Mouth to ear – spring 2021
When our librarians are challenged, moved, amused, transported or transformed by a document, they like to share it with you. They do this through “Bouches-à-oreille”, bookmarks placed in the documents available on our different sites.
We’ve selected a few below to whet your appetite.
Books
Your parents are no longer your parents
Marie-France and Emmanuel Ballet de Croquereaumont
Considering the parental function as a CDD may seem logical or simple (“being the parent of an adult is antinomic”), but what we’re really talking about here is a new reading grid for our representations and myths attached to the family.
At its heart: the child, that “loving heart”, and its incredible capacities, especially in terms of relationships. But there’s nothing mawkish about it. The authors help the reader to identify dysfunctions within the family, in order to better understand what’s going on, and above all, to initiate the inner workings that will lead the adult to become his or her own parent.
Not necessarily an easy read, but one that sheds valuable light on parent-child relationships, whether the children are already grown-up or still small.
Carole, Unithèque website
Borrowing paper / digitalbooks
Mirror of our sorrows
Pierre Lemaitre
This final instalment of the interwar trilogy contains all the keys to the success of “Au revoir là-haut”: two soldiers who are at odds with each other but who sympathize, one or two crooks, and a family story revolving around a filiation. Pierre Lemaitre’s narrative devices didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the book!
Christel, Unithèque website
Borrowing paper books / digital books / audio books
Mamma Maria
Serena Giuliano
With this book, southern Italy, its landscapes, its cuisine (the names of the dishes alone are mouth-watering) and its colorful vocabulary are yours to discover. And if you listen to the associated playlist, you’ll really be sitting on the terrace of the Mamma Maria bar, sipping an Amalfitano.
It may seem for a moment that this story takes place in another era, but it’s a vibrant tribute to another way of life, even when confronted with eminently contemporary issues.
If you can’t go on vacation, this book will take you on a journey…
Carole, Unithèque website
Borrow paper books / digital books / digital audio books
Dune
Frank Herbert
How can we talk about Dune? This monument to science fiction literature is as much a great novel of apprenticeship and adventure, in which the reader follows Paul Atreides’ conquest of power, as it is a text that raises issues that are still highly topical, 65 years after its publication. The pages of this space opera unfold the fantastic landscapes of the planet Dune, with its very special extreme ecosystem, a planet that gives this novel its flavor and originality.
Through his complex, coherent universe, Franck Herbert tackles ecological problems, the question of religious and political power, the place of artificial intelligence and the lack of future for space-age humanity. An enthralling adventure novel with multiple questions.
St. Laurent, Riponne site
Borrow paper books / digital books / digital audio books
The sorrow of origins
Laurence Nobécourt
Unlike Semprun, who for a long time opted for life over narrative, Nobécourt writes to stay alive. Her approach stems from a profound solitude, with at its core an intense focus on the body, a body of the flayed, the skin of which truly falls to shreds. For the author, writing from this abyss is the only way to access the meaning of existence.
The story she tells of her life and her journey should begin by being whispered, out of respect, so as not to rekindle the pain; then it should be affirmed and finally carried to the greatest number as a message of hope. A hope born of alchemical work within oneself, towards one’s humanity, like a hand stretched out towards others, because “there is no brotherhood except that which we have the courage to build”.
An intimate tale with universal appeal, in meticulous language.
Carole, Unithèque website
The Princes of Sambalpur
Abir Mukherjee
When it comes to crime fiction, competition is fierce, and readers’ attention must be earned. In this respect, Abir Mukherjee has not disappointed with The Princes of Sambalpur, the second opus in the investigations of Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee. Here, he takes us to one of the small kingdoms that dotted the British Raj. In addition to the fascinating detective story, which reveals the workings of colonial India as well as the life of a remote princely state in Orissa, the author paints an unconventional portrait of the workings of the princely Zenana and the power of its women. But it’s the intelligent, ironic and, in this case, almost affectionate British humor of our two heroes that makes these novels for lovers of enlightened exoticism so special.
St. Laurent, Riponne site
Borrowing paper / digitalbooks
Music
Barricades
Jean Rondeau and Thomas Dunford
I freely admit that I’m not a big fan of the harpsichord! However, the duo of Jean Rondeau on harpsichord and Thomas Dunford on archlute won me over with their program of French music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Composed almost exclusively of rondeaux (refrain-couplet-refrain-couplet) by Couperin, De Visée, Lambert, Marin Marais and Rameau, it’s a pleasure to be drawn into this world of “ressac de la redite”.
These two play music far more than they make it, and that’s the beauty of the album.
Suzanne, Riponne site
