The Friday Face-Off was originally created by Books by Proxy:
each Friday, bloggers showcase book covers on a weekly theme.
Visit Lynn’s Books for a list of upcoming themes.
Please visit also Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy,
thanks to whom I discovered this meme.

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This week, the theme is “anything cold and seasonal“.
I hate the cold and the snow, so I hesitated actually starting this week with this meme.
I also had a hard time finding a cover with anything cold in my recent reads.
BUT then, I saw it:

La Panthère des Neiges, by Sylvain Tesson, that I read last May.
It’s actually perfect, as the movie/documentary on it just came out two days ago in France!

Here is the French trailer, and the English one (coming out in English on December 22). The French trailer is so much more beautiful – aesthetically speaking.

In English, the book was translated as The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet.
I prefer the original French title in the book, as it focuses really on what it is all about, whereas in English we focus on the human attitude needed to enjoy the animal.

The book is fabulous and gorgeously written. I felt like crying all along, because of the beauty of nature, and the depth of the thinking.

Here is the official synopsis:
“A journey in search of one of the most elusive creatures on the planet.
Adventurer Sylvain Tesson has led a restless life, riding across Central Asia on horseback, freeclimbing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, and traversing the Himalayas by foot. But while recovering from an accident that left him in a coma, and nursing his wounds from a lost love, he found himself domesticated, his lust for life draining with each moment spent staring at a screen. An expedition to the mountains of Tibet, in search of the famously elusive snow leopard, presented itself as a cure.
For the chance to glimpse this near mythical beast, Tesson and his companions must wait for hours without making a sound or a movement, enduring the thin air and brutal cold. Their lookout becomes an act of faith–many have pursued the snow leopard for years without seeing it–and as they keep their vigil, Tesson comes to embrace the virtues of patience and silence. His faith is rewarded when the snow leopard, the spirit of the mountain, reveals itself: an embodiment of what we have surrendered in our contemporary lives. And the simple act of waiting proves to be an antidote to the frenzy of our times.
A celebration of the power and grace of the wild, and a requiem for the world’s vanishing places, The Art of Patience is a revelatory account of the communion between nature and the human heart. Sylvain Tesson has written a new masterpiece on the relationship between man and beast in prose as sublime as the wilderness that inspired it.”

If you are looking to offer a unique book, this is it!
Before you get the chance to read it, enjoy these covers from around the world.

Which one is your favorite? Why?

To zoom on the covers on a computer, right click and choose “Open image in new tab”,
then you can zoom as needed.

My favorite cover is #10, Snežná leopardica – the Slovak edition.
The focus of the picture is really on the animal. This Snow Leopard is beautiful, it’s in movement, and the totally white background is a good evocation of the snow.

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK?
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
WILL YOU JOIN ME IN THIS MEME?
Next week will be warmer:
“All things fire – red hair, red covers, fire breathing dragons, simply fire?”