-
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Friday, January 20, 2012
Book 1 (2012) Stuff Parisian Life * by Olivier Magny
Having just come from Paris I had to read this one. Entertaining and useful.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Book 22 When in France, do as the French Do * by Ross Steele
A good book, not as good as Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong, and a little out of date.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Book 16 A Traveller's History of France * 1/2 by Robert Cole
This is the 8th printing --- and still the book is a mess, from the font choice, to the headings, to the copy editing, which fails to fix even the weakest and commonly acknowledged writing and style issues. Worse, the books takes fascinating material, and turns it into lifeless recitation.
The author is an American, which surprisingly does not seem to affect the slant of the writing, although after reading Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, I long for an opinion here and there. The best we get is the odd wry, forecasting, structurally twisted sentence.
The narrative gets interesting only in the lead up to the Napoleonic era and from there on is quite riveting.
There are a number of deadening appendices that could be updated.
The author is an American, which surprisingly does not seem to affect the slant of the writing, although after reading Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, I long for an opinion here and there. The best we get is the odd wry, forecasting, structurally twisted sentence.
The narrative gets interesting only in the lead up to the Napoleonic era and from there on is quite riveting.
There are a number of deadening appendices that could be updated.
Book 15 Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong **** by Jean-Benoit Nadeau & Julie Barlow
This was the perfect book to read in France. Extremely well-written essays on various aspects of France's history, culture, and economy, focussing on what makes France different from the US or Canada.
Each chapter builds on the thesis of why the French people accept extreme standardization and centralization of government in every aspect of life.
Each chapter builds on the thesis of why the French people accept extreme standardization and centralization of government in every aspect of life.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Book 88 The French Country Table Pottery & Faience of Provence by Bernard Duplessy
This is a wonderful book about pottery styles and uses. I am most interested in all the different pots and kitchen utensils that were and are made and used in France and Italy. Everything from dishpans, to milk separators, to frying pans, coffee pots. The best thing is that each kind has typical shapes such as lips and handles designed for specific reasons.
I did find some pottery of this kind in Italy, both high end and hardware store type. The only direct experience I had was the bowls they serve the ribboleta in, and I am told they actually make the soup in these basins.
See Dun in the Kitchen, under Sponza Frise for talk about a special type of pottery used today.
http://duninthekitchen.blogspot.com/
I did find some pottery of this kind in Italy, both high end and hardware store type. The only direct experience I had was the bowls they serve the ribboleta in, and I am told they actually make the soup in these basins.
See Dun in the Kitchen, under Sponza Frise for talk about a special type of pottery used today.
http://duninthekitchen.blogspot.com/
Books 78 to 87
This is a motley collection of books read or browsed due to my currently over committed lbut very exciting life these days.
78 Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend - good as usual but not as good as the Weapons of Mass Destruction one
79 True Prep by Lisa Birnbach -- by the writer of The Preppie Handbook written 30 years ago, it's a description of the social rules of a section of US culture (or class of US society). One of my interests is in social anthorpology/class rules, so I enjoyed this. All fresh and current. There are few good books written about class. A few of the greats are Class by Jilly Cooper and Elegance by Genevieve Dariaux. Also, almost any book set in India or England has a motif of class.
80 Damage Control by David Eddie -- The Globe and Mail advice columnist. Disappointed. Far too cute a writer. Some good rules for people in general and some insight into male rationale. Don't buy it.
81 Oh No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly -- Good writing about fashion faux pas. Again, those social rules. Pretty much knew them all.
82 The Elements of Personal Style by Joe Zee and Maggie Bullock
83 The Fashion File by Jane Bryant -- the writer is the Costume Designer for Mad Men. Great book.
84 Old English and Its Closest Relatives by Orrin W. Robinson. Dipped into this extensively. Great book detailing all the Germanic Languages. One of my interests is language and its development.
85 The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Dipped into this a few hours one evening. Enlightening look at the marketplace and how it's affected by online commerce.
86 Food That Really Shmecks by Edna Staebler That old Amish cookbook, really lovely writing. From Kim's mother bookshelf. Thanks.
87 Provence A-Z by Peter Mayle -- very tantalizing. Better than the previous books. As always, somewhat condescending to the French and in that way irritating.
78 Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend - good as usual but not as good as the Weapons of Mass Destruction one
79 True Prep by Lisa Birnbach -- by the writer of The Preppie Handbook written 30 years ago, it's a description of the social rules of a section of US culture (or class of US society). One of my interests is in social anthorpology/class rules, so I enjoyed this. All fresh and current. There are few good books written about class. A few of the greats are Class by Jilly Cooper and Elegance by Genevieve Dariaux. Also, almost any book set in India or England has a motif of class.
80 Damage Control by David Eddie -- The Globe and Mail advice columnist. Disappointed. Far too cute a writer. Some good rules for people in general and some insight into male rationale. Don't buy it.
81 Oh No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly -- Good writing about fashion faux pas. Again, those social rules. Pretty much knew them all.
82 The Elements of Personal Style by Joe Zee and Maggie Bullock
83 The Fashion File by Jane Bryant -- the writer is the Costume Designer for Mad Men. Great book.
84 Old English and Its Closest Relatives by Orrin W. Robinson. Dipped into this extensively. Great book detailing all the Germanic Languages. One of my interests is language and its development.
85 The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Dipped into this a few hours one evening. Enlightening look at the marketplace and how it's affected by online commerce.
86 Food That Really Shmecks by Edna Staebler That old Amish cookbook, really lovely writing. From Kim's mother bookshelf. Thanks.
87 Provence A-Z by Peter Mayle -- very tantalizing. Better than the previous books. As always, somewhat condescending to the French and in that way irritating.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Book 49 Talk to the Snail * by Stephen Clarke
Funny, sharp, depressingly negative about the French. Learned a lot, especially French.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Book 46 Sarah's Key **+ by Tatiana De Rosnay
This was an emotionally tough one, especially right after The D-Day Dodgers. There are so many amazing stories that haven't been told yet from that war, that still haunt and compell us today.
This book has two stories, one of Sarah, a 10 year Jewish girl, rounded up in Paris in the infamous Vel d'Hiv or Velodrome d'Hiver, and from there sent to a death camp. She has hidden her brother in a secret attic, locked him in, and cannot get back to rescue him. The other story is about Julia, a writer assigned to cover the 50th anniversary of the round up, and what she uncovers about Sarah. The story of Sarah and Julia's unravelling of the mystery are very well told. The writer is a great story teller, and you will not put this book down once you start.
De Rosnay does a fair job of showing how the Nazis manipulated the French population and the Jews into cooperating with their diabolic schemes, a rather elaborate plan to keep people trusting, hoping and terrorized, by increments, starting with propaganda, and then suddenly it's all too late.
I didn't like the romance novel writing style in which much of the story of Julia is written, e.g. pages written to explain and justify rather silly behaviour, and I don't like the two stories in one book approach. I understood the characters' motives and actions most of the time, but they are a little too special, larger than life. I wanted to strangle Julia for putting up with her husband and her pregnancy seemed too contrived to fit the theme of children.
The story that is not told is that of the French police who did the horrible deed, including running the camps, how they were persuaded to, tricked and manipulated into, or eager to carry out the plan . Some heroic and kindly French people who helped at huge personal risk play parts in the book. France has now acknowledged its role in the death of 76,000 of its Jewish citizens and erected a monument listing all of their names.
How can the population stand by and do nothing? I have only to remember the poor ragged Indians who came to beg at our farm when I was a kid. Why did we do so little?
This book has two stories, one of Sarah, a 10 year Jewish girl, rounded up in Paris in the infamous Vel d'Hiv or Velodrome d'Hiver, and from there sent to a death camp. She has hidden her brother in a secret attic, locked him in, and cannot get back to rescue him. The other story is about Julia, a writer assigned to cover the 50th anniversary of the round up, and what she uncovers about Sarah. The story of Sarah and Julia's unravelling of the mystery are very well told. The writer is a great story teller, and you will not put this book down once you start.
De Rosnay does a fair job of showing how the Nazis manipulated the French population and the Jews into cooperating with their diabolic schemes, a rather elaborate plan to keep people trusting, hoping and terrorized, by increments, starting with propaganda, and then suddenly it's all too late.
I didn't like the romance novel writing style in which much of the story of Julia is written, e.g. pages written to explain and justify rather silly behaviour, and I don't like the two stories in one book approach. I understood the characters' motives and actions most of the time, but they are a little too special, larger than life. I wanted to strangle Julia for putting up with her husband and her pregnancy seemed too contrived to fit the theme of children.
The story that is not told is that of the French police who did the horrible deed, including running the camps, how they were persuaded to, tricked and manipulated into, or eager to carry out the plan . Some heroic and kindly French people who helped at huge personal risk play parts in the book. France has now acknowledged its role in the death of 76,000 of its Jewish citizens and erected a monument listing all of their names.
How can the population stand by and do nothing? I have only to remember the poor ragged Indians who came to beg at our farm when I was a kid. Why did we do so little?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Book 21 A Year in the Merde* by Stephen Clarke
Went out and bought all his subsequent books, preparing to move to France.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Book 12 My Life in France by Julia Child **
Loved this book. Well written and entertaining, the descriptions (which are lists of the components) of the local environments are excellent. Julia remembers her life with husband Paul, their love of France and struggles in the diplomatic service and writing of the cookbook and the making of the TV shows. The details apparently gleaned from the volumes of correspondence written by both Julia and Paul to their siblings.
I really sympathized with the struggle to find accurate descriptions of cooking techniques and ingredients, missing in nearly every other cookbook. I find the same problems writing my cooking blog and teaching myself methods and how to judge ingredients. So many cook books and online recipes and instructions are written with little detail or with needless complexity.
I really sympathized with the struggle to find accurate descriptions of cooking techniques and ingredients, missing in nearly every other cookbook. I find the same problems writing my cooking blog and teaching myself methods and how to judge ingredients. So many cook books and online recipes and instructions are written with little detail or with needless complexity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)