Paris in July - Random Prize!

I have been scanning recent Paris in July Posts and randomly decided to award a prize to A Strong Belief in Wicker for her post on Birds of Paris. What in unusual thing to post about, yet it was so much fun and, for those of us who have been to Paris, it is so Paris - Pigeons!

So in keeping with the first Random Prize for the Pigeons Post, I've included my own French Bird Photo - this is a float in the Tour De France Carnival which precedes the race every day. It's the same pageant every day, just starting in a different town! I loved the Carnival when I was there last year.

Louise, to collect your prize, please just drop me an email soon.

Everyone else - I'll be doing the week 2 summary post on the weekend - so keep your eyes open for the next prize winner! I'm so loving the variety of posts. C'est Bonn!

French Literary Prizes

Did you know there are apparently over 200 literary prizes in France. I thought I would investigate literary prizes for those who like to read from the winners lists. If you're participating in Paris in July, you might like to consider finding something from the winners lists to look at. Although I haven't found this research easy. I started searching in english - but really only found the last year winners - so then I searched in french - but it didn't seem like I was uncovering what I wanted there either. So here's my best attempt.

le Prix Goncourt - this is one of Frances most important literary prizes. It's the one French writers covert. Winners get an amazing prize cheque of 10 euros! But with the prize comes status, media attention and royalties. First conceived in 1867 but started in 1903 by an editor who bequeathed a small group, a literary society of 10 members, the task of picking the winners.The prize goes to the best and most imaginative prose work for the year and aims to promote french writing. They have a category for Novels, Short stories, Poetry and Biographies.

Wikapedia publish a useful list of all the winners, the titles and if there's an english translation.
2011 - Alexis Jenni, L'Art Francaise de la Geurre.
2010 - Michel Houellebecq - La Carte et Le Territoire - English version 'The Map and the Territory"

Another prize is the Prix Femina : created in 1904 by the magazine now known as Femina, is decided year year by a female jury, although the authors don’t have to be women. It is awarded to the best novel published in France and is an alternative award to the Goncourt, which is unlikely to be given to women.

2011 – Dire son nom, Francisco Goldman

2010 – la vie est breve et le desir sans fin, Patrick Lapeyre

2009 – personne, Gwanaelle Aubry

2008 – ou on va, papa ?, Jean-Louis Fournier

2007 – Baisers de cinema, Erix Fottorino

Good luck in your search for prize winning french books - you might like to start with this helpful post. 

Paris in July - new links

It's really exciting to see so many signed up already for this years Paris in July. Keep spreading the word and it will be an even more exciting event. Just to keep you inspired here's a few new links that have come to light.

Karen at Bookbath has established a Mr Linky site for us all. Here.....

Charlotte at The Book on the Hill has a regular French Friday post.

Emma at Words and Peace also has a regular post "I Love France"

Dont forget to leave a note on this Blog or at Bookbath or on Mr Linky to let us know you're joining us, and keep sending in those links you know about. It's very exciting!

Paris in July 2012

Karen at Bookbath and I are excited to announce the third “Paris in July” – a month long blogging experience celebrating our love of all things French and Parisian. Karen and I really enjoy the experience of hosting and being treated to the many reviews, stories and photos that transport us all to Paris and all things French. First held in 2010 with 39 participants, by popular demand, we were compelled to go again in 2011 with even more participants. Now we’ve heard your requests and we’re off again - on a new journey “Paris in July 2012”.

For those of you who participated last year the guidelines for the event will be pretty much the same (we reserve the right to throw in some surprises now and then). Paris in July will run from the 1st - 31st July 2011 and the aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening to, observing, cooking and eating all things French.

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas for the month might include:

• Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction
• Watching a French movie
• Listening to French music
• Cooking French food
• Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)
• Or anything else French inspired you can think of...

 If you are interested in being a part of this experience leave a comment on this post and we will put together a side bar showing all of the participants. There will be weekly French themed prizes during the month for which we will randomly draw the winners from all the French themed posts of that week that link back to us. We will be writing weekly wrap up posts for you to link your posts to. To see reviews from previous years – 2010 & 2011

In the coming weeks Karen and I will post some links and ideas you might find motivation from – and I invite others to do the same... 

Please choose one of these amazing buttons Karen designed and start planning!

Japanese Literature Challenge 6

It's here! Japanese Literature Challenge 6 - I'm signing up again..... I love this challenge (almost as much as I love Paris in July!),  Thank you Della Bellezza for hosting this wonderful opportunity to learn more about japanese literature.

This year my hectic and crazy life will need to make room for at least one more Murakami - I want to read 'what I think about when running', and I'd love to read something about Japanese culture or even cooking! Let's see what happens.

Information as Food

Recently I listened to a TED talk about the way we think about Information. The presenter talked about how we consume information and the parallels with how we consume food. He asked "what would you do differently if you saw information as food?"

He proposed that in most cases we have the ability to decide how we want to seek out our food (fast, prepackaged, selectively chosen, or self prepared), and we have the ability to decide our preferences and what we feel we need, and we can prioritise  what we want when. Same goes for information.

He talked about finding the right balance and mix - avoiding disease and deleting toxins from our diet. He suggested we have the ability to do this too for information. I liked his proposition that there is no such thing as information overload - but rather filter failures.

So what would you do differently if you thought about information as food? Me, I'm interested in targeting the information I want to receive, and improving my personal filters to seek out the information that is going to nourish me, not poison me.

Best Australian Short Storiess 2011

This has been a new experience for me, short stories. Many thanks to my lovely book loving friend who gave this to me. Honestly, I don't know why I had never picked up short stories before except maybe that I didn't value them so much as a 'reading' success (not big enough to feel like I'd conquered it). Anyway, at this point in my life (as you can tell by my infrequent visits to blogging world) I am focusing on new challenges in my work life, and looking to find a balance - where my concentration for reading time is almost non existent. So picking up these short stories has been just perfect.

As far as quality goes, each story I've read so far has been totally capturing, descriptive enough of the emotions, the scene, the characters to get me sucked in. I'm really (like really) enjoying the Australianness of the stories too. 

'Mum has lived on the Gold Coast for seven years. Having emerged from the sand five decades earlier, the city carries none of the burdens of history. People come to catch their breath, worn down by failed marriages, boredom, the cold weather, death. And when it is their turn to die, far from their home towns and small familiarities, they are enshrined in sparkling, smooth-lined crematoriums.' [The Anniversary, Deborah Fitzgerald].

'Shona and Dean live in Abigail Street, a street that is twenty houses long on either side....... Abigail street is cool and quiet, while at either end, especially at peak hour, there is mayhem. The shade is the result of a row of Morton Bay Figs that buckle the footpaths of Abigail Street. The trees are on death row, having been paced under a council intervention order into their longevity. These trees have proved an ideal habitat for a colony of fruit bats that each year comes to feast on the ripening figs. Every night, particular during the full moon, the bats swirl drunkenly through the sky like the opening credits of an old Vincent Price film....' [Beneath the Figs, Mark O'Flynn]

Again, my book loving friends and blogging friends have introduced me to a new reading experience. Thank you..