Currently reading
Roman Blood
Progress:
171/401 pages
Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child
Progress:
208/557 pages
Avant-gardes du XXe siècle: arts & littérature, 1905-1930
Caesar's Commentaries: On the Gallic War and On the Civil War
Les bûchers de Bocanegra
The Songs of the Kings
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories: Volumes I and II
The Hobbit
French Fiction in the Mitterrand Years: Memory, Narrative, Desire (Oxford Studies in Modern European Culture)
You will never ever forget your first contact with the Malaussene family. Never. From le Petit (the youngest boy of this rag tag family of misfits) to the latest baby named Verdun because she doesn't just yell she howls like the bombs at the battle of Verdun, to Clara, sweet Clara to Benjamin who heads the family because he isn't really given the choice and makes due and because it's in his nature to be the scapegoat for everyone his family included. This first novel featuring the Malaussene family establishes Benjamin's status as the perfect scapegoat (he ends up in jail for bombings he has nothing to do with unless being there is reason enough. In Benjamin's case, it is. Au bonheur des ogres is this sideways holiday fairy tale where ogres are heroes and being different is something to be celebrated not hidden. One of my all time favourite series of novels starts with this quirky opening bow where amidts all the drama Benjamin finds love without looking for it.
 - Colin Davis;Elizabeth Fallaize)