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Sunday 5 April 2020

Maigret et moi: Part 2

The recent lockdown has given me the opportunity to do lots of reading ... and George Simenon’s Maigret novels have featured heavily amongst the list of books I’ve been reading. So far, I have finished those shown in bold below:
  1. Pietr the Latvian
  2. The Late Monsieur Gallet
  3. The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien
  4. The Carter of La Providence
  5. The Yellow Dog
  6. Night at the Crossroads
  7. A Crime in Holland
  8. The Grand Banks Cafe
  9. A Man's Head
  10. The Dancer at the Gai Moulin
  11. The Two-Penny Bar
  12. The Shadow Puppet
  13. The Saint-Fiacre Affair
  14. The Flemish Shop
  15. The Madman of Bergerac
  16. The Misty Harbour
  17. Liberty Bar
  18. Lock No. 1
  19. Maigret
  20. Cecile is Dead
  21. The Cellars of the Majestic
  22. The Judge's House
  23. Signed, Picpus
  24. Inspector Cadaver
  25. Félicie
  26. Maigret Gets Angry
  27. Maigret in New York
  28. Maigret's Holiday
  29. Maigret's Dead Man
  30. Maigret's First Case
  31. My Friend Maigret
  32. Maigret at the Coroner's
  33. Maigret and the Old Lady
  34. Madame Maigret's Friend
  35. Maigret's Memoirs
  36. Maigret at Picratt's
  37. Maigret Takes a Room
  38. Maigret and the Tall Woman
  39. Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters
  40. Maigret's Revolver
  41. Maigret and the Man on the Bench
  42. Maigret is Afraid
  43. Maigret's Mistake
  44. Maigret Goes to School
  45. Maigret and the Dead Girl
  46. Maigret and the Minister
  47. Maigret and the Headless Corpse
  48. Maigret Sets a Trap
  49. Maigret's Failure
  50. Maigret Enjoys Himself
  51. Maigret Travels
  52. Maigret's Doubts
  53. Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses
  54. Maigret's Secret
  55. Maigret in Court
  56. Maigret and the Old People
  57. Maigret and the Lazy Burglar
  58. Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse
  59. Maigret and the Saturday Caller
  60. Maigret and the Tramp
  61. Maigret's Anger
  62. Maigret and the Ghost
  63. Maigret Defends Himself
  64. Maigret's Patience
  65. Maigret and the Nahour Case
  66. Maigret's Pickpocket
  67. Maigret Hesitates
  68. Maigret in Vichy
  69. Maigret's Childhood Friend
  70. Maigret and the Killer
  71. Maigret and the Wine Merchant
  72. Maigret's Madwoman
  73. Maigret and the Loner
  74. Maigret and the Informer
  75. Maigret and Monsieur Charles
I've also read some of the short stories including:
  • Maigret's Pipe
  • Maigret's Christmas
  • Seven Little Crosses in a Notebook
  • The Little Restaurant in Les Ternes
If the lockdown continues for several months, I might actually read the entire catalogue by the end of it.

6 comments:

  1. I'm not reading them Bob, but I always have something playing on my Ipad when painting and currently listening my way through the Michael Gambon series. I find the scripts are good enough to enjoy with just the occasional glance up at the screen. I'm really enjoying them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Lee,

      The Michael Gambon series was excellent, and I enjoyed watching them. I agree that you could easily follow the action without looking at the screen too often, although I tend to favour listening to audiobooks on DVD when I'm painting.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Hi Bob

    I am also an avid reader

    I am reading four series, in sequence, alterntively

    Jamer Patterson - Alex Cross series
    Simon Scarrow - Eagle Series
    Simon Scarrow - Napoleona and Wellington series
    W E B Griffin - Corps series (WW2)

    I have them loaded on my Kindle, and put the next volume of each series in a folder. That way I don't forget which book to read next. As you might expect, very organised. Some might say obsessive!

    Enjoy your enforced leisure with reading and blogging

    best regards

    Paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thistlebarrow (Paul),

      What an interesting selection of authors. For fiction, I tend to stick to a small range of authors:
      * Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (mainly the Sherlock Holmes stories)
      * Boris Akunin (the Erast Fandorin and Sister Pelagia books)
      * Rudyard Kipling
      * John Buchan (the Richard Hannay stories)
      * Georges Simenon (the Maigret stories)
      * Martin Cruz Smith (the Arkady Renko stories)
      * George MacDonald Fraser (the Flashman stories)
      * John Le Carre (the George Smiley stories in particular)

      My books are also organised into folders ... and it isn’t obsessive, it’s being organised!

      I look on the lockdown as an opportunity for me to do loads of things that I’d planned to do, including reading, painting, and designing/playing wargames.

      Keep safe and keep well,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. I was late to Maigret, but have just finished #13, and have #14 and #15 waiting to read... the books are wonderful... so evocative...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve-the-Wargamer,

      What I like about the Maigret stories is the fact that they are not formulaic and they describe Paris as it was when the novels were being written. They also give a glimpse of the way that French society operated, and its foibles (e,g. A republic with an aristocracy and elite bureaucracy which expected deference shown to the).

      Read and enjoy,

      Bob

      Delete

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