Hold still – Nina LaCour

16 mercredi Août 2017

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Romans étrangers

Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, hold still, idées de lecture, lecture, Livre, Nina LaCour, Penguin, quoi lire, roman, Speak

Les premières phrases

» I watch drops of water fall from the ends of my hair. They streak down my towel, puddle on the sofa cushion. My heart pounds so hard I can feel it in my ears.

“Sweetheart. Listen.”

Mom says Ingrid’s name and I start to hum, not the melody to a song, just one drawn-out note. I know it makes me seem crazy, I know it won’t make anything change, but it’s better than crying, it’s better than screaming, it’s better than listening to what they’re telling me.

Something is smashing my chest—an anchor, gravity. Soon I’ll cave in on myself. I stumble upstairs and yank on the jeans and tank top I wore yesterday. Then I’m out the door, up the street, around the corner to the bus stop. Dad calls my name but I don’t shout back. Instead, I step onto the bus just as its doors are shutting. I find a seat in the back and ride away, through Los Cerros and through the next town, until I’m on an unfamiliar street, and that’s where I get off. I sit on the bench at the bus stop, try to slow my breathing. The light here is different, bluer. A smiling mom with a baby in a stroller glides past me. A tree branch moves in the breeze. I try to be as light as air. »

Circonstances de lecture

Parce que j’avais adoré « We are Okay » du même auteur.

Impressions

Nina LaCour sait décrire les émotions avec une grande justesse. Comme dans « We are Okay », on se met très vite à la place de son héroïne et on a bien du mal à lâcher ce roman. Ici, Caitlin essaie de reprendre le chemin du lycée après le suicide de sa meilleure amie, Ingrid. Reprendre goût à la vie après une telle perte relève du parcours du combattant. Et lorsque Caitlin découvre le journal d’Ingrid, caché sous son lit, elle commence petit à petit à entrevoir la face cachée de sa meilleure amie. Une très belle histoire d’amitié et de survie.

Un passage parmi d’autres

I get down on the carpet to look under my bed. I stick my arm under and feel around, find a couple mismatched socks, and something I don’t recognize—hard and flat and dusty. I pull it out, thinking maybe it’s a yearbook from elementary school, and then I see it and my heart stops.

Ingrid’s journal.

For some reason, I feel afraid. It’s like I’m split down the middle and one half of me wants to open it more than I’ve ever wanted to do anything. The other half is so scared. I can’t stop shaking.

Did it get kicked under the bed one night by accident?

Did she hide it?

I stare at it in my hands forever, just feeling its weight, looking at the place where one Wite-Out wing is starting to flake off. Then, once my hands are steadied, I open to the first page. It’s a drawing of her face—yellow hair; blue eyes; small, crooked smile. She’s looking straight ahead. Birds fly across the background. She drew them blurry, to show movement, and across the top she wrote, Me on a Sunday Morning.

I turn the page.

As I read, I can hear Ingrid’s voice, hushed and fast, like she’s telling me secrets.

Nina LaCour – Hold still – 2010 (Speak)

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We are okay – Nina LaCour

21 dimanche Mai 2017

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Romans étrangers

≈ 1 Commentaire

Mots-clefs

conseils de lecture, Critique de livre, Dutton Books, idées de lecture, Livres, Nina LaCour, Penguin Random House, quoi lire, We are okay

Les premières phrases

» Before Hannah left, she asked if I was sure I’d be okay. She had already waited an hour past when the doors were closed for winter break, until everyone but the custodians were gone. She had folded a load of laundry, written an email, searched her massive psychology textbook for answers to the final exam questions to see if she had gotten them right. She had run out of ways to fill time, so when I said, “Yes, I’ll be fine,” she had nothing left to do except try to believe me.

I helped her carry a bag downstairs. She gave me a hug, tight and official, and said, “We’ll be back from my aunt’s on the twenty-eighth. Take the train down and we’ll go to shows.”

I said yes, not knowing if I meant it. When I returned to our room, I found she’d snuck a sealed envelope onto my pillow.

And now I’m alone in the building, staring at my name written in Hannah’s pretty cursive, trying to not let this tiny object undo me. »

Circonstances de lecture

Livre qu’une amie m’a prêté. Merci Alex !

Impressions

J’ai dévoré ce livre en deux jours ! Dès les premières phrases, j’ai été transportée dans la vie de l’héroïne, Marin, une jeune fille qui se retrouve à passer les vacances de Noël seule dans son campus universitaire, à New York. Seule, à l’exception de 3 jours durant lesquels sa meilleure amie, Mabel, sera là, à ses côtés. Mais Mabel vient pour obtenir des réponses et savoir pourquoi Marin a disparu du jour au lendemain, pourquoi Marin s’est enfermée dans une telle solitude… Une histoire bouleversante, superbe, qui vous fera forcément verser quelques larmes. Un GROS coup de cœur. Et quelle jolie couverture !

Un passage parmi d’autres

I wonder if there’s a secret current that connects people who have lost something. Not in the way that everyone loses something, but in the way that undoes your life, undoes your self, so that when you look at your face it isn’t yours any more.

Nina LaCour – We are okay – février 2017 (Dutton Books)

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4 3 2 1 – Paul Auster

26 mercredi Avr 2017

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Romans étrangers

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Mots-clefs

4 3 2 1, Critique de livre, faber & faber, faber and faber, idées de lecture, lecture, Livre, Paul Auster, quoi lire, roman

Les premières phrases

« According to family legend, Ferguson’s grandfather departed on foot from his native city of Minsk with one hundred rubles into the lining of his jacket, traveled west to Hamburg through Warsaw and Berlin, and then booked passage on a ship called the Empress of China, which crossed the Atlantic in rough winter storms and sailed into New York Harbor on the first day of the twentieth century. While waiting to be interviewed by an immigration official at Ellis Island, he struck up a conversation with a fellow Russian Jew. The man said to him: Forget the name Reznikoff. It won’t do you any good here. You need an American name for your new life in America, something with a good American ring to it. Since English was still an alien tongue to Isaac Reznikoff in 1900, he asked his older, more experienced compatriot for a suggestion. Tell them you’re Rockefeller, the man said. You can’t go wrong with that. An hour passed, then another hour, and by the time the nineteen-year-old Reznikoff sat down to be questionned by the immigration official, he had forgotten the name the man had told him to give. Your name? the official asked. Slapping his head in frustration, the weary immigrant blurted out in Yiddish, Ikh hob fargessen (I’ve forgotten)! And so it was that Isaac Reznikoff began his new life in America as Ichabod Ferguson.

He had a hard time of it, especially in the beginning, but even after it was no long the beginning, nothing ever went as he had imagined it would be in his adopted country. »

Circonstances de lecture

Parce que Paul Auster fait partie de mes auteurs préférés.

Impressions

Le dernier Paul Auster est un pavé de quelque 866 pages… Autant dire qu’il faut avoir une motivation sans faille et une foi inconditionnelle en l’auteur pour se plonger dans « 4 3 2 1 ». Paul Auster y retranscrit l’histoire d’un Américain, petit-fils d’immigrants, de sa naissance en 1947 à son entrée dans la vie adulte dans les années 70, tout en faisant un parallèle avec l’Histoire Américaine de cette partie chargée du 20ème siècle, en particulier la guerre froide, les problèmes de ségrégation raciale et la guerre au Vietnam. Reste que Paul Auster complique encore la chose en nous proposant 4 versions différentes de notre héros, Archie Ferguson (d’où le titre du livre…), selon le chemin qu’il choisit, les rencontres qu’il fait, ou tout simplement le destin plus ou moins tragique de ses proches. Chaque chapitre se divise ainsi en 4, et l’on suit ainsi 4 vies possibles d’Archie. C’est donc une lecture exigeante, mais heureusement passionnante, que nous propose Paul Auster. Venir à bout de ces plus de 800 pages m’aura pris du temps mais je ne le regrette pas (bien qu’il y ait quelques longueurs). La plume de l’auteur y est évidemment pour quelque chose ! Tout comme la retranscription de cette partie de l’histoire américaine.

Un passage parmi d’autres

The word psyche means two things in Greek, his aunt said. Two very different but interesting things. Butterfly and soul. But when you stop and think about it carefully, butterfly and soul aren’t so different, after all, are they? A butterfly starts out as a caterpillar, an ugly sort of earthbound, wormy thing, and then one day the caterpillar builds a cocoon, and after a certain amount of time the cocoon opens and out comes the butterfly, the most beautiful creature in the world. That’s what happens to souls as well, Archie. They struggle in the depths of darkness and ignorance, they suffer through trials and misfortunes, and bit by bit they become purified by those sufferings, strengthened by the hard things that happen to them, and one day, if the soul in question is a worthy soul, it will break out of its cocoon and soar through the air like a magnificent butterfly.

Paul Auster – 4 3 2 1 – 2017 (faber & faber)

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Slade House – David Mitchell

25 mardi Avr 2017

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Romans étrangers

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Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, David Mitchell, idées de lecture, lecture, Livre, quoi lire, roman, Sceptre, Slade House

Les premières phrases

« Whatever Mum’s saying’s drowned out by the grimy roar of the bus pulling away, revealing a pub called The Fox and Hounds. The sign shows three beagles cornering a fox. They’re about to pounce and rip it apart. A street sign underneath says WESTWOOD ROAD. Lords and ladies are supposed to be rich, so I was expecting swimming pools and Lamborghinis, but Westwood Road looks pretty normal to me. Normal brick houses, detached or semi-detached, with little front gardens and normal cars. The damp sky’s the colour of old hankies. Seven magpies fly by. Seven’s good. Mum’s face is inches away from mine, though I’m not sure if that’s an anrgy face or a worried one. « Nathan? Are you even listening? » Mum’s wearing make-up today. That shade of lipstick’s called Morning Lilac but it smells more like Pritt Stick than lilacs. Mum’s face hasn’t gone away, so I say, « What? »

« It’s « Pardon », or « Excuse me ». Not « What? » »

« Okay, » I say, which often does the trick.

Not today. « Did you hear what I told you? »

« It’s « Pardon » or « Excuse me ». Not « What? » »

« Before that! I said, if anyone at Lady Grayer’s asks how we came here, you’re to tell them we arrived by taxi. »

« I thought lying was wrong ».

« There’s lying, » says Mum, fishing out the enveloppe she wrote the directions on from her handbag, « which is wrong, and there’s creating the right impression, which is necessary. If your father paid what he’s supposed to pay, we really would have arrived by taxi. Now… » Mum squints at her writing. « Slade Alley leads off Westwood Road, about halfway down… » She checks her watch. « Right, it’s ten to three, and we’re due at three. Chop chop. Don’t dawdle. » Off Mum walks. »

Circonstances de lecture

Encore une fois attirée par la couverture…

Impressions

« Slade House » est un conte horrifique aux allures de conte de fées, digne d’un roman de Stephen King. Après le génial « Cloud Atlas », David Mitchell part donc sur un tout autre style d’histoire. Tous les neuf ans, une maison (Slade House) attire à elle une personne (un enfant, un policier…). Chaque chapitre du livre nous parle ainsi de ce qui est arrivé à cette personne et nous fait voyager de 1979 à 2015. A chaque visite, on en apprend un peu plus sur la maison et ce qui pousse les « invités » à y pénétrer. J’ai dévoré ce livre ! Je le recommande vivement !

Un passage parmi d’autres

I’ve stopped, because the far end of the garden, the wall with the small black door – it’s gone all faint and dim. Not because of evening. It can’t even be four o’clock yet. Not because it’s misty, either. I look up – the sky’s still bluish, like it was before. It’s the garden itself. The garden’s fading away.

I turn around to tell Jonah to stop the game, something’s wrong, we need a grown-up. Any second now he’ll come hurtling round the far corner. The brambles sway like underwater tentacles. I glance back at the garden. There was a sundial but it’s gone now, and the damson trees too. Am I going blind? I want Dad to tell me it’s fine, I’m not going blind, but Dad’s in Rhodesia, so I want Mum. Where’s Jonah? What if this dissolving’s got him too? Now the lattice tunnel thing’s erased. What do you do when you’re visiting someone’s house and their garden starts vanishing?

David Mitchell – Slade House – 2015 (Sceptre)

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Mind of Winter – Laura Kasischke

02 jeudi Mar 2017

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Romans étrangers

≈ 1 Commentaire

Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, Harper Perennial, idées de lecture, Laura Kasischke, lecture, Livre, Mind of Winter, quoi lire, roman

Les premières phrases

« She woke up late that morning, and knew:

Something had followed them home from Russia.

This scrappy bit of information had been offered up to Holly in a dream, she supposed, a glimpse into a truth she’d carried with her for – how long?

Thirteen years?

Thirteen years!

For thirteen years she’d known this, and not known – or so it seemed to her in her half-awake state on Christmas morning. She rose from bed and went down the hallway to her daughter’s bedroom, anxious to see that she was there, still asleep, perfectly safe.

Yes, there she was, Tatiana, one pale arm thrown over a pale coverlet. Dark hair spilled over a pillow. She was so still she could have been a painting. So peaceful she could have been –

But she wasn’t. She was fine. Holly felt reassured and went back to the bedroom, slipped into bed beside her husband again – but as soon as she did, she thought it once more :

It had followed them home!. »

Circonstances de lecture

Attirée par la couverture.

Impressions

Voici un huis clos comme je les aime ! Le matin de Noël, Holly se réveille tard. Son mari part en catastrophe chercher ses parents à l’aéroport. Holly doit donc se dépêcher pour préparer le repas avant l’arrivée des convives. Rien de très grave, sauf que sa fille fait la tête. Et que la tension qui existe entre elles dès les premières pages ne fait que s’amplifier. D’autant qu’une tempête de neige fait rage, et qu’elles se retrouvent toutes les deux en tête à tête…

J’ai adoré l’atmosphère de ce livre de Laura Kasischke. Un huis clos bien flippant, qui traite des relations mères/filles et de l’adoption. Avec un final des plus inattendus !

Un passage parmi d’autres

About Tatiana, Theodota had said, « No. Don’t name her Russian. Name her American. Or she’ll be back. »

The nurses had called her Sally. They had explained to Eric and Holly, « We give her American name so that in her life and in her death she will not be restless in America, try to return to Russia. »

« But we want her to be proud of her Russian origins, » Holly had tried, in turn, to explain, not sure if any of her English was being understood. « We want to call her Tatiana because it is a beautiful Russian name for a beautiful little Russian girl. »

The nurse had scowled and shaken her head vehemently. « Nyet, nyet, no, » she said. « Sally. Or »- here she softened, as though sensing that they might be able to compromise – « you name her Bonnie. Bonnie and Clyde, no? »

Holly had been smiling, but she was having a hard time keeping the spirit light. She said, « No. Tatiana. »

« No, » the nurse had said right back to her.

« Oh my God, » Holly had said, later, to Eric. « What is wrong with these people? »

Even Eric, at that point, had regained his sense of humor enough to shake his head in disbelief at the superstitions of these people in Siberia.

Laura Kasischke – Mind of Winter – 2015 (Harper Perennial)

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Fantastic Beasts and where to find them – J.K.Rowling

14 mercredi Déc 2016

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Fantasy, Romans étrangers

≈ 1 Commentaire

Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Harry Potter, idées de lecture, J.K.Rowling, lecture, Little Brown, Livre, original screenplay, quoi lire, roman

Les premières phrases

« A large, isolated, derelict chateau emerges from the darkness. We focus on a cobbled square outside the building shrouded in mist, eerie, silent.

Five Aurors stand, wands aloft, tentative as they edge towards the chateau. A sudden explosion of pure white light sends them flying.

We whip round to find their bodies scattered, lying motionless at the entrance to a large parkland. A figure (GRINDELWALD) enters the frame, his back to the camera; ignoring the bodies, he stares out into the night sky, as we pan up towards the moon. »

Circonstances de lecture

Parce que je ne peux pas me lasser de l’univers d’Harry Potter !!!

Impressions

Je n’avais pas prévu d’acheter le scénario du film… Et puis, j’ai poussé la porte de la librairie Shakespeare & Company à Paris… et le livre s’est jeté sur moi… Comment résister à une aussi belle couverture ? L’intérieur est tout aussi beau, avec de petits dessins des créatures entre les chapitres. Quant à l’histoire, elle transporte avec bonheur dans l’univers magique de J.K. Rowling. On suit les aventures de Newt Scamander, dont la valise remplie de créatures fantastiques est malencontreusement ouverte… J’ai beaucoup aimé ! Et le livre va trôner en bonne place dans ma bibliothèque.

Un passage parmi d’autres

TINA : Who are you ?

NEWT : I’m sorry?

TINA : Who are you?

NEWT : Newt Scamander. And you are?

TINA : What’s that thing in your case?

NEWT : That’s my Niffler. (pointing at hot dog mustard still on Tina’s lip). Er, you’ve got something on your…

TINA : Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose?

NEWT : I didn’t mean to… he’s incorrigible, you see, anything shiny, he’s all over the place…

TINA : You didn’t mean to?

NEWT : No.

TINA : You could not have chosen a worse time to let that creature loose! We’re in the middle of a situation here! I’m taking you in.

NEWT : You’re taking me where?

She produces her official ID card. It bears her moving picture and an impressive symbol of an American eagle: MACUSA.

TINA : Magical Congress of the United States of America.

J.K. Rowling – Fantastic Beasts and where to find them – 2016 (Little Brown)

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Jack Thorne, J.K.Rowling, John Tiffany

06 samedi Août 2016

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Fantasy, Romans étrangers

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Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, idées de lecture, J.K.Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, lecture, Little Brown, Livre, quoi lire, roman

Les premières phrases

« A busy and crowded station, full of people trying to go somewhere. Amongst the hustle and bustle, two large cages rattle on top of two laden trolleys. They’re being pushed by two boys, JAMES POTTER and ALBUS POTTER. Their mother, GINNY, follows after. A thirty-seven-year-old man, HARRY, has his daughter LILY on his shoulders.

ALBUS

Dad. He keeps saying it.

HARRY

James, give it a rest.

JAMES

I only said he might be in Slytherin. And he might, so… (off his dad’s glare) fine.

ALBUS (looking up at his mum)

You’ll write to me, won’t you?

GINNY

Every day if you want us to.

ALBUS

No. Not every day. James says most people only get letters from home about once a month. I don’t want to…

HARRY

We wrote to your brother three times a week last year.

ALBUS

What? James!

ALBUS looks accusingly at JAMES.

GINNY

Yes. You may not want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts. He likes a laugh, your brother.

JAMES (with a grin)

Can we go now please?

ALBUS looks at his dad, and then his mum.

GINNY

All you have to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms nine and ten.

LILY

I’m so excited.

HARRY

Don’t stop and don’t be scared you’ll crash into it, that’s very important. Best to do it at a run if you’re nervous.

ALBUS

I’m ready.

HARRY and LILY put their hands on ALBUS’s trolley – GINNY joins JAMES’s trolley – and together, the family run hard into the barrier. »

Circonstances de lecture

Parce que je suis une fan inconditionnelle d’HARRY POTTER !!!

Impressions

Inutile de vous dire que je me suis ruée sur « Harry Potter and the Cursed Child » dès sa parution ! Et… j’ai adoré ! On se retrouve dès les toutes premières lignes dans l’univers créé par J.K. Rowling, exactement au même moment que la fin du tome 7 de la saga, avec quasiment les mêmes dialogues. Un pur bonheur! Alors, évidemment, ce n’est pas J.K. Rowling qui a écrit cette pièce de théâtre, mais Jack Thorne, un scénariste et dramaturge anglais. Reste que cette 8ème histoire a été imaginée par J.K. Rowling et on ressent sa patte tout au long de cette lecture.

Je ne veux pas spoiler ceux qui attendent impatiemment la sortie d’Harry Potter et l’Enfant Maudit en français au mois d’octobre. Je dirai donc juste que l’on revoit avec beaucoup de plaisir (et d’émotions) de nombreux personnages des 7 tomes (oui j’avais presque les larmes aux yeux par moment !), et qu’Albus et Scorpius – nos deux nouveaux héros – sont très attachants. Cette pièce de théâtre est pleine d’émotions, à l’image de tous les Harry Potter. En tant que fan, j’ai vraiment adoré me replonger dans le monde magique de J.K.Rowling. Et je n’ai plus qu’une envie : aller à Londres voir la pièce au Palace Theatre !

Une dernière chose : si cette pièce de théâtre pouvait donner envie aux lecteurs de lire d’autres pièces de théâtre, alors ce serait un bel accomplissement.

Un passage parmi d’autres

Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.

Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, Jack Tiffany – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – July 2016 (Little Brown)

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Misery – Stephen King

08 mercredi Juin 2016

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Policiers / Thrillers, Romans étrangers

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Mots-clefs

Critique de livre, idées de lecture, lecture, Livre, Misery, quoi lire, roman, Stephen King, Thriller

Les premières phrases

« umber whunnnn

yerrrnnn umber whunnnn

fayunnnn

These sounds: even in the haze.

But sometimes the sounds – like the pain – faded, and then there was only the haze. He remembered darkness: solid darkness had come before the haze. Did that mean he was making progress? Let there be light (even of the hazy variety), and the light was good, and so on and so on? Had those sounds existed in the darkness? He didn’t know the answers to any of these questions. Did it make sense to ask them? He didn’t know the answer to that one, either.

The pain was somewhere below the sounds. The pain was east of the sun and south of his ears. That was all he did know.

For some length of time that seemed very long (and so was, since the pain and the stormy haze were the only two things which existed) those sounds were the only outer reality. He had no idea who he was or where he was and cared to know neither. He wished he was dead, but through the pain-soaked haze that filled his mind like a summer storm-cloud, he did not know he wished it. »

Circonstances de lecture

Parce que je suis fan de Stephen King.

Impressions

Stephen King est définitivement un de mes auteurs préférés. J’ai dévoré « Misery », ce classique que je n’avais pas encore pris le temps de lire. C’est bien simple, une fois les premières pages tournées, j’ai été hantée par ce livre et je n’avais qu’une envie : rentrer chez moi le soir pour vite connaître la suite !

L’histoire – vous la connaissez peut-être – : un écrivain, Paul Sheldon, se réveille après un accident de voiture chez une de ses fans inconditionnelles, Annie Wilkes. Celle-ci, au lieu de le conduire à l’hôpital (il a tout de même les deux jambes cassées…), l’a ramené chez elle. Point positif : c’est une ancienne infirmière et elle a une quantité impressionnante de médicaments anti-douleur dans sa salle de bains. Point négatif : elle est complètement folle. Et lorsqu’elle apprend que Paul Sheldon tue l’héroïne de ses bestsellers dans son dernier roman, elle lui ordonne d’écrire la suite et de ressusciter son personnage préféré. Bien sûr, avec Stephen King, on a droit à une bonne dose d’hémoglobine et de scènes bien tordues, mais « Misery » propose aussi une très bonne réflexion sur l’inspiration des écrivains. Tout simplement GÉNIAL !!!

Un passage parmi d’autres

« Annie, will you tell me one thing?

« Of course, dear! »

« If I write this story for you – «

« Novel! A nice big one like all the others – maybe even bigger! »

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. « Okay – if I write this novel for you, will you let me go when it’s done? »

For a moment unease slipped cloudily across her face, and then she was looking at him carefully, studiously. « You speak as though I were keeping you prisoner, Paul. »

He said nothing, only looked at her.

« I think that by the time you finish, you should be up to the… up to the strain of meeting people again, » she said. « Is that what you want to hear? »

« That’s what I wanted to hear, yes. »

« Well, honestly! I knew writers were supposed to have big egos, but I guess I didn’t understand that meant ingratitude, too! »

He went on looking at her and after a moment she looked away, impatient and a little flustered.

Stephen King – Misery – 1987 (Hodder & Stoughton)

To kill a mocking-bird – Harper Lee

14 lundi Déc 2015

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Grands classiques, Romans étrangers

≈ 1 Commentaire

Mots-clefs

conseils de lecture, Critique de livre, Harper Lee, idées de lecture, Ne tirez pas sur l'oiseau moqueur, quoi lire, roman, To kill a mocking-bird

Les premières phrases

« When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right-angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out. «

Circonstances de lecture

Un classique que je n’avais pas encore lu.

Impressions

Publié en 1960, ce livre de Harper Lee (« Ne tirez pas sur l’oiseau moqueur » en vf) est une ode à la tolérance. On y suit la petite Scout qui nous raconte quelques années de son enfance alors que son père est commis d’office pour défendre un Noir accusé, à tort, d’avoir violé une femme blanche. Le père, intègre et résolument anti-raciste, constitue un véritable modèle pour ses enfants, Scout et Jem. Découvrir cette histoire à travers le point de vue et le regard des deux enfants donne une belle dimension à ce roman.

A lire, alors que l’intolérance et la bêtise humaine sont malheureusement toujours d’actualité…

Un passage parmi d’autres

« What are you going to do, then? »

« Before I’m through, I intend to jar the jury a bit – I think we’ll have a reasonable chance on appeal, though. I really can’t tell at this stage, Jack. You know, I’d hoped to get through life without a case of this kind, but John Taylor pointed at me and said, « You’re It. »

« Let this cup pass from you, eh? »

« Right. But do you think I could face my children otherwise? You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand… I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough… Jean Louise?

My scalp jumped. I stucked my head around the corner.

« Sir? »

« Go to bed. »

I scurried to my room and went to bed. Uncle Jack was a prince of a fellow not to let me down. But I never figured out how Atticus knew I was listening, and it was not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said.

Harper Lee – To kill a mocking-bird – 1960 (Arrow Books)

A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin

13 jeudi Août 2015

Posted by Aurélie in En VO, Fantasy, Romans étrangers

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Mots-clefs

A Game of Thrones, A song of ice and fire, Critique de livre, George R.R. Martin, Harper Voyager, idées de lecture, lecture, Livre, quoi lire, roman

Les premières phrases

« We should start back, » Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. « The wildlings are dead. »

« Do the dead frighten you? » Ser Waymar Royce asked with just the hint of a smile.

Gared did not rise to the bait. He was an old man, past fifty, and he had seen the lordlings come and go. « Dead is dead, » he said. « We have no business with the dead. »

« Are they dead? » Royce asked softly. « What proof have we? »

« Will saw them, » Gared said. « If he says they are dead, that’s proof enough for me. »

Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. « My mother told me that dead men sing no songs, » he put in.

« My wet nurse said the same thing, Will, » Royce replied. « Never believe anything that you hear at a woman’s tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead. » His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest.

« We have a long ride before us, » Gared pointed out. « Eight days, maybe nine. And night is falling. »

Ser Waymar Royce glanced a the sky with disinterest. « It does that every day about this time. Are you unmanned by the dark, Gared? »

Will could see the tightness around Gared’s mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak. Gared had spent forty years in the Night’s Watch, man and boy, and he was not accustomed to being made light of. Yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Will could sense something else in the older man. You could taste it; a nervous tension that came perilously close to fear. »

Circonstances de lecture

Après avoir vu les 5 saisons de la série TV, je ne pouvais que me plonger dans les romans de George R.R. Martin !

Impressions

J’avais eu du mal à rentrer dans la série TV. J’ai adoré d’emblée le premier tome de la saga de George R.R. Martin. Parce que chaque chapitre donne le point de vue d’un des (très) nombreux personnages de l’histoire, on comprend mieux les actions et choix de chacun. Et on se prend davantage d’affection pour certains d’entre eux. Certes, rien que le 1er tome est énorme (près de 800 pages en version originale), mais croyez-moi, cela vaut le coup !

Si vous êtes fan de la série, jetez-vous sur les livres ! Le lien entre les différents protagonistes de Game of Thrones s’éclaire, l’histoire des différentes familles également. Si vous n’avez pas vu la série TV mais que vous êtes fan de fantasy et de jeux de pouvoir, cette saga saura également vous combler.

Un passage parmi d’autres

Fourteen, and you’re taller than I will ever be. My legs are short and twisted, and I walk with difficulty. I require a special saddle to keep me from falling off my horse. A saddle of my own design, you may be interested to know. It was either that or ride a pony. My arms are strong enough, but again, too short. I will never make a swordsman. Had I been born a peasant, they might have left me out to die, or sold me to some slaver’s grotesquerie. Alas, I was born a Lannister of Castlery Rock, and the grotesqueries are all the poorer. Things are expected of me. My father was the Hand of the King for twenty years. My brother later killed that very same king, as it turns out, but life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king and my repulsive nephew will be king after him. I must do my part for the honor of my House, wouldn’t you agree? Yet how? Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. » Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. « That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow. »

George R.R. Martin – A Game of Thrones – 1996 (Harper Voyager)

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