Mouth to ear – summer 2021
When our librarians are challenged, moved, amused, transported or transformed by a document, they like to share it with you. They do so through “word-of-mouth” bookmarks placed in the documents available on our various sites.
We’ve selected a few below to whet your appetite.
Books
Authoring in a neo-liberal regime: rudiments of literary marketing
Jérôme Meizoz
As a starting point, a provocative question: Is a writer just another vacuum cleaner salesman?
In eleven chapters, Jérôme Meizoz describes the impact of industrial processes on literature since the 1970s. Writers are called upon to show off, to promote their work like managers. In this role – which he shares with other authors of entertainment literature – Joël Dicker fits easily.
In an opposite role, Jean-Marc Lovay, creates a demanding work, acclaimed by specialists but unknown to the public.
The question is: Can these two facets of literature coexist, or are we about to witness the downfall of biblio-diversity? Jérôme Meizoz makes a salutary case for a literature that expresses and thinks about complexity.
Patricia, Riponne site
Borrowing paper / digitalbooks
The murdered kingdom
Alexandra Christo
Lira, the ocean’s bloodiest mermaid, is punished by her mother, the tyrannical and cold Queen of the Seas.
Transformed and trapped under human guise, she has no choice but to bring him the heart of Prince Elian, the notorious mermaid killer. Otherwise, she’ll never find her fin and her kingdom.
Murderous mermaids, a tyrannical, heartless queen and a pirate prince.
The author plunges us effortlessly into the depths of her universe, with a well-paced tale full of magic, legends, fantastic creatures, sea voyages, grudges and ancient hatreds. It’s a story you won’t want to put down.
Elodie, Riponne site
Daishizen: the Japanese art of feeling nature
Nicolas Chauvat
This book is a simultaneous discovery of Japanese thought and of a nature that invites us to look beyond itself.
To sharpen our Western view, the author introduces us successively to Shintoism, Buddhism and Japanese poetry. The infinite becomes perceptible in the finite, through the world of “spirits”(kamis) and symbols that inhabit nature.
Spring is here: an excellent reason to bathe in nature, to soak it up, because “[it] has never been disenchanted, it’s simply that we no longer learn to feel it”.
Carole, Unithèque website
Jonas Fink
Vittorio Giardino
I found the story particularly interesting and the drawing realistic and lively.
Thang, reader, Riponne site
Borrowing paper / digitalbooks
Music
There is a tide
Chris Potter
Confined, multi-instrumentalist Chris Potter set himself quite a challenge for his latest album. The result: Chris Potter on piano, Chris Potter on guitar, Chris Potter on bass, Chris Potter on clarinet, Chris Potter on flute, Chris Potter on drums and Chris Potter on saxophone. Just great!
“From a technical point of view, making this recording required the use of many different skills, and I’ve never been so aware of my limits. On top of the difficulty of trying to get good performances on every instrument, there was the challenge of recording without a proper studio. And, most importantly, the need to let the big picture unfold as I went along, paying attention to detail while remaining focused on the goal of creating a coherent, unified whole. .”
Suzanne, Riponne site
So what
Meril Wubslin
Meril Wubslin is a trio from Lausanne made up of Valérie Nideroest (Toboggan), Christian Gaucher-Garcia (Velma) and Jérémie Conne (Toboggan, Rosqo). Founded some ten years ago, they are currently releasing their3rd album Alors Quoi. Obsessive melodies, sound research, a mix of repetitive music and choral singing accompanied by guitar and percussion, sometimes a trombone… Alors quoi? The album exudes an original atmosphere, and the lyrics are poetic and imaginative. What a discovery!
Suzanne, Riponne site
