For the month of December, I read 3 novels, a story by the Belgian writer Robert Walser and two novels by the French Dalie Farah.
Robert Walser's "der Spaziergang" (The Walk) is a short poetic tale that tells the story of a day of strolling from several points of view. I did not know this German-speaking author at all and I loved it enormously, I who love walks, I was intrigued by this author with a rather mysterious life, who after having worked many jobs and written many stories, spent several years in hospital for depression, then was found dead of fatigue on a Christmas day after a walk in the snow. I want absolutely read two of his other short stories, "Poetenleben" (Thirty poems) and "Der Gehülfe"(The assistant)
The author Dalie Farah has written two novels, "Impasse Verlaine" and "Le Doigt". "Impasse Verlaine" tells the childhood of the author and the childhood of the author's mother. Her mother, Vendredi (Friday) born in the Berber mountains of Algeria, will know the war, and will helplessly witness the death of her father, she will then be married to a cousin with whom she will emigrate in the center of France. The author Dalie, born in a small French town, will grow up in the poverty of the life of low-rent housing, the violence of the family climate and the neighborhood and will take passion for school, her only escape. This first novel is very autobiographical, I liked it a lot, it is a very lively and authentic story and even if it is not quite the same generation, many anecdotes have spoken to me and reminded me of my own childhood.
"Le Doigt" of the same author tells how she turned French teacher, while she goes to her high school is honked by a motorist while she crosses the road, she will then answer him with a middle finger, he will go out to ask her to repeat her gesture, which she will do, he will then send her a big slap. The author then begins to tell from this fact, how violence has always burst into his life and shaped his existence. In this novel the author speaks of violence with great accuracy based on his own experience, I found this analysis very fine and successful even if telling this process is difficult.
My year 2021 was a real return to reading (after 4 long years of break), the MDL group really motivated me. For 2022 I hope to read even more books and succeed in starting in some classics like Homer's "Odyssey" or finish other books, like the great Chinese novel "Water Margin" which is so long!
Thank you again for such a nice group, happy new year to you.