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
I like that the stories all featured children but appealed to all. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimberly! These stories were great fun :-)
DeleteI love that you can read in french! :) Because my library loan expired, I finished The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish and nothing like reading a book in the original language. It's SO MUCH better (if possible! I'm totally infatuated with that book lol) I love that this book is good for non-native speakers as well (wrong side of forty?? lol my side!) writing children's stories that are not childish is such an art!
ReplyDeleteI imagine reading Zafon in Spanish must be almost overwhelming! Those books are vivid enough in translation! I have a little spoken Spanish and can usually make out enough written to comprehend museum plaques and the like, but nowhere near the expertise for a novel.
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