I'm currently halfway through Anna Gavalda's Hunting and Gathering which at 480 pages is a spell-binding treat. It suffers slightly from that feel of being a translated text in the very early chapters but once the story settles in, it's wonderful. They're filming it in France with Audrey Tatou and as I'm reading I'm thinking, "Oh I hope they do this scene! And this one!" So many touching, bizarre and heart-warming little moments; I really don't want it to end, although at the same time I'm anxious that - with 200 pages still to go - things may start going wrong for either the characters (whom I love) or the story. But the author seems to have a strong grasp, and so I hope it'll remain satisfying to the end. It's been a while since I tackled a book of this length and it's making me extremely happy knowing that there's lots more to go - I miss big books!

Tiger

TG, I felt like that about A Suitable Boy and the Quincunx (anyone read the latter? What a corker it is). I love that feeling too, when you know you have so much pleasure still left.

TB, I read that book in French (Ensemble c'est tout, I think). I rarely read French authors as I have yet to find any that grip me like certain English-language ones can, but AG does and I loved the book too. Interesting that they're making a film - of course, it has to be AT in the lead role!

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ps Let me know what you think of the ending

e.g. - I wish I could have read it in French. Alas, my French is simply unequal to the task. I'm loving it, and will indeed let you know what I think of the ending.

Tiger

You can't beat a big 'un. I read War and Peace more or less full time for about three weeks. The final week I was ill with flu and could not get out of bed. W&P kept me sane; it's a very sane book all round...

It still amuses me that if a contemporary writer came up with a similar-sized book about WWII containing lots of exposition, multiple POVs and polemic it would probably not make it past the slush pile of most agents. (I'm assuming that the publishers would just refuse to read it).

I’ve made a tentative start on Vasily Grossman’s epic about Stalingrad: Life and Fate. Wish me luck.

Tony

I just finished H&G, e.g., and thought the ending was very... cinematic? But I wasn't disappointed. The overall feeling of being uplifted was priceless.

Tiger