Les cadeaux: books for Paris Lovers
Stuff Parisians Like: Discovering the Quoi in the Je Ne Sais Quoi |
If you have any Paris lovers on your gift list, these are some of my favorite books either about or featuring Paris.
The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism |
Paris Out of Hand: A Wayward Guide |
Hidden in Paris |
Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home |
Do you have any Paris-themed books to recommend?
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The LIttle Paris Kitchen by Rachel Koo, it’s a really charming cookery book.
I second this! And the accompanying tv series is available on You Tube.
“Perfume” by Patrick Suskind. A child born in the Paris slums of 18th-century France with a incredible gift of smell that leads him to murder and creation of the ultimate perfume of France). I’ve owned this book over 20 years and reread it every year.
“The Paris Apartment” by Claudia Strasser. SIGH….. one day!
I don’t have one to add, but that first book look so inviting, I have to order it!
We have walked Paris on foot once. It would be nice to do it again.
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In Paris: A Love Story, Kati Morton looks back, through tears, at her life with Richard Holbrooke, after first outlining her earlier years — a young immigrant to the US, then returning to Europe to attend university in Paris, building her career as a journalist and writer, her marriage to Peter Jennings, and the moving courtship with Holbrooke, much of it played out in favourite Paris locales. Not only evocative of Paris itself, but it also sketches some very important 20th-21st century events while telling of a very moving love. Not to miss. . .
OOOOHHHH I love this post because since I can’t really travel to Paris right now, I must vicariously visit through books!!! My suggestions:”Parisian Chic” by Ines de la Fressange ~ “Breakfast Lunch Tea The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery” by Rose Carrarini ~and an oldie but a goodie “Entre Nous” by Debra Ollivier.
Connie*
Perhaps more serious that you’re looking for, but I recently enjoyed reading The Seven Ages of Paris, by Alistair Horne. It’s very readable history and I learned a lot. I’m more familiar with British history, having lived here for 17 years, but it was great to fit the French pieces of history in to the jigsaw that I already had. Might be a good choice for a man who wouldn’t care for some of the other suggestions.
Yes! I’ll second this recommendation!
Thanks for the suggestions! I had seen and wondered about “Stuff Parisians Like” – now with your recommendation, I think I will pick up a copy (Christmas gift to myself!). Connie, I also enjoyed “Entre Nous,” which is the book that first got me interested in France and French style. It is kind of fluffy, but I go back and read it from time to time for inspiration. I have never been to France – maybe 2013 will be the year!
Ooh, both the McCullough and the Kati Morton books sound good…..
I am feeling excited because I am planning to take French III at Santa Monica College this spring….or at least, I will if a place opens up in the classroom. I am on the wait list.
I recommend a blog called my little Paris
For the heady history buff, David McCullough’s “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris” is a fascinating read.
Le Divorce by Diane Johnson. And the movie of the same name.
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Shop-Left-Bank-Discovering/dp/0375758623/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355882472&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+shop+on+the+left+bank‘
If you love pianos, you’ll love this book! If you just love Paris, you’ll like it a lot.
Thank you so much for including my novel in your recommendations… This just transformed me from ‘lurker’ to ‘commenter’. Let me tweet this away 🙂 now xoxo
corine
Just added the Judgement of Paris to my reading list. Wonderful recs. Thank you.
It must be my British sense of humour, but when I first saw the title I read it as “Stuff Parisians”, which in the UK is derogatory, followed by “Like”, which is a word many young people would use, like.
If you are interested in fashion, I would recommend “Parisian Chic”, see Connie’s comment above. I took it with me to Paris, when I went there in September for my 65th birthday. Ines’ book isn’t just about fashion though and is an enjoyable read.
A lot of the books I have on Paris are obscure historical tomes, in French. One I’d like to share with Une femme readers is “The Ethnic Paris Cookbook: Bringing the French Melting Pot into your Kitchen”, featuring the cooking of some of the largest immigrant cultural communities in the city. The recipes are well-written. It is easy for me to find the ingredients, but that is here in Montréal, where we have many of the same ethnic communities, modelled by French colonialism. This gives you a very different sense of Paris, at a remove from the smug yuppies in “Stuff Parisians Like” – heureusement!
Authors: Charlotte Puckette & Olivia Kiang-Snaije. DK Publishing http://www.dk.com
Aha! This question has prodded me to step out of the lurker shadows and chime in! I love A Moveable Feast, I hope to someday go to Paris and visit some of the places in the book, of course the book is a memoir of a time and place that no longer truly exits…but it takes me away every time.
PS, The bracelets post almost tipped me over to commenter.
Thank you for your blog!
Two suggestions, both by expats, one American, one Australian – Elizabeth Bard’s Lunch in Paris: a love story with recipes, and Sarah Turnbull’s Almost French. Oh, and Colette’s late essays – written in her Palais Royal apartment, wonderfully perceptive impressions of Paris and Parisians during and in the years just after WW2.
Janet Flanner’s books (and columns) written while she was a correspondent for The New Yorker. My faves
Eat.Shop.Paris by Jon Hart is excellent. I also love Debra Ollivier’s Entre Nous, one of my favorite books!
Thanks for the round-up – think I might buy Stuff Parisians Like for Monsieur That’s Not My Age.
“Paris in Color” by Nichole Robinson