Les Bookworms

Dans cet épisode, nous discutons le livre de Lauren Malka – Mangeuses : Histoire de celle qui dévorent, savourent ou se privent a l’excès. Nous explorons les expériences universelles et personnelles lie à l’acte de manger, passant de la honte et de la culpabilité à la célébration et à la joie. Nous examinons les pressions politique et sociétales qui ont contrôle et critique le corps de femmes.  Et surtout, nous célébrons l’acte de rébellion de s’aimer tel que nous sommes et de savourer chaque bouchée de ce confit de canard !

Kicking off 2024 with a BANGER of a book! This week we discuss the Nobel prize winning Annie Ernaux's The Years (Les Années). Spoiler alert - we loved it. Come listen to a better, more feminist Proustian collective memory exploration.

Today's episode is a check-in on how the adventure of reading the world's longest novel - In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust - is going for each of us. Join us for this literary odyssey as we make our way through the 1 267 069 words in this novel with the lens of understanding why this book is known to be so rewarding and considered among the greatest of all time. Have no fear we aren't Proustian and are not attempting to provide literary criticism! If you've ever been curious about Proust or simply want to read the book with or through us, this episode is for you!

You can find a fuller episode description and other book reviews on our blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com

For our current reads and a dose of French living, check out our Instagram: @lesbookwormspod 

Kicking off Season 4 of Les Bookworms Pod by diving straight in to our newest adventure - tackling Marcel Proust. We discuss Alain de Botton's novel "How Proust Can Save Your Life" as a primer before diving head first in to "In Search of Lost Time". 

You can find a fuller episode description and other book reviews on our blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com

For all our current reads and a dose of French living, check out our Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

The Bookworms head to Burgundy this week to discuss not 1 but 3 books that take us into the heart of this winemaking region. We like our red and whites just like we love a good nonfiction as much as a historical novel. This week’s episode gives a brief introduction to the region, its wine, the tradition of the harvest and its history with references to “Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass” by Natalie MacLean, “My Grape Year” by Laura Bradbury and “The Lost Vintage” by Ann Mah. 

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com 

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Cette semaine est la dernière épisode de notre série politique. Nous discutons le livre « Présentes » par Lauren Bastide (2020) et nous nous posons la même question qu’elle: quelle place pour les femmes? Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com Instagram: @lesbookwormspod >>>son propre podcast s’appelle « La Poudre »

With the French presidential elections just around the corner, this 4-part series covers the basics of the political system. Part 3 - French Political Parties breaks down France's multi-party system and identifies some of the 2022 presidential hopefuls. 

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com

Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

With the French presidential elections just around the corner, this 4-part series covers the basics of the political system. Part 2 - French Politics 101 is an introduction to France's political system, the V République and highlights on the presidents.  Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

With the French presidential elections just around the corner, this 4-part series covers the basics of the political system. Part 1 - What is a Parliamentary System? is a political primer for future episodes discussing the complexities of the French system and the political stage for the upcoming election in France. 

Our parliamentarian-in-resident, Miranda walks us through the answers and the fundamental aspects of Canadian parliament while providing comparisons to other political systems. This episode answers questions such as, what is parliament? what is a bicameral system? how is a prime minister elected? 

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com

Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

This week's episode explores the graphic novel - Le Piano Oriental by Zeina Abirached. She tells a story through imagery and words, weaving together a dual narrative of her grandfather in 1960s Beirut and herself in Paris several decades later. Her grandfather's piano is central to understanding how language, culture and code switching play a role in her own life. 

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Bienvenue au Canada ! Bien que les francophones québécois soient les plus connus, le Canada regorge d’autres groupes francophones comme les franco-ontariens. Avec notre invitée Brigitte, nous parlons du bilinguisme et de la culture Franco-Ontarienne. Blog: Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

How many francophone groups live in Canada? Have you heard of Franco-Ontarian day? This week we answer these questions and more with our special guest - Brigitte! Join us for an interesting discussion on what it’s like growing up bilingual in Canada and no she isn’t from Quebec ! Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

This week we break down A Year in the M***e by Stephen Clarke (2006), which was originally published under the pen name Paul West (the protagonist in the book). The book explores Clarke's own experiences of moving to Paris and figuring out the city, the people and the French culture. Written as a comedic representation, Clarke offers a Anglo-male perspective of an often repeated story of landing in the City of Lights and finding a home. Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

Cette semaine nous introduisons un nouveau genre pour Les Bookworms Pod – la bande dessinée. Cette BD est une autobiographie de Kei Lam qui présente son enfance en France. Elle raconte sa vie et son expérience d’immigration. C’est une histoire touchante avec les illustrations incroyables !

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com

Instagram : @lesbookwormspod

What exactly is TAPIF? How does it work? And what books should you read before arriving in France?

This episode explores the program that brought us together. We discuss the basics of the program, provide a bit of advice for current/future assistants or to anyone moving abroad for the first time as well as a few take-aways from our experience as English teaching assistants in France. If you want more concrete information on how you can pursue this opportunity, check out the TAPIF site itself: https://frenchhighereducation.org/teaching-assistant-program

Come say hi to us on Instagram @lesbookwormspod 

By email: lesbookwormspod@gmail.com

Or for all your book review and episode write-ups, our website: lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com 

Part 2 of the bonus series and the final episode of Season 2! We are whipping up a fricassée de poulet (chicken) à l'ancienne from the seminal cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" which effectively introduced French cuisine and technique to Americans. Come cook with us, drink some wine and have a Francophile afternoon as we discuss various aspects of French food and culture together!

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com/ 

Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

Part 1 of a bonus series to end Season 2 of the Les Bookworms Pod. We talk about Julia Child, her influence and legacy in French cuisine in North America as well as the absence of the great "French chef" in France. A bit of book talk, life talk and general Francophile chit chat to get ready for Part 2 (releasing on Sunday) where we cook a tradition French Sunday dinner from the famous "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". 

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com/

Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

Ce roman raconte d'une façon la vie d’un garçon de dix ans et d'une autre façon l’histoire d’Afrique brutalement malmené par l’histoire. Comme Gaël Faye explique lui-même: “J’ai écrit ce roman pour faire surgir un monde oublié, pour dire nos instants joyeux, discrets comme des filles de bonnes familles...J’ai écrit ce roman pour crier à l’univers que nous avons existé, avec nos vies simples, notre train-train, notre ennui, que nous avions des bonheurs qui ne cherchaient qu’à le rester avant d'être expédiés aux quatre coins du monde et de devenir une bande d’exilés, de réfugiés, d’immigrés, de migrants.”

Chanson: https://youtu.be/XTF2pwr8lYk 

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Small Country by Gael Faye (2016) describes the life of a small boy living in Burundi in a period of relative peace, when his innocence is brutally lost after the coup d'état that sends the country into lawlessness and war. It's an incredibly beautiful novel about childhood and the intersection of growth and tragedy. In this episode, we discuss innocence, interconnectedness of culture and colonial identity. 

Blog: https://lesbookwormspod.wordpress.com/

Instagram: @lesbookwormspod

Ce roman explore l’aventure de trouver votre identité, vu par notre héros Samba qui vient d’un pays d'Afrique (basé au Sénégal) mais prend le voyage à Paris pour poursuivre ses études supérieures. Là- bas, il découvrit les grandes différences entre l'occident et l’afrique. Le roman explore les thèmes de modernité et la négritude ou nationalisme de l'Afrique.

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This short novel is one of two works by Cheikh Hamidou Kane who has since become a legend of African literature. Similarly to other works we’ve seen this season, Kane explores essentialism and existentialism within this novel. He weaves imaginary or allegorical perspectives with real history, social and political matrices, and philosophical questions on what it means to exist within the imperial and republican France as someone who is  non-white and not from the metropole. He does this primarily through presenting the story of Samba Diallo who leaves his home to study in France. The book divides the experience into before, during, and after and explores various intellectual ideas and the interactions between African cultures and French culture. Beyond the representation of Samba’s experience, this book also depicts black cultural nationalism and African-centered notions of modernity and modernization.

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Aimé Césaire est un poète français, écrivain et politicien qui a écrit “Le cahier d’un retour au pays natal” dans les années 30 quand il était étudiant à Paris. Influencé par le surréalisme, il mêlait métaphores audacieuses et expressions de la révolte dans son texte. “Le cahier d’un retour au pays natal” est célèbre pour son symbole du mouvement de la négritude et de l’anticolonialisme. Le poème était refusé par une dizaine d'éditeurs français avant d'être publié par André Breton - lui-même poète.

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Aime Cesaire was a French poet, author, and politician. During his studies in Paris, he started a journal called “L’etudiant noir” with other students who felt culturally alienated by the societal colonial stigmatization of Martinque and Guyanian students. During this time, he wrote the poem Return to my Native Land which subsequently launched the negritude literary movement. He became a huge proponent for combatting colonials, acculturation, and communism. “A Return to my Native Land” has been called the first “grand cri noir” as it takes the reader on an emotional at times spiritual and perhaps even existential journey of hope and despair.

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Ce roman raconte une histoire d’amour entre une française et un Canadien-camouronais. Tandis que leur affaire commence à Hollywood, ils traversent les frontières et explorent la culture, l’identité, la race, le désir, et la réjection. Darrieussecq écrit une histoire complexe qui montre comment l’imagination coloniale transforme toujours la pensée consciente et inconsciente. Son style littéraire est allégorique. Elle évoque plusieurs thèmes pendant la lecture qui inclut “au cœur de ténèbres” par Joseph Conrad en construisant une discussion psychologique et critique. Le roman souligne le racisme continuel et met en évidence la complexité de l’intersectionnalité dans le présent.

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In a way, this is a modern Hollywood love story that explores culture, identity, race, longing, and rejection. And yet, Darrieussecq weaves a complex story illustrating how the colonial imagination continues to shape conscious and unconscious thought. In an allegorical literary style, she plays with themes found in the Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad to construct a psychological discussion on race, ethnicity, national identity, social expectations, and intersectionality of today’s modern times. Using timely and accurate references, it becomes clear that societal norms have not fully changed and the reader, like the characters in the novel need to confront reality.

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Adam Hochschild retrace l’histoire de la colonisation et construction d’un État personnel au monarque blegesur le fleuve Congo. Le roi Léopold II de la Belgique était un homme avide de pouvoir et de gloire. Il est orchestré et brutalement exécuté une campagne de domination pour attraper une colonie pour en retirer des bénéfices personnels. Ce livre raconte la presse, les stratégies, les accords, et les décisions des autres pays et coupables qui ont choisi de fermer les yeux. Par ailleurs, Hochschild raconte également des organisations et des gens qui se sont levés contre ces atrocités. Ce récit de crimes oubliés, véritable dissection du système colonial, aide à la compréhension d’une actualité tragique.

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Leopold’s Ghost explores the exploitation and colonization of the Congo Free State by King Leopold of Belgium from inception to the King’s death, an area now separated into the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. It recounts the terrifying greed and lack of empathy of Leopold in his single desire to own and command a “piece of the African cake”. Unlike the non-fiction of my history class, the book highlights specific people within the timelines of this terror, creating an enthralling read that underscores how history is told, and the many small steps needed to keep the atrocities of this time quiet.

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Ce petit roman est assez simple par rapport à l'histoire présentée. On pourrait le lire comme un dernier testament du personnage principal qui s'appelle Meursault. Pendant ce roman, on suit Meursault, un pied noir en Algerie dans sa vie quotidienne. Il explique la mort de sa mère, la rencontre de son amoureuse Marie, les nouvelles de ses amies, et le plus intriguant un procès criminel qui l' accuse d'être meurtrier. Ce roman est plus connu pour sa critique sociétale et l’absurdisme trouvé dedans.

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The Stranger has a rather simple plot and reads almost like a last testament in first person prose. In a little over hundred pages, we follow Meursault, a pied-noir in Algeria through the loss of his mother, his adventures in love and friendship, and a strange criminal trial in which  he finds himself implicated. Known more for its commentary on society and as a prime example of absurdist fiction, Camus’ The Stranger has been integrated into the reading curriculum throughout the world and remains a novel that many hate to love.

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Simone de Beauvoir discuter les points de vue pris sur la femme par plusieurs disciplines academiques. Son chef-d'œuvre est une chronique de l’histoire des femme et connu comme le plus grand livre de la philosophoie feministe. C’est un essai, manuel, et thèse qui influence considérablement les générations de femmes qui lui ont succédé. Elle explore comment l'inégalité entre les hommes et les femmes est historiquement et idéologiquement construite. Le deuxieme sexe etait revolutionaire en 1949 et reste l’actualite aujourd’hui.

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Originally published in 1949 as a novel, The Second Sex reads more like a textbook of the history of female oppression, taking on topics ranging from Christian depictions of women, the right to vote, menstruation and maternity. De Beauvoir begins by saying famously, one is not born a woman, one becomes a woman. Straight away, she attacks the myths perpetuated about women and gender as essential to a person’s being. The book is shockingly ahead of its time and it can’t be overstated how important it was in inspiring the second wave of feminism. One that moves beyond legal equality and into philosophical and societal differences in the way women are treated.

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This episode is all about breaking down existentialism as a philosophy. In this French/English episode, we cover the basic tenants of existentialism through discussing the philosophers responsible for its creation and propagation. Then, we discuss the time period and external influences as well as the most famous works (for the French existentialists). We hope by the end of the episode, you have a better grasp on what existentialism means and how it applies to our next few episodes!

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Entre un mémoire et un livre de santé et bien être, ce livre essaye d’expliquer comment les femmes françaises évitent la culture de régime et restent mince et en bonne santé. Mireille explique son expérience prenant du poids et ses coup de mains de les perdre utilisant la modération. Il y a des recettes, des conseils utiles et des exemples de la façon dont les français peuvent tout avoir.

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Somewhere between self-help, memoir and anthropological study of the relationship French culture has with food and diet, this book aims to explain how French people avoid yoyo dieting through moderation, seasonal eating and mindful meals. Mireille explains her own journey through putting on weight and trying to keep it off. Not quite a diet book, you learn useful recipes and tricks to be conscious of what you eat and gain general knowledge about the French approach to food and body image.

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This episode is all about Christmas traditions! With the holidays around the corner, we discuss Christmas traditions in our homes: Canada and France! This is our last episode this season and before our break for the holidays. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and stay safe into 2021!

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Une histoire d'amour réaliste entre un soldat marocain et une jeune femme d'Alsace à la fin de la deuxième guerre mondiale. Mathilde déménage au Maroc avec son nouveau mari Amine et ils commencent de bâtir une vie ensemble. Ils rencontrent des obstacles tout le temps, avec leur ferme et les agrumes qui ne grandissent pas, avec leurs familles qui vient des cultures différents, et avec leurs sentiments de soi, de qui sont-ils dans ce pays des autres.

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This is a realistic love story between a Moroccan soldier and an Alsatian woman beginning at the end of WWII. It follows their life as they create a household, build a farm, and experience life together in a mixed race, bicultural family in the 50s and 60s. The cultural conflicts and genuine efforts of connection weave a pragmatic tale filled with the trials and tribulations of everyday life in a unique period of time in Morocco - the beginning of the end.

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Ce livre est l’ode à la vie parisienne. Lindsey Tramuta décrit comment l’identité de la parisienne évoluait et les représentations stéréotypiques de la femme chic représenté pendant les années comme la définition de la beauté est seulement une façade qui cachent les vraies femmes modernes et leur travails importants. Elle explore les femmes, leurs idées, et la nouvelle Paris avec les entretiens intimes. Ce groupe de parisienne sont les agents de changement dans cette ville immortelle et elles créent les innovations et redéfinissent le récit parisien.

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This book is an ode to the new Paris which subsequently was the name of Lindsay Tramuta’s first book. She eloquently captures how the narrative of the Parisian woman has remained stagnant and no longer represents the true, authentic identity of the women inhabiting Paris. She uses her journalistic style to examine the women and ideas shaping Paris today in an inspirational and motivational collection of amazing women based in Paris. From activists, creators, disruptors, storytellers, taste makers, and visionaries, each woman’s story adds to the changing narrative of what it means to be Parisenne - a diverse group of transplants and Parisian born and raised, these ladies are changing the game and dismantling the old, stale idea of Parisienne used as marketing to sell products for generations.

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Ce livre décrit la vie de David, un américain à Paris avec un groupe des amis diverse qu’il n’oserait jamais associé chez lui à Brooklyn. Mais Paris offre une chance d'explorer sa sexualité, une bataille interne qu’il n’arrive pas à surmonter. Il est déchiré entre Giovanni, un serveur dans un bar avec qu’il a un connextion romantique immédiat, et sa fiancée Hella qui explore l’Espagne pendant son séjour à Paris. Le livre est divisé entre la journée de l'exécution de Giovanni et les souvenirs de leurs moments ensemble avant ce journee triste. 

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