Brief reviews from “Le Monde des livres”: Alain Galan, J. D. Kurtness, Lucrèce Luciani, Karla Suarez, Martin Suter…

Five novels, an essay, notebooks, a science fiction book, a thriller, cinema portraits, a children's book and a hagiography of Saint Wiborade... Here are brief reviews of twelve notable works in this twenty-second week of the year.

A masterful storyteller at ease in both large-scale frescoes and intimate tales, Metin Arditi begins with this Oriental Dancer a "Constantinople trilogy" that opens in the last hours of Ottoman splendor, when the Empire was disintegrating under the guise of lasting magnificence, the sultan losing himself in the contemplation of miniatures of dubious origin when everything collapsed. An outstanding fighter, as lively as he is vulnerable, the young Gülgül, the hidden son of a Jewish calligrapher converted to Islam and a Christian woman from Armenia, is the embodiment of the motley complexity of a world whose diversity united before nationalism won, and began to stigmatize these worlds, palaces, bazaars, brothels, to the point of ruining their graces. A Turkish champion despite his birth, Gülgül eludes the traps but must flee the city that has become Istanbul, designated as a hybrid and therefore unworthy. We can't wait to see him return to his Constantinople. Ph.-JC

Photography can also be used as a grammar of awakening for toddlers. Thus, for example, in 2022, Laurence Le Guen offered a fascinating One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photoliterature for Children (MeMo), and recently wrote the afterword for the reissue of the memorable 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Counting with Fun , by Robert Doisneau (1955; MeMo, 36 pages, 20 euros) . Following the same approach, the publishing house Les Grandes Personnes, attentive to photographic artists such as François Delebecque and Ramona Badescu, created a children's collection in 2024, "Kids Love Photography" . This spring, two emblematic artists of the house, Ianna Andréadis and Claire Dé, are making their mark again. The former examines the magic of the forest - Through the Seasons. Stories of trees and rocks – and plays with shadows to strip the eye – The Goose and the Cat. Stories of shadows (24 pages, 11.50 euros each). The second, whose dazzling invitations to discovery and wonder have not been forgotten ( It's your turn!, Open your eyes!, Arti Show ; 2010, 2011 and 2013), publishes the exciting Picture Book of Shapes . Resulting from a residency in two nurseries in Seine-Saint-Denis, this picture book tells the story of the encounter of children under 3 with giant shapes and turns their dialogue into an irresistible dynamic and colorful game. Ph.-JC

You have 84.47% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.