Why I Love...

...this book.

I came upon the book through the film of course. For a long time I had a grainy VHS copy that I made from the TV way back in 1994 but a few years ago I searched high and low for a DVD at a time when it was quite difficult to come by. I ended up paying £35 for an import and now it's back on sale in most places for a normal price. Oh well.

I got hold of the book in 1999 and loved it as much as the film (though interestingly it seems Djian likes neither the Americanised translation or the film!) and that takes me nicely onto this interesting little fact. None of his other novels have been translated into English. I'm not the only one feeling down about this!

Here's the opening to wet your appetite:

They were predicting storms for the end of the day but the sky stayed blue and the wind died down. I went to take a look in the kitchen - make sure things weren't getting clogged up in the bottom of the pot. Everything was just fine. I went out onto the porch armed with a cold beer and stayed there for a while, my face in the sun. It felt good. It had been a week now that I'd been spending my mornings in the sun, squinting like some happy idiot - a week now since I'd met Betty.

Happy reading...if you can find a copy!!!