19 posts tagged “sanary”
Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged—petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral—while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been an enchanting read for many years for myself, this story just doesn't grow old or become even the slightest bit dull with time.
Taking the reader in and out of London drawing rooms, to the heights of aestheticism, and to the depths of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not only a melodrama about moral corruption. Laced with bon mots and vivid depictions of upper-class refinement, it is also a fascinating look at the milieu of Wilde’s fin-de-siècle world and a manifesto of the creed “Art for Art’s Sake.”
The ever-quotable Wilde, who once delighted London with his scintillating plays, scandalized readers with this, his only novel. Upon publication, Dorian was condemned as dangerous, poisonous, stupid, vulgar, and immoral, and Wilde as a “driveling pedant.” The novel, in fact, was used against Wilde at his much-publicized trials for “gross indecency,” which led to his imprisonment and exile on the European continent. Even so, The Picture of Dorian Gray firmly established Wilde as one of the great voices of the Aesthetic movement, and endures as a classic that is as timeless as its hero.
Hi Everyone,Descriptions du produit
Byatt, one of the most distinguished contemporary British fiction writers, lends a definite knowledge of the field to her gathering of outstanding short stories from her native land, all written at some point between the mid-nineteenth century and the present. She includes necessary masters--Rudyard Kipling, Saki, D. H. Lawrence, and V. S. Pritchett, to name a few. But, bless her good taste and reading experience, she draws into the fold the work of several extremely talented writers of which few readers on this side of the Atlantic will have heard. Falling into this category are such writers as Malachi Whitaker, H. E. Bates, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Charlotte Mew. The difference between a Charles Dickens story and one by the very contemporary Ian McEwan is no difference at all in terms of talent with the form. Fans of the short story will be delighted by what they discover here. Brad Hooper
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8 internautes sur 8 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
 Attention, chronophage en vadrouille., 8 février 2008 |
Maria Ledoux
To be updated shortly ( need to go shopping)
How could one sum up Roald Dahl's book Kiss Kiss using just a couple of words, maybe macabre and brilliant would fit the bill quite perfectly, what do you think?
In each story there's a quiet zaniness that runs through them, all are crisp, surprising and smoothly written at every turn. There's a common theme in most of these stories, one of the baddies getting their comeuppance in the end using great literary and psychological foreplay at the same time.
Which of his stories will leave the most lasting memories?
Perhaps William and Mary, this is one of perversity being turned on its head. Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat was enjoyed by all, poor old Mrs Bixby, should we feel sorry for her, or not?
On another note, we didn't get the peanuts, however we did welcome two new members, Shirley and Gilberte to our group which was wonderful, thank you for joining us!
Summer's over for most of us, now is time to get back to our old routines, including our monthly chat around a book and a beer. The next date is listed below, and shortly I will be able to give you the dates for the whole year that will coincide (nearly) with the dates for our brand new film club. What am I talking about?
The film club was initially Anne's idea ( or was it Jacques...), anyway, the idea is that five or six times during the year, an English language film ( classic or modern, British, American et cetera...) would be shown here in the Mediathèque in Sanary, followed by a debate (in English) about the film.
The films would always be shown on a Saturday afternoon and we already have a list of films which we're allowed to show. Further information will be posted here, watch this space!
Our Literature club would always be on a Friday and the following day the film club (a part from one exception), this keeps things nice and simple.
Now down to the nitty gritty, as we're so organized this year, wouldn't it be great to choose our five books for the season 2008/2009? For our first meeting, I know we're all going to talk about our summer reads and that should be that should be fun, but lets put our thinking caps with regards to the other books that we might all enjoy. Maybe everyone could choose a couple of books, email to me and I'll print the titles out and we'll just do a lucky dip and the first five drawn would be the ones we'd read.
NEXT CHAT: Friday 26th September 2008
Place: L'Hotel des Bains, Sanary
Time: 19hrs
To finish off our first year on a high note, we have decided to picnic on Portissol beach and discuss everything American while eating good food and enjoying good company.
Friday 4th July
Portissol Beach
18h30
This is the first time we have chosen a book and then decided to change it, but there has to be a first time for everything!
We aren't reading Gilead anymore as many in the group just weren't enamoured by this book so the book for June is now the book for May.
There was a choice to be made between Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai OR Absurdistan: A Novel by Gary Shteyngart. I received one vote (apart from Jacques who suggested the book) for Absurdistan and three votes (excluding myself) for Hullabaloo. If the others who haven't voted yet, want to express their preference, please do so, but quickly, before Friday, otherwise the Hullobaloo wins.
With regards to our chat, it was mentioned that because our chat is an "English" chat group, shouldn't we just speak just English. I emailed everyone in the group and the feedback I got back was this:-
Our group should remain informal
Speaking French is fine when stuck for a word, or just towards the end of the evening relaxes the atmosphere, especially after the effort made to speak just English for a couple of hours, after all, we are just there to have fun, sharing books and beers and jokes.
I'll check my mails to make sure I haven't forgotten anything and update this post accordingly.
To read without understanding is like eating without digesting.
~ Edmund Burke ~
The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~
This morning I am writing out my long list of books to buy while in the UK. I am particularly interested in ESL books for children in primary schools. I am convinced that by introducing a graded English reading scheme in French schools can only be beneficial. Firstly, research shows that reading improves all aspects of language learning, not only vocabulary and fluency, but also listening, writing and reading skills. In short, pupils who read have a better chance of mastering English than pupils who don’t read.
Maybe a after school reading class would be fun, I wonder if children would be interested? Their parents certainly would be!
Let me know which one of these two books you would like to read for our last chat in June, before the long summer holidays.
Friday night was a all girls night, we were stood up by Alain and Jacques, however that didn't stop us taking about A Thousand Splendid Suns and sundries. We do have some chatterboxes in our midst, especially when we stop swap the language of Shakespeare for that of the language of Moliere, however that's enough diverging of the main topic of this post, which is the book.
I think I can speak for us all when I say that we all immensely enjoyed the book. This book teaches so much about the real Afghanistan, from the political turmoil in Afghanistan and the various factions vying for power to the appalling time had by women living under the Taliban regime, worst than I ever imagined, yet at the same time we learn of the natural beauty of Afghanistan and her fascinating history.
Friday 25th April
19hrs
Hotel des Bains
Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns
I have finished my copy of the book, so if anyone wants to borrow it during the holiday's, just let me know.
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