One of the many mysteries of France is why book spines are so chaotic. In a French bookstore the easiest way to read most book titles is upside down.
The old standard in France was to print the title on the book (and DVDs, videos, etc.) in such a way that when the book is lying flat on the table right side up, the title on the spine is upside-down!
Now the French seem gradually to be coming around to the more sensible idea that it should be right side up, but since many publishers still use the old system, you are obliged to crane your neck this way, then that way, this way, then that way, just to read the names of the books (this bookshelf is completely typical).
I solve the problem at home by shelving most of my French books and DVDs with this peculiar characteristic upside down so the titles are all the same direction. But in a bookstore my old skill of reading fluently upside down comes in handy. I learned as a bored child in church.
Here is another odd thing that you see from time to time in France. 
The magazine Paris Match (notice that on their website the magazine appears without the notice) was condemned for an article on Prince Albert's out-of-wedlock child, which I wrote about at the time (my blog wasn't public then). For legal reasons Paris Match is forced to publish this disclaimer on the front cover. It says that they are condemned for having "harmed the private life and right to one's own image" of Albert II of Monaco. The magazine's cover headlines say: "Albert of Monaco. The truth condemned. Paris Match revealed the existence of his son Alexandre. The judges punish freedom of information. The international press reacts and supports us."
It seems to happen to Paris Match a lot; maybe they just think of it as part of the cost of doing business. The right to private life and to your own image is much stronger in France than in the U.S. or U.K.. This is why the French were agog at the spectacle of Americans almost impeaching Bill Clinton over a sexual affair. Mitterrand, after all, had not only a secret child but an undisclosed fatal illness during his second term in office. Yet he is at the moment the most admired postwar president of France. The tenth anniversary of his death was this weekend and there was an outpouring of laudatory articles and broadcasts. On Sunday, the 8th of January, you could even go and tour his office at the very grand Socialist Party headquarters in the poshest part of town. I heard a radio interviewer talking to an older woman who was choking with real tears. "You can see his hat, his overcoat!" she said. "It's very moving."
"They're fake," said the interviewer. "Ils sont factices. They are just replicas."
There was a shocked silence and then the woman said in a little voice, "You disappoint me, there."
isn't the press the best example of France's "false" idea of "liberté" ?
Posted by: schuey | 09 January 2006 at 16:22