Paris, 7 a.m.

Paris, 7 a.m. is a fictionalized account of American poet Elizabeth Bishop's travels in France in 1937. Until reading this novel by Liza Wieland, I had never heard of Elizabeth Bishop and I had to do some investigating afterwards. Bishop was born in Nova Scotia in 1911; her father died before her first birthday and her mother was institutionalized a few years later. Her years at Vassar were formative and Liza Wieland's novel, Paris 7 a.m., begins with Elizabeth's time at Vassar. The bulk of the novel is devoted to the year 1937, the only year for which Elizabeth did not keep a diary. Elizabeth and her college roommates explore Paris, venture to the French countryside, and dabble in artistic and political circles. The protective environment of Vassar is gone and the changing political tide of WWII looms large.

I had trouble really getting into this novel. Wieland's prose is impressionistic and atmospheric. What Elizabeth can and chooses to divulge about her time in France, her relationships, and a secret errand are nuanced.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-bishop

Nature books for children

Following my last post about A Year with Nature by Marty Crump, I wanted to write about children's books about animals, plants, nature, and ecology. Both of my children love animals and the majority of our books are about animals. We love fanciful and made-up animals, but all of the books on this list feature animals and plants taken from the natural world. These realistic books are also in keeping with the Montessori philosophy and my attempt to make a more Montessori-friendly environment at home.

1. I Can Grow a Flower is a DK book. The book included a height chart and has flaps to open. I put this book out on our shelves in the spring in anticipation of the planting season. 
2. Animals of the World: A Lift-the-Flap Book Illustrated by Sara Lynn Cramb. The first double-page features a map of the world with animals from each continent/region. Subsequent two-page spreads show animals of the rain forest, ocean animals, polar animals, forest animals, and grassland animals.  Because the animals are divided up according to the type of environment they live in, there is an interesting mix of animals on each page. For example, tropical and temperate grasslands are together so bison, meerkats, and tigers are all lumped together. This presentation of habitats and animals does allow children to make comparisons between seemingly different animals: one could ask what features grassland animals have in common. Also, there is a flap that discusses threats such as poaching, hunting, deforestation, and global warming that threaten animals in a given habitat.  
3. Big Book of Animals by Igloobooks. An encyclopedia-type book for school-aged children. Entries include: slugs and snails, squid and octopuses, 8 different groups of birds, pandas and raccoons, cattle, monkeys and baboons, new world monkeys, apes, dogs and foxes, and many more. Animals are presented in families; snails and slugs are gastropods; squid and octopuses are cephalopods. Has lots of facts about animals.  
4. Snakes an Usborne Discovery book with additional content available online. I picked this up from a Little Free Library. I also picked up a book about spiders, but the spider on the cover is frankly quite hideous. 
5. Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman and pictures by Beth Krommes. This is one of our favorite books. "A spiral is a snuggling shape...waiting for a chance to expand." So begins Swirl by Swirl; we see a bullsnake, a harvest mouse, a chipmunk, and a groundhog curled up and on the next page, they have all uncurled. Other pages feature nautilus shells, the horns of merino sheep, various flowers, a funnel cloud, the crest of a wave. This book encourages children to find patterns in nature.  
6. Birds a National Geographic Kids Look and Learn book. The National Geographic Look and Learn series is perfect for toddlers and younger children. Birds focuses on colors and different features of birds. Other titles include: dogs, bugs, people, patterns.  
7. National Parks of the U.S.A by Kate Siber and Illustrated by Chris Turnham. This book is beautiful. My children are not quite old enough for this book yet, but my four-year-old enjoys reading about the different animals found in each of the parks and looking for her favorites. The book is arranged East to West. The tour of the National Parks begins with Acadia, Shenandoah, Congaree, Biscayne, Great Smokey Mountains, Everglades, and Dry Tortugas National Parks. The tour then heads to the central United States, to the Southwest, the Rocky Mountains, the West, Alaska, and finally the Tropics. This book is perfect if you are planning a trip to one or more of the National Parks.       
8. Story Worlds Nature created by Thomas Hegbrook. We checked this out from the library today. This book has no words only pictures and children are invited to make up stories about what they see. The book begins with the epithet "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything" by Albert Einstein. At the end of the book, there is an index of sorts with a smaller version of each picture accompanied by a caption explaining its content. You could use this as a way to "check" your child's story or use the caption as a starting point.  
9. World, World, What Can I do? by Barbara Shook Hazen. This picture book introduces children to the idea of conservation and being custodians of the Earth. "World, world what can I do? How can I help take care of you?" Children read about not littering on the playground, letting flowers grow instead of picking them, putting out campfires, feeding the birds, and more. The places presented are familiar to children: the backyard, playground, beach, and forest. Compassion for friends is also taught. 
1. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. The Lorax is a fanciful creature, but Dr. Seuss' message is timeless and never more pertinent than now. My daughter has memorized large portions of this and loves to hear our Lorax and Onceler voices. Actually, there is evidence that Dr. Seuss based The Lorax on his own experiences. Dr. Seuss had been struggling to preserve eucalyptus trees in La Jolla, CA, but couldn't find a way to make his ecopolitical message resonate with authorities. On a trip to Kenya, he and his wife, Audrey saw patas monkeys. The Lorax's dark eyes, Confucian whiskers, and hooded face are very similar to the atas monkey, as is the Lorax's sawdusty sneeze is reminiscent of the patas monkey's wheezy call. The patas monkey's diet is mostly comprised of the whistling thorn acacia. As the conservationist movement took off in the 1970s, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax set the tone for how conservationist messages should be conveyed.   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-research-suggests-dr-seuss-modeled-lorax-on-this-real-life-monkey-180969692/
2. 

A Year with Nature

A Year with Nature: An Almanac by herpetologist, naturalist writer and professor of biology Marty Crump is a celebration of all that nature has to offer. Each entry is devoted to a particular animal, an important day or discovery in the life of a scientist or conservationist, a plant, poetry, laws, the founding of the National Parks, U.S. celebrations, international celebrations such as Australia's Wombat Day, and celebrations that cross borders such as World Wildlife Conservation Day.

These were some of my favorites:

January 22nd features an excerpt from Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
 "Pleasure in the Pathless Woods
There is pleasure in the pathless woods,/
There is a rapture on the lonely shore/
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and music in its roar:/
I love not man the less, but Nature more,/
From these our interviews, in which is steal/
From all I may be, or have been before,/
To mingle with the Universe, and feel/
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."

Lord Byron was born on January 22nd, 1788 and was a Romantic poet and nature lover.

May 6th is about Fairies Cups or lies of the valley which is one of my favorite flowers. Lillies of the valley are said to be cups from which fairies drink fairy wine, or they are bells that ring each time a fairy sings. Alternatively, they are also called "Mary's tears", from a legend that says when Mary cried at the Crucifixion, her tears turned into lilies of the valley. A different legend says the white flowers represent Eve's tears that fell upon her expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In the language of flowers popular during the Victorian Era, lilies of the valley convey the message, "You have made my life complete" (133).

August 24th is devoted to the Mother of Nature Education Anna Botsford Comstock. Comstock graduated with a degree in natural history from Cornell University in 1885 and became the first female professor at Cornell in 1897. She is the founder of the Nature Study Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The goal of her approach to studying nature was, "to cultivate the child's imagination, love the of beautiful, and sense of companionship with life-out-of-doors"  (249)

October 6th is Mad Hatter Day. This day was created in 1986 by computer technicians in Boulder, Colorado, who thought people would do less harm by being silly for a day instead of working. The day is named after the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; the illustration of the character depicts a hat with the words "in this style 10/6" (292). On this day, spend time with the quirkier animals, plants, and insects in nature.

A Year in Provence

After years of visiting Provence as tourists, Englishman Peter Mayle, his wife Jennie, and their two dogs took the plunge and purchased a house in the Lubéron valley in Provence. The mas, or farmhouse, was located on the country road that runs between the medieval villages of Ménerbes and Bonnieux. The farmhouse was two hundred years old and made of local stone. A Year in Provence is a witty, insightful, and delightful record of the Mayle's first year as French residents. Each chapter is devoted to a month and readers are taken through a year divided up by weather, crops, the vendage, markets, boules, and feast days. Life in Provence as a rhythm all its own. The terroir and weather (especially the formidable mistral) are standout characters on par with the disappearing construction crew and colorful neighbors.
I loved the description of the cornucopia of goods found at one of the local markets. "We set off for the main square, running the gauntlet between groups of sallow gypsy girls in tight, shiny black skirts selling lemons and long plaits of garlic, hissing at one another in competition. The stalls were crammed haphazardly along the street--silver jewelry next to flat wedges of salt cod, wooden barrels of gleaming olives, hand-woven baskets, cinnamon and saffron and vanilla, cloudy bunches of gypsophila, a cardboard box full of mongrel puppies, lurid Johnny Hallyday T-shirts, salmon-pink corsets and brassieres of heroic proportions, rough country bread and dark terrines" (May page 92). Every French village has a market; some of the larger ones are truly remarkable for the range of produce and miscellany one can find.
Mayle's book makes one appreciate the land, food, climate, and people on a local level. One evening, their neighbor Faustin brought them a large bunch of fresh asparagus which they cooked and ate with "bread that had been baked that afternoon in the old boulangerie at Lumières. We drank the light red wine from the vineyards in the valley. We supported local industry with every mouthful" (May page 86). One can almost taste and smell the local delicacies. 

For further reading I recommend Mayle's Toujours Provence, a continuation of his life in Provence and his novel Hotel Pastis. There is also Alphonse Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin which is a collection of short stories and provencal lore written in the 19th century. 

The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jeffries

1935 Ceylon. Louisa Reeve is the daughter of a sapphire trader and her husband Elliot works in the gem trade as well. The couple have been happily married for years despite struggling with miscarriages and a stillbirth. Louisa and Elliot cope in their own ways, Louisa by keeping busy with various projects and Elliot by thrill-seeking. Elliot is increasingly absent from home, spending time at a cinnamon plantation he has invested in.
The night of their anniversary party, Elliot is absent and the police arrive to say he died in a car accident. Wrought with grief, Louisa delves into Elliot's affairs and discovers a pile of debts, investments that never were, and a death that may not have been accidental. Most crushing is that Elliot had a mistress and a child. As she comes to terms with her late-husband's past, Louisa finds herself drawn to the owner of the cinnamon plantation, a man with a colorful past and a link to her future.

Howard's End is on the Landing

Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill

Author Susan Hill is searching for a book in her house and the book turns up not where she thought it would be, but nestled in among other books some place else. Hill's book is an inventory of her bookshelves and other book storage areas in her house. Hill reflects on favorite books, well-travelled books, and "Never got around to it, Don't like the look of it, Couldn't get beyond page Ten, and Other poor excuses". As Hill inventories her collection, she reflects on the books and authors that have shaped a lifetime of reading.

I finished this book in early May and never got around to blogging about it, until now. I received a notice that it is due at the library. About the time I read Howard's End is on the Landing, I rearranged my office and took a brief inventory of my own shelves. I have my favorites that have been in my collection for years and probably will always be there: my Agatha Christies, Calvin and Hobbes, and a few others. Then there are the shelves of French literature. My French literature collection is not what it was in Grad School; I have culled it since I am not teaching and my interests have changed. It is hard for me to part with my French novels because I did enjoy reading them and they were purchased during an important time in my life. On several other shelves are my travel, history, and coffee table books. The rest of my books are mysteries and general fiction.

Like Susan Hill, I could probably read books from my shelves for a year and never need to visit the library.

Book Towns

Book Towns: Forty-Five Paradises of the Printed Word by Alex Johnson

Book towns can be of any size and anywhere in the world, but Alex Johnson says that many book towns are located in smaller towns and villages because rent is cheaper for proprietors. Book towns were begun with the goal of encouraging sustainable tourism and regenerating communities faced with economic collapse. A book town has several book shops and other businesses dedicated to books and the printed word. In a dedicated book town, book shops are concentrated in a small area. The movement was started by Richard Booth in Hay-on-Wye in Wales in the 1960s and spread from there (7). All of these book towns operate independently, but many are part of the International Organization of Book Towns. The IOBT seeks to raise interest in the ethos of book towns and holds a biennial festival in one of the towns.
I love to go to book stores and a book town would be even better. Below are the towns that most appealed to me and, no surprise, many are in France.

1. Bécherel, France: France's first book town in 1989 when the Fete du livre was hosted there. There are now seven other French towns that with Bécherel make up the Federation des Villes, Cites, et Villages du Livre en France. 
2. Clunes, Australia; annual festival drawing crowds of 18,000+, there are 7 bookshops scattered about the city and there is a travelling children's bookshop.
3. Cuisery, France. Jean Perdu, the protagonist of Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop, mentions that the whole village of Cuisery is crazy about books. The town now has 15 booksellers and businesses related to books. The first Sunday of every month is a book market. 
4. Fontenoy-La-Joute, France. There is a signpost in the village center pointing visitors to other book towns around the world and imaginary locations.
5. La Charite-Sur-Loire, France. Every May the town hosts the Festival du Mot: a celebration of words in theater, dance, music, visual arts, and books. 
6. Langenberg and Katlenburg, Germany. Pastor Martin Weskott of the Johannes-Kirchengemeinde in Katlenburg has been rescuing and selling books printed in East Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall. 
7. Montmorillon, France: La Cite de l'ecrit et metiers du livres. De la Trappe aux livres has a good number of bookcases, board games, and 100 types of beer. 
8. Montolieu, France
9. Obidos, Portugal. Instead of opening dedicated bookstores, proprietors in Obidos simply add books to the goods they sell: cookbooks compete for shelf space in the grocery store, art galleries sell art books, and museums sell history books. 
10. St.-Pierre-de-Clages, France 

Never fear, if you pick up too many books while travelling, there is always the option of shipping them home via the post office. Although, I was able to pack 28 books in my suitcases coming home from France and the cases were still not overweight. Some of my most treasured books have been collected while travelling. I enjoy looking for Agatha Christie books in France. I am loathe to part with any book, but books I purchase while travelling are kept forever. 

Midnight in Siberia

Midnight in Siberia by David Greene, host of NPR's Morning Edition

David Greene and his wife Rose spent three years living in Moscow beginning in 2009 when David was named Moscow Bureau Chief for NPR. He returned in 2011 and 2013 for journeys on the Trans-Siberian Railroad; Midnight in Siberia is the account of his 2013 journey.

David's journey on the Trans-Siberian Railroad is far from the plush-filled cabins of the Orient Express. David and his colleague Sergei travel in third-class, quadruple-bunked cabins, eat instant noodles more often than not, and make frequent stop-overs in towns scattered across the snowy landscape. The 6,000 mile journey takes David from Yaroslavl in the West to Vladivostok in the East. There is a map that shows which towns David visited on his journey, but the chapter titles are the names of people he met in each town.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad is Russia's spine, "a thin line of constancy that holds this unwieldy country together. it's more than just a map that underscores this. The railroad connects families, bringing distant relatives together more affordably than air travel. And it connects different chapters in this country's journey" (author's note). As David travels across Russia, he attempts to make sense of this vast, seemingly disparate country through the stories and personal accounts of everyday Russians. He also discusses Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia, and how Vladimir Putin's government has shaped relations between the United States and Russia, and local reactions to Putin's government versus Soviet socialism.
"Russian scholars and writers have long spoken of their country's confounding nature, how it takes wild turn and goes through periods of upheaval but always seems to return to a cruel, dysfunctional resting place" (9). In the novel Dead Souls, Gogol compares Russia to an out-of-control troika (a traditional Russian sled pulled by three horses) and asks, "Russia where are you flying?...Answer me...there is no answer" (9). In 2013, Russia was careening down a similar path. David saw a thin line of constancy, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, connecting Russian cities and steppes, problems and potential, its past and its future. But, an undercurrent of uneasy frustration was expressed by millions of people in a nation stretching from Europe to Pyongyang and Alaska, these millions of people are unable to answer two basic questions: where is your country going? and what do you want for it's future? (12).

I enjoyed riding along with David and "meeting" Russian's from across the country.

The map; the darker railroad tracks mark David's path; the lighter railroad tracks are main parts of the TSR that David did not travel on.

Interview with David on ThisIsAmericaTV

How to Find Love in a Bookshop

155. How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry

Years ago, Julius Nightingale moved to a small town and opened a bookshop. Nightingale Books became a fixture in the community and although beloved, was showing signs of age. Following her father's death, Emilia takes over as manager of Nightingale Books, but mounting debts make selling an increasingly enticing option. Her devoted staff and customers help Emilia refurbish the bookshop and continue her father's legacy. Love is indeed found among the stacks of books at Nightingale Books. Emilia finds love; a father discovers a love of reading with his son and rekindles a relationship with his ex-wife; Thomasina, the shy home-economics teacher falls for the cheese-monger, and more.

A pleasing read about the love of books, the people who love books, and the magic of a bookshop.

The Glow of Death

153. The Glow of Death: A Josie Prescott Antique Mystery

I finished this on May 4th, but have been remiss in my blogging, so stay tuned.

Josie is asked to appraise a Tiffany lamp. She meets with the woman selling the lamp and conducts her appraisal. The lamp is indeed a genuine Tiffany lamp. Several days later, the owner of the lamp is found dead...but the dead woman and the woman who contacted Josie about appraising her lamp are two different people.

April List

The list of books I read in April. My new total is 152 books; hopefully I can break 200 by the end of the year.

1. An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
2. The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons
3. Deadly Threads: A Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery by Jane K. Cleland
4. Dolled Up for Murder by Jane K. Cleland
5. The Madeleine Project: Uncovering a Past Life by Clara Beaudoux
6. Lethal Treasure by Jane K. Cleland
7. No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach by Anthony Bourdain
8. Antique Blues by Jane K. Cleland

The Madeleine Project

The Madeleine Project: Uncovering a Parisian Life by Clara Beaudoux

Clara Beaudoux moved into her Parisian apartment and soon after discovered that the apartment came with a basement storage unit. The storage unit was filled with items left by the previous owner, Madeleine. Clara decides to photograph most of the items, countless pictures, journals, newspapers, napkins, sheets, a mattress, and many other things, and post her findings on Twitter. The Twitter-verse and Clara's neighbors became captivated with Madeleine's things and her story. Eventually, Clara complied the Tweets into a book. It is a little strange reading a book of Tweets because you can't click on the comments left on the original Tweets. But, I love the premise and really liked looking at Madeleine's things. The Madeleine project is a sort of Ali-Baba's gave, garage sale, second-hand store, trip to your grandma's attic all rolled into one.

Clara moved into her apartment in 2013 and started looking through the cellar. She abandoned the cellar clear-out until 2015 after the terrorist attacks in Paris. She writes that she wanted to get away from the news and turned to documentaries. The Madeleine Project is a personal, private documenting/documentary that touched the universal. Many people were inspired to re-connect with their own elderly relatives or neighbors. The Madeleine Project is an example of the insignificant people who made history.

And yes, there are several references to Proust, his madeleines, and In Search of Lost Time. 

Here is the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/madeleineproject/

Murder Mystery Round-up

This week I've gotten back into the swing of reading and have finished reading five books.

1. An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten. I finished this one two weeks ago, but it fits with the other mysteries. 88 year-old Maud lives in Gothenburg, Sweden and she likes her life just the way it is, thank you very much, and she isn't going to let murder get in the way of enjoying her life.
   
2. The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons. This book was originally published in 1957 and was recently re-published or something along those lines. The story is told in two parts: pre-murder and post-murder. In the first part, John Wilkins gives an account of his life, emotions, and psychological state and events immediately preceding the murder at a resort in Brighton. The second part of the story consists of his trial. John was married but met and fell in love with a younger woman. Looking at his wife, everything turned "the colour of murder". Did he really see red and commit the crime he is accused of committing?
   
3. Deadly Threads: A Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery by Jane K. Cleland. I picked this one up in a local Little Free Library. This is the second book in the series and I enjoyed it very much. Josie Prescott runs an antique store in New Hampshire and has scheduled a series of events about vintage fashion. At the first event, the guest speaker is found dead under the podium, strangled with her own silk scarf. A pearl button found at the scene of the crime becomes a clue to the murder's identity. My favorite part of this novel was the description of the store's new Maine Coon, Hank. "It's Hank. He's upset. He batted his mouse under the copy machine. I can see it, but I can't reach it.' I looked at Hank. He didn't look upset. He looked curious. I glanced around the room for a tool and spotted an old wooden yardstick leaning against the wall near Sasha's desk'" (95). Substitute "refrigerator" for copy machine and you have a description of my cat Maggie's antics with her mice. 
   
4. Dolled Up for Murder. Another antiques mystery featuring Josie Prescott and her friends. An antique doll collection is being appraised for sale. A local woman buys it and is murdered soon after. While transporting the collection to the antiques store, one of Josie's employees is kidnapped and held for ransom until the dolls are turned over. 
   
5. Lethal Treasure is the Third Josie Prescott mystery I've read in as many days. This time, silent movie posters are the hot item. Josie and her interior designer friend Henri Dubois bid on storage units. Henri is found murdered in the storage unit he won in the bid. The contents of the storage unit and its previous owner may provide clues to identify the murderer. 
   
   I like this cover because it features Hank. Hank does not help solve the mysteries. He lives in the antique store and appears for belly rubs, pats, and games of fetch with his mice.
   
   
   

Hidden Gardens of Paris

Hidden Gardens of Paris: A Guide to the Parks, Squares, and Woodlands of the City of Light by Susan Cahill and photographs by Marion Ranoux

As spring arrives I'm in the mood to garden. Hidden Gardens of Paris was a good springtime read. I enjoyed reading about favorite green spaces in Paris and discovering new ones to add to my travel itinerary for the future.

Walking is a way to speak the language of a city "Only by using one's leg power to see one arrondissement after another can you get inside that language. moving on foot from central or western Paris into the northeast enables the physical and emotional reverberations of 'psychogeography,' the sense of 'the sudden change of ambiance in a street within the space of a few meters, the evident division of the city into zones of distinct psychic atmosphere.' As you walk, it becomes obvious, the City of Light speaks many languages" (185).

There is no better city to stroll through than Paris. My favorite green spaces include: the Tuilleries, the Jardin de Luxembourg, le Parc des Buttes Chaumont, and cemeteries large and small. My very favorite green space in all of France is an hour away from Paris: Monet's gardens at Giverny. 

March Roundup

I have been reading throughout the month but have obviously not been writing about what I've read. So here's a roundup all in one post.

140) One by One: A Memoir of Love and Loss in the Shadows of Opioid America by Nicholas Bush

141) The Huntress by Kate Quinn. At 531 pages this was a long read, but I read it in a day and a half. Kate Quinn wrote The Alice Network and the character Eve Gardiner makes a brief appearance in The Huntress. Quinn was inspired by lakes, water, and the water nymphs that inhabit them in writing the story of The Huntress. The Huntress takes readers from the shores of Selkie Lake in post-World War II Boston, to the icy edge of Russia and the shores of Lake Baikal, to Lake Rusalka in Poland, and the spa town of Altaussee in Germany during and after the War. As far as spirits, the Rusalka and her German counterpart the Lorelei in turn hunt and are hunted, haunt and are haunted by each other. Nina Markova grew up on the edge of Soviet Russia and became a pilot. Swept up in the war she joins the infamous Night Witches. Behind enemy lines crosses paths with a Nazi Murderess known as die Jagerin (The Huntress). British War Correspondent Ian Graham has witnessed the horrors of war as a journalist. When the war ends, he abandons journalism and becomes a Nazi hunter with the help of his Jewish-American partner Tony. Their primary target is The Huntress and they must rely on Nina's help to find her, the only one escape the Huntress' clutches alive. On the other side of the ocean,  17 year-old Jordan McBride dreams of becoming a photographer. Jordan's quiet life is thrown for a loop when her widowed father decides to marry a German widow. Her investigations into her stepmother's past threaten everything.

142) A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment by Stephane Henaut and Jeni Mitchell. 

The authors trace the history of France and her iconic food and beverages in appetizing vignettes. But underneath this bite-sized history is a more serious study of France's foodways and the power therein.  "By examining 'foodways'--the political, economic, and social practices related to food in a particular region or era--we can learn much about who hold the most power in a society, what sorts of values they prioritize, and how they sustain their elevated position. We can also learn about the most deprived communities, the constrains and limitation they in simply trying to feed themselves and survive, and what this indicates about the broader society in which they live" (283). 

143) The Good, the Bad, and the Furry: Life with the World's Most Melancholy Cat by Tom Cox 

Tom's daily life managing or being managed by his cats Janet, The Bear, Shipley, Ralph, and Roscoe.

 I enjoyed this psychoanalysis of cats that he has encountered on his travels or just walking down the street. Although I don't psychoanalyze the cats I see outside, I love to pet them. Before adopting a cat together Tom and his girlfriend Gemma imagined what their new cat would be like, created a whole personality for their future cat and selected a name. My husband and I did this before adopting our cats. Like Tom and Gemma's new kitten, our cat did not quite live up to our imagined version. 

In the chapter entitled "Keeping our Cats out of the Bedroom: Instructions for Housesitters" Tom refers to his cats as follows: the old intellectual black one, the middle-aged mouthy black one, the narcisssitic tabby one  (who really likes to meow his name and the word "HELLO" at 3 a.m.), and the small black and white one who looks like a living cartoon". Tom accurately captures how much of our daily lives cats take up. 

Résistance : A Woman’s Journal of Struggle and Defiance in Occupied France by Agnès Humbert, translated by Barbara Mellor

“On 13 April [1941] my diary ends”. Thrust into life in the Prison du Cherche-Midi, Agnès imagines her death “Here lies Agnès Humbert, died 15 April 1941.” In 1945, months after shedding her identity as a political prisoner and becoming a Nazi Hunter in Germany, Agnès’ war ends.

In 1940 as the Nazi’s tightened their grip around Paris and the rest of France, a group of colleagues at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris decided to form a network that would become a key member of the Resistance. Among them was respected art historian Agnès Humbert. The group published and disseminated a newsletter called “Résistance” which no doubt gave its name to the movement. In 1941 prominent members of the group were arrested, imprisoned, and later tried and executed or deported to German labor camps.

Agnès’ diary is unique among resistance narratives. Her journal was first published in 1946, soon after the end of the war. Part of the diary was written as events unfolded (the first nine months or so of her account), but large parts of it were written after the war’s end from memory. Julien Blanc explains that Résistance features two types of writing—spontaneous diary entries and considered recollections from memory. Unifying these types of writing is Agnes’ vivid, passionate tone.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Often I can tell within a page or two if I'm going to enjoy a book, and I enjoyed City of Thieves from the first paragraph.

During the siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is imprisoned for stealing. His cellmate is a charming Red Army deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, the two are given a chance to gain their freedom--if they can fulfill an impossible task. A Colonel in the upper echelon's of the Soviet Army asks them to bring back a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding which will be held in four days' time.  Lev and Kolya set out to find the impossible in a lawless and deprived Russia.

And for fans of a different series, David Benioff is a co-creator of Game of Thrones television series.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a crime noir novel published in 1934 and banned for violence and eroticism. Frank, a young tramp becomes taken with his employer's wife Cora. Cora, for her part is sullen and beautiful with a disappointing husband. Frank and Cora decide there is only one solution to their problems, but their solution only creates more problems.

I enjoyed the story, but I didn't care for the language or Cain's style of writing. With its focus on staging a crime, the theatrical, and artistic side of murder, I was reminded of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin and La Bete Humaine.

Sherlock Holmes

Books 136, 337, and 138:

Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories Volume 1

• A Study in Scarlet
• The Sign of Four
• Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Goodbye, Paris

Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris

"Paris is, as my late father used to say, where I left it. The city doesn't know that anything has changed. In the same way it always has, this city accepts me just the way I am. In return, I love it back. "

Grace Atherton once dreamed of being a concert cellist. She had the talent and the drive, but after quitting music college twenty years ago, she hasn't played the cello since. Grace's present life revolves around her music shop where she makes and restores violins and cellos. The other constant in her life his her (married) partner David. The rhythm of Grace's life stops following an incident in Paris. With the help of her shop assistant Nadia and a delightful customer Mr. Williams, Grace is finally able to play the cello again and compose a new musical score for her life.

La Proie du Chat

La Proie du Chat (What the Cat Dragged In) a collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith. I read these short stories in French and until now I was unfamiliar with American author Patricia Highsmith. Like the cat in the first short story, Highsmith nonchalantly introduces an element of mystery, horror, or violence into the most banal of experiences.

Sea Prayer

Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini and illustrated by Dan Williams

Sea Prayer is just that--a prayer, a memory, a lamentation, and a cry for help. On a moonlit night, a father holds his sleeping son Marwan on the beach. He describes his own childhood in  the bustling city of Homs, his grandfather's house, olive trees, and more. When the sun rises, the father and his son, along with countless others, will board a boat bound for the "safety" of Europe and beyond.



"Afghans and Somalis and Iraqis and Eritreans and Syrians.
All of us impatient for sunrise,
all of us in dread of it.
All of us in search of home.

I have heard it said we are the uninvited.
We are the unwelcome.
We should take our misfortune elsewhere.

But I hear your mother's voice,
over the tide,
and she whispers in my ear,
'Oh, but if they saw, my darling.
Even half of what you have.
If they only saw.
They would say kinder things, surely."

Marwan's father can do nothing but pray or the safe passage of this most-precious cargo.

Sea Prayer was inspired by the story of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian regugee who drowned in teh Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe in 2015. The book is dedicated to the thousands of refugees who have perished at sea trying to reach safety. Hosseini will donate author proceeds from this book to UNHCR, the UN Relief Agency, and to The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help  fund relief efforts for refugees around the world.

Dan William's paintings are beautiful and say as much as Hosseini's words.

The Best Loved Villages of France

The Best Loved Villages of France by Stéphane Bern

Every village in France is special and no doubt every villageois/villageoise has his/her favorite as does each visitor. In 2012-2013, France 2 Television aired a program called Le Village Préféré des Français which was extremely popular. In light of the show's popularity, Bern spent the next two years criss-crossing France to select 44 towns that were representative of all regions and local flavors of France. Bern's book is an homage to village life--the slower pace, timeless rituals, deep history, favorite dishes, and land.
I enjoyed reading about these villages and planning several visits to France to enjoy these national treasures. Here are my favorites:

1. Eguisheim
2. Riquewihr
3. Beynac-et-Cazenac
4. Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
5. Vézelay
6. Saint-Amand-sur-Fion
7. Baume-les-Messieurs
8. Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
9. Rodemack
10. Conques
11. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
12. Pérouges

The Lost Vintage

The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

Les gouttes d'or (Drops of Gold) is the name of the wine grown in Burgundy by Kate's family for centuries. Viticulture runs deep in Kate's blood, but the love of the family's terroir in France does not. Kate is a Sommelier in San Francisco and is studying for the Master of Wine exam. She has not set foot in France or on her family's vineyard for over a decade. Nevertheless, that is where she finds herself. Kate agrees to help her cousin Nico and his wife Heather with les vendages (annual grape harvest) and brush up on her knowledge. What she doesn't expect to find is a secret stash of wine hidden by her relatives during World War Two, a suitcase, clothes, and photos of an aunt she never knew Helene Marie Charpin. Although a pamphlet from the French Resistance is found in the cave, the family's reticence to speak of Helene and other information learned about her suggests that the line between cooperation, collaboration, and resistance was thin. Kate sets out to discover the truth about her family's actions in Vichy France and who they aided.

Mah's novel is a loving portrait of the Cotes d'Or region of Burgundy, the towns of Beaune and Meursault, and the river Bouzaize. Kate and her family are fictional, but Helene Marie Charpin and the family's experiences in Nazi-Occupied France were based in part on Resistance by Agnes Humbert, A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead, A Cool and Lonely Courage by Susan Ottaway and Resistance and Betrayal by Patrick Marnham. The characters are well-done and I felt strongly about all of them--either loved them or hated them. My feelings about the characters made the novel all the more compelling and believable. I read The Lost Vintage in one afternoon. Best enjoyed with your favorite beverage and some French cheese.

http://museedelaresistanceenligne.org/