I've always wanted to learn French, but the desire to want to read your works when you do publish has given me more motivation. You posted a small excerpt on Tumblr a few months back, and, from what I could understand, it was so, so beautiful.
L'oiseau de l'orient de tawfiq el hakim, c'est un récit autobiographique d'un auteur égyptien des années 1930 , ça se passe à paris et je sens que tu vas l'aimer en tant qu'auteur. Il y'a aussi Alaa El- Aswany qui est très critiqué par le pouvoir égyptien actuel mais qui a des écrits très intéressants. Pour la poésie il y a un auteur libanais qui s'appelle Elia Abou Madi et un autre qui s'appelle Khalil Moutran.
Si jamais tu veux d'autres propositions ou si tu as des questions (pour la littérature égyptienne), je peux y répondre puisque je suis égyptienne et je vis en Égypte :) J'espère que tu aimes ces auteurs!
"L'Institut de remise à l'heure des montres et pendules" by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar is one of my all time favorite books. In my opinion, it's the best piece of Turkish literature. I'd highly recommend it. Great video as always:)
Emy, ( this may be a bit long) but as an arab the Arab writers and books I would strongly recommend are: - Ghassan Kanafani - 'Men in the sun and other Palestinian stories.' Which I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn about Palestine and shows their beliefs, attitudes and day-to-day struggle. - Naguib Mahfouz - 'The Cairo trilogy' - a story of a Muslim family in Egypt under British occupation in the early decades of the 20th century. ... Another Egyptian author I would recommend is Sonallah Ibrahim.. And a book by him called 'stealth' which isn't as well known as his other works. And now on to some female writers and works that I personally enjoy for their feminism and cynicism are: - Layla Balbaaki - " I live " which was sadly met at the time (1958) with hostility and controversy. - Hoda Barakat - "the tiller of waters" and "the stone of laughter" - Duna Ghali- " orbits of loneliness"
I'm studying for the Russian literature exam in the moment so I read lots of books from Russian school program. So far I enjoyed the most (beside Dostoevsky and Tolstoy who are my favorites) "Oblomov" of Goncharov, "And quiet flows the Done" of Sholohov, Andrey Platonov (who must be quiet impossible to translate though, cause the most interesting thing about him is what he was doing to the language, he was writing in a very unique and special way, describing and expressing things by combining words and making sentenses which sound very bizarre to the Russian ear. And he created a very strange (and I'd say quite surreal) universe of untiutopic communistic world, at least in two books I read: "The Foundation Pit" and "Chevengur"), also I like Bulgakov ("The Master and Margarita"), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (I read "Cancer Ward" and "Matryona's Place" but there are more well-known works like "The First Circle" and "The Gulag Archipelago". This person went through a lot. I believe reading him must be very interesting for those especially who's interested in learning more about hard parts of Russian reality of Soviet times), "The minor" of Denis Fonvizin, "Woe from Wit" of Griboedov. "Fathers and sons" of Turgenev and "A hero of our time" of Lermontov are considered to be very worth to read as well. The last one is one of the favorite Russian books of my brother, maybe the most favorite, beside Andrey Platonov whom he loves a lot as well. And if speaking of poetry I can't help loving Iosif Brodsky but his poetry must be even less possible to translate than Andrey Platonov's works.
As far as Arabic literature is concerned you can give Tahar Ben Jalloun a try! He's francophone ,so you won't have problems with the translation and the language. I'd also recommend Ghassen Kanafeni. Most of his works are translated.
The most recent books I've read are Brave new world by Aldous Huxley (classic dystopia centered around a future where they have eliminated situations where unpleasant feelings arise, making the population docile and content and narrowminded, it was really good at the end), The secret history by Donna Tartt (I really loved that one, it's about a murder at a university and an elite group of students who study ancient greek, its filled with suspense and nice scenery) and Min kamp 3 by Karl-Ove Knausgård (norwegian author, self-biography type deal, interesting albeit a bit negative sometimes? he's good at describing himself in a less than flattering light, which i can appreciate)
Speaking of foreign literature, here's a suggestion from my country: it's an Indonesian literature "Bumi Manusia" by Prampoedya Ananta Toer in english version it's called "This Earth of Mankind" it's the first book of a tetralogy. It's one of the most popular Indonesian literature and it is set in the late dutch colonial rule in Indonesia. It manage to portray the situation back then vividly, on the effects of colonialization and social structures. Maybe you might be interested? fun fact: the author wrote this whilst in prison and the book was banned from Indonesia until it got released again but after having been translated in 33 language worldwide..
I finished reading "It's a dirty world" by Charles Bukowski and "The name of the rose" by Umberto Eco. I'm currently reading "To the lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf.
i haven't been reading lately, but im reading The artist's way and The Confessions by Rousseau still. I do love individual perspectives in detail, so The Confessions is good, after that probably read about Frida Kahlo.
Great reads :) Rousseau is, in my opinion, one of the greatest french author of all times. I've discovered so much about human nature and my own self by reading the Confessions and Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire (not sure how its called in english). For the last four years of my life I've disciplined myself to read some pages of Rousseau before going to bed. As a result, I've been through the Confessions an unholy amount of times :p I recommend this to everyone who wants to end their day with an introspective touch :)
Hello. I am glad that you're reading for Najib Mhafoz and Gasan kanafany , but I think you we're not lucky with the translation of Gasan's story his style of writing is full of similes his books are hard to translate. You should read for Ghada Al Samman she is a Syrian writer and her books are amazing ❤.
hi there✌ i was just wondering have you read some hispanic or latin literature??? because i think there are so many amazing authors and styles to choose!! My favorite has to be Julio Cortazar, from Argentina, such an amazing work such a subtle narrative and it focus on daily problems or situations and transforms them in such a magical and critical experiences !! there are more like him !! just give it a try 😉
Intéressant! Je suis entrain de lire Anna Karénine! Concernant la littérature nord africaine je te conseil les livres de Yasmina Kharda, notamment "L'attentat".
you should read the brothers karamazov by dostoievski. he is an increadible autor but really difficult to understand if you have not read previous books about him. but once you understand him and enter his world.... it's amazing
I finished The Bell Jar at the beginning of the month and I couldn't start anything else eversince. I guess I need some time to "process"... gonna fail my 50 books in a year resolution, probably, but who cares? I am so glad you enjoy Russian literature, have read Idiot by Dostoyevsky? I know it's quite mainstream, but I like this one best out of his works, really. Love recent reads so much
You could give a try to The Enchanted Desna by Ukrainian writer & director Alexander Dovzhenko if you find the translation. It reminds me a lot of Dandelion Wine, and, oh dear, I LOVE Dandelion Wine!
Merci de partager avec nous vos lectures. Pour la littérature arabe , je vous suggère "Gabran Khalil Gabran,". Il a écrit en anglais et en arabe et il est assez respecté dans le monde littéraire arabophone comme anglais . un de ses livres " the prophet " : الرسول .
Hi Emi, I love your recent reads videos! I am currently reading Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, it is a surrealist novel and it is full of interior monologue (my favourite kind of novel). Also, it's partially set in Paris and it breaks with traditional writing style. Love from Argentina.
salut! since you are teaching French do you think you could give me a quick explanation on how to know when to use imparfait or passé composé? we are learning it in class and I don't understand the difference. if anyone could help also that would be great! merci :)
Imparfait would be used more for a non-finished action in the past instead of passé composé. Also the "imparfait" is more back in the past than the passé composé. For example, you would say : quand j'étais petite je faisais de la danse classique (when I was little I did ballet) those are actions from the past that lasted. You would say : hier je suis allé au cinéma (yesterday I went to the movies) this action was quite recent and had a clear start and end. Hope it was a little useful!
It's not your kind of book at all, but I've just read 'Chasing The Scream' by Johann Hari about the failure of the so-called war on drugs. Excellent journalistic writing, impeccably researched, shows you the truth behind the political rhetoric about drugs. On the subject of surrealism, I'm a big fan of surreal art, particularly Magritte and Dali. One thing that annoys me is that people think 'surreal' just means weird, when it actually means more than real; it's heightened reality: you take something out of its usual context in order to see it in a new way. p.s. I read Notes From Underground and I loved it. Maybe because I'm quite a pessimistic person and it spoke to me.
Have you read latin american literature? I think you should give it a try. What about Cortazar or Benedetti? Let me know if you find that interesting and thank you for the video, I'm just thinking about some russian literature now.
Hey, I rewatched your video today and every time I see you talking about books and literature, I remember a friend of mine who lived in France (Paris more specifically) for about 10 years and he would always tell me that French people read a lot. Probably much more than the rest of Europe. Do you agree? Do people in France tend to read as much (or at least as half) as you do? :) Thank you
i really enjoy rumi! he's a persian poet. very eloquent and charming
I've always wanted to learn French, but the desire to want to read your works when you do publish has given me more motivation. You posted a small excerpt on Tumblr a few months back, and, from what I could understand, it was so, so beautiful.
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. Really enjoyed reading it.
Your videos truly inspire me, kisses from Spain
L'oiseau de l'orient de tawfiq el hakim, c'est un récit autobiographique d'un auteur égyptien des années 1930 , ça se passe à paris et je sens que tu vas l'aimer en tant qu'auteur. Il y'a aussi Alaa El- Aswany qui est très critiqué par le pouvoir égyptien actuel mais qui a des écrits très intéressants. Pour la poésie il y a un auteur libanais qui s'appelle Elia Abou Madi et un autre qui s'appelle Khalil Moutran.
+Malak Medhat ah merci beaucoup! j'avais surtout envie de découvrir la littérature égyptienne en plus!
Si jamais tu veux d'autres propositions ou si tu as des questions (pour la littérature égyptienne), je peux y répondre puisque je suis égyptienne et je vis en Égypte :) J'espère que tu aimes ces auteurs!
+Antastesia.
I'm reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, I love it, I always have vivid dreams after I read a chapter before bed.
I love your recent reads because we read a lot of the same literature, and I don't personally know many people that enjoy the classics!
"L'Institut de remise à l'heure des montres et pendules" by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar is one of my all time favorite books. In my opinion, it's the best piece of Turkish literature. I'd highly recommend it. Great video as always:)
Emy, ( this may be a bit long) but as an arab the Arab writers and books I would strongly recommend are:
- Ghassan Kanafani - 'Men in the sun and other Palestinian stories.' Which I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn about Palestine and shows their beliefs, attitudes and day-to-day struggle.
- Naguib Mahfouz - 'The Cairo trilogy' - a story of a Muslim family in Egypt under British occupation in the early decades of the 20th century. ... Another Egyptian author I would recommend is Sonallah Ibrahim.. And a book by him called 'stealth' which isn't as well known as his other works.
And now on to some female writers and works that I personally enjoy for their feminism and cynicism are:
- Layla Balbaaki - " I live " which was sadly met at the time (1958) with hostility and controversy.
- Hoda Barakat - "the tiller of waters" and "the stone of laughter"
- Duna Ghali- " orbits of loneliness"
+Y A.l thank you so much for your comment! i'll check them out i'm very excited to read their works!
+Antastesia No problem! :) also Emy i almost forgot, you should check out Nizar Qabbani if you have the chance!
I'm studying for the Russian literature exam in the moment so I read lots of books from Russian school program. So far I enjoyed the most (beside Dostoevsky and Tolstoy who are my favorites) "Oblomov" of Goncharov, "And quiet flows the Done" of Sholohov, Andrey Platonov (who must be quiet impossible to translate though, cause the most interesting thing about him is what he was doing to the language, he was writing in a very unique and special way, describing and expressing things by combining words and making sentenses which sound very bizarre to the Russian ear. And he created a very strange (and I'd say quite surreal) universe of untiutopic communistic world, at least in two books I read: "The Foundation Pit" and "Chevengur"), also I like Bulgakov ("The Master and Margarita"), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (I read "Cancer Ward" and "Matryona's Place" but there are more well-known works like "The First Circle" and "The Gulag Archipelago". This person went through a lot. I believe reading him must be very interesting for those especially who's interested in learning more about hard parts of Russian reality of Soviet times), "The minor" of Denis Fonvizin, "Woe from Wit" of Griboedov. "Fathers and sons" of Turgenev and "A hero of our time" of Lermontov are considered to be very worth to read as well. The last one is one of the favorite Russian books of my brother, maybe the most favorite, beside Andrey Platonov whom he loves a lot as well. And if speaking of poetry I can't help loving Iosif Brodsky but his poetry must be even less possible to translate than Andrey Platonov's works.
Im reading the lost world by Conan DOyle and Im enjoying it so much
As far as Arabic literature is concerned you can give Tahar Ben Jalloun a try! He's francophone ,so you won't have problems with the translation and the language. I'd also recommend Ghassen Kanafeni. Most of his works are translated.
I've nearly finished King's 'It'. Loving it.
your hair looks amazing, and I love your recent reads videos.
I read a fanfiction to relax myself, and then I read 2 books in spanish by a colombian author called Maria Fernanda Heredia.
The most recent books I've read are Brave new world by Aldous Huxley (classic dystopia centered around a future where they have eliminated situations where unpleasant feelings arise, making the population docile and content and narrowminded, it was really good at the end), The secret history by Donna Tartt (I really loved that one, it's about a murder at a university and an elite group of students who study ancient greek, its filled with suspense and nice scenery) and Min kamp 3 by Karl-Ove Knausgård (norwegian author, self-biography type deal, interesting albeit a bit negative sometimes? he's good at describing himself in a less than flattering light, which i can appreciate)
Speaking of foreign literature, here's a suggestion from my country: it's an Indonesian literature "Bumi Manusia" by Prampoedya Ananta Toer in english version it's called "This Earth of Mankind" it's the first book of a tetralogy. It's one of the most popular Indonesian literature and it is set in the late dutch colonial rule in Indonesia. It manage to portray the situation back then vividly, on the effects of colonialization and social structures. Maybe you might be interested?
fun fact: the author wrote this whilst in prison and the book was banned from Indonesia until it got released again but after having been translated in 33 language worldwide..
reading now alchemy of pushing hands
it would be great if you did more french lessons :) especially concerning the use of tenses and differences between them
love you
I finished reading "It's a dirty world" by Charles Bukowski and "The name of the rose" by Umberto Eco. I'm currently reading "To the lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf.
i haven't been reading lately, but im reading The artist's way and The Confessions by Rousseau still. I do love individual perspectives in detail, so The Confessions is good, after that probably read about Frida Kahlo.
Great reads :) Rousseau is, in my opinion, one of the greatest french author of all times. I've discovered so much about human nature and my own self by reading the Confessions and Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire (not sure how its called in english). For the last four years of my life I've disciplined myself to read some pages of Rousseau before going to bed. As a result, I've been through the Confessions an unholy amount of times :p I recommend this to everyone who wants to end their day with an introspective touch :)
+Chloé Shooner-Brassard I'm sure the french version is better, but i have to read it in English for now lol.
i'm reading l'existentialisme est un humanisme by Sartre for my philosophy class
Hello.
I am glad that you're reading for Najib Mhafoz and Gasan kanafany , but I think you we're not lucky with the translation of Gasan's story his style of writing is full of similes his books are hard to translate.
You should read for Ghada Al Samman she is a Syrian writer and her books are amazing ❤.
Have you read 100 years of Solitude?
"House of Spirits" by Isabel Allende I think you would really enjoy !!
Le prophete de Gibran Khalil Gibran est un livre à ne pas manquer je trouve, ou même la majorité de ses écrits.
Great video. Thanks. Can you pls add the names of the books in the description info.
hi there✌ i was just wondering have you read some hispanic or latin literature??? because i think there are so many amazing authors and styles to choose!! My favorite has to be Julio Cortazar, from Argentina, such an amazing work such a subtle narrative and it focus on daily problems or situations and transforms them in such a magical and critical experiences !! there are more like him !! just give it a try 😉
Intéressant! Je suis entrain de lire Anna Karénine! Concernant la littérature nord africaine je te conseil les livres de Yasmina Kharda, notamment "L'attentat".
you should read the brothers karamazov by dostoievski. he is an increadible autor but really difficult to understand if you have not read previous books about him. but once you understand him and enter his world.... it's amazing
I finished The Bell Jar at the beginning of the month and I couldn't start anything else eversince. I guess I need some time to "process"... gonna fail my 50 books in a year resolution, probably, but who cares?
I am so glad you enjoy Russian literature, have read Idiot by Dostoyevsky? I know it's quite mainstream, but I like this one best out of his works, really.
Love recent reads so much
You could give a try to The Enchanted Desna by Ukrainian writer & director Alexander Dovzhenko if you find the translation.
It reminds me a lot of Dandelion Wine, and, oh dear, I LOVE Dandelion Wine!
Merci de partager avec nous vos lectures. Pour la littérature arabe , je vous suggère "Gabran Khalil Gabran,". Il a écrit en anglais et en arabe et il est assez respecté dans le monde littéraire arabophone comme anglais . un de ses livres " the prophet " : الرسول .
Hi Emi, I love your recent reads videos! I am currently reading Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, it is a surrealist novel and it is full of interior monologue (my favourite kind of novel). Also, it's partially set in Paris and it breaks with traditional writing style.
Love from Argentina.
salut! since you are teaching French do you think you could give me a quick explanation on how to know when to use imparfait or passé composé? we are learning it in class and I don't understand the difference. if anyone could help also that would be great! merci :)
Imparfait would be used more for a non-finished action in the past instead of passé composé. Also the "imparfait" is more back in the past than the passé composé. For example, you would say : quand j'étais petite je faisais de la danse classique (when I was little I did ballet) those are actions from the past that lasted.
You would say : hier je suis allé au cinéma (yesterday I went to the movies) this action was quite recent and had a clear start and end. Hope it was a little useful!
Wow, yeah those examples did help, thanks!
En littérature égyptienne, je peux te recommander Albert Cossery..
Hello Emy, Have you ever read the book thief? Just wondering it is very good in my opinion, but I don't know if it's your style. Let me know!
It's not your kind of book at all, but I've just read 'Chasing The Scream' by Johann Hari about the failure of the so-called war on drugs. Excellent journalistic writing, impeccably researched, shows you the truth behind the political rhetoric about drugs. On the subject of surrealism, I'm a big fan of surreal art, particularly Magritte and Dali. One thing that annoys me is that people think 'surreal' just means weird, when it actually means more than real; it's heightened reality: you take something out of its usual context in order to see it in a new way. p.s. I read Notes From Underground and I loved it. Maybe because I'm quite a pessimistic person and it spoke to me.
Now that you mention magical realism. have you read anything from Gabriel Garcia Marquez? If so What's your opinion.
interesting
What are your favorite English books ? :)
Have you read latin american literature? I think you should give it a try. What about Cortazar or Benedetti? Let me know if you find that interesting and thank you for the video, I'm just thinking about some russian literature now.
Please make a goodreads account! X
Hey, I rewatched your video today and every time I see you talking about books and literature, I remember a friend of mine who lived in France (Paris more specifically) for about 10 years and he would always tell me that French people read a lot. Probably much more than the rest of Europe. Do you agree? Do people in France tend to read as much (or at least as half) as you do? :)
Thank you
as tu déjà lu Le liseur de Bernhard Schlink?
Antastesia do you have a Goodreads account?
yay foreign literature :)
do you have any movie that you recommend too?
+Ricky Gboss one answer is better than no answer ^^ thanks
I'd rather keep reading your upper half.
you haven't been reading that much??? ahahaha cute
Im reading the lost world by Conan DOyle and Im enjoying it so much