This week’s picks are Swiss and French. One, a documentary on the homeless in our midst; the other, a classic French pleasure. Both views are essential. L’ABRI *** (vo French) We are in a center for the homeless in Lausanne. It is winter and there are too many in need of a bed, food and […]
Le News book review + Payot’s best sellers of the week
This week’s book review: Edge of Eternity Storming to the top of this week’s best sellers is Ken Follett’s Edge of Eternity, published by Dutton, a Penguin imprint. It is the finale of his Century Trilogy that follows the fortunes of five intermingled families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they make […]
Netflix streaming service arrives in Switzerland
Netflix, a US provider of on-demand Internet streaming, this week launched a second wave of European expansion. The film and TV series streaming service is now available in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Netflix promised its shareholders growth and this latest development is central to its plans. Competition in some of these markets, however, is stiff. Germany has Prime Instant Video from […]
Payot’s best sellers of the week
Swiss Watching: Inside Europe’s Landlocked Island Swiss Watching: Inside Europe’s Landlocked Island by Diccon Bewes is very firmly in the best sellers list despite being published over four years’ ago. It is a light, warmly humorous yet revealing description of this most special country. Bewes stylishly convinces the reader that there’s more to Switzerland than […]
Author Douglas Kennedy “A life without curiosity is terrible.”
Douglas Kennedy is the bestselling author of 14 books, three of which have been adapted to film. Last week Robyn Goss interviewed him at GEMS World Academy, where he was speaking at the inauguration of the Discovery World Library and World Language Learning Centre prior to attending the Morges Book Festival. RG: Your books are […]
Gemma Bovery
GEMMA BOVERY *** The super-talented Fabrice Luchini is back in yet another (remember his excellent Alceste à bicyclette?) literary reference, this time to Flaubert’s Madame Bovery. It’s a moment of pure joy, as the stylish French director Anne Fontaine takes us to a charming village in Normandy to meet this modern version of Bovery. Portrayed […]
Capitaine Thomas Sankara
CAPITAINE THOMAS SANKARA **** This important documentary should not be missed. Swiss director Christophe Cupelin takes us back to the mid-1980s when Thomas Sankara, a courageous leader in Africa, decided to lead his impoverished country of Burkina Faso to productive independence and away from the usual colonial acquiescence to the wealthy and powerful West. In […]
US-Swiss relations – doomed to repeat history?
Book review: Switzerland: A democracy under pressure By Stefanie Frey et al. Verlag Merker im Effingerhof, CHF 59.00 Swiss–United States relations have been strained in recent years by disagreements on several issues, most recently banking secrecy, security and privacy issues. Does the US have good reason to criticize Switzerland, or do US politicians not understand […]
Payot’s best sellers of the week
The Giver is an American children’s novel by Lois Lowry. It won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies. It has recently been released as a film and the book re-launched. Rank Title Author Published By Genre 1 Adultery Coelho, Paulo Random House Fiction Hard Cover 2 The Fault in […]
Le Livre sur les Quais has record attendance
MORGES Le livre sur les quais bookfair in Morges had a record breaking year. Over 40,000 people came to this annual literary festival, but this year more people participated in discussions, interviews, readings and film screenings; all the literary cruises were full; and more than 25,000 books were sold, far more than in previous years. […]
