The new catalogue is now online !!

The new catalogue is now online. To download it, just click here.
Scroll down to middle of page to a small red PDF file and click on "télécharger le fichier"... hey presto !

NEW BOOKS FEBRUARY 2014

NON FICTION

Patrick Leigh Fermor : an adventure                         Artemis Cooper

 Catastrophe 1914 : Europe goes to war                    Max Hastings

A story lately told                                                     Anjelica Huston

Norman Mailer : a double life                                   Michael Lennon

Josephine : Desire, ambition, Napoleon                    Kate Williams

 FICTION

 Longbourn                                                                 Jo Baker

 Solo                                                                           William Boyd

 The Luminaries                                                          Eleanor Catton  (Booker prize 2013)

Expo 58                                                                     Jonathan Coe

Jeeves and the Wedding bells                                   Sebastian Faulkes

Just one evil act                                                         Elizabeth George (Inspector Lynley and

                                                                                   his sidekick Havers are back)

 

The Silent Wife                                                         Asa Harrison

The Cazalet Chronicles                                             Elizabeth Jane Howard (5 volumes)

Gods and Beasts                                                       Denise Mina

Tatiana                                                                       Martin Cruz Smith

The Valley of Amazement                                        Amy Tan

The Goldfinch                                                            Donna Tartt

Strange Bodies                                                          Marcel Theroux

 

 

Newsletter January 2014

NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2014

Christmas party

We had a great Christmas party and we really want to thank all of you for supporting Foal by buying tickets for our raffle. The money raised (342 euros) has gone directly to buying new books which will soon be in the library. (list out soon). We are already starting to think about prizes for this year so the raffle will be even bigger and better !  We would also like to thank our kind hosts for providing the venue and the lovely decorations which helped to make this such a festive event.

Upcoming events

We have quite a lot on the agenda

First, our famous Quiz which takes place on 28 February at the Martin Luther King venue (27 Bvd Louis Blanc). Come at 6pm in time for a drink. Quiz starts at 6.30pm. Please put 5 euros per person into a discrete envelope and hand it in on arrival  (the money goes towards expenses for the drinks and nibbles, anything left over goes into the book budget).

Next we have been invited to an event which may be of interest to Foal members. For several years now, schools in the region have set up debating societies (in English, of course). The semi-finals and finals take place on April 11th at the CRDP (Allée de la Citadelle, near the Lycée Joffre) at 1.30pm

 World Book Day on 6 March  Unbeknownst to most people, World Book Day, sponsored by Unesco, has existed for 17 years. I found out about it quite by chance and thought it would be a good idea if Foal did something. (I have talked to the Town Hall about this but it is too late for them to do anything this year). Our nearest opening day is 12th March so on that day  if you buy two books, you get another one free. This will be a win-win situation, you get a free book and Foal offloads books from our groaning permanent Book Sale shelves and boxes ! Money raised goes straight into the book  budget as does the money from your subscriptions.

World War One commemoration event

I thought it would be a good idea for Foal to hold an event to commemorate  the start of WW1. I put the idea to our Events Director (Philippe Marchand), and Katharine Claringbull and we have started working on an outline. At a Foreign Residents’ Committee (of which I am a member and which gets me in contact with Mairie people) meeting, I mentioned the project to the Mayoresse  who was extremely interested and directed me to the person in charge of the commemoration events with whom I had a meeting. He actually suggested that we hold the event in the Salle des Rencontres with the Town Hall providing what they call a « pot de l’amitié » afterwards. This would definitely put Foal on the map and be a big plus in our search for permanent premises.

Whatever the venue, the date for this event is 23rd May so you can pencil it into your diaries. The event would take the form of a series of vignettes relating to the war, a quiz, WW1 songs  by the Ochoeur group, a slide show…… More nearer the time

 Comédie du Livre

For the 29th edition of the Comédie du Livre, literary festival, to be held on 23rd, 24th and 25th May 2014,
the City of Montpellier has decided to pay tribute to

Contemporary Nordic literature

During the three day event, some thirty Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish will be taking part in a very rich programme of meetings, round tables and lectures.

We are very fond of Jo Nesbo and were hoping he would be among the authors, unfortunately he is not but it might be possible to have a breakfast meeting with one of the authors as we did a couple of years ago. Will keep you informed.

 10 Best books of the decade

The Brief, Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Known World by Edward P Jones

The Corrections byJonathan Franzen

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

 Thanks to the determination of Art Fell, the above titles will soon be available alongside FOAL’s existing collection of the 100 Best Novels of the 20^th Century.  We also have other books by most of these authors in the library

FOAL

 

UPCOMING EVENTS 2014

 

The first event is a Musical Comedy at the Domaine d’O

 The Wings of Desire is coming to the Domaine d’O on 31st January 2014 at 8pm.

This high energy rock opera  (in English) is bighearted and poetic and also very contemporary. It has been staged at  most of Europe’s great venues.

The Wings of Desire is a loose adaptation of Wim Wenders’ 1987 film. The story starts in Berlin just before the wall comes down. Two angels keep vigil on mankind with an invisible and kindly presence. One of them, Daniel, dreams of experiencing real life and carnal pleasures. His meeting with Marion, a trapeze artist, encourages him to take the plunge.

In this deeply moving work, the director explores the themes of our  human condition, loss of identity, the search for happiness and freedom, all of which interact with the rock music.

On stage, five magnificent dancers and six excellent musiciens from the Belgian rock scene embody, with extraordinary energy, this great film classic with video screenings in the background.

The Wings of Desire is more than a rock opera in that it offers a rewriting of a dreamlike fantasy, a very high-level musical trip.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdTE7dd_iCo

 

Foal is happy to coordinate the purchase of tickets. Special Foal price 12 € (instead of 20€)

Send a check made out to Foal before 31 December to :

V Metherell 31 bis Avenue St Lazare Bât O 34000 Montpellier You will be able to pick up the tickets at the desk at the theatre.

 

The second event is our FAMOUS LITERARY QUIZ, (3rd edition) to be held on 28th February at the usual venue at Martin Luther King, 27 Bd Louis Blanc. Start of the evening at 6pm with drinks and nibbles. Quiz starts at 6.30pm

We ask for a small contribution (5 € per person in a discreet envelope) to be handed in on arrival. Let us know if you are coming with an email to : foal@dbmail.com so that we can organise quantities.

 

 

Later on, on 11th April in the afternoon, the Montpellier Académie is organising the semi-finals and finals of their debating competition (in English) with lycéens from around the area From what I have gathered, these will be formal debates along the lines of a university debating society. The event will take place at the CDRP, Allée de la Citadelle, not far from the Lycée Joffre. I am sure this will interest, among others, all us retired teachers and also those still working.

 

 

 

 

FOAL CHRISTMAS PARTY AND GRAND RAFFLE 13th December2013

The Foal Christmas Party for members is to be held on 13th December. It is not too late to join and take part in the draw for the splendiferous Raffle. Just send a mail to foal@dbmail.com for details

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

INFORMATION ABOUT SOME OF THE KIND AND GENEROUS BENEFACTORS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED PRIZES TO THE  FOAL CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

·         6 bottles of wine from Domaine St Hilaire

Anne & Jonathan James have been running Domaine Saint Hilaire for the past ten years since they moved out to the Languedoc from London.

They make 11 different wines in a mixture of single cepage whites and blended reds, as well as running a luxury Chambre d’hôte which recently won the Romantic i-escape of the year.   

The Domaine now offers wine tastings, tours of the vineyard and winery, lunches and larger events such as weddings.

For photos and more information, visit the website at: www.domainesaint-hilaire.com

And whenever you come by to pick up some wine, make sure you make use of the FOAL 10% discount on all our wines.  

 

·         Fish and chips at the Beehive   15 rue du Plan d’Agde Tel 0966945371 Open 7/7 from midday

 

The best fish and chips in town!

 

·         Voucher from the Bookshop  8 rue du Bras de Fer   Tel 0467662290

 

·         Six more bottles of wine including:  

4 bottles of L'Eglantier - Clairette du Languedoc Moelleux du Domaine d'Adissan – 2009 and 2 bottles of Cour Saint-Vincent-Mille Pierres ACLC du Domaine de Saint Vincent de Babeyrogues - one 2006 and one 2007.

 

·         Two bottles of Gigondas 2009

 

·         Meal for two at the Grillardin (value 70 euros)

 

·         Five tickets from Utopia cinema

 

·         A « technique mixte » painting by Lionel Trace

 

·         Fitzpatrick’s have kindly donated a bottle of Irish whiskey and two Guinness polo shirts

 

·         Voucher for one for free entry to a leisure centre in the trees at Millau

 

·         Two pints of beer at The Shakespeare pub

 

·      Gift voucher worth 30 euros for a purchase at Sidney Carron (bijoux contemporains) Marina de la Roche  6 rue de l’Ancien Courrier Montpellier

 

·         Wine buff’s kit from ‘L’esprit du vin’

 

 

Ticket 1 euro                                                10 tickets for 8 euros

Given all the wonderful prizes, why don’t you buy tickets for friends ?

THE FOAL CATALOGUE IS NOW ONLINE: TO DOWNLOAD CLICK HERE 
Scroll down to middle of page to a small red PDF file and click on "télécharger le fichier"... hey presto !

Newsletter October 2013

OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

We held our AGM in June, all is well, the finances of the association are healthy, thanks to your contributions and a small grant from the Town Hall.

The picnic at the Jonathon James vineyard was a great success, we think we might have it every year, the setting is sensational.

We spent an interesting evening at the new theatre at the Domaine d’O which was being inaugurated with a play by Peter Brook, “The Suit”

Another load of new books have arrived, you have already seen the list, lots of lovely reading for the short days which are on their way. In addition to the order which you have seen, we have ordered the first volume of Jane Gardham’s “Old Filth” trilogy, the second two are already in the library which is bursting at the seams. Your President is working very hard to find new premises, hopefully provided by the Town Hall.

The complete catalogue will soon be online on the FOAL blog which will entail going to the Foal website (friendsoftheanglophonelibrary.com), and clicking on “foal34”and then a link. Many thanks to Katharine Claringbull and Philippe Marchand for all the work they have put in to making this possible.

COMING EVENTS

·         We are hoping to organise an evening in November with the son of Janet Teissier du Cros, a Scotswoman who lived in the south of France and published her memoirs about World War II in the mid 50s. As the south wasn’t strictly speaking occupied territory and there have not been a lot of books written about this region during WWII. The book gives us a unique perspective on the difficult time she and her children traversed. Considered a classic when it first appeared the book was subsequently reprinted in the 1980's by the eminent Scottish publisher Stephanie Wolfe Murray, founder of  Canongate Books, who added a remarkable 'coda' by the eminent Edinburgh author Janet Adam Smith. The book is soon to be re-edited.  

            This will be a joint event with the AWG and the Bookshop. We will let you know the

            date as soon as possible.

 ·         Christmas Party for Foal members on the 13^th December

The party will take place at the Claringbull’s on Friday 13^th December. This might be a lucky day for some of you. We are organizing a TOMBOLA with some super presents, you will be able to buy tickets at the library from the beginning of November and also on the day. The Foal board is providing the liquid content, members will bring along sweet or savoury finger food which will be organized by Katharine Claringbull. (Katharine’s email provided on request to foal@dbmail.com to let her know what you are bringing)

·         In January there will be a Musical in English at the Domaine d’O. FOAL will organize the tickets. We don’t have a date yet but we will keep you informed.

 And finally…..

·         OUR FAMOUS LITERARY QUIZ will take place in February this year, more about that nearer the time

As you see, FOAL is as active as ever thanks to a very dedicated board and all our members and supporters.