In my mailbox: France and the French
Joie de Vivre: Secrets of Wining, Dining, and Romancing Like the French
by
I love all the tips about visiting and/or living in France among the French, from their food, to their customs, to the French love of bureaucracy, to marrying a Frenchman, living among the French, and much more.
The author is an American who visited Paris and met and married a Frenchman. Of course, they still live in France and are still trying to understand each other!
I am enjoying the author's advice on meeting and greeting various people, expecting the French love of argument and conflict in conversation, which they see as just so much fun, and their petit habits - eating petit, having petit amusements, finding joy in small moments like petit snacks, petit promenades, etc. The word petit implies a small joy.
The French joie de vivre or love of life is made evident throughout the book. Though this memoir was printed about 12 years ago, I am assuming not too much has changed culturally. So, I'm getting prepared for a visit to Paris and France by taking in the book's advice for armchair travel or actual travel!
I won this book in a sweepstakes from this year's July in Paris hosted by Words and Peace.
The Propagandist by Cecile Desprairies, in translation
Published October 8, 2024; New Vessel Press ARC
Genre: historical fiction, autobiographical novel
Fascinating book about French women who informally reveal their past role in Nazi occupied France.
Description: In a grand Paris apartment, a young girl attends gatherings regularly organized by her mother (late 1960s). The women talk about beauty secrets and gossip, but the mood grows dark when the past, notably World War II, comes under coded discussion in hushed tones. Years later, the silent witness to these sessions has become a prominent historian, and with this chilling autobiographical novel she sets out to unmask enigmatic figures in and around her family. Why, she seeks to understand, did they betray their Jewish neighbors and zealously collaborate with the Nazi occupation of France, remaining for decades hence obsessive devotees of that evil lost cause.
I'm one third of the way into the book. I find it intriguing that the author was the young girl who listened in to the women as they discussed their Nazi sympathies during the war.
I won an ARC of this book from Words and Peace, in a giveaway during July in Paris 2024.
I meant to buy this 1973 Italian detective novel in English, but landed up with the French translation, La Femme du Dimanche. Lucky for me, the French version is half the price of the English. I'll be using my dictionary to slowly read it.
It was made years ago into a film available through Amazon Prime, and is by the same authors who wrote The Lover of No Fixed Abode (see Aug. 17 Sunday Salon post).
Curious about Brazil, I found the perfect book that describes Rio and the beauty as well as the poverty and conflicts of the people there.
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