with absolutely nothing to back it up, I have always pronounced it more like AWL. I'd love to know the real pronunciation-but, on the other hand, no one has ever corrected me, either.

Now, I hate it when I'm asked that and I'm reading trash. "What am I reading...oh, the latest Ken Follet".

I hate to admit to Nora Roberts. She does come up with some steamy scenes, but she can write a very readable book when she puts her mind to it.

Agnes, never be embarrassed by Nora! She's the best. She's the only contemporary romance writer I read. She's always got a strong woman at the center of her stories and I love that.

Yeah, but I know people that drool during her highly descriptive sex scenes!! I think it's the only reason they read. I'm not embarrassed, but I have always claimed that I don't see much point in second hand sex.

I don't get embarrassed by what I read; most people I ask have never heard of said title or author and its a chance for me to either suggest or not suggest they try it. What I hate is assumptions they make about the books. I get lab tests done every six weeks, and I always arrive with a book because the wait is long. Inevitably someone wants to know what the book is and they usually want to know what class I am taking that I have to read the book. They are usually shocked to hear that I actually want to read it.

Tho I did have fun with one of the techs who recognized Edith Whartons name, and bemoaned the fact that she hadn't had time to read those books since having kids...

meanwhile-back to the question-how do you pronounce Auel?

And how do you pronounce Proust? I always pronounced it "PrOWst" but in the movie "Little Miss Sunshine", it was pronounced "PrOOst".

Here is your answer, from www.ecfans.com:

How do you pronounce Jean Auel's last name?
Owl - like the bird.
How do I write to Jean Auel?
As far as I know, she doesn't communicate via email. If she does, it's top secret! You can write to her at her P.O. box:

Jean M. Auel
PO Box 8278
Portland, OR 97207-8278

I'm told she reads much of her mail herself - and enjoys receiving it, though she does have a personal secretary who helps her go through it, so your correspondence will get the personal touch!

PAM

Is she ever planning on another book? I liked the first one much the best but felt compelled to read all of them.

WRT Marcel Proust, I can answer that: his last name is pronounced Proo.

WRT Jean Auel, I liked her books in my early 20s, but last one was horrid. I know there is a 6th book planned, but I'll bet she ran out of ideas, there frankly isn't any interesting direction the book can go, since she has ruled out Ayla ever seeing her firstborn again.

At my age it's more embarasing to not be able to remember the actual title OR author of the book I'm reading! I can usually describe the cover and the plot but the names and titles slip right away. My short term memory has indeed become very short. But I can whip out the titles and authors of those books from my childhood!

I'm so glad that someone agrees with me that her (Auel) last was horrid. I got soooooo tired of all those repetitious introductions with the entire clan history of everyone involved. I think that she must have been paid by the page for that one. There is no other excuse for it.

I liked the first one and "The Mammoth Hunters." Didn't care much for the others.

I thought that Proust was pronounced 'Proost'. Of course my reasoning is based on the Monty Python sketch 'Summarize Proust Competition', so I could be wrong *g*

I also liked Auel's first book, didn't care for the second and tossed the third one across the room barely 10 pages in. I think she should have stoppped (on that theme) while she was ahead.

>I can usually describe the cover and the plot but the names and titles slip right away.

Oh me too! It helps that I keep a reading journal now, but still, it irritates (but so long as you don't walk into a bookstore and ask 'I am looking for the book, I don't remember the author or title, but it was about dogs and the cover was blue', you'll be ok :)

Astrokath, in French, the ST ending is not pronounced, so that we say Proo (like Annie Proulx). However, I think that in English, Italian and German etc, ST is naturally pronounced, so that people do say Proost. However, Proo is better in any case, since truer to the actual native pronunciation.

It is a bit like Chilean; anglicised promounciation would be Chi-li-an, versus pronounciation based on native Spanish would be Chi-lay-an.

So is Annie Proulx pronounced just "proo"?

cindy-we have patrons come into the library and ask questions like that ALL THE TIME! Often, with a little more questioning, we can find the book! A couple years ago, a woman came in and said she had heard an interview on NPR, couldn't remember the author or any of the titles, but she wanted the first book-written maybe 10 or 15 years ago. I found it by going to the NPR website, finding the show she had heard, finding out who the author was, and then pulling up a list of the author's books and low and behold...we found it!
beats shelving!

Mmh, I'm not convinced - I've always heard it pronounced 'Proost'. Names very often do not follow the same pronunciation guidelines as other nouns.

FWIW, I lived a year in France, while attending the Sorbonne, and never heard it pronounced any other way than "Proost."

Anyanka, you are making me second-guess myself. I've heard both Prou and Proost, but now I cannot recall which I've heard more often, I suspect both are used, with Proost being the more old-style pronunciation, perhaps more used because he is famous, but a modern day Proust is Proo, like Prevost and Provost are pronounced Prevo and Provo.

Annie Proulx is most definitely Proo, that I am 100% sure.

My French friend pronounces it somewhere between "Proo" and "Proust" with the "st" de-emphasized.

granjan, I can usually describe the cover in great detail, but not the author's name or book title, unless it is one of my recurring authors.