Monday 4 March 2019

Histoires à lire le soir by Marc Thil


Histoires à lire le soir by Marc Thil
Self published in France in May 2013.

One of my Books In French and one of my 2019 Mount TBR Challenge reads

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


• 12 histoires variées, pleines d’émotions ou d’humour, pour faire découvrir aux jeunes lecteurs (8-12 ans) le plaisir de lire.

Au sommaire :

• Émile et le microbe 
• Le bracelet d'Anna 
• Mes trois araignées 
• Grenouille en prison 
• Amour et chewing-gum 
• L'anniversaire d'Alex 
• Un chat toujours à l'heure 
• Le mystère de la poubelle du 16 bis 
• Adriane 
• Qui a effacé mes exercices d'anglais ?
• Conversation avec un escargot
• Mon « six cents pattes » 

I'd let my French practice slide after having been so disillusioned with A la folie ... pas du tout so I knew it would take a very different book to get me back into second-language reading again. My OH had purchased Histoires à lire le soir for himself early last year and this fun short story collection turned out to be just the tonic I needed. The twelve tales are each between about four to eight pages long and are actually intended for child readers aged from eight to twelve. That's native French speaking children though. I would confidently say that this book is also perfect for non-native speakers on the wrong side of forty! I love Thil's sense of humour and, although the stories all feature children, I didn't actually find them childish. From a language learning perspective, there was a good mix of ideas and tenses, common and more unusual words, descriptions and direct speech. I think my favourite stories were Un chat toujours à l'heure - where perpetually late breakfasts lead a cat to take matters into its own paws and write its owner a series of complaining notes - and Le mystère de la poubelle du 16 bis which I won't explain as I don't want to drop any spoilers. All twelve tales are very entertaining though and I am looking forward to embarking upon Thil's second volume of short stories soon.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Marc Thil / Short stories / Books from France

Sunday 3 March 2019

Escaping Psychiatry: Beginnings by Olga Nunez Miret + #FreeBook


Escaping Psychiatry: Beginnings by Olga Nunez Miret
Published by Just Olga Books in February 2016.

E for my 2019 Alphabet Soup Challenge and one of my 2019 Mount TBR Challenge reads

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How far would a writer go for a killer story? This is the question psychiatrist Mary Miller must answer to solve the first mystery/thriller of her career. You can get to know the main characters of this psychological thriller series for FREE and test your own acumen and intuition in this novella about the price of ambition.

Dr Mary Miller is a young psychiatrist suffering a crisis of vocation. Her friend Phil, a criminalist lawyer working in New York, invites her to visit him and consult on the case of a writer accused of a serious assault. His victim had been harassing him and accusing him of stealing his story, which he’d transformed into a best-selling book. The author denies the allegation and claims it was self-defence. When the victim dies, things get complicated. The threshold between truth and fiction becomes blurred and secrets and lies unfold.

Escaping Psychiatry. Beginnings is the prequel to Escaping Psychiatry a volume collecting three stories where Mary and her psychiatric expertise are called to help in a variety of cases, from religious and race affairs, to the murder of a policeman, and in the last case she gets closer than ever to a serial killer.

If you enjoy this novella, don’t forget to check Mary’s further adventures. And there are more to come. 

Escaping Pschiatry: Beginnings is a prequel novella which introduces the characters who, I presume, will go on to become the central focus as this series progresses. In this story we meet Dr Mary Miller and see her working ad hoc for a firm of lawyers at the request of her friend. I was surprised at how easily Mary seemed to get access to sensitive information about the case. I felt that a longer story with more chance to get to know everyone would have been better because I found it difficult to really empathise or fully understand motivations, but it was quite an intriguing mystery and an unusual set-up which appealed to me. I'm not sure that I would read any more from this series as lawyer stories aren't one of my preferred genres, but Escaping Psychiatry: Beginnings could be a good choice for readers who do like this style of novel.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Olga Nunez Miret / Thrillers / Books from Spain