Summer readings | The Press

No, I am not becoming a literary critic at The Press. On the contrary, I am now rather one of those whose writings are exhausted, with my status as stage manager in this media.

It’s because the boss asked me to make an extra effort, to go there with a last column of the season on suggested readings for the summer. I assume that what the boss wants, God wants it, and since I don’t feel like getting cold feet with either of them, I comply.

The only problem is that generally summer readings resemble novels, and I have none to suggest to you, apart from two “stories”, still sort of novels.

I’m an avid reader, but a bit flat. I try to increase my reading of made-up stories to relax, but it’s not easy, I give up easily. Attention deficit, diagnosed by D^r Labeaume…

However, I have already read a lot of it. For example, there was a time when I did just that, during my two years of studying literature in college.

I will talk to you about Dadaism one day. Who was not initiated by Idi Amin Dada by the way, the former Ugandan dictator, but among others prophesied by the poet André Breton, probably an ancestor of Sam Breton, the comedian (hello, Sam!), two crazy alike …

I read to learn, it relaxes me. A habit that probably exorcises my high school education and/or the absence of books in the family home, apart from two dog-eared Tom Swifts.

I spoke to my shrink, who told me to let it go, that we had many other priorities. OK D^r Jekyll.

So let’s go !

I’ll start with what I consider my best read of the last 20 years: Journey of a European through the XX^e centuryby Dutch journalist and author Geert Mak, published in 2007.

This book has not aged a bit. Mak traveled around Europe at the turn of the century to describe life in several places, and the humans who inhabit them, on this continent which, among other things, has known two wars. I was moved throughout the read. Exceptional!

Mak decided to take stock of the situation, publishing last year The dreams of a European in the XXI^e century. You will discover the appreciation, not to say the disappointment and the shattered dreams of people from countries that have joined the European Union. A remarkable work to understand the state of mind of this Europe.

Ryszard Kapuściński fascinated me, I read him a lot. Polish journalist and writer, his work is phenomenal. I suggest you with both eyes closed his book Ebony – African Adventurespublished in 2002. Whether you have already experienced the African night or not, you will be captivated by this reading which describes the singular daily life on these lands, and it would be surprising if major changes occurred in the lives of African villagers during the last 20 years.

Two books on, and by, great Quebec ladies, now.

By Pascale Ryan Lise Bissonnette – Interviews, where she talks frankly about her career and her life. From an underdeveloped Abitibi in terms of training opportunities, M^me Bissonnette candidly admits the complex that she has had for a long time in this regard.

Thank you madam, a transparency that honors you!

This fighter will become director of the Duty. All the same. It takes character. To read also, if only for his advocacy in favor of the University of Quebec.

Conflict of interest here: my youngest will attend UQAC at the start of the school year.

I will travel around the world, an autobiography by Alexandra Szacka. Polish, she immigrated with her family to Trois-Rivières. Alexandra describes her adaptation here and her career as a journalist abroad. Fascinating, and of great humanity to capture the soul of an immigrant.

The last of Éric Vuillard, An honorable exit, a story, a novel, both at the same time. Exceptional writing on the theme of the French defeat in Indochina and, of course, the drama of Diên Biên Phu.

And while we’re at it, the book for which he was awarded the Goncourt Prize in 2017: The agenda. Simply genius.

The Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Germany, in the face of the West. A hundred and fifty pages of breathtaking reading. Allow time before you start reading it, or that the children are well bathed and in bed, because you won’t let go of it. Hard drugs!

For followers fascinated like me by the place of holiness: Vatican offshore – The black money of the Church, by Francois de Labarre. Not the best book on the subject of historical malfeasance in this state, but to keep up to date, worth reading. You will sympathize with Pope Francis who tries to put order in the hut.

Mind-blowing Middle East – A story of drugs, power and society, by Jean-Pierre Filiu. Dense writing and an avalanche of historical information.

Excerpt: “That the Assad regime, long before becoming the main world producer of captagon (drug), has long played a key role in the global networks of heroin, from the refineries installed under its control in Lebanon. »

Very nested the following: The exile of the collaborators, 1944-1989 by Yves Pourcher.

The escape of oil from the Vichy regime to Germany, and the life of a renegade thereafter. Between the lines of the story, the writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline, an eminent member of this band of happy castaways, regularly returns.

A sentence that I let you appreciate: “Other collaborators on the run found it more judicious to spin towards the North of America, towards this Quebec so catholic and French-speaking. »

To be honest, Quebec is only mentioned on one page.

Finally, a last one that I do not recommend: Confessions of a Slightly Overwhelmed Heterosexual, by Frederic Beigbeder. A typically French phenomenon, but it cashes the euros, the thoughtful.

Nobody forced me to buy it, don’t be stupid, but I didn’t expect that, and let’s say I didn’t learn anything about the rest of the world. The kind of guy I wouldn’t invite to dinner with my buddies of girls, it wouldn’t be half an hour… Coke and hymn to fellatio.

Come on, have a great summer! I love you dear readers!