I’m a multilingual translator and writer. I write literary fiction, speculative fiction and crime fiction. My work has been published or is forthcoming in Fine Linen Magazine, Daily Science Fiction and others. You can find some of it here.
I love a lot of things but my greatest passions are books, writing, cats and other animals, movies, music, and art as well as spirituality and psychology.
I’m also a certified Bach Flower Practitioner (BFRP).
I live in Europe and come from a multi-cultural family. I consider Paris to be my hometown but I don’t live there anymore. Mostly I live in Switzerland and the UK. I speak several languages but I’m always learning more.
I have M.A.s in cultural anthropology and French literature and linguistics.
I read a lot of fiction and nonfiction. When it comes to fiction I read mostly literary fiction but I also like all sorts of crime and fantasy, don’t mind a well-written YA novel and I love children’s books. I read all sorts of nonfiction but have a preference for biographies, memoirs, letters, diaries and essays. I also like to read about a few of my favourite topics like psychology, spirituality, mythology, cultural anthropology and the odd book about cats and other animals.
Favourite literary fiction
Fiction: Giorgio Bassani: I Giardini dei Finzi Contini, Paula Fox: The God of Nightmares, Balzac: Les illusions perdues, Jonathan Coe: The House of Sleep, Kate Chopin: The Awakening, James Joyce: Dubliners, Solzhenitsyn: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, E.M. Forster: A Room with a View, Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited, Esther Freud: Gaglow, D.H.Lawrence Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Chandler: The Long Goodbye, Alain Fornier: Le grand Meaulnes, Siri Hustvedt: The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, Antonio Tabucchi: Notturno Indiano, Cesare Pavese: La bella estate, Mme de Lafayette: La Princesse de Clèves, Henry James: Portrait of a Lady, Tzingiz Aitmatow: Djamilja, Céline: Voyage au bout de la nuit, Ingeborg Bachmann: Malina, Marlen Haushofer: Die Wand, Boris Vian: L’écume des jours, Gabriel Gracia Marquez: Cien años de soledad, Heinrich Böll: Ansichten eines Clowns, Hermann Hesse: Narziss und Goldmund, Erich Maria Remarque: Im Westen nichts Neues, Pat Barker: Regeneration trilogy, Niccolò Ammaniti: Io non ho paura, Su Tong: Raise the Red Lantern, Eduard von Keyserling: Wellen, Susan Minot: Evening, Steven Millhauser: Enchanted Night, Elizabeth Taylor: A Game of Hide and Seek, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: Il Gattopardo.
Favourite fantasy
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, Charles de Lint’s Dreams Underfoot, Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour, Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain, Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter, Gustav Meyrinks The Golem, Maria Szepes’ Red Lion, George MacDonald’s Lilith, Robin McKinley’s Chalice
Favourite Science- Fiction
Anything by Ray Bradbury. Frederic Brown, Ursula K. LeGuin and many more.
Favourite Children’s books
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Skellig, A Monster Calls
Favourite YA
Graceling, Fire and Hemlock, On the Jellicoe Road, 13 Reasons Why
Favourite crime writers
Raymond Chandler, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, S.J. Bolton, Louise Penny, Minette Walters, Nicci French, James Sallis
Favourite movies:
Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Hours, The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, In the Cut, In the Mood for Love, L’armée du crime, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive, Requiem for a Dream, Moulin Rouge, King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, Magnolia, White Oleander, The Man Who Cried, The Big Lebowski, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Les enfants du paradis, Voces inocentes. Melancholia, The Virgin Suicides, Little Children, Blade Runner. Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
e-mail-me, if you like at beautyisasleepingcat@gmail.com or follow me @BeautyAndTheCat
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 
You are so cultural and well-read, I am humbled and honoured to be of your acquaintance! 🙂
You are very kind. Thank you. And thank you for visting. I like your blog as well, as you know. I meant to tell you how much I like your gravatar. I was in Hong Kong last year and the city just blew me away. I wrote a story about it and believe it is one of the best I have ever written.
You seem to be a person with diverse interests. And I would also like to add, with due respect to you that I also share some common interests with you.
I love books, writing, psychology and spirituality. It’s mostly my little notions of spirituality that lead me forth in life thorugh all times.
Finally, I must say your blog is impressive.
Hello Dovereader, this is extremely kind of you and I’m glad to hear we share some interests. It will be a pleasure to visit your blog. Thanks for visiting mine.
Hi, I love the artistry that shines through your blog. I immediately felt an affinity with it (and with the content as my family lived through the Blitz). Beautiful…thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Jane. I’m glad you like it.
Just discovered your blog through TheChildrensWar, Alex Baugh. Very glad to find it! Your German Literature Month is just great. Looking forward to staying in touch.
Hello Dorothy, how nice of you to visit and thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you like my blog.
Your masteral degree impressed me, cultural anthropology, French literature and linguistics. That sounds heavy, and perhaps that is why i find you interesting. I took up Language and Literature in college and still asks for more of James Joyce and Sophocles and Angela Carter. I like the fact that you read mostly European literature, because I read more American Literature, if not the Japanese and our own literature (i’m from the Philippines) and I also like to expose myself more of the European writers. Although I have read Gustave Flaubert and in film I tend to watch European directors more, there is still this itch that needs to be scratched. And so I look forward to further exchanges with you, and perhaps I’ll get to know more of Giorgio Bassani because of you. 🙂 Cheers!
Thanks for visisting and your kind comment. I read more European literature, I think, or a mix really. I like Japanese literature a lot but have never read anything from the Philippines. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear it. I think at present I like Italian, English and Japanese literature best but try to discover more. I hope you will like Bassani should you read him. Or Tabucchi. Don’t forget to tell me how you liked them. 🙂
I don’t know why I haven’t read your ‘About’ page before! I enjoyed knowing about your favourite books and your favourite movies. Out of your favourite movie list, I have seen only ‘The Piano’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ and have heard of ‘In the Mood for Love’, ‘White Oleander’ and ‘King Arthur’. Now I want to watch all the movies in your favourite movies list. It is so awesome that you did you masters in French literature. You must have read all the great works of French literature – envy you so much!
I do occasionally add a few books and movies but I don’t normally remove any. I completely forgot about Moulin Rouge… I need to re-watch it, I really love it.
I hope you will enjoy those you haven’t watched yet. Yes, indeed, I have read a lot of French literature from the Middle Ages on… Maybe one of the reasons why I read so much more other literature now.
Wow, you have such a variety of interests! And Russian is meant to be one of the hardest languages to learn! Impressive!
I like a bit of variety, that’s true.
I didn’t get much farther in my studies of Russian, I would need much more time to properly immerse myself in the language. i guess it’s not that easy, that’s for sure.
Loving your books, loving your films! And now I have to go and re-read Marion Zimmer Bradley again. 🙂
Thanks, that’s nice to know. I always wanted to re-read that one too. I lived in that book, whenever i looked up i could hardly belive I wasn’t really there. 🙂
I love that you have an atlas of authors in there, few of who I can name let alone spell, but that you have The Big Lebowski and Fabulous Baker Boys listed in fav movies….so amongst the Balzac and Marquez you also appreciate the Jeff Bridges…love it! Variety and Spice.
I’m glad you liked it. That’s what we need, right? Variety and Spice.
Jeff Bridges is great, he can do serious and funny… I love him in both roles.
As if being “Freshly Pressed” wasn’t enough, how about a blog award?! I get to nominate some sites for the Liebster Award (a fun way to get to know other bloggers and see what other folks are up to), and I really enjoy yours. So if you’re interested in participating, just follow the link: http://popcorndinner.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/liebster-award/
Cheers,
Janet
This is so nice of you, Janet. Thank you very much. I’ll visit soon.
I enjoy your blog. I’ve nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger Award. No pressure to participate. I enjoy sharing my favorite blogs with my followers. Here is a link to the post: http://bookpeeps.org/2012/11/15/the-one-lovely-blog-award-and-the-beautiful-blogger-award/
That’s so nice of you, thank you very much.
Hey Caroline. I really enjoy reading your blog and all the interesting books you read and review and the events you have going on – Literary and War in particular has been interesting. And of course, our discussion of gruesomeness in realistic literature in connection with The Daylight Gate. Anyway, because of this I’ve nominated you for a Booker Award. I don’t know if you like getting awards or not but I see them as a kind of reminder to remember to thank the bloggers who write the blogs we each love and cherish. So thank you! If you want to receive it, you can read about it here: http://christinarosendahl.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/the-booker-award/
That’s so nice of you Christina, thanks a lot. I enjoy receving awards but don’t always pass them on as most of my readers are reluctant to accept… Go figure. I think it’s a nice way to appreciate other blogs.
Thanks. 🙂
The first person I’ve seen on the blogsphere who’s listed Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter as a favourite book. Nobody reads Dunsany any more. Have you read Time and the Gods, his collection of short stories? And oh, if you enjoy Dunsany, I do recommend Poul Anderson’s “Three Hearts and Three Lions” and “The Broken Sword”, and I especially recommend Guy Gavriel Kay’s “A Song for Arbonne” and “Tigana”.
I know, he doesn’t seem that popular anymore but I liked this a lot. Thanks for the other suggestions. I haven’t read anything else by him and don’t know Anderson nor Guy Gavriel Kay. New authors to discover.
Hi, Caroline. I nominated you for The Versatile Blogger award. If you want to accept, you need to go to my site ( https://creativeshadows.wordpress.com/ ) and follow the instructions on there. Note that as of a month or two ago, in order to get links to work, I also had to put “https” (NOT “http”) on other wordpress accounts, so I had to do that today in order to get the link to your account to work. It apparently has something to do with some changes they made to the system, at least I think so (but I’m not a computer authority, I just know that it’s on my site now).
Thanks so much. That is so kind of you.
You are more than welcome. I’m trying to follow two separate books you’re covering right now, but neither of them has come in at the library yet! I always marvel at how much you cover and how much you get done; you are keeping a lot of people very, very happy.
I’m glad to hear it. I never feel I’m that busy. But you write very long and thoughtful posts, much more in depth and polished than my own.
Hi, Caroline!
I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Do come by and check it out.
Shimona
How nice of you. I only just came back and waht a surprise.!
I have just found your blog… I do believe a sleeping cat is a perfect sample of beauty. Ejoying this virtual corner.
Thanks for your kind comment and the visit, maru.
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Hi Caroline,
Your site is rich. I am a writer and student of literature, specifically English and French. Do you write reviews for self-published authors? If so, I would love to send you a novel to review.
Hi thanks for visiting. I’m glad you like my site.
I don’t accept a lot of review copies these days as I don’t have a lot of time and it would really depend on the genre and the length. I don’t mind self-published.
I just ran across the funniest book, one that I thought you (and your cat) would love. It’s from some cats’ points of view, and it’s called “I Could Pee on This, and Other Poems by Cats” by Francesco Marciuliano. The really startling thing is just how accurate it is in terms of “self-portraits” by cats. It’s available from Amazon.com, though I don’t know whether the British or European equivalent is carrying it yet or not. (You and your cat could always read it together, you to let him know that his tricks are not undecipherable to you, he to let you see into his world more than ever–should he so choose to indicate that the notions revealed within are accurate!) Happy reading! A must-have holiday gift for any cat-lovers on your list, and small enough to fit into a gift basket (for example one that has a small comfy cushion inside, and some cat treats and….you get the idea).
This made me smile. Thanks so much for telling me, it sounds like a lot of fun, I’ll see if I can find it. I’m sure the cat would love it as well. I’ve been thinking recently it would be fun to read a book from a cat’s persepctive.
Hello, I want to subscribe to your rss fee but I’m having trouble finding the URL to paste into NewsBlur my RSS reader.
Thanks for your interest, Diane. However, I have no clue how this works.
Is it not this
feed://beautyisasleepingcat.wordpress.com/feed/
Such a good blog name! Dear lord! Brilliant 🙂
Thank you so much. 🙂
Nice to meet you! amazing background
Thanks, Lynz. It’s meeting you as well.
love your blog !
I’m very glad to hear it.
come visit me please
I guess I was visiting while you posted this.
Haha love the look of your front page!
A fellow French lit major! Bonjour 😉
Oh really? That’s great.
Re: Childrens Books, you might like: The Journey That Saved Curious George, ByLouise Borden, and Illustrated by Allan Drummond. This is about the creators of the “Curious George” books, films, etc, and how they escaped the Nazis, in a very circuitous rout, from Paris.
Thanks so much for the suggestion. I just looked it up and you’re right. I would like it very much.
Coucou Caroline. Très beau blog, je suis contente pour toi. A bientôt j’espère! Peggy
Quelle surprise! Merci beaucoup. J’espère aussi. Ça fait bientôt une année, je crois.
Takashi Atoda brought me here. I love “The Square Persimmon.” It was given to me by my best friend who is a Japanophile and it is definitely a “desert island” book. Do you know it?
Hi Stuart, yes, I do and absolutely loved it. You can find a review on my blog. I should reread it. I didn’t include short story collections in my best of but thus would be among them.