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Archive for the ‘books’ Category
The French Like to Read
Saturday, July 22nd, 2017Rosemary’s Angels
Thursday, December 10th, 2015Graphic artist Janeen Koconis hosted a cocktail party last night for Rosemary Flannery to celebrate the publication of the French edition of Rosemary’s book Angels of Paris. Entitled Les Anges de Paris, it is available in hardcover from Amazon.
Read my review of the English edition of Angels of Paris by clicking here: http://blog.parisinsights.com/angels-of-paris-by-rosemary-flannery/
Bonne lecture!
Seven Authors Tell Why They Like Paris in December
Saturday, November 21st, 2015
The December holidays are just around the corner! We asked the members of the Paris Writers’ Connection to tell us what they like in particular about that month.
Happy holidays and happy reading!
Vicki Lesage proves daily that raising French kids isn’t as easy as the hype lets on. She penned the Paris Confessions series in between diaper changes and wine refills: Confessions of a Paris Party Girl, Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer, Petite Confessions, and Christmas Confessions & Cocktails. She writes about the ups and downs of life in the City of Light at VickiLesage.com.
Buy now: http://www.amazon.com/Vicki-Lesage/e/B00HUZQUI4
Tom Reeves has been a confirmed Francophile since he first took an unpaid sabbatical in 1975 to travel to France to learn the language, see the country, and pursue a diploma in French language, literature, and civilization. Returning to California in 1978, he eventually realized that while he had left France, France had never left him. He moved back permanently in 1992. Reeves’ latest book Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light helps Paris-bound travelers understand French dining customs so that they feel comfortable when entering into a French restaurant for the first time.
Buy now: http://amzn.to/1nkgCyu
April Lily Heise is a Canadian writer and romance expert based in Paris. Her writing has been featured in the Huffington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, Frommer’s, City Secrets, and DK Eyewitness Guides and other local and international publications. She is the author of Je T’Aime, Me Neither, a lively novelized memoir on her romantic misadventures and continues to share dating tips, stories, and travel features on her blog www.jetaimemeneither.com.
Rosemary Flannery is an author, photographer and tour guide. She arrived in France in1989, just in time for the bicentenary of the Revolution and the inauguration of the Louvre museum and its Pyramid. Passionate about Parisian architecture, she wrote Angels of Paris: An Architectural Tour of the History of Paris, celebrating the illustration of angels in the city’s facades, fountains and rooftops. Released in 2012 by The Little Bookroom NYC and distributed by Random House, her book is now available in French as Les Anges de Paris: Voyage au coeur de Paris, by Editions Exergue.
Leonard Pitt is an author, actor, and teacher. He lived in Paris for seven years in the 1960s and learned nothing about the city. It was only much later, in the 1990s, when he became shocked upon learning what he did not know that he started reading and researching everything he could about Paris and its history. As someone once said, “If you want to learn about something, write a book about it.” Leonard has written three books about Paris. His first, Walks Through Lost Paris was a bestseller in the French capital. In addition he has written, Paris, A Journey Through Time, and Paris Postcards, the Golden Age. His new book, My Brain On Fire, Paris and Other Obsessions, is a memoir. It will be published later this year by Counterpoint Press.
Shari Leslie Segall, is the author of France-themed books and articles. She teaches English and cross-cultural communication at the prestigious Institut des Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) and at the French Military Academy. She is the founding director of Foreign Affairs, which provides linguistic and cross-cultural training and creates English-language documents for executives. Among her other works is 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French, a just-for-fun little gem full of perspicacious cultural observations. The palm-sized book, illustrated with beautiful watercolors, is an amusing way to measure acquired “Frenchness” for those who have lived in France or studied its language: such as, “You know you’re becoming French when your holiday menu would not be complete without foie gras, oysters, and glazed chestnuts.”
90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French is available at select shops in Paris and on the FUSAC site http://store.fusac.fr.
Lisa Vanden Bos, originally from New Jersey and in Paris since 1989, is co-owner of FUSAC, the magazine and website for English speakers in Paris. She has created three volumes of the Speak Easy Puzzles book which helps people to learn French and English idiomatic expressions in a fun way. She also collaborated on the book 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French. Lisa never tires of exploring Paris and its outskirts, France and French language and culture.
All three volumes of the Speak Easy Puzzle book are available on the FUSAC site at http://store.fusac.fr
On Bastille Day, Celebrate France’s Joie de vivre with Books by the Members of the Paris Writers’ Connection
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015
Bastille Day falls on July 14, only a few days away. To celebrate that day, we asked the members of the Paris Writers’ Connection tell us what they like about Paris. Happy Bastille Day and happy reading!
My favorite thing about Paris is my neighborhood boulangerie and the routine of getting my daily baguette. Even though there are two boulangeries closer to my apartment, I still venture out to my favorite one because the perfection of their baguettes is worth it. And now I bring my two-year-old son with me so he can share in this quintessential French experience. He knows how to order the baguette (hilariously addressing the boulangère as “Madame Baguette” in the process), pay for it (if I hand him the correct change in advance), and carry it home like a true Parisian: eating just the end off.
Vicki Lesage proves daily that raising French kids isn’t as easy as the hype lets on. She penned three books in between diaper changes and wine refills: Confessions of a Paris Party Girl, Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer, and Petite Confessions. She writes about the ups and downs of life in the City of Light at VickiLesage.com.
Buy now: http://www.amazon.com/Vicki-Lesage/e/B00HUZQUI4
There are many things to like about Paris, but for me the most pleasurable is the quality of the restaurants that one finds here. French chefs, restaurant managers, and staff have mastered the art of preparation and presentation of the food that they serve, the spirit of service, and the arrangement of the dining space. Each week, my wife and I look forward to dining out and then reporting on our experience in our weekly restaurant review.
Tom Reeves has been a confirmed Francophile since he first took an unpaid sabbatical in 1975 to travel to France to learn the language, see the country, and pursue a diploma in French language, literature, and civilization. Returning to California in 1978, he eventually realized that while he had left France, France had never left him. He moved back permanently in 1992. Reeves’ latest book Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light helps Paris-bound travelers understand French dining customs so that they feel comfortable when entering into a French restaurant for the first time.
Buy now: http://amzn.to/1nkgCyu
The thing I love the most about Paris is its joie de vivre. This is manifested in different ways, but I truly feel that Parisians celebrate life. They take the time to sip un petit café at the bar or a laugh over a glass of rosé en terrasse. They savor their meals over hours instead of gobbling down a quick bite. They spend Sunday afternoons in the park or taking in an exhibit at the city’s vast array of excellent museums. This energy keeps me here and keeps me alive!
April Lily Heise is a Canadian writer and romance expert based in Paris. Her writing has been featured in the Huffington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, Frommer’s, City Secrets, and DK Eyewitness Guides and other local and international publications. She is the author of Je T’Aime, Me Neither, a lively novelized memoir on her romantic misadventures and continues to share dating tips, stories, and travel features on her blog www.jetaimemeneither.com.
The truly great thing about Paris is its constant surprises. This evening Radio Classique offered a classical music concert sponsored by the RATP in the great hall of the Miromesnil metro station. The space was packed, the acoustics were perfect, and the violinist, Nemanja Radulovic, a brilliant young star. Tattooed, his huge mane of hair waving as he moved, his passion for the music was palpable, and the familiar pieces resounded as never before. This was not the first time Radulovic played in the metro: it was here at the age of 14, having moved with his family from Serbia to France after the Yugoslav Wars, that he began his career, busking for money. I felt truly grateful to have been part of such an original evening, and thought ‘only in Paris’. . .
Rosemary Flannery is an author, photographer and tour guide. She arrived in France in1989, just in time for the bicentenary of the Revolution and the inauguration of the Louvre museum and its Pyramid. Passionate about Parisian architecture, she wrote Angels of Paris: An Architectural Tour of the History of Paris, celebrating the illustration of angels in the city’s facades, fountains and rooftops. Released in 2012 by The Little Bookroom NYC and distributed by Random House, her book will be published in French this September as Les Anges de Paris: Voyage au coeur de Paris, by Editions Exergue.
Paris is made for walking. There are walks I’ve been doing for over fifty years and they only get better. Like turning a rich soil and taking in the pungent aroma of fresh earth that flairs the nostrils with pleasure. An early morning when the cafes are just opening is best, before traffic, crowds, and tour buses. The city breathes Zen.
Leonard Pitt is an author, actor, and teacher. He lived in Paris for seven years in the 1960s and learned nothing about the city. It was only much later, in the 1990s, when he became shocked upon learning what he did not know that he started reading and researching everything he could about Paris and its history. As someone once said, “If you want to learn about something, write a book about it.” Leonard has written three books about Paris. His first, Walks Through Lost Paris was a bestseller in the French capital. In addition he has written, Paris, A Journey Through Time, and Paris Postcards, the Golden Age. His new book, My Brain On Fire, Paris and Other Obsessions, is a memoir. It will be published later this year by Counterpoint Press.
Launch Party for Our New e-Book – Dining Out in Paris
Friday, June 20th, 2014Last night we held a launch party for our new e-book Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light.
It was held at En Vrac, a cave à manger located at the corner of rue l’Olive and rue Riquet in the 18th arrondissement.
Eleven Paris bloggers and writers gathered to hear me talk about Dining Out in Paris and En Vrac owner Thierry Poincin talk about his wine shop and restaurant.
I explained that I wrote Dining Out in Paris with first-time travelers to Paris in mind. My intent was to provide helpful information about French restaurants and French dining customs so that newcomers will have confidence to enter a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal. As a bonus, I have included in-depth reviews of twelve of my favorite restaurants in the book.
Thierry explained how he sells wine en vrac (in bulk) to customers who bring their own bottle or leave a 2€ deposit for a bottle that the shop supplies. The bottles are filled from stainless-steel wine vats that contain wine protected from oxidation by nitrogen gas. He also talked about a new location that he’ll soon be opening on rue Maubeuge in the 9th arrondissement.
The following Paris bloggers and writers attended:
Mary Kay Bosshart – Out and About in Paris
Charin Chong – Sight Seeker’s Delight
Lisa Czarina – Ella Coquine
Anna Eklund-Cheong – Paris Haiku
Heidi Ellison – Paris Update
Rosemary Flannery – Passport to Paris
Gerri Chanel – Saving Mona Lisa
Lily Heise – Je T’aime… Me Neither
Ganit Hirschberg – Food, Wine, and Other Adventures
Claire Thomas – Sight Seeker’s Delight
Laurel Zuckerman – Laurel Zuckerman’s Paris Weblog
The party was hosted by:
Tom Reeves – Paris Insights
Monique Y. Wells – Entrée to Black Paris
Thierry Poincin – En Vrac
(En Vrac is one of the restaurants that I reviewed for Dining Out in Paris.)
A good time was had by all!
Heather Stimmler-Hall Launches a New Edition of Naughty Paris
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014Heather Stimmler-Hall is a travel writer who has been living in France since 1995. I recently had the opportunity to meet her for the first time at the CititenM launch party about which I blogged two Sundays ago. Heather told me that she was about to launch a new edition of her book Naughty Paris: A Lady’s Guide to the Sexy City. This is a self-publishing venture, as was the first. For the second edition, she intends to have it printed as a gorgeous coffee-table style book measuring 6.25 x 7 inches, containing 352 pages and 295 color photos, and bound in sturdy Smyth Sewn binding.
To raise the funds necessary for this costly venture, Heather has launched a campaign on Kickstarter.
The first edition of her book was awarded a Gold Medal for the 2009 Independent Publisher Awards Best Travel Guide. The second edition, to be released in December, will be shipped in July to those who pledge a minimum of $35 CAD (Canadian dollars) to her Kickstarter campaign. Pledges must be made online by Tuesday, July 8, 2014.
Take a look at her video on Kickstarter and see what a classy gal this writer is!
The French Like to Read
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013An antique and used book fair was held last Saturday at place Monge. The weather was mild and sunny. It was a perfect day for browsing through old books!
Bonne lecture!
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A Roll in the Hay with Lily Heise
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013I first met Lily about five years ago at a bloggers’ meet-up in Paris. At that time and at subsequent social events, she impressed me as a cheerful person with a bubbly personality. Little did I suspect that within the body of that effervescent persona beat the heart of a woman with the passion of an exploding volcano! I found that out just two weeks ago when I accepted her invitation to attend the launch of her first book, Je t’aime…me neither. There, at the Abbey Bookshop in Paris, she announced that her new book was about the saga of her search for love in the City of Light. It turns out that she found it…and then lost it…and then found it and lost it…again and again!
What makes her book more than a kiss-and-tell story is that she readily admits that her adventures have all ended in failure of some sort. (At least, that is what she told the audience at the book launch.) But she analyzes each failure in a humoristic way before she moves on to the next adventure. And she does move on! At the disappointing end of every adventure she manages to step back and find humor, even if it is dark humor, in her distress.
The night of the launch, the audience enjoyed her wit as she read several accounts of her adventures from her book.
Here is an excerpt:
Je ne t’aime plus (Stephane) “Je ne t’aime plus.”
What do you mean . . . you don’t love me anymore? I sat there, dumbfounded, staring at my boyfriend—or rather, my exboyfriend—his words slowly sinking in. Once they had, the emotional floodgate opened, unleashing hot tears streaming down my cheeks.
What did he just say? He had never said that he did love me, so how could he not love me anymore? While I was trying to grapple with this unpleasant detail, another one hit me. Hey! I was being broken up with! This made me cry even harder. Here I was, in my tiny Parisian apartment, overlooking the eternal City of Amour, which had just transformed into the City of Désamour, as I was now unloved, dumped, ditched, or, in French: larguée.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen.
This experience must have been a sad moment for Lily, but when she read the passage in her sing-song voice the audience roared with laughter. (Not laughing at her, mind you, but with her.)
She saved the best passage for last:
A Roll in the Hay (Julian) Where am I? Who am I with? More importantly . . . who am I kissing? These are not good questions to wake up asking yourself, especially when you don’t know the answers! Well, from what I could immediately gather, the answer to the first question seemed to be “a wheat field,” which could have been pretty much anywhere. The answers to the other two questions would remain—for the time being—something of a mystery . . .
How had I ended up in a wheat field at the crack of dawn being ferociously kissed by a young, sun-streaked blond stud?
No, I wasn’t on the set of the kind of racy TV show screened after midnight on French public channels. And no, I hadn’t gotten lost on a hike in the country and been rescued by a shepherd boy . . . or had I?
Intrigued? Lily leaves it to us to buy the book to learn the answer to this mystery.
Lily has given Je t’aime…me neither her heart and soul. Five years in the writing—and thirteen years of extensive research—have gone into its creation. Put this one at the top of your list of must-read books for the summer!
To learn more about the book, click here.
To purchase the Kindle edition, click here.
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Tales of Storms and Other Encounters
A Book Review by Monique Y. Wells
Friday, May 18th, 2012
Tales of Storms and Other Encounters is a stimulating book of short stories by Michele S. Kurlander. Kurlander is a Francophile like few others I’ve met. She frequently writes articles about her experiences in Paris and has included two stories about the city in Tales of Storms, which is her first book.
In “Notre Dame,” the young protagonist Angela seeks redemption within the cathedral whose “two muscular arms reached up into the sky” and whose “faceted circle of stone rested in its forehead like a third eye.” All the helplessness and confusion that Angela feels are evoked in Kurlander’s description of the cold, wet city that she encounters as she searches for the church and again when she is caught in a downpour after running from it with money that she has stolen from a coin box. Derek, the cause of her distress, has brought her to the City of Light and she thinks that she has escaped him. But fate has something different in mind…
“The Bridge” is the story of a married woman who was caught in a rainstorm and “saved” from an old beggar woman on the Pont des Arts by a handsome Frenchman. We find her writing a letter to her husband Bill about her experience of that day – without mention of the Frenchman, of course. Her narrative includes many common threads in American observations about Paris – the small size of her very expensive hotel room, the propensity for the sky to cloud over at a moment’s notice, the feeling of being a “real world traveler…”
Kurlander paints the scene at the bridge so vividly that those who know Paris will be able to see it unfold as though they were watching it on television or at the cinema. The city’s role in the story is as intimate as the romantic encounter between the woman and the Frenchman. His name is Jean-Pierre. We never learn the identity of the woman.
There are eight additional stories in Tales of Storms and Other Encounters, many of which are set in Kurlander’s home town of Chicago. I enjoyed them all! As the press release about the book states, “Not everything goes as you expect it to. You may be surprised – or shocked. You won’t be bored.”
Tales of Storms and Other Encounters is available at:
Shakespeare and Company, 37 rue Bûcherie, 75005 Paris, telephone: 01.43.25.40.93
Sandmeyer’s Bookstore, 714 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60605, telephone:
(312) 922-2104
From the author: lawmichele [at] aol [dot] com.
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