https://padlet.com/Miss_James16/readme Books to inspire en-us 2016-06-09 11:12:15 UTC 2016-06-09 11:15:41 UTC hello@padlet.com Miss_James16 https://padlet.com/Miss_James16/readme/wish/114197001 I first read Chocolat when I was about 13 years old. On holiday in the Dordogne, I took shelter from the blazing sun and irritating neighbours at the base of a tree where neither rays nor questions could bother me.Antisocial? Oh, very. But there is something about Joanne Harris’ writing that does that to me. I struggle to find a word to describe her style of writing, the depth of her characters, and the vividness of the colourful imagery. It is simply delicious and it renders me a hermit until the last page has turned.The last page of Peaches for Monsieur le Curé has indeed just been turned and while I’m sad that It is now finished, I feel altered for having read it.  I’ll give you a brief overview.  Vianne Rocher, receives a letter from a deceased friend urging her to return to Lansquenet sur Tannes, the sleepy town she left behind 8 years ago, because someone needs her help. What she encounters is a newly hostile land. A community of North African people have set themselves up across the other side of the river and some of the country folk (not exactly known for their tolerance on either side of the channel) take it as a slap in the face for the Catholic faith and one more nail in the coffin of French culture.  Islam is a risky subject in France , you may remember the banning of the veil in all public places which only concerned around 500 Muslim women but divided the whole French population. It is therefore a dangerous subject for a novel because it risks sounding either insensitive or altogether clichéd.  This novel is neither of those things. Told from multiple perspectives , the reader glimpses village life through the eyes of those in favour, outsiders , outcasts and the dead. It teaches us how wrong first impressions can truly be whilst never condemning those initial misguided opinions. It teaches us that despite race, language, religion, skin colour, clothes, upbringing and prejudices we are all, more or less, the same.  We all have to eat, and that’s a bloody good place to start.I often agree with Vianne’s Mother who says that things should not be revisited. I hope that Joanne Harris revisits Lansquenet forever, so that I too may be lost in the balmy, bitter-sweet occurrences of a southern French village so palpable that if you look closely enough, you may just see yourself on the page.And did I mention- there’s chocolate ?]]> 2016-06-09 11:15:22 UTC https://padlet.com/Miss_James16/readme/wish/114197001