Anniversaires et déménagements - Anniversary and new space

For the blog's 1 year anniversary this week, we decided to move it to a new and improved space - please just click on the pic below to follow us there!

Pour le 1er anniversaire du blog, on a décidé de s'offrir un nouvel espace encore plus sympa - cliquez sur l'image au dessus pour nous y retrouver !

L. & Min'

50 years of Dr WHO a 50 ans

Hi all, 

Just a quick one, exceptionnally, because I couldn't miss a chance to tell you about Dr Who!
Today, the BBC will air a special episode celebrating 50 years of this world wide famous monument of British television. 
Our friend Persie has gathered all the trailers, teasers and mini-episodes you should see before you watch The Day of the Doctor. You can find it all here. The article is in French but just watch the videos, they're in English. 

If you don't know the Dr yet, winter weekends are a great time to start catching up! 

Allons-y !

Salut à tous, 

Un petit passage rapide, exceptionnellement, parce que je ne pouvais pas rater cette occasion de vous parler de Dr Who !
Ce soir, la BBC diffuse un épisode spécial pour célébrer les 50 ans de cette série monument de la télévision britannique, devenue cultissime dans le monde entier. 
Notre chère Persie a rassemblé ici pour nous toutes les bandes annonces et autres mini-épisodes à voir avant de regarder The Day of the Doctor ce soir. L'article est en Français et les vidéos en Anglais. 

Si vous ne connaissez pas encore le Dr, les weekends d'hiver sont l'occasion parfaite de rattraper votre retard ! 

Geronimo !


Min'

Broadchurch

Hi all, 

So, I know week time is usually for books or foods, but I HAD to tell you about Broadchurch. 

For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is a British series broadcasted on ITV channel in March-April 2013. 

The show follows, over 8 episodes, DI Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and local DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) as they investigate the death of 11 year old Danny Latimer in the small town of Broadchurch, Dorset. 

I'd wanted to see the show since it was announced as I am a great fan of David Tennant (he's not only my favourite Dr Who, but generally a great actor). It took me a while to get to it though, as it seemed to be quite intense and clearly not a comedy, which didn't fit my current mood. Yet some things are meant to be, so after I found myself stuck at home on crutches for a few days, with the internet down (yes, it WAS a nightmare!), my flatmate kindly lent me her DVDs - I thought it would last me a couple of days: I watched all 8 episodes in a row (well... I didn't get much sleep that night!)

I think Broadchurch deserves all the praise it has received and more. The filming and pictures are stunning and not just thanks to the gorgeous scenery. The story line is gripping and all the twists work smoothly, the characters are amazing and the acting excellent. 

It hooks you up without the usual end-of-episode cliffhanger, action packed scenes and sugar coating. It is beautiful in a terrible and efficient way. We follow Hardy and Miller, but also each member of that close knit community, with a minimalistic and factual approach, yet so much information and emotion is conveyed that you can't help hurting for this family and dying to know what happened. 

Their story is just told as it is, no character is presented in a better or worse light, and as you get to know everyone, you find yourself suspecting them all and, at the same time, desperately wishing that none of them is responsible for what happened. 

I think this show epitomises the amazing potential and qualities of British television, and drama in general. Not only are British actors some of the best in the world (thanks to their classical theatre training?), the Brits have this ability to present life in all its ugliness and beauty without trying to soften the edges or manipulate the viewers emotions (not too obviously at least) yet with great stories and entertainment (I mean do I need to say it? Dr Who? Shelock Holmes?). They also have an audience who can appreciate that. Don't get me wrong, they have some of the worst shows ever and I still can't get used to their fondness for provocative vulgarity and grim perversion - but they very regularly produce such gems as Broadchurch (although unfortunately a lot of them are globally overlooked). 

GO BRITS! (I can't believe I just said that, all our French readers have now disowned me...)

Anyways, just watch it (before Fox carry out their threat of producing a US remake of it, argh) and please come back to let us know what you thought!

Cheerio!

Min'

Brèves d'Halloween or how to scare yourself just researching the internet....

Hello everyone, 

A bit of an early posting this week! As you may have noticed all around you, it's Halloween today. To stick to the general mood, we have decided to have scary brèves today! So, here you go, top 3 of the most haunted places in London! 

1. Tower of London : 
Apparently, it would one of the most ghostly inhabited  places  in the UK. This is not really surprising as this place built by William the conqueror, has been : a castle, a prison, a place of many many executions... You will remember Ann Boleyn who was beheaded there... The story is that you can see a lot of famous royal ghosts on full moon nights such as Lady Jane Gray, The 2 princes, Henry the VIth and even a bear!


2- Highgate cemetery:

And that's just the entrance...

Highgate was built in the Victorian period. It already looks nicely creepy, like a peculiarly dark Tim
Burton movie... Well, guess what, it's haunted and apparently there's even vampires leaving in it! On the cultural side, if you ever want to go and visit (I would recommend a bright sunny day), you can see Karl Marx's grave. 




3- The Viaduct Tavern: 

What would London be without its pubs, I'll tell you, freaking boring! Even they are haunted! The Viaduct Tavern has a reputation of being the most haunted place in London ! It was built on a former jail, with cells still visible in the basement. There is some odd stories of waiters being locked in the closet without any good reason, or the lights in the ladies room being turned off by... no one... 


Well that's it for me, but there are many many other haunted places in London, you should try a scary tour if you have the chance (let us know if you do!). 

Enjoy Halloween! 
L.

Shortbread or how to cheer up on a rainy sunday

Hullo hullo, 

Autumn is back,  as well as rain and lazy indoors Sundays. What's better to do when it's pouring outside than to have a nice cup of tea with biscuits while watching twin peaks? Well, one might be tempted to say disco roller skating, but no one would like to see pics of Min and I in hot-pants... So instead, here is the recipe for shortbread!

For these shortbreads, you'll need : 

• 150g of flour (you can use gluten free flour but you'll need to add half a tea spoon of guar gum)
• 100 g of butter (room temperature)
• 60 g of sugar 

How to proceed ? 
Well, mix all the ingredients together and get ready to knead your dough until it's homogeneous and supple.  
To shape it, you have several ways to proceed but I'll give you only one because I don't know how to say "boudin " in English. Roll out the dough on your worktop, it needs to be about 0.5 to 1.00 cm thick and then you can cut it with a cookie cutter or a small glass. 
Put your batch in the oven for about 10-15 min.

Now enjoy, whether you're in hotpants or a tracksuit! 

L.

 

Snort and squint this week... En bref, ça pique les yeux !

Hi everyone, and happy Friday ! 
Salut tout le monde, Joyeux Vendredi !

While Paprika takes advantage of the newly arrived autumn to experiment with paint (with questionable results), I would like your opinion on one of my recent discoveries: I can decide if it's genius or rubbish...

Tandis que Paprika profite de l'arrivée du froid pour se mettre à la peinture (avec des résultats mitigés...), j'aimerais vous soumettre une de mes découvertes de la semaine dernière sur laquelle je n'arrive pas à me décider : génie ou foutaises ? 


I give you: EYE PAINTING. No no, I don't mean artful make up techniques, I mean painting... with your eyes. Don't worry, I was confused too. This is about a young Argentinian artist who recently popped up in the news, Leandro Granato. What's very special about Leandro, is his pretty unique painting technique: he snorts up paint (yes yes, through his nose) and cries it on the canvas (yes yes, through his eyes). I'll let you check the article from the Daily Mail and the video from ITN News, but stear clear of the video and pictures if you're very sensitive, they can be a bit gross. 

Je vous présente : la PEINTURE à L'OEIL. Non non, il ne s'agit pas de peinture gratuite, je veux dire de la peinture... avec les yeux. Oui je sais, moi non plus je n'ai pas compris tout de suite. Il s'agit d'un jeune peintre argentin, Leandro Granato, qui est récemment apparu dans les infos (en ligne). Ce qui caractérise Leandro, c'est sa technique de peinture plutôt unique : il renifle de la peinture (oui oui, par le nez) puis la pleure sur la toile (oui oui, par les yeux). Je vous laisse regarder l'article et la vidéo de meltybuzz, mais je déconseille la vidéo aux âmes sensibles, ça peut être assez dégoûtant.

So what do you think? Genius new form of art, or crazy fancy? My first reaction was quite negative, I thought it was a bit stupid to damage your eyes that way and the painting's picture on the newspaper was quite bland. But it turns our that the artist has developed a harmless painting formula and his Jackson Pollock inspired work is actually quite colourful. Still can't decide if I like it or not... I wonder what our favourite artist, C. thinks.

Alors, qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ? Nouvelle forme d'art pleine de génie, ou lubie dégénérée ? Ma première réaction a été plutôt négative, je trouvait stupide de se ruiner les yeux et la photo du journal était assez fade. Mais apparemment l'artiste a développé une formule de peinture sans danger pour ses yeux, et ses oeuvres, inspirées de Jackson Pollock, sont pleines de couleur. Je n'arrive toujours pas à décider si j'aime... Je me demande ce qu'en pense notre artiste préférée, C. !

Min'

 

Raspberry Financiers or how to come back in style

Hullo, Hullo,

Yeah, Instagram  makes everything look great

It's been a while since I last wrote here! But it's not because I wasn't writing that I didn't make use of my fingers for the sake of this blog. While the sun was shining, the birds singing and the Britons sun bathing (believe me or not, it was actually a sunny summer), I've been baking (not much tho, going to the pub sounded like a much better idea at the time). And I tried this awesome recipe of my beloved financier.
Here you go :


Ingredients ( about 6 cakes):

• 50   gr of ground almonds
• 50   gr  of flour (you can use gluten free)
• 75   gr of butter
• 100 gr of caster sugar
•  4 egg white with a pinch of salt
• 1 raspberry per cake (or more if you wish). 

Optional:

• 1/2 ts of vanilla extract (cuiller à café pour les Français).  

Method: 

•  Preheat your oven at 200°c
•  Butter your financiers dish (if you don't have any, you can use muffin's one, it does the job as well)
•  Melt the butter 
•  In a bowl, mix the almond powder, sugar and flour (add the vanilla essence if you are keen on it)
• Whip up the egg white until stiff (Christian Grey if you hear me I can cook AND I have a synonyms dictionary) .
• Add the egg whites gently to the previous mix. When it's done, add the butter slowly. 
• To finish put one raspberry per cake. 
• Put in the oven for about 15 min. 

Prepare some tea, relax, eat one cake (or 2), you deserve it.

See you next time for I don't know what yet, but I'm sure it'll be awesome (or not but who cares : ) !
 L. 

PS: If you don't want to waste the egg yolk, you can use them for custard or a nice crème brûlée.

En bref et en images... Short and sweet with pics

Chers lecteurs, chères lectrices,

Dear Readers,

Aujourd'hui, j'allais procrastiner...
Mais finalement je le ferai demain.

I really didn't have time to write a new post today since I was busy trying out a new brownie recipe that I am sure you will love! I wasn't going to write at all but here's instead a selection of random pics that made me smile lately. There's some wise truths and some not as... sophisticated humour.

Je n'avais vraiment pas le temps d'écrire un nouvel article ce soir, occupée que j'étais à essayer une nouvelle recette de brownie dont je sens qu'elle va vous réjouir les papilles ! Du coup je n'allais pas écrire du tout, mais voici à la place un florilège en vrac de photos qui m'ont fait sourire ces derniers temps. Il y a un peu de tout, des vérités profondes et parfois de l'humour... un peu moins fin.

 

Le chocolat vient du cacao,
qui vient d'un arbre.

C'est donc une plante.

Par conséquent, le chocolat compte
comme de la salade.

Point final.

Quand tu es mort, tu ne sais pas que tu es mort. C'est juste difficile pour les autres.

 
C'est pareil quand tu es stupide.

 LE SAVIEZ VOUS ?


L'océan est salé à cause de toutes les larmes versées par les requins qui veulent juste qu'on leur fasse des câlins.









CALIN !

JE SUIS VIERGE
(Mais ceci est un vieux t-shirt)

Here's what happens
when you fart inside a Smart!

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS 

SI VOUS NE RECONNAISSEZ PAS CA

l

l

V

And if you didn't recognise the dude in the cookie pic above, then here's your plan for the week end: cancel everything and start watching Dr Who!

Et si vous n'avez pas reconnu le mec dans la photo sur le cookie plus haut, tout ce qu'il vous reste à faire ce weekend, c'est tout annuler pour commencer à regarder Dr Who !

Have a great week end y'all!

Un super weekend à tous !

Min'

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Dearest fellow ape-descended life forms,

I wish I could claim that my long absence was spent exploring the Galaxy to bring you back the really cool aforementioned Guide... I really do... Sadly, nothing even remotely exciting happened in the past few months (well except maybe for a certain event related to L. - but I don't think she'd forgive me if I mentionned it here).
 
Yet don't despair, oh intrepid reader, for the Great Douglas Adams and his bountiful imagination have provided us with ample material for excitment (I can see those of you who have already read this book nodding enthusiastically!). I am of course referring to his world famous 5 book trilogy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2).


Writing this post in under 50 pages was a serious challenge for me. To give you an idea, when re-reading H2G2 a couple of months ago, I decided to fold the corner of each page on which I found a funny quote I wanted to use later - by the end, I realised I had marked almost every other page of the book. 
So, in an effort to be synthetic, I asked an expert in keeping-it-short (namely, Ailonn) how he would describe this book, and he replied: "In one word: Improbable." Never could have put it better. Before I lose you completely though, let's start at the beginning:

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move...

Ok let's skip forward a few hundred thousand years...

On an ordinary Thursday, around lunch time, Englishman Arthur Dent sees his house bulldozed down, finds out his best friend (Ford Prefect) is an alien, and barely survives the demolition of the Earth by hitching a ride on a Vogon ship. There starts the most improbable adventure of his life.

After being thrown out into deep space by the Vogons, Ford and Arthur are suddenly saved by another spaceship, just in the nick of time. Here they are now, passengers of the Heart of Gold, a brand new starship prototype propelled by the Infinite Improbability Drive. This is how they find themselves traveling in company of the President of the Imperial Galactic Government, a couple of mice, an Earthwoman called Trillian and a manically depressed robot called Marvin.

Life? Don't talk to me about life!

Guided by the well informed Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which is well on its way to supplanting the Encyclopaedia Galactica), they wander on a strange quest for quasi-mythical planet Magrathea - no one really knows why, but at least Eddie-the-computer is cheery about it.
On the way, they find out the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (42), they visit a life size catalog for custom made planets, 2 very agressive missiles are turned into a bowl of Petunias and a very surprised looking sperm whale, and we learn the recipe to a great Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster (please drink responsibly).

I want you so much to read this novel, but just grab the book and read the first page or two, and you'll be convinced of Douglas Adams's hilarious genius far better than by my poor prose. There's no need to be a sci-fi lover to appreciate his work, but it is easier if you are not put off by some absurd sense of humour. 

H2G2 is a great read for everyone (except maybe if you are hyper sensitive to the fate of sperm whales, then you might find some scenes too shocking). It is also the key to understanding all those private jokes people have been making for years around you, answering 42 to every question and asking you at the weirdest times if you remembered to take your towel.

So if you could never get the hang of Thursdays either and are looking for a great read, grab your towel, some peanuts, a copy of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and I can promise you some serious fun! 

Min'
Your devoted carbon-based bipedal life form descended from an ape 
(but not from Genghis Khan)

Les filles du bureau du livre

Hello, 
(please skip to below for English)

Aujourd'hui, je vais vous parler d'un endroit merveilleux, un endroit que tout le monde aimerait avoir sur son lieu de travail, aujourd'hui, je vais vous parler du bureau du livre...
Dans l'immeuble où je passe mes journées, il y a, caché parmi les étages et un certain nombre de portes quelconques, une salle fantastique. Elle est tapissée entièrement (enfin à 80%), de BDs et de bouquins. Il y a un grand fauteuil en velours, une vue des plus agréables de Londres, de la musique et des occupantes super sympas (qui vous prêtent des BDs si vous êtes gentils et, bien sur, si vous les rendez). Éventuellement, si vous avez le temps, vous pouvez vous poser, choper un truc à lire, et rester là un petit moment. 
Malheureusement pour mon côté, comment dire ça, "particulier", il n'y a pas de mot de passe ni de code secret. On y entre simplement en toquant doucement, et en veillant à ne pas déranger M et T qui règnent sur les lieux. 

En ce moment, justement, les filles du bureau du livre sont plutôt occupées, elles préparent le festival BD & Comics Passion qui commence aujourd'hui et dure jusqu'à dimanche. 
From today to Sunday in South Ken, the French Institute organises an amazing Comic books festival and most of it is in English!

Je ne sais pas si vous partagez mon engouement pour les bandes dessinées, mais si c'est le cas "The place to be" à Londres ce week end, c'est South Ken ! Apparemment, les filles et leurs collègues ont préparé un programme qui déboîte, il y aura : 

Pénélope Bagieu

Pénélope Bagieu, de qui nous vous avons déjà parlé dans nos brèves (hiiiiiiii)

Trompe l'oeil de Boucq

Boucq (hoooo), Edika (ce sont des auteurs de chez Fluide, évitons de faire la groupie même si c'est dur), La grande Sophie (hiiiiiiii),  etc, etc. 







Bref, ça à l'air de la balle ce festival! Il y a même un atelier "drink and draw" qui à l'air prometteur! Pour plus d'infos, voici le site : c'est de jeudi à dimanche, à l'Institut Français à South Kensington, ici.
Each day has a bunch of great events with different authors, artists, etc. and animations for everyone: bring your little ones to discover the Smurfs or Billy and Buddy or bring your wine loving friends for an interesting "drink and draw" experience! It's easy to find, here in South Ken and it's until Sunday! You can go for a whole day or for a single event.

Pour ma part, je ne pourrai pas y aller, mais si vous allez y faire un tour, n’hésitez pas à nous dire ce que vous en avez pensé! 
Unfortunately I won't be able to go but it is great fun and an original way to sparkle up your week end, please let us know if you go!

L.

Aux armes ! Grab your weapons!

La poële est plus forte que l'épée !

Hello hello, 

Yes it's been a while, wow I've missed you! So today I thought I'd bring you a sweet recipe: don't we all need some sweetness in those troubled times - and as Rapunzel puts it so well, all the megalomaniac-evil-tyrant-villains of the world might have turned out like angelic little lambs if only they had been fed good, sweet, comforting food. I know, I know, it should be "the PEN is mightier than the sword", but I really didn't feel like writing about a book so, there you go: grab your mighty pan and let's make ourselves some nice apple fritters to save the world (every little happy stomach helps)!

Bonjour bonjour, 

Ca fait longtemps, vous m'avez manqué ! Donc aujourd'hui, je vous présente une recette douceur : n'avons nous pas tous besoin d'un peu de douceur en ces temps difficiles - et comme Raiponce le dit si bien, tous les méchants-diaboliques-tyranniques et démoniaques du monde seraient peut-être devenu d'angéliques petits agneaux si on leur avait donné des douceurs à manger. Je sais, je sais, c'est sensé être "la PLUME est plus forte que l'épée", mais je n'avais vraiment pas envie d'écrire sur un livre, donc voilà : attrapez votre super poële et allons faire des beignets aux pommes (selon cette recette) pour sauver le monde (charité bien ordonnée commence par son estomac) !

Ingredients: 

• 125g flour (gluten free)
• 1 egg
• 1 tea spoon baking powder
• 10 cl milk
• 15g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tea spoon of gum (xanthan or guar) if you used gluten free flour
• 2 apples
• frying oil (peanut, sunflower, rapeseed - not olive!)
• sugar + cinnamon (you can pre-mix some in a bowl or a clean salt shaker)

Ingrédients : 

• 125g de farine (sans gluten)
• 1 oeuf
• 1 demi sachet de levure chimique
• 10 cl de lait
• 15g de sucre en poudre
• 1 pincée de sel
• 1/2 cuillère à café de gomme (xanthane ou guar) si votre farine est sans gluten. 
• 2 pommes
• huile de friture (arachide, tournesol, colza - pas olive!)
• sucre + cannelle (vous pouvez en mélanger un peu dans un bol ou dans une salière propre)

Preparation: 

• In a bowl, pour the flour, sugar, baking powder (and gum). Create a hole in the middle of the mix and add the egg yoke and the salt.
• Mix and add the milk progressively, in 3 batches. Once the batter is nice and smooth, whisk the egg white and add it slowly.
• Peel the apples and remove the core. Cut in slices, not too thin or they will break.
• Warm up the oil in a frying pan.
• Dip the apple slices in the batter and fry 2-3min for each side.
• Once fried, set on paper towels to absorb the oil and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon while still hot.

I added half a tea spoon of vanilla extract to my mix and used 25g sugar, you can also soak your apple slices in rum or cognac for half an hour before cooking them for extra taste. 

Préparation :

• Dans un saladier, versez la farine, le sure, la levure (et la gomme). Creusez un puits et déposez le jaune d'oeuf et la pincée de sel.
• Remuez, et versez le lait progressivement, en trois fois. Quand la pâte est bien homogène, ajoutez le blanc d'oeuf monté en neige.
• Épluchez les pommes, et enlevez le trognon. Coupez des lamelles, pas trop fines sinon elles vont se casser.
• Faites chauffer de l'huile. Trempez les rondelles de pommes dans la pâte.
• Faites-les frire 2-3 mn par côté.
• Posez les sur du papier absorbant et saupoudrez les beignets de sucre et de cannelle quand ils sont encore chauds.

J'ai ajouté une demi cuillère à café d'extrait de vanille (ou un sachet de sucre vanillé par exemple) et j'ai utilisé environ 25g de sucre, vous pouvez aussi faire tremper vos tranches de pommes dans du rhum ou du cognac environ une demi-heure avant de les faire cuire pour plus de goût. 

Quand on pense à quel point la Terre est énorme

Et que c'est juste une fraction de la taille du Soleil

Qui n'est qu'un grain de poussière dans tout l'univers

C'est facile de relativiser le fait de manger un gâteau entier.

The real trick with apple fritters... is to stop eating them! My mum used to make them for us and I am not a dictator or a mass murderer so they must definitely work, right? 

Enjoy! You can even have some ice cream too. 

La vraie difficulté avec les beignets aux pommes... c'est d'arrêter de les manger! Ma mère avait l'habitude de nous en faire et je ne suis ni un dictateur ni une tueuse en série, donc ça doit marcher, non ? 

Régalez-vous bien ! Vous pouvez même avoir un peu de glace avec.

Min'

Mini scones

Hello, 

It's been a while we didn't talk about food, which is a shame really because currently all you can see in the magazines, adverts, etc, etc, is : Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!!! The sun is out, it's time to eat lettuce non stop and turn ourselves into right little rabbits! Well sod that, here we know better. After all, what can be nicer than a nice afternoon cream tea? That's exactly what I was thinking when I woke up from my nap last Sunday, mmmm, cream tea. Didn't have scones, nor clotted cream but I had tea, strawberry jam and flour. So here I go and start the Sunday bake off. 

To make about 10 mini scones you'll need : 

• 200g of flour 

• 40g of butter (room temperature)

• 1 sachet or 3 tea spoon of baking powder 

• 15cl of milk

• 1 sachet of vanilla flavoured sugar or 1 big spoon 

• 1 spoon of sugar. 

Optional : you can either put a small handful of sultanas as I didn't have any I put some crystallised orange peel. 

How to do it: 
Well dear readers, it's fairly simple. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, diced butter in a big bowl. Start to mix it up a little. Add the milk and get your hands dirty until you have a nicely soft dough. Then spread it on your work top, it needs to be about 2 cm thick. Once that's done, cut some circles with a wine glass. 
Chuck it in a heated oven (220 °C) for about 10 minutes. 

You should have this result : 

Then, boil the kettle, prepare a cup of tea and brace yourself for a fine calorie intake : 
Cut your scones into to halves, spread some butter, spread some jam and cover it with clotted cream (l'équivalent français le plus proche serait de la crème fraîche épaisse ). 
As I am super lazy, especially on Sundays, I didn't have clotted cream. The result is still nice though...

Important note from the author: recipe fully approved by British boyfriend, ahahahahaha,  French still do it better!!!! 
L.

Can't be bothered

Salut, 

La période critique est de retour,  celle du "Bon sang de bois, sur quoi vais-je bien pouvoir écrire?!". Parce que oui, chers lecteurs, figurez vous que trouver un livre qui vous donne envie de crier sur les toits "c'est formidable, lisez le !!!" et en fait plus rare et difficile qu'on pourrait croire. Du coup, à chaque problème sa solution, aujourd'hui, je vais vous parler des livres que je n'arrive pas à finir.

Une de mes déceptions du mois s'appelle: 

Hope a tragedy de Shalom Auslander.

Voici un petit résumé emprunté  à Good read

The rural town of Stockton, New York, is famous for nothing: no one was born there, no one died there, nothing of any historical import at all has ever happened there, which is why Solomon Kugel, like other urbanites fleeing their pasts and histories, decided to move his wife and young son there.To begin again. To start anew. But it isn’t quite working out that way for Kugel…...more

Ça avait pourtant l'air de bien partir, les critiques en ont fait l'éloge, disant que c'est drôle, satirique, border-line de mauvais goût. Et pourtant... J'ai trouvé ce livre très ennuyeux, alors peut être que c'est parce que je n'ai pas compris les subtilités de la langue, mais quand même...Conclusion, quitte à se frapper 350 pages de névrose, autant mater un Woody Allen. 

London Folk Tales de Helen East: 

London—the greatest city on earth. Travelers, traders, buyers, beggars, soldiers, settlers, leaders, and laborers have crossed paths here, all languages and walks of life jostling and mingling. Two thousand years of stories are waiting to be told. This wonderful collection, which is as light and dark, quirky and diverse as the capital itself, brings these stories to life by professional storyteller and long-term London resident Helen East. Drawing on oral history, folk sources, and written texts, she retells old favorites like Dick Whittington alongside glorious new discoveries, such as royal rats, Saint Uncumber, ghosts and fateful fish. With 50 beautiful illustrations, this book will charm and delight residents and visitors alike

Bon alors là, c'est pas du tout la faute de l'auteure, c'est juste moi qui suis un peu une caguette comme on dit chez moi. Surtout quand je suis toute seule, qu'il fait gris, qu'il pleut, et que la nuit tombe et que je n'ai aucune perspective de compagnie amicale pour la soirée... . Ce livre est (pour le moment), super intéressant, par contre, si les histoires de fantômes et d'animaux enterrés vivants vous font flipper, il serait judicieux de le lire en été, sur la plage, en buvant des Daikiris (mais ça pourrait plomber l’ambiance...).

 ps: la couverture n'est franchement pas top, mais ne pas s'y fier. 

 Catch 22 de Joseph Heller, 

Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. 

Bon, je ne l'ai pas fini, ce n'est que partie remise,  mais je ne sais pas, sur le coup j'étais pas tellement captivée. A reprendre bientôt et je vous dirais! Si vous l'avez lu et que vous pouvez me motiver, n'hésitez pas! 

Sur ce, il est l'heure de fermer boutique! Et si vous avez des recommandations livresques faites tourner! 

L.

 

Brèves / Short and not so sweet

Hello, 

It's Friday!!! You know what that means, it's time for the Brèves, so today it's a top 3! 

1. They might have found the roman ring that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien for Lord of the ring! It's been found in an old roman temple in England. It is believed that it was linked to a tablet which was protected by a malediction.... More info here and there for French.

It's not the actual one but I thought it looked more impressive : )

2. The gate to hell also known as Plutonion, which has been described in ancient Greek mythology has been discovered ! Guess what, it's not a tube entrance... More info here and ici.

3. Last but not least,I saw that today on the internet. Who would have thought that video game super hero could be so kinky???

 Enjoy! 

 L.

(Très) Brève de Pâques - (Very) Short and (extremely) Sweet for Easter

C'est Pâques, on n'est pas là !  

It's Easter, we're out of the office! 

On vous laisse aux bon soins de Paprika pour le weekend...

We're leaving Paprika in charge for the weekend...

Ça promet ! Oh my...

HAPPY EASTER!
JOYEUSES PÂQUES !

L. et Min'