Book Around the Corner

Hello everyone, this is Day 3 of the Quais du Polar.

We got up early because we had tickets for the 9:15am Literary Cruise with Peter May. It’s like the Bateaux Mouche in Paris, but in Lyon on the Saône river. Quais du Polar has done these events for a few years now and it’s a way to discover the city from another angle and hear an author talk about his books.

Only this year two things happened. One is that we had so much rain in the last month that the Saône river is improper for cruises, the boats stayed at quay. Two, can you believe that both my friend and I left our phones at my house and were without our tickets and a means to contact the husbands for our lunch date.

My first thought was that we could manage the old way and live without our phones for a day but even if we could have hopped on the boat thanks to the list of the participants that Quais du Polar had, we couldn’t imagine how to keep in touche with the husbands.

So, no literary cruise for us and a trip back home to get the damned phones. (Notice how we don’t bother saying cell phones any longer? There are barely any other kind of phones anyway.)

That said we were back in time for the panel with Cosby and Lehane about the 60^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The journalist was excellent and the authors chatted about this anniversary, the topic of racism as it is central in their books. They went beyond talking about their books and shared personal experiences and beliefs with the audience. I felt privileged to be in the gorgeous Chapelle de la Trinité with them that morning.

Fun fact: they were rather pleased to discover they have their birthday on the same day, like Barak Obama as Lehane pointed out. As always, it struck me that these talks keep the authors on paths they relate to but keep them away from the usual book-promotion path. It’s refreshing.

I had a fascinating talk about American Southern literature with another reader on the pavement outside the chapel, and these delightful moments are a great part of the festival experience.

Thanks to our phones (!!), we had a wonderful lunch with the husbands in a nice and affordable restaurant. Yes, this is France and yes, sometimes clichés are clichés because they are true. Lyon is a top city for gastronomy and the festival included a Polar et gastronomie event. The theme was Brunch at Manchester because Tim Willocks and Caryl Ferey wrote a polar together for the festival.

We had a nice stroll on the quay of the Saône river and as you can see, we have our own bouquinistes on the banks of the Saône river, like the ones in Paris.

This is another view of Lyon from the Saône river’s bank.

Another fun fact: I saw that the city has reached a new level of refinement as far as recycling is concerned: dedicated trash cans for empty pizza boxes!

I don’t know if I should be happy that we try to recycle as much as we can or sad that we have so many pizza boxes that a special trash can is necessary. It sure amused me, though.

We attended a last talk about French rural noir. The authors were Jean-Charles Chapuzet, Manon Gauthier-Faure, Anne Percin and Nicko Tackian.

I haven’t read any of them but I’m sure interested in Anne Percin now. She wrote a book set on the Plateau de Millevaches in Limousin. Literally, it means the Thousandcows Plateau, really, that’s as close as to can get to a Montanan name in France.

And that’s all, folks, until next year! 😊 Thank you for reading about my three days at Quais du Polar.

If you’re curious about the festival and the authors, check out the festival’s website here. If you are interested in any of the conferences, they are available in replay here.