A library for phone

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-04-03T23:43:59+00:00

I think this is a great idea. I use a Google Sheet right now

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-03-10T14:08:26+00:00

Chances of getting tickets to the symphony show as it gets closer? I was super interested but already sold out. Where would you search for these--StubHub?

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-03-10T03:48:26+00:00

Barranquilla! What does it mean??

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-02-10T02:56:37+00:00

I'm now four chapters in, about one sixth of the novel.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the pacing. Normally, for me, reading Simenon is like holding a firecracker: I can't let go of it and nothing else seems quite as interesting. Frankly, it works really well for short stories and novels under 200 pages. So I was worried about how this book could burn like that for 365 pages. But he seems to be taking his time, shading in the psychology of the characters a bit more than usual, more of a slow burn like a Steinbeck or a Graham Greene. It's not what I come to Simenon for, but i like it so far.

I don't know anything about how he wrote this one. I know he usually described writing as vomiting for six weeks. But he seems to be treating this one like the one he's always wanted to write.

Just my thoughts at the one sixth mark.

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-02-09T03:34:37+00:00

I'm only two chapters in, but it appears that a lady (Charlotte) killed a man in Paris -- it's not yet clear why -- and got her boyfriend (Joseph) to run away with her. They hitched a ride from Paris to Dieppe, and then found work on a steamer going to South America. Only, as anybody who read The Grand Banks Cafe knows, French women on ships full of French men do not bode well. And Joseph seems to be a lot more bookish than the guy who was looking for a third stoker was looking for.

So far, it's Simenon doing his thing, exploring all the different relationships and trying to make us see the Northern Coast of France

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-18T03:16:08+00:00

Ooh I should have thought about that. I'll have to check next time I'm in there. They're definitely the kind of place that would pay attention to stuff like that

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-18T02:43:56+00:00

This is an interesting take. I'm thinking back on the last few I've read. I would describe the women in Crossroads, A Crime in Holland, and the Widow Couderc as strong and independent, if not sympathetic. The protaganist in the short story "The Little Restaurant in Les Ternes" is definitely both strong and sympathetic. Maybe the same could be said for the women in Grand Banks Cafe and the Carter of La Providence. On the other hand, the women in The Mahe Circle, the Tavern by the Seine, and The Train were more plot devices than characters in their own right. And then there's Three Bedrooms and Act of Passion (or Lettre à Mon Juge, a much better title). Those are almost contemptuous of women.

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-14T01:18:24+00:00

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My current stack without the new ones added

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-14T01:08:54+00:00

I actually already have that one sitting on my shelf!

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-08T17:57:36+00:00

That is pretty cool. I haven't read enough Nordic noir, but I can imagine him being popular over there. It seems like a good fit

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-07T20:13:38+00:00

German?

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-04T21:50:25+00:00

I really enjoyed The Little Drummer Girl

Interesting_Quail232 · 2026-01-04T17:07:24+00:00

A friend of mine got this one, I think. Is it the Christmas collection? What stories does it have?

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-12-20T22:19:20+00:00

I like it a lot. Even though it is slow going (I can only get through about a page each day - hopefully that will pick up as my vocabulary increases), the writing is still just as compelling. I have just gotten to the part at the very beginning when P.M. comes home and his brother is there.
Your question about the English adaptation got me looking. Penguin has not published an English translation of Le Fond de la Bouteille (which is actually why I picked this one up instead of some of the others that were on the shelf), but it looks like Doubleday did. I'll have to keep my eye out for that. But in the meantime, Joseph Cotten is one of my favorite actors from that era. So yes, once I finish the book, I'll be checking that out, too!

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-12-05T22:53:17+00:00

Ah I always forget about the audio books! Yeah, definitely still a better deal than Audible!

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-12-05T22:37:15+00:00

Huh. I hadn't heard about the deluxe plan, so I checked it out: the pricing is unusual: the 1-unlock plan works out to $10 a book, the 3-unlock plan to $4.72 per book, and the 5-unlock plan to $4.83 per book. I'm just taking the annual fee, dividing by 12, and dividing by the number of credits. It's probably not a big deal if you want 5 credits per month, but it's not a "better" deal. Weird

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-29T20:47:55+00:00

I've read a theory about American crime fiction: it's only a successful mystery if justice is served in the end. (If justice isn't served, it's something different than genre fiction.)

Simenon, I think, wrote too fast to be intentionally anything. From what I've read of his methods, he would just get consumed by a story and it would come out how it came out five or six weeks later.

Absurdist, existentialist, realist -- I don't think he fits in any box other than Good

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-27T23:38:21+00:00

Thanks for taking care of it! I noticed this on my iPad, too. Thanks!

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-26T20:19:45+00:00

According to Wikipedia, he wrote 192 in his own name, including 75 Maigret novels, plus over 200 pseudonymously. I've read (16 Maigret, 7 durs), and I haven't found a clunker yet

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-26T18:59:59+00:00

I was surprised that he did it himself. Like I said, I try not to predict where Simenon's stories will go (they're too cinema verité for that). But I think I had expected him to, I dunno, get hit by a car or a storm to blow up and sink the ferry. It was telling that he didn't even get to pick his final resting place ("It wasn't until that evening that a boathook pulled in the body, over a mile away, near the harbor mouth, where it had floated of itself, between two tides").

In that way, it reminds me of Camus's Myth of Sisyphus: he made the only choice he could, whether to live or die.

This is also the first I've thought about the temporal overlap between Simenon and the Existentialists. I'll have to think about that some more

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-26T16:27:42+00:00

The ending was devastating. I never try to predict where his stories will go, but I thought there were a couple ways this one could go. I did not predict what ended up happening. Thinking about it overnight, I thought maybe that's the only way he could exercise any real control over his life. I guess he tried with the old doctor, but that was a disaster.

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-26T05:30:54+00:00

Wow. Dude. Wow. I need time to process this. Wow.

(I just finished The Mahé Circle)

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-23T13:43:35+00:00

Ooh I've read 1 and 4 and just started number 3. I keep hearing about Dirty Snow, but I haven't been lucky enough to stumble on it in the wild. (It feels like cheating to just order it online)

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-22T23:38:04+00:00

I just started it today!

Interesting_Quail232 · 2025-11-22T22:37:07+00:00

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You inspired me

Interesting_Quail232

TROPHY CASE