French Book Club
J’aime m’exprimer, c’est
le Bonheur assuré !
A French Book Club on French literature and cinema started in May 2015 in Muswell Hill on Monday evening once a month (£15 each session). We have studied: "Stupeur et Tremblements" from Amélie Nothomb with the related film from Alain Corneau, "L'Ecume des Jours" from Boris Vian/ film from Michel Gondry, "La Vie Devant Soi" Romain Gary + the film from Moshé Mizrahi, "Dora Bruder" Patrick Modiano, "Hiroshima Mon Amour" Marguerite Duras + film from Alain Resnais, "L'Amant" Marguerite Duras, "Le Grand Meaulnes" Alain Fournier, "Les Enfants Terribles" Jean Cocteau, "Mémoires d'Hadrien" Marguerite Yourcenar, "Le Soleil des Scorta" Laurent Gaudé, "Bonjour Tristesse" Françoise Sagan, "Jules et Jim" HP Roché, "Un Aller Simple" D Van Cauwelaert, "L'étranger" Albert Camus,P Drieu La Rochelle "Le Feu Follet", Simone de Beauvoir "Le Sang des Autres", Antoine de Saint Exupéry "Vol de Nuit", Georges Simenon "La Chambre Bleue", Jean-Paul Didierlaurent "Le Liseur du 6h27", Colette "Chéri", Sébastien Japrisot "L'Eté Meurtrier", Fred Vargas "Quand sort la recluse", Guy de Maupassant "Bel Ami", Alain Robbe Grillet "La Jalousie", Michel Houellebecq "Soumission", François Mauriac "Thérèse Desqueyroux",Georges Pérec "Les Choses", Raymond Queneau "Zazie dans le métro", Emile Zola "Thérèse Raquin", Delphine de Vigan "D'Après une Histoire Vraie", Antoine Laurain "Le Chapeau de Mitterrand", Azouz Begag "Le Gone du Chaaba", Gustave Flaubert "L'Education Sentimentale", Edouard Louis "En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule", Jean-Paul Sartre "La Nausée", Kamel Daoud "Meursault, Contre-enquête", David Foenkinos "Le mystère Henri Pick", Maryse Condé "Moi, Tituba sorcière", Nathalie Sarraute "Portrait d'un inconnu", Christophe-Ono-dit-Biot "Plonger", Jean Giono "L'homme qui plantait des arbres" et transition écologique , Guy de Maupassant "Le Horla", Annie Ernaux "Les Années", Michel Bussi "Nymphéas Noirs", Stéphanie Kalfon "Les parapluies d'Erik Satie", Valérie Trierweiler "Le secret d'Adèle", Albert Camus "La Peste", Xavier de Maistre "Voyage autour de ma chambre", Vercors "Le Silence de la Mer", Michel Butor "La Modification", Gilles Leroy "Alabama Song", Céline "Voyage au bout de la nuit", "Les Belles Images" Simone de Beauvoir, "La Cousine Bette" Balzac, "Un secret" Philippe Grimbert, "Un Roman Français" Frederic Beigbeder, "Fatale" Jean-Pierre Manchette, "Les Cerfs-Volants" Romain Gary, "Tentative d'Epuisement d'un Lieu Parisien" Georges Perec, "Les Caves du Vatican" André Gide, "Jours Sans Faim" Delphine de Vigan, Guy de Maupassant "Sur l'eau", René Barjavel "La Nuit des Temps", "Rien ne s'oppose à la Nuit" Delphine de Vigan,"Les Inséparables" Simone de Beauvoir, "L'Attentat" Yasmina Khadra, "Tamara par Tatiana" Tatiana de Rosnay, "Mon Frère Yves" Pierre Loti, "La vie secrète des écrivains" Guillaume Musso, Emile Zola "Au Bonheur des Dames", Georges Simenon "Les Inconnus dans la Maison", Marcel Pagnol "Jean de Florette" & "Manon des Sources", Marcel Proust "Du Côté de chez Swann", Annie Ernaux "La Place", Simone de Beauvoir "Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée", Muriel Barbery "Une Rose Seule", Jean-Guy Soumy "La Tentation de Clarisse", Simenon "L'Enterrement de M.Bouvet" Hugo "Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné"...
Adult Conversation
On chosen topics + at specific level after identifying strengths and determining which next steps to work on.
Many adults have a standard GCSE level with grammar basics and a minimum vocabulary allowing them to cope in daily situations. Reaching a higher level expressing opinions and views on specific subjects is often the next step. Starting on listening extracts followed by a conversation on topics of interest could stimulate the memory process. We all know that identifying and recognising words, becoming aware of the structure of a sentence will help us memorise vocabulary. Using words in a conversation will allow us to experience and assimilate them. Very often we would like to express our ideas in another language but it takes time and a slow build up of listening and oral skills. It is important that you bring a stimulus for conversation; it could be anything: film review, Cannes Festival, books, songs, themes that interest you. I often lend my French films but adults can buy them easily on amazon.fr as the films will have subtitles either in English or in French depending on your level.