Paris Books
If there is any city in the world that loves books and their authors, it has to be Paris. So is it any surprise that writers respond in turn by lavishing their attentions on this city? The mountain of words is overwhelming. Where does one begin?
Review: Pudlo France 2008-2009
Pudlo France 2008/2009
By Gilles Pudlowski
Publisher: The Little Bookroom
Price:$29.95
Foodies who’ve been following in Gilles Pulowski’s ‘foodsteps’ with his past Pudlo guides to Paris restaurants will be eager to take a look at his exhaustive listing of worthy restaurants AND hotels throughout France.
This 1,193 page tome is easy to follow. Cities are listed in alphabetical order. 125 Pages are devoted just to Paris where restaurants are listed according to their arrondissement.
I particularly like the fact that the guidebook includes regional maps of France IN COLOR with each departement clearly outlined. That may not seem important before you arrive in France, but the more time you spend in France, the more you’ll want to be able to quickly identify different departements.
Pudlo’s rating system is simple to follow and it’s unpretentious. Instead of stars (like Michelin guides), an excellent table merits two plates and a grand table merits three plates.
Date: May 23rd, 2008 |
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‘Paris Chic & Trendy’ Book Review
You can learn big things from a little book. So, I’m discovering from the second book I’ve had the pleasure to review in The Little Bookroom publisher’s Paris series:
Paris Chic & Trendy by Adrienne Ribes Tiphaine with photos by Sandrine Alouf.
Paris Chic and Trendy is a guidebook to 54 Parisian designer studios, hip boutiques and vintage shops with an emphasis on addresses that the average visitor might bypass in their rush to Louis Vuitton megastores and Armani emporiums.
Why should you read this book? By using this as your guidebook to explore some of the hundreds of boutiques in Paris, you’ll have a good benchmark of how to judge a shop’s merit in any neighborhood - even in your hometown.
Even though I consider myself to be very familiar with Paris’s neighborhoods and shopping districts, this little book has enticed me to look beyond surfaces and try to analyze a shop’s fashion choices and design. Although I disagree with the opening premise in the intro - “In Paris, fashion comes naturally.” (Fashion is the antithesis of natural). I definitely agree that Parisian women rule the roost when it comes to ‘a certain allure’ and ‘indefineable chic’.
The first thing I learned (after studying the breakdown of these chic and trendy establishments according to arrondissement) is that my ‘hood’ Montparnasse i.e. the 14th arrondisement didn’t make the cut. Neither did Left Bank neighborhoods in the 5th, 13th and 15th arrondissments.
Meanwhile the 1st arrondissement racks up 13 boutiques – a number of shops clustered along the famous Rue St. Honore. From Rue St. Honore to the Palais Royale gardens, there are more designer boutiques than one could possibly digest in a day. Many a day have I been sidetracked from museum going for that somewhat less admirable pastime of window shopping on this street. The prices defy common sense. Enter a shop at your own risk.
Date: March 2nd, 2008 |
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Les Champs d’Honneur -Jean Rouaud
Some people are thrilled to spot movie stars. I like meeting writers - especially in difficult circumstances - like waiting in an excruciatingly long baggage check-in ’service’ at the Moscow airport. Although I haven’t yet delved into Les Champs d’Honneur (which won a Goncourt prize in 1990, my first plan of action is to pick up a copy of this novel which promises already (just by reading the Amazon description to be absorbing).
The setting is post-World War I- a family indelibly changed - I won’t say any more until I’ve had …
Date: October 23rd, 2007 |
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France Can be Arrogant- Who’s the First to Say so?
Trivia question of the day: Who is author of this statement?
“Unlike in Britain, which remains the model of a parliamentary democracy, France has always found it difficult to balance the different branches of power. It either gives too much power to Parliament or it gives too much to the executive. This may be because deep down, France is not a very liberal country, in the poliical sense of the word.”
In this author’s book, Testimony, he also doesn’t hesitate to speak of France being perceived as arrogant.
Who is the author of this book recently translated …
Date: October 3rd, 2007 |
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Celebrating Paris’s Ethnic Flavor
Just because you aren’t in Paris doesn’t mean you can’t recreate Paris at home, especially if home happens to be San Francisco.
Date: July 19th, 2007 |
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Welcome to Paris: Are you lost?
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
The sun is shining brightly here on the third day of May - and everywhere I look- visitors are studying their maps. If you are lost, don’t feel bad. Everybody gets lost in Paris - even Parisians. I have one word of advice - go to a newstand, kiosque or bookstore such as FNAC and buy a copy of the Plan de Paris (par Arrondissement et Communes de Banlieue).
I’ve mentioned this in past posts, but it never hurts repeating. The Plan is better than most maps (you’ll normally get a free map at your hotel or when you rent a car, but it won’t have all the details of the Plan de Paris). This is a book you can take home with you and bring back with you every time you return to Paris. I still have an old copy from the 1970s which looks like it was bought yesterday.
The Plan de Paris can be bought at FNAC for all of 7.32 Euros which is a real bargain considering how many times it will save you from getting lost over several decades. (While in FNAC you can also buy your Louvre museum tickets t the same time at their ticket Kiosque)
Above all, don’t be embarrassed about getting lost - and don’t let it stop you from exploring. The couple in the above photo hail from Australia. I was really happy to be able to help them find what they were looking for - the Louvre Museum. After saying goodbye to them before they crossed Rue du Rivoli headed toward the Tuileries Gardens and the Carrousel du Louvre - I proceeded to get lost. That’s because I had left my Plan de Paris back at the apartment.
Date: May 3rd, 2008 |
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Delving into Musee d’Orsay
After the Louvre Museum, the Musee d’Orsay, is perhaps one of Paris’s most popular museums with visitors. Representing French artists and sculptors’ works produced between 1848 to 1914, this unique collection includes many of the Impressionist masters such as Monet and Renoir, but also the Romantic and Realists, the Nabists, the Symbolists and the Fauvists. The innovators of the day are placed in direct contrast to the ‘official’ artists such as Ingres, Bouguereau and Delacroix to give you a good idea how the painting styles differ, and to judge for yourself the merits of such varied perspectives.
Date: January 4th, 2008 |
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Nicolas Sarkozy - in his own words: Testimony
In Nicolas Sarkozy’s book Testimony, he writes in clear and simple terms about the changes France needs to implement in order to secure its place as a world player. It’s no surprise that very little of this succinct plan mentions military issues because perhaps France’s greatest enemy is despair. Remembering that Sarkozy wrote his book before being elected France’s president earlier this year (2007), such unresolved issues as high unemployment and the resulting malaise (riots of 2005), the increasing tax burden on middle class workers, and the brain drain of France’s youngest and brightest are the meat and potatoes of his plate. And now that he is president - his plate is full.
Date: October 3rd, 2007 |
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Insatiable thirst for Harry Potter
BBC reports that a French teenager has been sued for translating the latest Harry Potter book into French on the internet. Aside from the issue of protecting authors copyrights, one might also question the place for traditional book publishers in our needs for INSTANT Potter gratification. Who can bear to wait for the cumbersome translation processes of big publishing houses when a ‘whippersnapper’ on the net can translate this tome in no time flat. According to the BBC the sixteen-year-old came out with a translation within days after the June release. The official Gallimard French …
Date: August 13th, 2007 |
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Paris Restaurant Guides: Pudlo in English
2007-2008 Pudlo Paris by Gilles Pudlowski, English translation: Simon Beaver, The Little Bookroom publisher, New York, Restaurant Guide in English 417 pages, $19.95
12.99 UK.
I’ve just had a chance to peruse the new Pudlo Paris restaurant guide in English. Gilles Pudlowski’s guide to Paris restaurants has been an essential for Paris-based foodies for many years. Mark, a Paris-based American expat, turned me onto the French-version of Pudlo’s way back when. It’s nice to see that finally an English version is available.
Date: July 11th, 2007 |
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