After the strange year with no real fun left behind, the long-awaited vacation time is now just around the corner.
You don’t know which novels to put in the suitcase? Do not panic, The Rep ‘ has cleared for you the little literary jungle where you can sometimes get lost.
What to read this summer on the napkin (?), The bookstores of downtown Orleans are making their suggestions, in the form of big “favorites” …
Don’t know what to read on the beach this summer? The small 2020 selection of Orléans booksellers …
Marlène from the Chantelivre bookstore
The person in charge of Chantelivre is particularly fond of “L’Île des âmes”. Photo: David Creff
The bookseller officiating at Place du Martroi first fell for The Silence of the Carp,
by Jérôme Bonneto. “The story of Paul, a Parisian who has just left his girlfriend and who is discovered with a water leak at his home. After having sealed it again
and again with a rag, he finally decides to call a plumber. By mistake, this one drops a photo which Paul recovers. Above is the plumber’s mother, a pretty woman who mysteriously disappeared in the 1970s,
in Moravia. Nothing holds Paul back in Paris, he decides to drop everything and leaves
in Central Europe in search of it. ”
A little investigation, a quest for himself, all served by “crazy writing”.
The Silence of the Carp, Ed. Inculte, 18.90 euros, 294 pages.
Marlène continues with Island of souls, by Italian Piergiorgio Pulixi. “For decades, ritual murders of young girls have taken place in Sardinia and the investigation has come to a standstill. Two Italian inspectors put in the closet are transferred to the island to try to solve it.” Marlène adds: “In this book, which is not gloomy like a thriller, we have all the ingredients of the 1950s noir novel, but in Fred Vargas sauce.”
A real “page turner,” she says, “you don’t pick up.”
The Island of Souls, at Gallmeister, 25.80 euros, 236 pages.
Finally, in Marlène’s selection, there is also “a real book for girls”,
All the happiness in the world, by Claire Lombardo (Ed. Rivages, 24.90 euros, 703 pages).
Jean-Jacques, from the Les Temps Modernes bookstore
Jean-Jacques of Modern Times. Photo: David Creff
“That, I loved it”. At 57, rue Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance, he holds in his hands “a magnificent biographical story”, Feed the beast, portrait of a climber, through
Al Alvarez.
The story of Mo, a teenager who hitchhiked from home to New Zealand with $ 12 in his pocket. Behind, for thirty years, he climbed the highest peaks in the world (Alps, Everest…), without ever wanting to become a professional. Mo the adventurer prefers pints with his friends over the headlines.
A cult book on friendship, escape, climbing and dizziness, “with a beautiful writing style behind”.
Feed the beast, portrait of a climber, Ed. Métailié, 18 euros, 129 pages.
Jean-Jacques will then look for the novel Scuffed Cats, by Camille Goudeau. The pitch: Soizic was 22 when she left her native Touraine for Paris.
“She finds a cousin there who is a book seller on the banks of the Seine.” Thus begins the intrigue, against a background of research by the mother who once abandoned her. “It’s very interesting, we discover the profession of bookseller, its strings … A very beautiful first novel mixed with autobiography “, concludes the bookseller Jean-Jacques.
Scuffed Cats is published by Gallimard, 20 euros, 267 pages.
Jean-Jacques finally recommends the Israeli novel to you A house on the water, d’Emuna Elon (at Albin-Michel, 21.90 euros, 327 pages).
Yann Moix. Already released, the novel Reims, by the Orleans author Yann Moix, constitutes volume II of the tetralogy In the land of immobile childhood, dont Orléans
(the story of his youth supposedly martyred by his parents) was the first opus, in 2019. Whether we like or not this very divisive character that is Yann Moix, he is nonetheless one of the most beautiful feathers in France . And that
is still verified with Reims (Grasset, 19.50 euros).
We loved it. You can go there with your eyes closed. This year, The Rep loved the novel Friend (Sabine-Wespieser editor), by Tiffany Tavernier. The pitch: one morning when he wakes up, Thierry witnesses the arrest of his neighbors, including that of Guy, his great friend. What filthy secret was he hiding from her?
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Valérie, from The New Bookstore
Valérie, from La Librairie nouvelle. Photo: David Creff
Now let’s go to La Librairie nouvelle, place de la République. What should you absolutely read this summer Valérie?
She goes first to find the novel The Thief of Love, of Richard Malka, also lawyer of Charlie Hebdo. “A fantastic noir novel reviving the tradition of Allan Poe or Bram Stoker … The story of Adrian who has stood the test of time, wars …” Rich collector of art, his age can be counted in centuries. To survive, he feeds on human bodies, much like a vampire. The question is, who is Adrian, who loves a woman he can’t touch?
“A sensual, dark and gothic tale, where monstrosity and beauty become one.” The bookseller Valérie strongly recommends it.
The Thief of love, Ed. Grasset, 19 euros, 216 pages.
As she recommends the novel by an Orléans author, The girl
pomegranate, by Denis Migeon. “A real thriller that takes you on board.” After an attack at the Louvre, the famous painting The Girl with the Pomegranate disappears. Paul, expert in old drawings, and the young visual artist Andréa are following in the footsteps
by its author, Lorenzo Lippi, a mysterious seventeenth-century painter and poet.
“A jubilant investigation that plunges us into the twists and turns of history,
art lovers should love it. ”
The Girl with the Pomegranate to Ed. Cohen & Cohen, 21 euros, 203 pages.
In his last novel, Orléans, Yann Moix young is martyred by his parents, and a little also by the city
David Creff
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