“The Rules of Mikado” by Erri de Luca
► At Gallimard
It is the meeting and the destiny of two characters. An old watchmaker, who goes camping alone in the mountains for several weeks. And a young 15-year-old gypsy girl who runs away from her family to escape an arranged marriage.
One night, on the border of Italy and Slovenia, the young girl bursts into the old man’s tent and he goes to save her.
The first half of the book is just dialogue between the two, like a play. An exchange of letters and the transcription of a notebook followed. It is in this last third of the book that the life of this man and this woman, who chose to help each other, is revealed to us.
And the mikado in all this? The old man makes the rule of this game a life discipline: act, without making anything happen or rather without anyone noticing.
“Terraces or our long kiss so long delayed” by Laurent Gaudé
► At Actes Sud
Laurent Gaudé won the Goncourt exactly 20 years ago with “Le soleil des Scorta”.
It is Friday, November 13, 2015 and Laurent Gaudé imagines the voices of those who were victims of the attacks in Paris that day.
The text takes the form of a succession of monologues which follow the chronology of the terrorist attacks, that said, the characters have a retrospective point of view since everyone knows what is going to happen.
There are two young girls in love who dream of their upcoming date, twin sisters who are preparing to celebrate their birthday, young firefighters disconcerted by the massacre, rescuers, doctors or even the person in charge of cleaning up. of the Bataclan after the attack.
It is a text that advances in fragments. It is a short book which, since its publication, has been a success in bookstores.
“Arizona Diary” by Chantal Thomas
► Published by Seuil
This is not the first newspaper that Chantal Thomas has published since “Journal de nage” had appeared in Le Seuil 2 years ago and it had also been widely acclaimed in the Le Masque forum.
So “Arizona Journal”, why? Because while watching a documentary dedicated to the American writer Jim Harrison, Chantal Thomas remembers to what extent her stay, in the American West, mattered in her life as an author and a woman.
She wrote this diary in 1982, while she was teaching French language and literature in Tucson.
This results in a text that mixes sensory experiences, analysis of American society, portraits of strangers, encountered at the bus stop or in bars.
She also questions her desire for the men and women she meets.
The story is nourished by references to Kerouac, Marivaux, and Tina Turner.
“Here begins a love” by Simon Johannin
► Published by Allia
From the first pages, there is talk of a breakup, of the lack linked to the departure of a girl.
The narrator’s name is Théo, he is a young writer, author of a first novel inserted in the book, with vitriolic description of the literary and fashion world.
We will follow Théo’s wanderings between two cities, namely Paris and especially Marseille today.
The author of this novel is called Simon Johannin, he is also a poet and with this new book, he continues his description of social violence, of contemporary youth.
A generation that questions gender, dances, fucks, drinks, rides scooters, makes room for friendship in the midst of present and future disasters. It is a coming-of-age novel with an invented, raw, lyrical language.
“Hot Milk” by Deborah Levy
► Published by the basement
Deborah Levy received the Femina Prize 4 years ago for two of the parts of her autobiographical trilogy.
In “Hot Milk”, we are with Sofia, an anthropology student who abandons her thesis to devote herself to her mother whose state of health is worrying.
Her mother, Rose, suffers from a mysterious illness that paralyzes her legs. In August 2015, mother and daughter leave London for the Andalusian coast, off the coast of Almeria, and Rose is cared for by a doctor whose treatment methods make him more of a charlatan than a scientist.
Sofia cannot break free from her relationship with her mother, who confines her to the role of nurse, at the expense of her own life as a young woman.
But this trip to Spain is an opportunity for her emancipation and an exploration of her desire, to move towards what she calls “a larger life”.
Favorites
Arnaud Viviant : the book Cosme by Guillaume Meurice, at Flammarion
Jean-Marc Proust : the book Hot night in town by Trevanian, at Gallmeister
Elisabeth Philippe : books Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, Zulma editions and The king did not laugh by Guillaume Meurice, at JC Lattès
Nelly Kaprièlian : the book Sing, swing, party like at Christmas by Maya Angelou, at Notabilia
Rebecca Manzoni : review Strippings (number 69), biannual magazine published by Flammarion and edited by the writer Jean-Baptiste Gendarme
