Currently playing at the TNM in the play Cher Tchekhov by Michel Tremblay, actor Gilles Renaud tells us about the books that are dear to him.
We’re curious… The last time you went to a bookstore, what books did you come out with?
I left there with four books: two psychological thrillers by Charlie Donlea, Summer of the Departed and House of Suicides, which were recommended on a radio show; the last Michel Houellebecq, Anéantir, which I haven’t read yet, but which I think will be my next reading; and then there is also a novel by Biz, Mort-Terrain. I am reading it and it is fascinating. It takes place in northern Abitibi, in a small village near an Amerindian reserve. A new doctor has just arrived there and it will not always be easy for him.
Of all the works of Michel Tremblay, what is your favorite title?
It would be The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant, because this book contains pretty much the entire genesis of her work. Rue Fabre, the Tremblay family… It’s all there. And then it is also the first volume of Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal, which for me is the most important of this series of six novels.
Is there any other of his books you would like to talk about?
I recently read La diaspora des Desrosiers, which is a series of nine very accessible short novels, which begins with Crossing the Continent. There, he will talk about his mother and he will, among other things, tell about his departure from Saskatchewan and his arrival in Montreal. It’s fantastic, I loved it. I spent these nine novels one after the other for a month or two and it was very pleasant. Real Tremblay!
Is there a book or novel that you have been coming back to regularly for quite a while now?
For me, John le Carré is the greatest author of spy novels and at the start of the pandemic, I decided to re-read all of his work. As he wrote much less and was getting very old [John le Carré died a few months later, at the age of 89], I wanted to come back to it and I re-read everything, but in the order in which his books were published. I had a lot of fun. There are masterpieces in there. The Night Manager is magnificent, as is The Constancy of the Gardener or The Tailor of Panama. And there, I await the release of his next novel.
When John le Carré was on his deathbed, he asked his son to complete and publish the book he was working on.
In recent years, which novels have you particularly enjoyed?
And what was your most recent big, big crush?
A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers by Alain Farah. A novel that takes place on the wedding day of Alain Farah himself. We have flashbacks, we wait for the arrival of the villain, we tremble with him. A lovely, well done and well written novel.
What novel would you read tomorrow morning if you had the chance?
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell, a set of four novels set in Alexandria. It’s about love and it’s beautiful. I have read it twice so far and would like to read it a third time.
What do you promise yourself to read one day?
I recently bought the two volumes of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. I realized that I had never read anything by him. So I promise myself to read these two books soon, maybe this summer.
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