Book review: French Windows

Posted on June 10, 2024 by WordsAndPeace

📚 French Windows,
by Antoine Laurain
Translated by Louise Rogers Lalaurie
Dangereusement douce
was first published in French in May 2023
Literary fiction
Expected US publication: June 11, 2024
by Gallic Books
200 pages
Paperback received from the publisher for review

Antoine Laurain’s previous book translated into English, An Astronomer’s in Love, featured windows and apartments, as well as a secret.
We find these elements here again in French Windows, in a very different book, that will captivate you all the same.

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Book review: Clara Reads Proust

Posted on May 20, 2024 by WordsAndPeace

📚 Clara Reads Proust,
by Stéphane Carlier
Clara Lit Proust was first published in 2022
Translated from the French by Polly Mackintosh
French literary fiction/ Book about books
US publication date: May 21, 2024
by Gallic Books
176 pages
Paperback received from the publisher
for review

As Alain de Botton told his readers, Proust can change your life (cf. How Proust Can Change Your Life, 1997).
In Clara Reads Proust, Stéphane Carlier features a young woman who is the perfect illustration of de Botton’s various chapters, such as How to Love Life Today, How to Read For Yourself, or How to be Happy in Love.

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Book review: Second Best

Posted on September 6, 2023 by WordsAndPeace

Second Best,
by David Foenkinos
Numéro deux
was first published in 2022
Translated from the French by
Megan Jones
Gallic Books
US release date 9/7/2023
224 pages
Literary fiction
Goodreads

In the world of literature, it’s the unique and innovative plots that stand out and captivate readers. David Foenkinos has a knack for these, as he showed us already in The Mystery of Henri Pick and in The Martins.
Second Best (Numéro deux in the original French), his latest novel to be translated into English, masterfully follows along these lines. Click to continue reading