50 books challenge: June 2010

[kerydwenn]

This month was definitely placed under the sign of reading, between having less papers to grade, less classes to prepare, and no more classes at the IUFM. So I read. And drew a little, and took part in tabletop RPGs. But mostly read.

• Samuel Richardson - Pamela: Totally spoiled for me about 1.5 years ago, due to stupidly reading the introduction to the book, which also sported a summary of each letter. I had to wait until recently to 'forget' about this and be able to start reading it again.
• Henry James - The Spoils of Poynton:
Absolutely delicious.

• William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying: Not Faulkner's best, but its various tones, between comedy aspects and darker outcomings, make it quite interesting to read.
• Ruth Rendell - A Judgment In Stone: You know how it's going to end from the beginning. However, what matters here is the voyage, not so much the destination.
• Elizabeth George - With No One As Witness: Typically the kind of book I'd never have opened, hadn't my uncle lent it to me, given the piss poor job at a summary that was done for it. Then I started reading, and couldn't let it go. And then I bought two other volumes of Inspector Lynley's investigations. This tells a lot.
• Bran Cohen - Front of the Class: A.K.A. yes, you can be a teacher with Tourette's syndrome. His is much more pronounced than mine, on top of it, so it's definitely possible. A strong lesson in how not to let stuff like that get in the way of your life.
• Cécile Duquenne - Entrechats: Led to two very short nights of sleep, since I couldn't stop reading. In the end, my only real reproach would be some typos (that kind of things tend to catch my eye too easily, although it's technically not essential stuff).
• Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita: Interesting and very well written, but it confirmed me in my feeling that I wouldn't have wanted to study it for the CAPES/Agregation. Somehow, it's terribly disturbing to read about paedophile thoughts and tell yourself "but he tells about it so well, it's beautiful".
• Truman Capote - In Cold Blood: Definitely not my favourite style of writing. However, the story of that murder and of the killers' odyssey is an interesting one.
• Myriam Morand - Planète Mirapole: Féliane's story. I particularly liked some of her characters, such as Axelle or Andreanne. I tend to think, however, that it'd have deserved to be set in two volumes - one about Mirapole per se, and a second one for the Eleatell arc, because the latter seemed a little 'rushed'.
• Anthony Hope - The Prisoner of Zenda: I read it a first time when I was in middle school, in French, in an abridged edition (which is particulary stupid, given how short this book is, for starters!). I definitely needed to read it now, with my cultural and literary background as a former student in English college, to properly appreciate it. (Rupert Hentzau. No, really. Rupert. <3)
• Nick Tosches - In the Hand of Dante: I had to translate a few paragraphs from that book last year, to prepare the CAPES. I don't so much as agree with the "Name of the Rose meets the Sopranos" tag on the cover, because it's a little misleading, at least for the Sopranos part (I mean, it's definitely not as developed as this sentence would lead you to imagine). The N of the R bit, though, is more accurate. And the two unfolding parallel stories definitely deserve to be read with a critical analysis mindset.

Total: 34/50

Unless some catastrophe happens (let's not jinx myself), I think I'm really on my way to complete this challenge by the end of the year-and even earlier than that. ^_^