Welcome to Litsy!

A young girl who doesn‘t want her life with her widowed father to change attempts to sabotage his new relationship after he announces his engagement. Such a slim novel that manages to still be weighty. Famously written by a teenaged Sagan, the main character may be juvenile but the examination of human nature is unflinching.
#24in2024

This is a classic. Something about it reminds me of The Parent Trap. But it's much darker.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#womenintranslation
Another short one in translation. I have a thing for French novels. I enjoyed this. There are so many moral topics brought up. I didn't read the intro so may have missed if the author was sending a message. The main character is likable even as she uncontrollably tries to ruin lives as she manipulates to get the life she wants. As I get older the more I cringe at predatory relationships and there is 1 here.

Short and stormy and stunning for a writer aged just 18 when the novel was published.
Another classic checked off my enormous to-read list. I have picked the review option on all these classics I am reading but I should have opted for a blurb instead as I wouldn't dare pretend to write a review but just mere thoughts.

17 yr old Cecile is used to having her father, Raymond, to herself. As a widower, he has affairs, but never anything serious.

This summer they rent a house in the Riviera, and invites Elsa and they have a great time. One day her father says that another friend, Anne, will come to visit as well. This changes the dynamic. When Raymond announces that he and Anne will marry, Cecilie comes up with a plan to end the relationship.

Not sure why Bonjour tristesse came up as a “summer beach readâ€� except it‘s set on the Côte d'Azur. 17-year-old Cecile is daddy‘s girl, living it up with her charming widowed father & his roguish friends. When the elegant & kind but unfun Anne gets involved w/ Daddy, Cecile‘s meddling leads to tragic consequences. Breezy tone covers grief & self-loathing, Cécile a complex if spoiled character. Young woman discovering her sexuality, influence. 1954

One of those classics that you feel guilty to not have read. Sagan explores the emotions, jealousy and power that a young person can and the dramatic impacts those can have on others. Quite amazing story for a young woman to have written at just 18.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 After years in convent school, 17 year old Cecile has become extremely comfortable living her life alongside her playboy father, filling their time with drinking, smoking, and an abundance of frivolous conversations with his friends & rotation of pretty but insipid gal pals. When her father invites Anne on their vacation, Cecile feels her breezy way of life beginning to change. What lengths will she go to to avoid change? ⬇�

Pulled up some background music from France in the 1950s to start on this #womenintranslation book. I hope to finish it today if all goes well.

My library shared this website on their summer resources page for high school students. They have music from each decade starting in 1900 for different countries through the present. It is a great way to further immerse yourself in a foreign land when we're pretty much staying put.
www.radiooooo.com

Just SO French, and I loved it! Cécile, a charmingly precocious teen, and her incurably frivolous and widowed father, spend a lazy summer on the Riviera, spending their days swimming, drinking, smoking cigarettes and having love affairs. When her father decides to marry a ‘sensible‘ woman, Cécile‘s scheming has devastating consequences. My version has a fab intro by Rachel Cusk. Published in ‘54, I am in awe that this was written by an 18 yr old!

#bookreport & #weeklyforecast

So busy at work this week, so not my best reading week, but I loved what I read! Two coming of age novels, one new and one classic..... both for #popsugarsummer challenge.

Just started an #ARC called Mayflies, and so far so great! Works for #popsummer20 too! 😊�
Also re-reading Cheryl Strayed on audio for a bookclub next week...

Next up, one I didn‘t get to this week, and another #ARC that comes in September..ğŸ�§ğŸ’•

#popsummer20 #update @Cinfhen

Progress so far is 13/20.... so 7 more to go....
�🌴🌊📚💕

Next up is the tagged book for #abookinvolvingasummerromance

#beautifulwords

This is the #quintessential French ‘coming-of-age‘ novel - hence why I‘ve got 3 copies of it... 1 in French and 2 in English.

(I thought I had 4, but could only find these!)

Wow! What an amazing debut from an 18yr old! Sagan‘s insight into human behaviour from one so young blew me away! Loved it! â�¤ï¸�
#ReadwithMrBook #DebutNovel @MrBook

Number 14 on my list for the #bookspinbonanza

This was a HUGE surprise for me. I never wanted to read it, but thought I should know more about it. And then I was stunned by its powerful psychology and deep study of human behavior.

@TheAromaofBooks

Starting this one today @squirrelbrain

I feel it probably needs to be read in the sun. Daisy and I will be heading down to the Manchester Riviera this afternoon

Thank you for the beautiful gift @squirrelbrain
It's so kind of you. I look forward to bonjour tristesse and I love the copy of The Grapes of wrath. It's my first orange penguin! They really are very cool.

1. Sadly I am a monolingual English speaker, however......... 2. I do try to learn some greetings, polite forms, and commonly used phrases when I travel to countries that are not primarily English speaking. I have some French, Spanish, German, and Icelandic.

This tale of beauty, promiscuity and amorality, written when the author was only 18, is certainly #taintedlove.

Somehow I‘ve ended up with three copies - two English and one French! 🤷â€�♀ï¸�

#anglophileapril

Cecile is 17, and has spent the last 2 years with her widowed father after spending many at a convent school. At first I thought she was just your average boy-crazy teen. But no, she‘s also mean and cruel. She must have her way, and will do anything to get it. And then she flip flops and regrets her actions. Until she flip flops again. Narcissist or sociopath? Per author interview included, the author was very similar. #1001books #intranslation

I‘m reading two books, written 60 years apart, both translated from French. Both short. One fiction, one “novelized nonfictionâ€� (wtf?). Both have characters named Cyril. I am unclear if this is coincidence, not coincidence, or a super common name in France. Other book tagged below. 🤔

Yesterday‘s #libraryhaul! More for the #augusttbr

Litsy needs a library haul sticker!

@SilversReviews
1�⃣ No.
2�⃣ Mostly yes.
3�⃣ Mostly yes.

I finished Bonjour Triesste last night. It was a wonderful and quick read and I think it‘s deserving of being a solid 4 star. Françoise Sagan has been described as the French F. Scott Fitzgerald and I have to say that‘s pretty accurate! I loved her writing. Can‘t wait to read A Certain Smile. #bookaddict #booklover #bookblog #bookworm #bookish #penguinmodernclassics

Good good morning beautiful souls 🖤🌻

I‘m overjoyed this morning because I passed my exam and my module and am accepted to my October modules. I want to dance and squeal but it‘s 7am so I‘ll drink coffee and read whilst my daughter watches her breakfast cartoons instead. I‘m 50-60 pages into each of my reads now and I am loving them all. #bookaddict #booklover #bookblog #bookish #bookworm #bookstamums #penguinmodernclassics

Unplugging for the weekend to enjoy family time and good books. See you on Monday beautiful souls. 🖤🌻 #penguinmodernclassics #bookaddict #bookish #booklover #bookblog #bookworm #bookstamums

What‘s self control? 🤷ğŸ�¼â€�♀ï¸�

This is my #currentlyreading pile. I‘ve gone from reading Silence of the Girls, two reading three books at once and although this is a technique I want to learn to help me battle my overflowing TBR, I‘m still learning how to work multiple books at once effectively.

So, I guess I‘m accepting eyeball donations now ğŸ’�ğŸ�¼â€�♀ï¸�🤔#penguinenglishlibrary #penguinmodernclassics

#OldCoolBooks #novella

I couldn't find an old cool edition of a novella on my shelves, but I do have this classic. Published in 1954 when the author was just 18, it is a quick, interesting & provocative read. I bought a copy after reading about it in another book--don't ask me which one.🤔I also watched the film. I like the starkness of the design on my edition but I'd love to own the English first edition, published in 1955--it's so colorful.

Day 25: #beachread ??? Françoise Sagan‘s first brilliant novel, written in her teens.

“Sometimes I think I would blame myself less if I had been prompted that day by hatred and violence, and had not allowed myself to drift into it merely through inertia, the sun, and Cyril‘s kisses.â€� - p77

#photochallenge #readingresolutions

This book felt like a more mature and darker version of The Parent Trap. Cecíle, a 17 year old, selfish and spoiled girl lives a life full of glamour and parties with her widowed father. They both have love affairs, but when Cecíle‘s father starts getting serious with one woman, Cecíle sets out to ruin their engagement. It is tragic and sad, but so lyrical and beautifully written, I couldn‘t help but like it!

@JenP already picked this for today's #RockinMay prompt, but I had to use it as well ? Cécile, the main character is just over the #edgeofseventeen and is sorely depressed about her father's new girl friend. Sagan was only 18 when the book was published, which is just mind blowing. I have heard so many good things about the book, and it is somewhere on my ever growing tbr list ?

#EdgeofSeventeen #rockinmay

The protagonist was seventeen and the author 18 when she wrote this.

I wanted to post about Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse for today's #RockInMay theme of #HomeByTheSea, but couldn't find my copy. So, here's an irreverent, vaguely existential French novella published in 1954 that largely takes place in a seaside town in France.

This was a short, well-written book about a 17-year-old girl who is dealing with her dad's relationships. It was a good book but I didn't really get too emotionally involved. Still, an authentic reflection of a French teenager.

I didn't really see what the fuss was about back in junior high. I picked this up ( includes A Certain Smile) to re-read and appreciate it a bit more. Feeling languid and the ennui o n my balcony this sunny afternoon.

My love of pleasure seems to be the only consistent side of my character. Is it because I have not read enough?

I realized that carelessness can govern our lives, but it does not provide us with any arguments in its defense.

First book bought in 2017. I have been looking for a copy of this book for months. I've looked for it in so many used bookstores in so many cities. Now here it is in my hands. I found it in a used bookstore in Toronto. I can't wait to read it!

This constitutes about half of my foreign language book collection. All of these are in French, but I have others in Spanish and German as well. What can I say, I'm a language nerd 🤓

#notinenglish #seasonsreadings2016

This stack could have easily been twice as big, I had to do some serious whittling. I tried to do #unforgettablewomen protagonists/ensembles, but the love interest from Written on the Body managed to sneak in there because I love her. #booktober

I read this not expecting much but it somehow grabbed me and pulled me into the story. A really masterful twist on a coming of age story, full of suspense, betrayal and emotion. Small but perfectly formed :) #france #french #shortbooks #awesome

What's your favourite book translated from French? I've got a list up on Book Riot today!

A favorite dysfunctional family novel for #24in48 #readathon @Litsy @24in48

It took me awhile to read this tiny, irreverent book because life got in the way. Definitely a great summer read. At times, I felt it was almost Lolita-esque, if Lolita were French and told from the titular character's perspective.

Trying to finish this on my train ride upstate. This excerpt also proves that it's hard to find someone more manipulative than a teenage girl.