Fleur Pellerin - the French minister of culture who hasn't read a book for two years

Here's a question for you.

What was the last book you read?

Don't worry if you can't remember.

Or if your answer is that you haven't picked up on for a few months or even years.

Because you're not alone.

Fleur Pellerin (screenshot - clip from Le Supplément, Canal +)

Astonishingly enough (perhaps - although nothing should come as a surprise with what some might - unkindly - describe as the motley crew currently governing France)the country's minister of culture, Fleur Pellerin revealed at the weekend that she hasn't read a book for the past couple of years.

The admission came during Sunday's edition of Le Supplément on Canal + as Pellerin was being interviewed by the programme's host, Maïtena Biraben.

While waxing lyrical about a lunch she had shared with this year's winner of the Nobel prize for literature - French author Patrick Modiano - Pellerin was asked which of his books was her favourite.

The minister probably wished the ground would open up before her, as she let out the longest, "Er", smiling (or was that grimacing) with embarrassment before coming clean.

"I have to admit - without any difficulty - that I've not really had the time to read for the past two years," she said.

"I read a lot of notes, a lot of legislative texts, news, AFP stories, but I read very little otherwise."

A visibily gobsmacked Biraben gently pointed out that perhaps it was time to read something by Modiano who was, after all, "The Nobel prize winner this year."

All right, all right, culture isn't just about reading books. There's painting, music, sculpture, dance, theatre...heck a whole panoply of arts.

But from a country which has such a proud and rich literary tradition, and from the minister of culture to boot, such a disclosure comes as something of a shock...and of course opened the door for a deluge of criticism on social media.

That said, there was also support from some quarters for the 41-year-old's honesty.

Writing in L'Obs (Le Nouvel Observateur's new name) Dom Bochel Guégan defended Pellerin, saying that she had been "principled enough to recognise her ignorance and to admit it quite simply" and that maybe (as junior minister for Small and Medium-sized enterprises, innovation and the digital economy and then, since August, switching to the culture minister portfolio)  "she had perhaps been a little too busy over the past two years to find time to read."

True - after all politics is a full time job in itself.

Still...

Quand la Ministre de la Culture explique qu'elle n'a pas lu de livre depuis 2 ans! sur WAT.tv 

Nicolas Sarkozy's tribute to "Stéphane" Camus

Ah the French president (but for how much longer?) Nicolas Sarkozy makes himself such an easy target for opponents when it comes to a slip of the tongue in an effort to show how well read he is and how much he appreciates and understands culture.

Le lapsus de Nicolas Sarkozy qui enflamme le net Vidéo jeanmarcmorandini sélectionnée dans Replay TV

On Monday he appeared at a rally in the French city of Avignon and in front of thousands of supporters came up with a reference that, for a moment at least, seemed to puzzle and confuse those attending.

A smiling Sarkozy wanted to tell the assembled throng how happy he was to be there in a region which was also the burial place of one of the country's greatest 20th century writers,  the late Albert Camus.

The winner of the 1957 Nobel prize for literature lived and is buried in Lourmarin, a village at the foot of the Luberon Massif just over 60 kilometres away from Avignon.

So perhaps it wasn't unexpected that Sarkozy would want to make reference to such a monumental figure of French culture to show how in touch he was with the area.

Except it didn't quite come out the way Sarkozy intended as he expressed how happy he was to be there.

"It's always a pleasure for me to come here," he said.

"I feel - how can I say - really Mediterranean," he continued.

"I don't know why. It's perhaps (wait for it) STÉPHANE Camus."

Er.

Of course it didn't take long for the blunder to be picked up by those with a malicious sense of humour, and in particular on Twitter, as comments came thick and fast.

The references to one of Camus' most famous work L’Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider, which also translates from French to English as the foreigner) were among the most frequent with, "Stéphane Camus, isn't he the one who wanted to give foreigners the right to vote?" and "I've re-read the Immigrant by Stéphane Camus. It's really good."

Oh well. Let's hope there aren't too many other cultural references from Sarkozy during the televised debate with his Socialist party rival François Hollande on Wednesday evening.