A runaway bestseller, controversial in literary circles, is the book How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. I haven't read the book yet, but I wanted to talk about it a bit. I just heard an NPR interview with author Pierre Bayard, in English. Worth listening to.Bayard, a professor of French literature at the Université de Paris 8, published Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus? earlier this year, and its translation into English has made it a top-seller as well.
Here is a video clip (in French) of a literary discussion last February on France 2 television, "Is Literature in Danger?". Bonus: the only woman on the panel is none other than Carla Bruni. She likes to read!
So maybe if she becomes Première Dame de la République, French Culture won't be in as dire straits as some predict.
