living there. Yet one important lesson never seemed to sink in: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language. In The Bonjour Effect Jean-Benoît and Julie chronicle the lessons they learned after they returned to France to live, for a year, with their twin daughters. They offer up all the lessons they learned and explain, in a book as fizzy as a bottle of the finest French champagne, the most important aspect of all: the French don’t communicate, they converse. To understand and speak French well, one must understand that French conversation runs on a set of rules that go to the heart of French culture. Why do the French like talking about “the decline of France”? Why does broaching a subject like money end all discussion? Why do the French become so aroused debating the merits and qualities of their own language? Through encounters with school principals, city hall civil servants, gas company employees, old friends and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoît explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It’s about being interesting. After reading The Bonjour Effect, even readers with a modicum of French language ability will be able to hold their own the next time they step into a bistro on the Left Bank.”

Our Thoughts

H: This was gifted to me before I headed over my first year in France. I found it to be an interesting take on French society and the little tidbits on how to communicate and more important how NOT to do so. Always saying bonjour is such a true theme to live by especially in such an egalitarian society as France. Even when I hike in the Vosges, I always say bonjour to whoever I cross on the path. Such a good look into the various aspects of French life.

Page Count: 320

French Women Don’t Get Fat

Author

Mireille Guiliano

Back Cover

“The #1 national bestseller that launched a fabulous French Revolution about how to approach healthy living: the ultimate non-diet book—now with more recipes.

French women don’t get fat, even though they enjoy bread and pastry, wine, and regular three-course meals. Unlocking the simple secrets of this “French paradox”—how they enjoy food while staying slim and healthy—Mireille Guiliano gives us a charming, inspiring take on health and eating for our times. For anyone who has slipped out of her Zone, missed the flight to South Beach, or accidentally let a carb pass her lips, here is a positive way to stay trim, a culture’s most precious secrets recast for the twenty-first century. A life of wine, bread—even chocolate—without girth or guilt? Pourquoi pas?“

Our Thoughts

H: I loved listening to this as an audiobook with Mireille’s sweet French accented voice giving me recipes, delicious tissanes, and French specialties to try. Thanks to this my obsession with hazelnut cream in my yogurt started. I would say that it isn’t representative of the entire French population, but it offers an interesting look in moderation and the actual enjoyment of food as a staple of many French people’s lives.

Page Count: 304

What the French

Author

Oliver Magny

Back Cover

“In France, the simple act of eating bread is an exercise in creative problem solving and attempting to spell requires a degree of masochism. But that’s just how the French like it—and in WTF, Olivier Magny reveals the France only the French know. From the latest trends in baby names, to the religiously observed division of church and state, prepare yourself for an insider’s look at French culture that is surprising, insightful, and chock full of bons mots.”

Our Thoughts

H: This had me laughing and nodding my head the entire time. The blog style book covers all sorts of little French eccentricities that make living in France fun and sometimes challenging. Definitely a hilarious guide to French culture written by a Parisian! I’ve passed this book around to non-French and French alike!

Page Count: 288

Giovanni’s Room

Author

James Baldwin

Back Cover

“Baldwin’s haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two.

Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.”

Our Thoughts

H: This book came highly recommended and appears to be making rounds all over the Paris sphere at the moment even though it was released in 1956. Similar to many other books about Paris, Baldwin offers an exploration into why the city has been a safe haven for so many and continues to be. I did enjoy the more seeding representations of arrondissements that are now known for very different things. Additionally, the openness of the confusion surrounding sexuality in the book was really refreshing because it came across so authentically. It let you into David’s mind from the very first pages.

M:

Page Count: 176

The New Paris

Author

Lindsey Tramuta

Back Cover

“The city long-adored for its medieval beauty, old-timey brasseries, and corner cafés has even more to offer today. In the last few years, a flood of new ideas and creative locals has infused a once-static, traditional city with a new open-minded sensibility and energy. Journalist Lindsey Tramuta offers detailed insight into the rapidly evolving worlds of food, wine, pastry, coffee, beer, fashion, and design in the delightful city of Paris. Tramuta puts the spotlight on the new trends and people that are making France’s capital a more whimsical, creative, vibrant, and curious place to explore than its classical reputation might suggest. With hundreds of striking photographs that capture this fresh, animated spirit—and a curated directory of Tramuta’s favorite places to eat, drink, stay, and shop—The New Paris shows us the storied City of Light as never before.”

Our Thoughts

H: The photography in Lindsey Tramuta’s first book is really good. Having read The New Parisienne first, I found this book to be less exciting as it focused more specifically on the new restaurants, cafes, and bars arriving in Paris (I was so inspired by the women and ideas highlighted in the sequel). I definitely made some notes on where to visit when in Paris and even made it two places when I visited the 11th thanks to her!

Page Count: 272