Monday, September 8, 2008

A year in the merde.

About a month ago I read a book from Stephen Clarke called "Merde Happens". This is the story of Paul West, who goes to the US do defend the UK in a tourism contest. That book was soooo funny !! It is actually the 3rd book from a sequel.

I was so "amused" by it that I decided to buy the other books last weekend when I was in London. Reason is that it is much funnier to read this book in English than in French... why, because the story is all about the French. Meaning their attitudes, customs and the way they speak in English. This is the first time that I laugh out loud while reading a book, and I can tell you that some of the English who were sitting next to me in the plane last Sunday were looking at me as if I was crazy... (especially after the episode of the engines which could not start!!)

The first book of the sequel is called "A year in the Merde". It is the story of Paul West who goes to Paris for a year. There he discovers a lot of things about the Parisian lifestyle (Noelle, you have to read this !!). For example, every body knows that in France the year starts on the 1st of September. Or the only place where French will queue in order is at a bakery, anywhere else it is just a battle ! So anyway, I do not want to say to much about it because you have to discover this on your own...

These book are now really famous. Originally the author only published about 500 of them to give to his friends. But it was such a success that he sold thousands of books and had to write some more ! Even French really like this book... Who says that we do not like to take the piss out of ourselves ?

Anyway, I really advise you to read them... In the order:


1- A year in the Merde

2- Merde Actually

3- Merde Happens

4- He also published a kind of dictionary on how to speak to French people and how to understand them. Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French


And for the fun I am going to put a few dialogues from these books in another posts. It is even funnier if you can speak a bit of French...

4 comments:

ignorant bliss said...

...hopefully this will post!

I have to say, after being in French Suisse for over a year, I need to banish the "for helvede" and "for fanden" (Danish) for "merde". That may actually greatly assist with my integration into Suisse society! Then again, nobody knows what I am saying in Danish, so it may be of advantage to stick to my secret language.... after all, we only have 6 million Danish speakers worldwide, of which I think there are only about 100 here in Suisse!

Sarah Alaoui said...

I will have an interview with the author on my blog soon. Check back soon for it! :)
such a funny book!

Xavi said...

Sarah, what is the address of your blog ?

Sarah Alaoui said...

http://sarahalaoui.blogspot.com

I think you already commented on it, lol.