Le Road Trip

#74: Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift

Le Road Trip is part journal, part guide book, and part reflection on the similarities between the stages of love and travel. Swift recounts her honeymoon road trip through France (Paris, Giverny, Bayeux, the beaches and cemeteries of Normandy, Cancale, Saint-Malo, Bordeaux, the Loire Valley...).

My favorite parts were about pastries and the cats that one encounters while traveling.

Regarding pastries:
La patisserie: "The cakes are small, just right for serving a private, individual indulgence. They are arranged in les vitrines that glisten like jewel cases. Each miniature creation is a wish-sized landscape, or an intimate still life of desire. Each name is like a French haiku.

Millefeuilles: the thousand-leaf layer cake.
Gateau opera: an aria of coffee butter cream and dark chocolate with sponge cake for tessitura.
Les eclairs: the lightning without the thunder (the zig-zag icing decoration gives the treat its name).
Les petits fours: the little fires, all unquenchable" (page 34)

When my husband and I were in France for our honeymoon, I loved looking around for local cats. We found one at La Roque Gageac (a fortress built into a cliff), Minou was the local cat that hung out in Meyrals where our rental house was. And then there was the mangy cat that I was not allowed to pet.I like befriending cats (or dogs) on trips because they remind me of home.

Vivian remarks during her stay in Soulac-sur-Mer "That's one of the most reliable things about a long road trip. There's always a cat, just when you need one"  (157). Vivian managed to befriend the proprietors' cat, Joy, at the local bed and breakfast. Joy apparently didn't like anybody. In Azay-le-Rideau, the proprietor of a local souvenir store says that Cat just showed up one day and moved in. Vivian photographed Cat "posing as the priceless object that he is" (171).

I loved the drawings that Vivian included; the book felt more like a scrapbook or almost like a graphic novel.

For example:

Here is a link to Vivian's blog and webpage: http://vivianswiftblog.com/

Reading this was a joy and really made me want to return to France and plan my own road trip. I was also reminded that THREE YEARS after the fact, I still need to finish my honeymoon scrapbook.

The Magnolia Story

Book 72 was The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines.

I love HGTV and Fixer Upper is one of my favorite shows. In The Magnolia Story, Chip and Joanna look back at how they met, starting a family, Chip's various business ventures (there were a lot), and how Fixer Upper came about. At times their story seems a little too perfect, everything always works out. But one of the things I like about the Gaines is that they are very positive and it's easy to relate to them.

Talking As Fast As I Can

A child-free day meant I could go to the library and browse the adult books. And what's more, come home and spend hours reading!

My latest read was Lauren Graham's Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything in Between). Lauren writes much like Lorelei talks-fast paced and somewhat randomly, but entertaining. She reminisces about Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, and other television roles she's played. She also shares stories from her childhood, early acting days, and lots of advice.

Dead Man's Folly and A Pocket Full of Rye

Numbers 69 and 70 are two more novels by Agatha Christie.

Dead Man's Folly:

Poirot's friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver is organizing a Murder Hunt as part of a Fete held at Nasse House in Devon.

Weapons for the hunt:

• small pistol
• a piece of lead pipe with a rusty stain on it
• a blue bottle labelled "Poison"
• a length of clothesline
• a hypodermic syringe

The Suspects in the murder hunt:

• Estelle Glynne: a beautiful and mysterious young woman, the guest of Colonel Blunt
• Colonel Blunt: the local squire
• Joan: The Colonel's daughter who is married to Peter Gaye
• Peter Gaye: a young Atom Scientist
• Miss Willing: a housekeeper
• Quiett: a butler
• Maya Stavinsky: a girl hiker
• Esteban Loyola: an uninvited guest

Ariadne Oliver summons Poirot to Nasse House prior to the Murder Hunt because  her womanly intuition tells her that something will go wrong with her fictional murder. As it happens, her intuition was right and Marlene, a local Girl Guide who was chosen to play the role of Maya Stavinsky, is found dead in the tennis pavillon during the Murder Hunt.  Miss Oliver and Poirot then go on a real murder hunt to find out who killed Marlene. 

A Pocket Full of Rye:

This is one of several Christie novels organized around a nursery rhyme*:

"Sing of song of sixpence, a  pocketful of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing.

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money

The queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey

The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,

When there came a little dickey bird and nipped off her nose" 

Rex Fortescue drinks a cup of tea in his office and dies shortly after, grains of rye are found in his pocket. A few days later, his late wife dies after having afternoon tea and cakes, and the housemaid Gladys Martin, is found strangled by the clothesline with a clothespin on her nose. 

Miss Marple is drawn to the case after reading about Gladys' death in the papers. Gladys was her former housemaid. I have noticed that a couple of Miss Marple's former maids (usually named Gladys) are either victims of crimes or involved in them. I don't know if this was intentional on Christie's part, but it is a little odd. 

Inspector Neele recognizes a valuable asset in Miss Marple. Together the two of them ferret out a particularly wicked killer targeting members of the Fortescue household. 

* A Pocketful of Rye, Hickory Dickory Death/Hickory Dickory Dock, And Then There Were None 

#68 A Hero of France

A Hero Of France by Alan Furst takes place in Occupied Paris, and by extension, Occupied France. In 1941, Mathieu is the head of a Resistance cell operating in Paris and elsewhere in France. Mathieu and his collaborators rescue fallen RAF pilots and help them escape to Spain or back to England. Mathieu is joined by Chantal; Lisette, a 17 year-old student and courier; Daniel, a Jewish teacher driven by revenge; Max de Lyon, a Parisian nightclub owner, and AnneMarie, an aristocrat whose family's French roots run deep. On the edge of the Resistance cell is Joelle, Mathieu's neighbor who falls in love with him.

As the war progresses, the German military police step up their efforts to infiltrate Resistance cells and capture those involved. Mathieu and the members of his Resistance cell are threatened by a traitor.

Based on fact, A Hero of France is a work of historical fiction.

#67: The Little French Bistro

Yesterday I finished The Little French Bistro, the latest by Nina George. I read The Little Paris Bookshop last month. The Little French Bistro has some similarities to the Little Paris Bookshop and on the whole I think I preferred the Bookshop, mostly because of the discussions about books and reading.

The Little French Bistro: On a trip to Paris, 60 year old Marianne decides that she has had enough: enough of her loveless marriage, of never being able to do what she wants, scrimping, and of life. Dramatically she tries to drown herself in the Seine but is rescued by some good Samaritans. During her hospital stay, she finds a painted tile of the Breton village of Kerdruc and decides to journey there and subsequently end her life.

The land and the sea in Kerdruc prove to have an irresistible hold on Marianne and she is quickly drawn into village life there. She begins work in the local bistro and befriends the locals (Jean-Remy the cook, Genevieve the hotel owner, Camille, and Yann. She also develops a reputation as a white witch because of her love of the sea. Marianne also finds love and happiness. However, a t.v. bulletin from her husband and a chance citing cause her to question everything. When the opportunity arises, will Marianne return to Germany and her former life or will she stay in France?

Kerdruc is the tiny circle on the map. There is quite a bit about Breton folklore in the novel, and some use of Breton. The novel appears to have been published under the title The Little Breton Bistro as well; this is fitting given the historical attitudes and disputes between the people of Brittany and France (this is mentioned in the novel). 

I found this link for a BookTrail of the novel. The Booktrail allows readers or travelers to trace Marianne's journey across France. http://www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/little-breton-bistro/

Paris 500 Photos

I'm a day late posting this and this isn't part of my 1,000 books total. Yesterday I finished looking at and enjoying the pictures in Maurice Subervie's Paris 500 Photos. I picked this up for $0.25 at a garage sale (great price) and flipped through it yesterday to mark Bastille Day. The 500 photographs are organized into: The Seine and Its Islands, The Right Bank, Passageways, The Left Bank, and Gardens. I liked looking at some of my favorite places and scoping out new places to visit on my next trip to Paris. I want to check out some of the passageways next time I am there. Some of my favorite places are the parks and gardens--the Tuileries, the park at Bercy, and the Park des Buttes-Chaumont.