1 comments about Remembering Paris.

1. The primary reason to purchase this book is the wonderful illustrations. While the narrative is evocative, it is a bit dark for me. None the less, having read this book I would love to visit Paris again to discover the city which Tillinac has so vividly described.

No comments about Seeing Europe with Famous Authors: Volume III - France & The Netherlands-Part One.

No comments about Frommer's Born to Shop France.

3 comments about Zagat 2005/06 Paris Restaurants (Zagatsurvey : Paris Restaurants).

1. Note that Amazon is selling the FRENCH edition. Not too useful if you, like myself, speak only fluent English. I misktakenly ordered it, returned it and Amazon wanted to let me pay the return postage.



2. I have found that the French edition is ahead of the translated edition, thus giving you a more up to date review. The guidebook is reliable, which is what one wants in a guide to restaurants and it certainly helps to be as close to current as possible. A dictionary and a phrasebook are helpful but not necessary, really. The numerical ratings are accurate. I find thqat this book sends you to places which local people like -- generally a good idea.



3. I'm going to Paris. As a kosher vegetarian eating will be a bit difficult. So I thought a Zagat's guide would come in really handy. Right before packing it I decided to do a flip-through (I have the English edition btw). In short, tomorrow I will be running to return it (and do an exchange for a TIME OUT Paris Food Guide) to the bookstore before catching my flight...
   
   SUMMARY
   
   The guide has the following sections of importance:
   
   Top Ratings:
   (broken up as:) FOOD (Cuisines, Features, Arrondissements), DECOR (Outdoors, Romance, Rooms, Views), SERVICE and BEST BUYS.
   
   
   Then the RESTAURANT DIRECTORY
   
   Then, INDEXES by Cuisines and Locations.
   
   Next, there is a list of special features (about 70 pages) that include; Child-Friendly, Jacket required, Romantic Places, Singles Scene, Celebrity Chefs, Teen Appeal, Trendy, Tasting Menu, etc.
   
   And last, a wine chart.
   
   The whole review is 268 pages (from foreleaf to index).
   
   PROS:
   
   It's by ZAGAT. It's known, it's considered pretty good. Organization is great and listings are clear. It's also updated, so generally the restaurants included will usually be open (with addresses/phone numbers included).
   
   CONS:
   
   Apparently, if you are not a "steak and potatoes" kind of eater - why bother with this "steak and potatoes" guide? There is a cuisines section, however lets take a quick look at the two cuisines i'mi interested in: Kosher and Vegetarian (since i am also kosher i will only go to restaurants that are strictly vegetarian, i'm not interested, neither are most vegetarians with restaurants that will provide a plate of vegetables or the like. Or, having the off chance that their salad is spread peppered with anchovies, or their vegetable soup made with chicken stock. When we see vegetarian restaurant's that refers to VEGETARIAN RESTAURANTS). Apparently Zagat is unclear on this concept. Under Vegetarian, ZAGAT lists Maceo Restaurant, a meat restaurant that happens to have a side menu for veggies. It IS NOT a veggie restaurant. The second listing, could be veggie, hard to tell, since the website it refers you to is completely wrong (it refers you to a design firm). As for the kosher restaurants, it lists ONLY two. Meanwhile, a "Kosher in France" website lists 147 Kosher restaurants in Paris (just for the record, there are about 20 strictly veggie restaurants in Paris as well).
   
   So back to the bookstore I go. I reserved this book at Borders through the Amazon site and just bought it at the store without looking. I did however leaf through a Time Out Paris Food guide, that while a little more pricey ($2-5 depending on where you go) definitely lists more cuisines than this. I got more information from a perfunctory google search than i have in the ten minutes i've spent with this ZAGAT's guide.

No comments about French or Foe.

2 comments about France...Really!!!.

1. Given the transatlantic rift over the Iraq war & the fact that, for the past 200+ years, France & the U.S. have been "two countries which love to hate each other," this little (under 100 pages) book is a very timely historic, sociological and often witty view of the French. Most importantly, it may very well be the only book ever which-as the title implies-says it like it is, voicing UNprettified, UNembroidered, UNsugar-coated views about the French (in categories such as love, food, politics, religion, time, language, sports and many more!) which people have had for centuries but never dared utter (at least in public). A true treasure of a book, to read for enlightenment, for facts, for fun. (And a great gift!)



2. 
   By Bill Marsano. It was Dean Swift who memorably apologized for writing a long letter because "I haven't the wit to write a short one." That's not a problem with this book, whose 89 pages prove that brevity isn't always the soul of wit and prompt the question: How can the anyone miss a target the size of France? Even apart from recent unpleasantness over Iraq, France is a tempting target. The French are rule-bound, convinced of their country's superiority (while always complaining and frequently striking), and always patting themselves on the back for their splendidly civilized way of life (but last summer leaving 15,000 of their elderly relatives to die unattended at home during a heat wave). A perverse people, the French. Give 'em grapes and silk and they'll make wines and gowns that'll knock you flat. Give 'em sheet metal and they make cars that resemble vacuum cleaners. They think Napoleon was a hero.
   
   In short, it's easy to spoof the French; you can make valid points and needn't be nasty about it either. So why can't Dale Gershman even lay a glove on them? She's strident, broad and off target even though she's lived there nearly 20 years, thus adding a factual basis to the old phrase "can't hit the side of a barn <from the inside.>" She's so desperate to be politically incorrect that she ends up a ranting loudmouth.
   
   Did I say 89 pages? Well, subtract about 15 for some photos (all apparently taken the same day, mostly of the same person) that are almost uniquely un-illustrative. Then subtract about 8 more pages of blank space. What's left isn't much more than a magazine article. Gershman writes often in ALL CAPS, repeats herself frequently, uses lots of exclamation points! and interrupts herself with lots of parenthetical asides. She practices a 'smart-mouth' prose style, as in 'kinda' for 'kind of' and writin' gerunds without usin' the 'g' on the end, which she thinks is kinda funny (and is certain you're gonna think so too). Mostly she seems to be shouting. All in all, Gershman sounds like someone who learned English by watching television.
   
   I will give a sample of her wit. Her chapter on politeness begins with a half page or so of franctic wondering where 'it' is. Could 'it' be here? Or there? Where should 'it' be? Maybe 'it' is in this place? Maybe that? All in all, a good impression of a neurotic in search of lost car keys. After listing numerous possible places (including on the person of Gerard Depardieu) that 'it' might be found, she commits the following:
   
   "But no matter how reasonable those possibilities seem it didn't take me long to remember that it's at least two thousand years old and even though Planet Hollywood is looking a bit worse for wear (to say nothing of Monsieur Depardieu), there's certainly a big difference between a hundred generations and a half a decade so I discarded the conundrum theory altogether and just as I was wracking my brain trying to come up with another likely place it hit me total 'Eureka!'-style that it probably wasn't in one place at all--or, put it this way: the <original>, yeah, is in <one> place but it no longer was necessary trying to figure out where that one place is because it suddenly became joltingly obvious that a thousand years ago every monk in the country was drafted into service to make a copy of it for every family in the country which would pass it from descendant to descendant like the family bible but off [sic] course this is inestimably more sacred which is why I'm having so much trouble unearthing one because otherwise it'd be out there on the diningroom table or on the nightstand or at least in the top drawer of the armoire where the linens are kept."
   
   That's 213 words--and a fair sample of the book as a whole. It is followed by about 600s words more in the same vein, and only then is the punch line revealed: 'It' is what Gershman calls the "Secret French-Politeness Code," which she doesn't understand. (Anyone rolling in the aisles is urged to pull himself together and ordery this book right away.)
   
   So it's not a book and it's not a magazine article. Maybe it could be broken into segments for presentation at a comedy club where the audience does a lot of drinking.--Bill Marsano is a professional writer and editor who likes and dislikes the French as much as anyone else. And as often, too.

1 comments about "Better In France?": The Circulation Of Ideas Across The Channel In The Eighteenth Century (The Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture).

1. Edited by Frederic Ogree (Professor of English Literature, University of Paris 7 - Denis Diderot), "Better in France?": The Circulation of Ideas Across the Channel in the Eighteenth Century is an anthology of essays by distinguished authors concerning the theory and practice of cultural exchange between Britain and the Continent, from 1660-1815. The process of cultural transfer, and the manner in which ideas from another way of life are imported, imitated, translated, appropriated, and criticized form the heart and soul of these writings, which include "The Spectator's Curtailed Legacy: The Periodical Press Between England and France in the 18th Century", "The Englishness of the English Gothic Novel: Romance Writing in an Age of Europhobia", and "The Britishness of Caricature in Revolutionary France". Aspects of culture from music and art to philosophy and pop culture drama or fiction each have their moment in the spotlight, in this scholarly and extensively researched scrutiny historical human interaction, recommended for college library shelves.

1 comments about France: Best Places to Stay and Eat (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. We picked up this book at the last minute for our last trip to France. It proved to be an extremely wise decision. As we didn't plan out our trip in minute detail, but decided to see where each day took us, this book helped us every step of the way. Any of the restaurants we ate at,or inns we stayed at recommended by the book proved to be great choices! Some of the other places we ended up at that weren't listed in the book were more hit and miss. We're going back to France next month, and will be bringing this along again!
   Note: even if an establishment is listed, make sure you see any rooms before you book them for the night! Some of the more expensive establishments aren't always worth the price they are asking.

5 comments about Questing France: Deepening the Search for My Holy Grail - Personal Growth Through Travel.

1. This is an honest and sometimes raw account of a marriage and subsequent infidelity. Marilyn's book also richly dissects the complex layers of a woman's life; the roles, friendships, career path and self growth. Marilyn balances it all with what she does best; beautiful descriptive passages of trips taken and a life honestly lived.



2. Questing France is an easy read while being very honest. I felt a lot of Marilyn's pain and emotion through all of the various stages of disrepair in her marriage. It was obviously very painful being with someone who always had one foot out the door, was full of broken promises, and who was closed off emotionally.
   
   I enjoyed the 'therapist-speak' throughout the book as it adds a neutral voice to the conflict. I feel I learned a lot. It was great to see the different personalities come through the stories.
   
   Thanks to Marilyn for sharing her life and her story.



3. Questing France is one woman's personal testimony about dealing with marital infidelity. Confronted with evidence of her husband's affair, author Marilyn Barnicke Belleghem embarked on a personal journey to understand her own roles as wife, mother, sibling, friend, and businesswoman. She studied how others deal with marriage after an affair, the reasons why some return to the marriage and some do not, and how to help children cope with parental conflict and infidelity. A profoundly cathartic book that shows the reader how to look deep within and focus upon the most important things in life.



4. In 2003, I was fortunate enough to review Marilyn Barnicke Belleghem's first book Questing Marilyn: In Search of My Holy Grail. This book details a physical journey to England and Ireland that served as a journey of the Self for the author. The book was so open and honest that I instantly felt a deep connection to the author's words which served to help me on my own journey of myself.
   
   At the end of the book, I like probably most readers of this book was eager to learn more about the author's journey. Had she really found lasting peace and acceptance? Would she be able to integrate her new self knowledge into her busy life as a marriage councillor, wife, and mother? Was her husband really having an affair while she was on her trip? If so, would she kick him to the curb or continue her previous unhealthy pattern of pleasing others?
   
   I looked to the author's new book Questing France: Deepening the Search for My Holy Grail for answers to these questions and others. I found some answers. I also found even more questions.
   
   Two things I did learn from this book are that 1) The journey of the Self is a never-ending process and 2) You never really know how you'll actually react in any given situation until you experience it yourself. What might appear to others as unhealthy, weak, or misguided might be true self-empowerment. Stay the course, Marilyn!



5. Her first book was a good read, so I knew I had to read her following book. Questing France was no dissapointment. As with the first...I read this book with my heart....feeling her emotions and understanding her choices. At the end of each chapter, she added some valuble thoughts...which were highly insightful.
   I'll be definitly looking for more Marilyn B. Belleghem!!!

No comments about The Champs-Elysees.