Tag Archives: français

Review Robin Hood le proscrit by Alexandre Dumas

      dumas_by_nadar2c_1855  I didn’t know that Dumas, Sr., had written about Robin Hood, nor that this book was the second of the two.  So, I may write a fuller review of this book after reading the first one, and perhaps after reading this one again.  /  Je ne savais pas que Dumas, Père,    avait écrit sur Robin Hood, et non plus que ce livre-ci c’est le deuxième dû par. Donc, mon revu viens après que j’écoute le premier, et peut-être aussi une deuxième écoute de celui-ci.

Listened to via Cocotte, a very good reader, on litterature audio /
Je l’ecoute, bien lu par Cocotte ici: https://www.litteratureaudio.com/livr…”

    It is your duty to marry…the rich need cannon fodder!  /  Se marier est obligatoire … les riches ont besoin de chair à canon !
/
(my comment, btw, that marriage is obligatory … the rich need cannon fodder!)

Interesting: a bit like the return of the headless Knight in the King Arthur stories… / Interesant: c’est un peu comment le retur du Chevalier sans tete des histoires du Roi Artur…
/
Interesing: it’s a bit like the return of the Headless Knight from the stories of King Arthur…”

 “Le roi regard et mesure les belles femmes et fille, c’est stupide. Est-ce que nous sommes des chevaux, faites pour passer devant les hommes pour faire voir notre beauté, et non pour avoir des pensées, des idées, des projets propres, dignes d’etre cru intelligentes ?”
January 5, 2023 –
93.0% “tire d’arc aux fleche aux mort, tout comme le Roi Artur
/
an arrow loosed at the time of death, just like King Arthur”
January 6, 2023 –
99.0% “Oops ! Je ne savais pas que ce livre etait le ‘sequel’ aux premier: Robin Hood, Le Prince des voleurs, lu par Cocotte.

alexandre_dumas_pere

https://www.litteratureaudio.com/livr…”

Shira

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Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli AnnemLupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This work is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Review: The Corsican Brothers (Les Frères Corses), by Alexandre Dumas, Pere

    Wow, this is a book worth listening to and then reading, several times!  I love this comment from the summary on a site called Fabula, an org that appears to promote public domain books in French:
“Ce roman est destiné à deux catégories de lecteurs : les Corses, et les autres. / This novel is for two types of readers: Corsicans, and everyone else.”

    Still waiting on pins and needles, argh!

 as I schedule this post, for Lupin Part 3 Lupin10  to start up again, with Omar Sy (whose revenge takes a slightly more dapper and modern turn than that of the Spartan style brother from Napoleon’s home island…)!!! 

I listened to this one via litteratureaudio, a free Public Domain ebook service not unlike Librivox.org, but I still do not know why it is a dot com rather than a dot org.  It seems to have many more of Dumas’ books, and the readers seem to be far better, but it is more difficult to listen to the books, at least so far, even logged in as a Follower of several readers.  

(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…):
J’ai écoutée, gratuitement, bien sur, la version de littératureaudio lu par Juliette. C’est très intrigant ce livre, avec les jeaumeaux identiques, les visites des morts qui ne mens pas, et surtout la vendetta. Très intéressant comment histoire et aussi pour connaitre les habitudes des Corses. Et la dernierre ligne ! Incroyable !!

/
I listened to the litaudio version read by Juliette. It was a very intriguing book, with identical twins, visits from the dead who do not lie, and above all, The Vendetta. Very interesting as a story and also to see the customs of the Coriscans. And the last line of the story! Incredible!!

and La guerre entre deux familles durant 4 siecles !  /  and a 4 century long family feud!

End of chapter 12 -excellent suspense, as always, with Mr. Dumas, pere.

   Once again, Mr. Dumas does not disappoint.  Interesting how he manages to insert himself, the author, as a character in this frame story.
   dumas_by_nadar2c_1855
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
***

Shira

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Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

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Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Litt. Library Review: Black, by Alexandre Dumas, père

    This book was a pretty pleasant surprise, though it required a bit of patience at the outset.  For dealing with such serious subjects, Dumas managed to inject a great deal of humor into the story.   I listened to it with a bit of difficulty as I was unable, for lack of storage space, to download the entire book and listen to it conveniently, so I used the website, which was not always perfect about keeping my place (I prefer Librivox for the ease of listening, although par contre, sorry, on the other hand, this site, Lit.Audio, has far more books, with better reading, and no commercials, while LibriVox is now interrupted by ads after every chapter unless you stop it just at the end of a chapter and then start the next chapter manually).

Waiting on pins and needles, argh!

 as I schedule this post, for Lupin Part 3  afisha_lupin  to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

This book is well worth the read (or the listen), and has an excellent ending, which I highly recommend: I know that I promised I’d be adding more to the review, originally posted on GR, when I post it on my blog, but time has passed since I read it, and my only new perceptions are that it is hard to find a good friend, and even harder to find a man of sufficient honor to live his values, even at the price of his own death.  Please read my comments below, and then read or listen to this book, freely available in the Public Domain via several sources, in audio or text (links to the Electronic Library of Quebeq).

Mes commentaires pendant que j’ai lu ce livre:

“…et comme tous les esprits
paresseux, au lieu de dominer la scène et de rêver
à sa volonté … il fut bientôt
absorbé par elle et tomba dans cet affaiblissement
intellectuel pendant lequel la pensée semble
quitter le cerveau…d’accrocher un de ses rêves au passage et
de s’y arrêter, finit par produire une ivresse qui
rappelle de loin celle des fumeurs d’opium et des
mangeurs de hachich !”

Wow!!”
December 26, 2022 –
10.0% “chap. 4: “et, Dieu merci ! les monstres sont rares.”

mais, ton bon dieu vous a menti, cars les monstres, ils sont pas rares du tout. Ils sont numbreux, et trés.

chap. 6 (end of ch. 5 ) :

again with jealousy around inheritance and older vs. younger brothers!!”
December 26, 2022 –
24.0% “pauvre cadet…”
December 26, 2022 –
25.0% “On vas avoir des problèmes…”
December 27, 2022 –
35.0% “Où il est démontré que les voyages forment la jeunesse
/
where it is show that traveling trains the young”
December 27, 2022 –
38.0% “Toutes les gens, filles inclus, doivent apprendre nager !
Everyone should learn to swim, girls included!”
December 27, 2022 –
39.0% “#Suspense “Murmura-l-il le nom de Mathilde ?
Nous n’étions pas là pour l’entendre, et nous n’en répondrions pas.”

Ahh ! Je doives savoir !!

Aha, voila la conection: “me confier
la peau du premier chien venu, dans laquelle,
n’importe où je serai, je briserai ma chaîne pour
t’aller rejoindre.””
December 28, 2022 –
49.0% “”Comme tous les esprits faibles, il aimait mieux rester dans le doute que d’avoir à prendre un parti.”  /Aha, ok, thank you, Mr. Dumas.  Seriously, this explains the irritating habit of idiots to prefer to ‘stay in doubt rather than take a side’ of a question -it is stupidity.

(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…)

And, it has been made into a film!
dumas_by_nadar2c_1855
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

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Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Libri Library Review: L’ Épouvante, by Maurice Level

While it was an interesting read, and he rendered hommage to Mr. Lecoq, which I did like, I didn’t enjoy this book because the protag seemed either insane or foolishly daring, and I do not like either. Listened to on librivox read by Ezwa.

/
C’était intéressant, et il a rendu hommage à Mr. Lecoq, ce que j’ai vraiment aimee, mais je n’avais pas aimee ce livre parce qu’il me semble que le protagoniste était soit fou soit stupidement hardi, et je n’aime pas ni l’une ni l’autre. Je l’ai Écoutée par librivox, lu par Ezwa.

     Once again, thank you to Librivox.org, and thank you to Ezwa for reading this book !   In fact, the way I found this book, like the one last week, Mr. Lecoqmonsieurlecoq_1007 was by searching for books read by Ezwa, and this one was on that reader’s list.

     And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, triple argh!!!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!  afisha_lupin   

Merci, encore, Ezwa !

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any more copies of books by Mr. Dumas  dumas_by_nadar2c_1855  read by native French speakers on Librivox, at the moment.
***

Shira

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Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Libri Library Review: Monsieur Lecoq, by Émile Gaboriau

     This book was a very pleasant surprise!  Summarizing for Anglophones, as Francophones already know this author, this work preceded Sherlock Holmes, and is very good.  While Holmes has adventure and intrigue, this book has inter-generational cooperation, and history (books)!  Yes, history is important in solving criminal cases, kids!  It also has language learning (ok, it has two trilingual and one at least bilingual characters, all of the languages, of course, figuring importantly in solving the case)!  Apart from the mystery, obviously, there is also a case or two of impossible love, sacrifice, courage, and all of this against the backdrop of the Restoration, Napoleon, and memories of The Terrors during the French Revolution. I cannot imagine for the life of me why this work has not gained the level of appreciation that Alexandre Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo has gained, as it is quite nearly as good. There is a lot of Latin cited, and this makes it worth reading again in print, which I will do via Project Gutenberg or one of the other Public Domain book sources (sorry, I have no idea whether this book is available other than in the original French, but I imagine that it must be available in at least English).

 

This book is very much worth learning French to read or listen to, imho. 

 

     Once again, thank you to Librivox.org, and thank you to Ezwa for reading this book !   In fact, the way I found this book was by searching for books read by Ezwa, and this one was on that reader’s list.

     And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, triple argh!!!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!  afisha_lupin   

Je l’ecoutes par librivox, lu par Ezwa:

 

/
Listened to on librivox, thanks to Ezwa’s excellent reading!

 
(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…)
/
 

🙂 Merci Ezwa !!

Une excellente lectrice !”

Je l’ecoutes gratuitment par Librivox ici

!!

🙂

“Voila a quoi sert l’histoire, dit-il. Mais je n’ai pas fini, garcon; notre duc de Sairmeuse a nous a aussi son article… Ecoute donc encore: …”

 

merci, encore, Ezwa !

 

 
“Partie 2: et voila l’histoire…”

🙂

 
 
 
 

 

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
 
Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any more copies of books by Mr. Dumas  dumas_by_nadar2c_1855  read by native French speakers on Librivox, at the moment.
 
 
 
 
***
 
 
 
 
 

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Creative Commons License
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Libri Library Review: Kéraban le Têtu, by Jules Verne

Once again, thank you to Librivox.org, and thank you to Ezwa for reading this book !   And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, triple argh!!!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!  afisha_lupin   

    I have to say that I found this book rather insulting.  I’ve lived, as a worker and resident, in both Istanbul and Izmir, and found Verne’s Turkish (at least as read by an excellent reader) to be unintelligible, and so I doubt that he actually spoke Turkish.  And as for the attitude Verne expresses in the book, it is very much as if the Ottomans were backward and stubborn to the point of stupidity, which was very much not the case, historically.  Of course, given the time period and political situation in which he is writing, this story essentially forms part of the colonial background of Europe working to break up and incorporate the Ottoman empire as the Palestinian Mandate was incorporated.  Nevertheless, there is interesting history to be learned from this book, and even an interesting and exciting story to be lulled to sleep and catch up on.

Je l’ecoutes par librivox, lu par Ezwa:

Je n’oses pas dire tout, mais ce livre m’a vraiment donn’e enui de trouver d’autres ‘ecrivains a ‘ecouter. Au moins je peux remercier Ezwa pour l’excelent lecture pour dormir.

Pauvre Bruno ! Il va maigrir ! Mais, fair le tour du Mer Noir au lieu de croiser le Bosphore ?!”
Et, mince! Quelle excelente tactique psychologique, M. le judge !”

Samsung etait une colonie d’Atina antique: ca explique Laz/O Pondos…
/
Listened to on librivox to fall asleep by, thanks to Ezwa’s excellent reading!
Poor Bruno! He’ll lose weight!! But, following the coast of the Black Sea instead of crossing the Bosphorus??!!

Interesting! What an excellent psychological tactic, Judge!

Samsung was a colonie of Ancient Athens: that explains O Pondos/Laz/The Pontians..

(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…)
/

🙂 Merci Ezwa !!

Une excellente lectrice !”

Je l’ecoutes gratuitment par Librivox ici

!!

🙂

🙂

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any more copies of books by Mr. Dumas  dumas_by_nadar2c_1855  read by native French speakers on Librivox, at the moment.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Creative Commons License
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Libri Library Review: Voyage au centre de la terre, by Jules Verne

Once again, thank you to Librivox.org, and thank you to Birgit for recommending this book (which I find much better than the film, personally, as I recall it).  And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, triple argh!!!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

This was a hard book to rate, since there were lots of readers, some not so good.  I can definitely say that I loved the nephew!
(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…)
/

Bon, c’est pas facile de dire comment j’ai aimais, ou pas, ce livre, cars il y avait plein de lecteurs, pas tous bien.

Ce que c’est sur c’est que j’adore ce brave jeune garçon !

“…et c’est un défaut regrettable chez un orateur.”

🙂 Merci Emy !!

Une excellente lectrice !”

Je l’ecoutes par https://librivox.org/voyage-au-centre

“Cependant les interjections admiratives du professeur ne discontinuaient pas. ”

!!

🙂

(et merci pour la note, Mdmll Emy )

J’adore ce neveu !
“…souviens-tu d’une visite que me fit le célèbre chimiste anglais Humphry Davy en 1825 ?

– Aucunement, car je ne suis venu au monde que dix-neuf ans après.”

🙂 J’adore ce garçon !
🙂

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Creative Commons License
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

French Fridays Libri Library Review: 813, by Maurice Leblanc

Once again, thank you to Librivox.org, for this book, and to roommates who let you watch the TV in the living room on their Netflix account while they are out, kindly.  As I rewatched Lupin, I noticed that this number comes up several times as door numbers and as phone passcodes, mentioned ostentatiously when Assane ‘borrows‘ a phone from a known Lupin fan (and btw, never use your birth year as a phone code  Lupin9 …)  And I am STILL

Waiting on pins and needles, argh!

 as I schedule this post, for Lupin Part 3  Lupin10 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

Excellent story to listen to while getting ready to go to sleep, the last hour or so before bedtime.  Not too boring, but not too exciting, either, after the first half or so.  I still find the character of Lupin to be rather annoyingly arrogant, as written by M. L.  It really needed Omar Sy’s touch to give the character a sense of justification, if that makes sense?
(Just ask if I forget any translations from my reading updates…)
/
J’écoute la version de ce livre en français lu par Bidou sur #LibriVox, ici: https://librivox.org/813-by-maurice-l…
November 15, 2022 – “la #torture est moins efficace que regardant le langage corporel…

Arsenne Lupin proved 100 years ago that torture is not needed for information gathering: by watching his victim’s body language (and this, well before it happened in an episode of Criminal Minds…).”

November 15, 2022 – “s’arreter le premier personne pour calmer les peurs de la publique…

😦

…et c’est honteux comment les femmes etaitent form’ees (et vetues en corsette) pour etre faibles…

(Mdm Dolores B. qui s’evanoui de peur…)”

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Creative Commons License
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Libraries Transport Us To Nos Amis les Humains, Thanks To Bernard Werber

Once again, thank you to a public library for this book, which transported me to a place I’m not sure I wanted to be.  And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, argh!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

Tres interesant, oui, mais aussi tres agacant. Troisieme personne mais assez distant et le scenario pas terrible. Berk.
Interesting yes but very annoying. Third person but not very close. Just an irritating plot.
Fantastic cauldron : idiote & researcher
bernard_werber_-_foire_du_livre_de_bruxelles_-_2010_-_01

This one was a favorite hypothesis of many who, like The Matrix, imagine us to be merely part of some giant and rather unethical experiment.  Saying much more will give away the whole book, but do feel free to request more details/spoilers in the comments.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

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Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Libri Library Review: La Fille Du Pirate, by Henri Émile Chevalier

Once again, thank you to Librivox.org.  And I am STILL Waiting on pins and needles, argh!, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

 Well, I didn’t like this book so much, which I found on the lists of Librivox.  It was ok in places, but mostly boring.  We start on a ship in the Atlantic coming from Marseille, then to a prison in Quebec, with lots of char. changes.  Might have been better for me to read rather than listen to this one.
/
Bon, ce livre, dont j’ai trouvé dans les listes gratuits de LibreVox.org, avait des bons endroits, mais pour le plus part, c’était moins intéressant et un peu ennuyeant.
On commence par une navire dans l’Atlantique, qui venait de Marseille, et en suite on est dans un prison a Québec, et ça change souvent de place et des personnages. Peut-être ça aurait été mieux pour moi si je l’avais lu au lieu de l’écouter.
Mais cette fille du brave Charles, de la Canadienne, c’est la fille de l’homme qui s’avait défendu soi même au bateau, non ?/But the girl is the daughter of the guy who defended himself on the boat?
November 13, 2020 –13.0%   Como #ElMinisterioDelTiempo; “¡Si hay una vida por salvar, la salvo!”
-Julian
Cette fille, comme ça sera possible que cette jeune fille se défendre de deux criminels au moins qu’elle a 2 arms bien charger ?!/How can this girl defend herself against two criminels ?!
😆😆😆 j’adore cette façon d’adresser les lecteurs ! / I love his way of talking to the reader!
November 13, 2020 –16.0%Fin de 2m partie, chapitre 24: cette à dire il mentait… ☹️
November 13, 2020 –19.0%    D’accord, je sais que c’était l’époque, mais : des sauvages ??
“Gêné par l’idée de mourir avec le ventre vide ! Intéressant…
On se voit bien que l’abus amène plus d’abus encore, la génération suivante.
“Le préjugé a pour antagonist le livre, l’éducation.”
Chouette.
Que les orphelins soit les plus malheureux, pas du tout…
InfoDump… 😴

Many thanks to all of the volunteers who read these books in the public domain.
***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Shira

Creative Commons License
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.