The night light in the blue-tinged glass on the mantleshelf burned behind a book, which cast a shadow across half the bedroom. The quiet glow spreading over the bedside table and the chaise lounge,…| This Reading Life
Gervaise had waited up for Lantier until two in the morning. Then, shivering all over from sitting half undressed in the cold air from the window, she’d slumped across the bed, feeling feveri…| This Reading Life
I promised I wouldn’t write a post for every single chapter in L’Assommoir but how does every second chapter sound :-D ? The famous wedding day between Gervaise and Coupeau in L’A…| This Reading Life
Reading Zola in April with Fanda @Classiclit has become a tradition and a treat; something I look forward to every year. Zola’s Paris novels in particular, fascinate me. Zola was the master o…| This Reading Life
The President of the Chamber remained standing until the faint stir caused by his entry subsided. Then he took his seat, saying rather nonchalantly, in a quiet voice: ‘The sitting is open.…| This Reading Life
Émile Zola: A Very Short Introduction is part of the very excellent Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction series. There are over 700 titles in the series covering everything from author b…| This Reading Life
La Teuse came in and popped her broom and her feather duster against the alter. Confession one: this story ended up being a chore to read. After six engaging, enthralling Zola’s I have hit my…| This Reading Life
La Conquête de Plassans, or The Conquest of Plassans (1874) is the fourth novel in Émile Zola’s twenty-volume Rougon-Macquart series that I have been reading with Fanda for #Zolad…| This Reading Life
Le Ventre de Paris (also known as The Belly of Paris – a direct translation, or The Fat and the Thin referring to one of the main ideas explored in the story) is not only an extremely visual …| This Reading Life
La Curée is the second book in Émile Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series of books set during the Second Empire in France. I read it this month in honour of Fanda’s #Zoladdiction2018. I have m…| This Reading Life
April is #Zoladdiction month and this year Fanda is encouraging us to find the art in Zola’s writing. This year I’m reading La Curee (The Kill) which is set in Paris during the mid 1860…| This Reading Life
I cannot thank Fanda @Classiclit enough for once again hosting #Zoladdiction2017 – one of my favourite readalongs each year! I used this year’s readalong to go back to the ver…| This Reading Life
I cannot thank Fanda @Classiclit and O @Behold the Stars enough for introducing me to the wonderful world of Zola. Last year I read Nana for Fanda’s Zoladdiction month with great enjoy…| This Reading Life
I’m still reeling from my Nana experience. Zola has created such a vivid world that it’s impossible to come away from it untouched or unscathed. Nana, herself, is larger than life even …| This Reading Life
Adulterers, hypocrites, snobs. Emile Zola’s Pot Luckreveals the secret world of the middle-class inhabitants of a Parisienne apartment block, showing that the outward signs of prosperity and harmony disguise the morally bankrupt nature of their lives. The occupants of the Rue de Choiseul regularly attend church and loudly condemn people whose behaviour fails to meet […]| BookerTalk
In the Rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin, a hold-up in the traffic stopped the cab which was bringing Octave and his three trunks from the Gare de Lyon. The young man lowered one of the windows, although it…| This Reading Life
