While vacations are often known for being a time to relax and soak up the sun, they can also be the right time to start reading. Indeed, according to a recent study, 90% of French people surveyed said they indulged in reading during the holidays. So much so that the arrival of summer often rhymes with literary outings. And among these new releases, you may find the novel that will follow you during your vacation.
Why do we like reading on vacation?
Summer vacations are the ideal time to read according to the Frenchand that’s understandable. By the pool, on the beach or even lying in your hammock, vacations are the perfect time to immerse yourself in a book. And for 12% of the population, it would even be the only time of the year when they open a book. In fact, reading is entirely compatible with vacation mode, since it often inspires a source of pleasure, relaxation or even escape. The French are so inspired that they would carry with them no less than three books in their suitcase only to end up reading half of them. Among these books, it is the thrillers which are the favorite readings during the summer holidays, in front of fiction then romance novels.
But what we love above all in books, it is their power to immerse us in singular universes and complex characters. They can also make us think about more personal stories and provoke deep feelings like love, loss or even the quest for meaning, up to us identify with the characters.
“Life Ahead”, Valérie Grimaldi’s favorite novel
Among the authors who evoke deep feelings in their characters, there are Valérie Grimaldi who, through his novels, evokes loss, mourning but also messages of hope. And it is precisely on the occasion of the release of his very latest novel “Larger than the sky” that the author confided in her favourite book. It is then a question of The life ahead by Romain Gary which evokes the life of a woman who takes care of children from a working-class neighborhood and one of these young people will accompany her until her last breath. The author of the book manages to have humor and make readers laugh on subjects as tragic as xenophobia, racism but also the feminicides. Themes which are still as relevant today even though the book was published in 1975.
The author strongly recommends reading this book.she even declared on Instagram: “He made me laugh, cry, grow, he nourished me. If you haven’t read it, do so, you won’t be quite the same afterwards. I took a slap.”
A work that crosses generations
Considered one of Romain Gary’s major works, The life ahead has had a profound impact on contemporary French literature over there sensitivity of the author in capturing these stories but also its ability to directly touch the soul of readers with deep emotion. This book has truly become a classic, winning the Goncourt price the year of its publication and he will never cease to move and inspire his readers.
