The new catalogue (Title Alphabetical Order) is now online. To download it, just click Here.
Also available : Author Alphabetical Order Here.

Click on “télécharger avec votre navigateur” (download to browser) and then on “ouvrir” (open) or "Enregistrer le fichier" (to save it on your computer).

NEW BOOKS FEBRUARY 2018

The book reviews are in the library

NON FICTION

Mary Beard                           Women & Power        

Thurston Clarke                   JFK’s last hundred days  

Lizzie Collingham                 The Taste of Empire : how Britain’s quest for food shaped the modern world    

Simon Fenwick                      Joan : the remarkable life of Joan Leigh  Fermor     

Luke Harding                       Collusion  

Friedrich Keller                     My Opposition  

Robert Macfarlane                The Lost Words  

Daniel Mendelsohn               An Odyssey : autobio   

Leslie Pierce                           Empress of the East    

Alan Taylor                           Appointment in Arezzo : bio Muriel Spark 

Matthew Walker                   Why we sleep  

FICTION

Margaret Atwood                 The Heart goes last     

Julian Barnes                        The Only Story           

Benjamin Black                     Prague Nights             

Dan Brown                             Origin                          

Harlan Coben                       Don’t let go                           

Jennifer Egan                        Manhattan Beach       

Robert Harris                        Munich              

Alan Hollinghurst                 The Sparsholt Affair  

Joe Ida                                   IQ                                

Nicolas Montemarano           The Senator’s Chrildren      

Gin Phillips                            Fierce Kingdom          

Ali Smith                               Autumn                       

Ali Smith                               Winter                         

Edward St Aubin                  Dunbar                        

C L Taylor                             The Missing                 

Ruth Ware                             In a dark, dark wood          

Ruth Ware                             The woman in cabin 10                 

 

Happy New Year 2018

 

FOAL CHRISTMAS (12th night) PARTY

As the dates before Christmas were taken we decided to hold a 12th night party.

We had lots of sign ups & about 30 people attended (some had been prevented because of a nasty virus). There was a wonderful spread of delicious food (Foal members are excellent cooks) . Kath Claringbull organised a singalong to the carol « The 12th night of Christmas » which was quite à propos. Then our friend Phil Claringbull put on his Father Christmas hat & drew the raffle prizes which were numerous again this year. I actually took quite a lot of photos but my camera played up so I only have two, of the spread. This was taken before all the food had arrived by which time the table was almost too small to hold it all.

 

 

 

 

 

QUIZ

Our famous literary quiz will take place on Friday 2^nd February at l’Espace Martin Luther King 27 Bvd Louis Blanc  Montpellier. Let’s hope we won’t have  the same misadventure as last year when we arrived at the venue to set things up to find it closed (we had not been warned). Luckily there is another venue not too far away & thanks to the brilliant work of our board  members we were able to hold the quiz there.

 

Doors open at 5.45pm so that you have time to get a drink in hand before the 6.15 start. You will be given a playing card which will indicate which team to join. After the quiz we will have time to socialise. Foal provides the drinks & nibbles & all we ask of you is a small contribution of 5 euros per person which you put in an envelope & pop into the donation box. We look forward to seeing you all then.

SOMEMORE PRIZES FOR THE RAFFLE

We have some more super prizes

·        Voucher for 50 euros at Carrefour

·        Ice cream cone door stopper

·        3-D crossword puzzle of New York

·        2000-piece puzzle of USA

·        All-in-one picnic backpack (rug, plates, multi-purpose gadget, etc)

DECEMBER 2017 NEWSLETTER

Membership is growing, we signed up our 78th member last week. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings !

 

The RAFFLE tickets are on sale at the library, the list of prizes is getting longer

·        A manucure in a swish beauty parlour

·        A laquer tray with six coasters           A pair of earrings

·        An international adaptor                    An apple slicer

·        Two oven trays from Lakeland

·        3 bottles of wine from the Domaine de Causse

·        A bottle of genuine Russian vodka     Three 15-euro vouchers from Super U

·        Voucher for 50 euros for a meal at Le Grillardin

• and  more to come………  If you have anything to donate do let us know (mail foal34@gmail.com )  Tickets 1 euro & 10 for 8 euros. Draw at the party

 

Our Children’s Corner  is becoming very popular, there are a whole lot more furry toys, we’ll soon have a regular Noah’s Ark…

 

Openings over Christmas  We shall be open on Saturday 2^nd December (we shall be decorating for Christmas), Wednesday 6thWednesday 13th & Saturday 16th then closed until Saturday 6th January  when we open for business again

 

OF COURSE Saturday 6th is the BIG DAY, the day of our annual party for FOAL members. We have always held this before Christmas but the dates had already been taken this year  so we thought a 12th night party might be fun

You will be bringing the food (sweet or savoury, easy to handle) & FOAL will be providing the drinks. I will send details for signing up nearer the time but do put this date in your diaries. We will be at Lakanal for the first time.

 

Finally, our FAMOUS LITERARY QUIZ will take place on Friday 2^nd February, more details nearer the time , so another date for your diaries

 

The Children's Corner with three happy babies

New catalogue !

The new catalogue (Title Alphabetical Order) is now online. To download it, just click Here.
Also available : Author Alphabetical Order Here.

Click on “télécharger avec votre navigateur” (download to browser) and then on “ouvrir” (open) or "Enregistrer le fichier" (to save it on your computer).

The History of Foal

As membership is increasing I thought it would be a good idea to write a brief history of Foal for our collective memory

THE HISTORY OF FOAL & INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LIBRARY IN MONTPELLIER

The association “The Friends of the Anglophone Library” (FOAL) was set up six & a half years ago once it became clear that we were not going to be able to save the former American Library in Montpellier. We fought long & hard & got a lot of press coverage. Our petition gathered 2200 signatures. Sadly to no avail. The new association wanted to provide a library, not to replace the old one, but at least to offer a good selection of books to English speakers in Montpellier and surrounding areas.

We started out very small in the premises of a language school, then we moved to a member’s flat where we stayed for two & a half years, then we had to move again to a member’s house where we stayed another two years. We believed in the enterprise but it was tough going at times since it was difficult to increase membership with no permanent address. But we persevered thanks to a dedicated Chair Person & Board. We also set up a blog (foal34.blogspot.fr) & Facebook page (Friends of the Anglophone Library)

We have been in our super new premises for a year with well over a thousand books (and counting). For our new acquisitions we concentrate on recent publications and we are very much up to date with what goes on in the publishing world. Right at the beginning we completed a project to collect the 100 Best Novels of the XX century using various lists from internet. We also have the 10 Best Novels of the XX1 century. We have added a Children’s Section in the new premises which we have wanted for a long time but were not able to supply through lack of space. We also have a permanent Book Sale thanks to donations from members. We ask people to send us a list before we accept donations (email to foal34@gmail.com ) Our lending policy is pretty flexible, normally it is 2 books for two weeks, especially new books which need to have a quick turnover. (older books can be taken out for longer)

Annual membership dues: 40 euros family membership 30 euros active member, 20  students.

FOAL also organizes events for members and non-members, we have our famous Book Quiz (February). Regular “Book Chat” meetings for members enable participants to talk about books they have read and exchange recommendations. For more info about this, send an email to mishex@wanadoo.fr Thanks to volunteers we also offer English conversation sessions

Chairperson  Vicki Metherell   Secretary   Daphne Schoenhals  Treasurer  Mike Davison

Venue 23 rue Lakanal Montpellier  Opening hours: every Wednesday 3-6pm & 1^st & 3^rd Saturday 10-12.30am