Lolcat question meme: Partie deux
1. What are your favorite French novels?
My usual answer is Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo. Those are the novels that got me into French, but two years in an intense French literature program have introduced me to new authors to love. My new literary obsession is autofiction, namely the work of Annie Ernaux. I've read Une femme, La Place and La Honte. La Honte is definitely my favorite of the books I have read. It is haunting to me in a way that is so very personal, which is the author's goal. She aims to create a literary "I" that transcends the novels limits and becomes a transpersonal "I."
I'm also very interested in reading more of Georges Perec, one of the Oulipo writers. (Hyperlinks fo those who haven't dedicated their lives to French literature.) I've got his autobiographical work W ou le souvenir de l'enfance and some of his avant-garde novels to read.
I really need to get back into reading fiction and autobiography. I've been reading non-fiction for the last month and I'm finally getting a bit bored of it.
2. If you could automatically acquire a new skill without needing to study, what would it be?
I'd like to be able to speak Spanish as well as I speak French. That would open up many possibilities for me in Chicago. Unfortunately, I can't get into Spanish. I got into French and Italian for the literature and the music, but Spanish doesn't have that same caché for me. I'm actually interested in learning German or Russian as my next linguistic project, but neither of those languages are as useful as Spanish. I suppose I just like to learn languages I see as having some sort of intellectual challenge hidden in them rather than learning one that is particularly useful. (Of course, if someone had point me in the direction of some great literature that I must read in Spanish, I might be persuaded to study the language. As it is, love Pablo Neruda, but I can get through his poems thanks to my Romance background.)
3. What do you love most about Chicago?
I love being able to walk/take public transit to almost anything I want to do. It's a lot like living in Paris in that respect. I live a mile from a knitting shop, coffee shops and restaurants. I can take a walk or go for a run by the lake after I babysit. Speaking of which, there are endless park options for babysitting. I go to about 4 parks regularly with Dana and all are within half a mile of her home.
4. What is one thing you wish you knew before your wedding?
I wish I had known how hot it was going to be that day. The air conditioner at the church couldn't keep up and everyone was burning up. I wish I had had the foresight to plan my wedding for the end of July so that I could have worked as an RA for GSP a second time. I picked the date almost two years in advance so I had no clue that I could have done that. I would have made $3,000 and no one would have been so hot. The end of July that year was remarkably chilly. Oh well. We survived the heat.
My usual answer is Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo. Those are the novels that got me into French, but two years in an intense French literature program have introduced me to new authors to love. My new literary obsession is autofiction, namely the work of Annie Ernaux. I've read Une femme, La Place and La Honte. La Honte is definitely my favorite of the books I have read. It is haunting to me in a way that is so very personal, which is the author's goal. She aims to create a literary "I" that transcends the novels limits and becomes a transpersonal "I."
I'm also very interested in reading more of Georges Perec, one of the Oulipo writers. (Hyperlinks fo those who haven't dedicated their lives to French literature.) I've got his autobiographical work W ou le souvenir de l'enfance and some of his avant-garde novels to read.
I really need to get back into reading fiction and autobiography. I've been reading non-fiction for the last month and I'm finally getting a bit bored of it.
2. If you could automatically acquire a new skill without needing to study, what would it be?
I'd like to be able to speak Spanish as well as I speak French. That would open up many possibilities for me in Chicago. Unfortunately, I can't get into Spanish. I got into French and Italian for the literature and the music, but Spanish doesn't have that same caché for me. I'm actually interested in learning German or Russian as my next linguistic project, but neither of those languages are as useful as Spanish. I suppose I just like to learn languages I see as having some sort of intellectual challenge hidden in them rather than learning one that is particularly useful. (Of course, if someone had point me in the direction of some great literature that I must read in Spanish, I might be persuaded to study the language. As it is, love Pablo Neruda, but I can get through his poems thanks to my Romance background.)
3. What do you love most about Chicago?
I love being able to walk/take public transit to almost anything I want to do. It's a lot like living in Paris in that respect. I live a mile from a knitting shop, coffee shops and restaurants. I can take a walk or go for a run by the lake after I babysit. Speaking of which, there are endless park options for babysitting. I go to about 4 parks regularly with Dana and all are within half a mile of her home.
4. What is one thing you wish you knew before your wedding?
I wish I had known how hot it was going to be that day. The air conditioner at the church couldn't keep up and everyone was burning up. I wish I had had the foresight to plan my wedding for the end of July so that I could have worked as an RA for GSP a second time. I picked the date almost two years in advance so I had no clue that I could have done that. I would have made $3,000 and no one would have been so hot. The end of July that year was remarkably chilly. Oh well. We survived the heat.