Simenon and Maigret

J

Jim Hanlon

Jim Hanlon
I realize that some, perhaps many, here are no doubt familiar with the Inspector Maigret books by Georges Simenon. For those who don't know, they are short (130-150 pages) books about a Parisian police inspector who travels around France in the 1930s and after to solve crimes, chiefly murders. The books can be nicely evocative of place and time. I don't read a lot of who-done-its, and the books might frustrate those who do because sometimes there are few or no clues until the crime is solved, but I really enjoy these as a person who would love to travel through France in the 1930s. The whole series, about 75 books, has been re-translated and published by Penguin over the last few years. The books don't really build on each other, so a reader can drop in and out, without needing to work through them in order.

I've come to think of them has half-bottles of novel. Maybe even palate cleansers. To be picked up and read in a day or two between longer books. In this pandemic year, I've really enjoyed them and because there's so many, will continue to.
 
Where can you get these in French? I've picked up about 10 from university book stores, and my dad sent me about 15 of his old copies, before he was redistributed, but I've read them all about three times and would love to find some others.

Half-bottles is an apt comparison - they're the perfect evening unwinder.
 
You can try Amazon first. They do carry lots of books in French. If that doesn't work, you can order directly from Amazon.fr, though you may find the shipping prohibitive. It used to be hard to buy books in back in the 90s, but it really isn't that hard now.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
You can try Amazon first. They do carry lots of books in French. If that doesn't work, you can order directly from Amazon.fr, though you may find the shipping prohibitive. It used to be hard to buy books in back in the 90s, but it really isn't that hard now.
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I hav bought quite a few German and French books lately. And the best site to find them at both a good price and with inexpensive shipping is bookfinder.com. Works 9/10 times, and sometimes one finds books for less overall than buying while being in either France or Germany.
 
Thanks, George; I've rarely been able to find German-language books in the US, either, except by raiding course lists from university book stores. Amazon has been little help in this department.

OTOH, good call, Jonathan - looks as though a French series of omnibus Maigret volumes was released in 2019, available through Amazon, about $40 per unit, with eight titles in each volume. 'Free' shipping. For eight titles, altogether reasonable.

Drifty question - can you read Kindle editions on any reader, or must it be a Kindle? What kind of reader do you use, Jonathan?

Its probably high time for me to catch up with the times on these gadgets.

Cheers all.
 
I use a Kindle. Kindle allows you to download its program on any device that will accept a download. That does include Mac devices. I don't know if it includes the handful of competing readers in the world, though.
 
I've been very pleased with a progression of Kobo ereaders, most recently the Kobo Aura One and the Kobo Forma.

. . . . . . Pete
 
I'd want one with no backlighting - as close as possible to print on page. But I think that's the norm now. Might be time to take the plunge.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I'd want one with no backlighting - as close as possible to print on page. But I think that's the norm now. Might be time to take the plunge.
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You don't have to use the backlighting so there's no reason to avoid models that have it, unless you object to it ideologically. And, then, no doubt, you should not buy kindles but support some other reader, given the much better reasons to object to Amazon than to object to backlighting. I've never tried another reader since I'm hooked on what's available to kindle.
 
My son would chide me for buying an Amazon product, true. Not the same implication with respect to ideology as an admonishment from the Politburo, but something to consider.
 
Jim, although this is tangential to your query at best, if time travel to Paris I. The ‘30s is your desire, AJ Liebling’s memoir Between Meals is a must read.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Where can you get these in French? I've picked up about 10 from university book stores, and my dad sent me about 15 of his old copies, before he was redistributed, but I've read them all about three times and would love to find some others.

Half-bottles is an apt comparison - they're the perfect evening unwinder.
Click to expand...

Buy vintage copies on Abebooks -

And come on: ereaders are a fucking scourge.
 
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Where can you get these in French? I've picked up about 10 from university book stores, and my dad sent me about 15 of his old copies, before he was redistributed, but I've read them all about three times and would love to find some others.

Half-bottles is an apt comparison - they're the perfect evening unwinder.
Click to expand...

Buy vintage copies on Abebooks -

And come on: ereaders are a fucking scourge.
Click to expand...

I like ereaders. They carry a lot of books when I go traveling. They make buying literature out of copyright beyond inexpensive. And they make me feel like I'm on Star Trek, where they were always reading things that looked just like ereaders. If I could only get a replicator, I wouldn't need a wine cellar.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
I like ereaders. They carry a lot of books when I go traveling. They make buying literature out of copyright beyond inexpensive. And they make me feel like I'm on Star Trek, where they were always reading things that looked just like ereaders. If I could only get a replicator, I wouldn't need a wine cellar.
Click to expand...
I want one of those little spinning salt shakers that diagnoses what's wrong with you in 3 seconds flat.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Where can you get these in French? I've picked up about 10 from university book stores, and my dad sent me about 15 of his old copies, before he was redistributed, but I've read them all about three times and would love to find some others.

Half-bottles is an apt comparison - they're the perfect evening unwinder.
Click to expand...

Buy vintage copies on Abebooks -

And come on: ereaders are a fucking scourge.
Click to expand...

I like ereaders. They carry a lot of books when I go traveling. They make buying literature out of copyright beyond inexpensive. And they make me feel like I'm on Star Trek, where they were always reading things that looked just like ereaders. If I could only get a replicator, I wouldn't need a wine cellar.
Click to expand...

and they don't have books' problem where ink leaks out over the years making the letters smaller.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Where can you get these in French? I've picked up about 10 from university book stores, and my dad sent me about 15 of his old copies, before he was redistributed, but I've read them all about three times and would love to find some others.

Half-bottles is an apt comparison - they're the perfect evening unwinder.
Click to expand...

Buy vintage copies on Abebooks -

And come on: ereaders are a fucking scourge.
Click to expand...

I like ereaders. They carry a lot of books when I go traveling. They make buying literature out of copyright beyond inexpensive. And they make me feel like I'm on Star Trek, where they were always reading things that looked just like ereaders. If I could only get a replicator, I wouldn't need a wine cellar.
Click to expand...

and they don't have books' problem where ink leaks out over the years making the letters smaller.
Click to expand...
I've never found that. I have found that some books have become harder to read over the years, but I don't think it was the book that changed.
 
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