2 comments about New York Sketchbook.

1. I purchased this book because I had seen other sketchbooks by Fabrice Moireau, and loved them. I was disappointed in this one,and I believe his others (Paris, Loire Valley, and Venice) are much better than this. Although the sketches are fine, the text is weak.
   
   Jerome Charyn, the person who did the text, may be very knowledgeable about New York City, but I felt something was missing. The other sketchbooks that Fabrice Moireau illustrated, also included a gazetteer that would provide more detail; this one did not. I feel this was significant ommission.



2. 
   On a recent visit to NYC I looked round a couple of bookshops for a sort of visual reminder book of the trip. Plenty to choose from and nearly all were photo books which looked like they had raided a photo library for dozens of ordinary stock shots. Fortunately it didn't take too to decide that the New York Sketchbook was the obvious choice. Fabrice Moireau's excellent watercolors seemed to sum up the city and Jerome Charyn writes some pretty succinct captions to the illustrations.
   
   What I liked about the book was the way its design made it look like a sketchbook. The landscape shape, thick matt paper, illustrations and the handwritten captions all contributed to the overall feel. Moireau's watercolors have just the right casual look though of course his style is very professional and competent.
   
   A very enjoyable book and just what I was looking for.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5 comments about True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent of Annapurna.

1. True Summit is an amazing book, both as a climbing book and as a work of historical scholarship. It exposes a web of dishonesty surrounding the classic account of the first ascent of Annapurna. Some scenes are provocative of outrage, as when Roberts describes the editorial notes -- "Wrong", "This must be changed" -- made by Herzog and Devies on Lachenal's diary. Throughout, Roberts intersperses scenes from his own mountaineering career, which add immediacy and human interest. One nitpick I had was that, as a writer of history, Roberts should really have given a definitive list of sources and referenced his quotes. More importantly, I felt that he never really sums up his arguments. Why was Herzog's Annapurna the whitewashed version that it apparently was? Were the reasons nationalistic, class (amateur versus guide), personal? What can these events tell us about mountaineering as a whole? These are questions which Roberts does not really address. Still, this is a fascinating book and I certainly recommend it.



2. I am not a climber and I enjoyed this book. The story that is shared is about human faults that can be applied to a variety of experiences, they are not limited to events on the world's great mountains. I was also drawn to the book, as it was a discussion of the first climbers to summit the mountain, and a climber on the fatal Everest 1996 died on the same mountain, Annapurna.

   Mr. David Roberts did a nice job of bringing the reader along and sharing the climb and the distorted history that followed. More importantly he helped to reinforce what appears to be the truth about the climb, and to apportion credit as it should have been done so many decades ago.

   I have read several accounts of the 1996 Everest expedition that caused so much loss of life, and to my surprise so much finger pointing by those who survived the ordeal. Many memories seemed to be influenced by the mental strain the mountain causes in climbers at the highest altitudes, but some seemed to persist even when photographs contradicted a given Author's statement. The climbers in 1996 had experienced guides and protective clothing that the first climbers on Annapurna would have thought to be the creation of science fiction. So, as Mr. Roberts began his story it seemed to be a case of memories created when badly injured bodies, and oxygen-deprived minds had left gaps. Even on the miserable trek back, people using morphine and suffering amputations, and dozens of other tortures recounted much of the originally published story.

   Just as human nature was able to overcome hideous physical events, it too was able to distort the record for the benefit of one man at the expense of others who climbed with him, attained the summit with him, and saved his life. The beneficiary of the distortions was alive and interviewed for this book, and it was those interviews, combined with the evidence proving the true story that made this correcting of the historical record so important.

   Mr. Maurice Herzog clearly intended for the historical outcome he contrived, and that nearly became the permanent record, to be the only record. From the oath he administered to his "teammates" to his continuing denial of the facts, and his refusal to allow access to records that further document the truth, Mr. Herzog took what was a group success that could have been nothing other than positive, and distorted it into a personal fantasy that provided him a lifetime of security which he had no more right to than the other men he climbed with. He would not allow the Author to print a picture of the other man who made the top with him, how vain, petty, and pathetic.

   It would be convenient to say an old man's memory is faulty, but as he demonstrated himself, Mr. Herzog may indeed be advanced in years, but he is what he was, a pathetic self promoter that fictionalized an event that was extraordinary, it needed no embellishment, and the triumph certainly did not need to be the domain of one vain individual.




3. "Annapurna" by Maurice Herzog, is the best-selling mountaineering book ever written. The feat of being the first man to climb an 8,000-meter mountain is a matter of great pride to France and to all the people of France. Now what if the story was not true? What if Mr. Herzog's tale was full of lies and deceits? What if you wrote a book exposing these falsities and set the record straight? If that is what you are expecting, you bought the wrong book.

   Mr. Roberts, in this slim book, definitively shows that:

   1. Maurice Herzog was a fine climber, an idealist, a leader of men, and a gracious individual who was very partial to publicity and glory.

   2. Louis Lachenal, who summitted with Mr. Herzog, did not get his share of the credit.

   3. The profits from "Annapurna" went to Club Alpin François. None of the team members, including Mr. Herzog, received any monetary benefits from the book's publication.

   4. Fellow members Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat were absolutely indispensable to the success of the climb. Their bravery and generosity were extraordinary.

   Other reviewers have mentioned that one must read "Annapurna" before reading this book. I did so, and found it highly readable, spirited and Mr. Herzog's enthusiasm shows through every page. I thought a lot of the book was taken up by just finding a route to the mountain, but all in all, an interesting read. Most of the points Mr. Roberts makes are implied in "Annapurna." Though there is no denying Louis Lachenal is the forgotten man.

   Mr. Roberts makes a large point of how all team members were forbidden by contract to write a book about the expedition for five years. These rights were given solely to Maurice Herzog. Such a contract is common to this day for large sponsored expeditions. The only reason we have had such a plethora of books starting with "Into Thin Air" about the 1996 Everest expedition is because there were no corporate or government sponsors for that trip.

   The book leaves a bad taste. It smacks of profiteering by unfairly dragging down Maurice Herzog who does not deserve it. Not recommended.




4. I was pointed toward True Summit by a friend who previously loaned me his copy of Annapurna. Although Herzog made the occasional gracious nod to the contributions of his teammates in Annapurna, overall that account struck me as flat and highly impersonal, almost third-person (even though it was autobiographical!). I found Herzog's raptures on the summit more bizarre than uplifting.

   True Summit added a whole new richness to the Annapurna story. To me, this book was not so much a "debunking" of Herzog's account, as much as filling out the missing dimension. Here, the climbers become real people with individual passions, foibles, and remarkable skills. Clearly Herzog's version diminished the accomplishments of his teammates, but might we say that the end (national pride and financial support for future expeditions) at least partially justified the means (a highly idealized account of the climb -- essentially a propaganda tool)? I particularly was fascinated by the differences between Herzog's initial rendition of the climb and his later "spiritual" retelling -- and both of those stories contrasted against the diaries and conversations of Lachenal, Terray, and Rebuffat. If one man (Herzog) could convince himself of a new version of "truth" -- even in the face of HIS OWN written account! -- then why should we be surprised that the four eyewitnesses have different stories?

   Roberts' overlay of his own climbing history onto the Annapurna story sometimes struck me as self-congratulatory while I read the book. Would this have been as strong a book without Roberts' own story? Maybe so, but I think what he's trying to say is that Herzog was both a great man and a small man during the Annapurna climb... and so were the others. To worship any one of the Annapurna climbers (as Roberts did, one after another) is perhaps to blind ourselves to our own strengths and weaknesses.

   I think the best way to sum up is to say that Herzog's Annapurna was a good story, but True Summit really made me think about teamwork, leadership, and the nature of the "truth" that we tell ourselves and the world.




5. The book is not true to its (sub)title. "What really happened after the legendary ascent and all the gossip" would be much closer to its contents.
   As much as I was interested in the lives of members of the expedition, I had to force myself to go through clumsy, over-gallicized language and juicy details, unrelated to the subject. Why, pray, should one read about somebody's breasts being looked at after a car accident?

   My advice is to go through the bibliography at the end, and to follow writings of the expedition members.

No comments about Tino Turtle Travels to Paris, France.

No comments about Teach Yourself World Cultures: France.

No comments about Michelin Map No. 526 Languedoc Roussillon (France) Scale 1:200,000.

2 comments about Above Paris: The Aerial Survey of Roger Henrard.

1. These gorgeous black and white images are so beautiful and vivid. These beautiful photo's shot from the fifties to the early seventies just jump off the page. You see some great Parisian buildings no longer extant, like Les Hales, or you see buildings like the Orsay train station in a state of disrepair before it was rescued and reinvented as the Orsay gallery. Paris is layed out so perfectly, it lends itself so well to arial photography. If you love Paris or appreciate amazing photography then you will want this in your collection. High recommended.



2. Roger Henrard (1900-1975) was an industrialist, pilot and photographer. He flew over Paris in a single-engine plane and took thousands of pictures, many of them incredible pictures. Henrard used a high-speed plate camera to systematically document the city. This book selects 350 beautifully printed duotones from that collection organized by themes such as neighborhoods, the Seine, major buildings, the roads. Maps at the beginning of each chapter orient the reader, and Jean-Louis Cohen provides excellent captions and instructive essays, all in English.
   
   Henrad wrote UN ENRAGÉ DU CIEL ("THE FLYING MADMAN") (which has not been translated into English) describing his reconnaissance pilot experiences during World War II and why he explored Paris from the sky. Henrard was director of a factory of photographic instruments in 1930 and developed an aerial camera, which he started to use himself after learning to pilot a plane. His first flying observatory was a high-winged single-engine aircraft designed in 1932 --- a Farman 402, with a 120-horsepower Lorraine engine. Henrard called this plane an "optical and mechanical laboratory," using his own aerial camera system to take his photographs. He obtained a permanent flight permit from the Air Force and was able to devise a rigorous all-weather photography system.
   
   In 1948 he continued his flights in a Nord 1203 Norécrin (a low-winged aircraft derived from the Messerschmitt Bf 108), in which he installed the rapid cameras that he would continue to use for his aerial photography until 1972, three years prior to his death. In the preface to UN ENRAGÉ DU CIEL a wartime companion and novelist Jules Roy describes how the photographer used his "mechanical retina":
   
   "In cramped conditions and with the sun at his back, he takes his photos with all the precision of a fighter pilot performing a snap roll or a bombardier landing his crate in a vineyard. He calculates itinerary and arrival time, always picking out some makeshift airfield on which to crash should his only engine fail. Over Paris, for example, he is more or less sure of always being able to make a crash landing--on the Seine between two bridges, on lettuce and spinach plants at Gennevilliers, on the Vincennes rifle range, or on the glass roof of Gare de l'Est. And why not on the terrace of the Galeries Lafayette?"
   
   When Henrard took the photographs in this book, the city was still contained within the fortified walls built by Adolphe Thiers in 1845. Today's maps and city guides still show that asymmetric polygonal form. Henrard circled the city tirelessly, taking photographs by the thousand and surveying that classic shape and some of the encroachments of the city into the areas outside the walls.
   
   Henrard was not the first photographer to capture Paris from a flying machine. But his techniques were more rigorous and his artistic eye created great beauty while preserving cartographic accuracy. I've walked for at least 500 miles through the streets of Paris on business and pleasure trips over the years. It always seemed barricaded and crammed together from the sidewalk, brought alive from time to time with pockets of open space along the boulevards and near the Seine.
   
   This book gave me an entirely different vision of the city, and the essays made my imagination soar. This is a picture book with a brain and a soul.

3 comments about Touring In Wine Country: Bordeaux (Touring in Wine Country).

1. It makes for easy reading and whets the appetite to go on a wine tasting trip. We were intending on a golfing trip but ended up making sure we visited some of the wine growers.



2. While I would not use this as my sole guide to the area, if you are truly interested in the WINES, it provides much needed maps and information. I, unfortunately, did not find this book unitl the last day of my visit to Bordeaux (in the very large bookstore in the center of the pedestrian zone downtown.) I will be seeking the other books in the series -- Burgundy, Loire, Germany...



3. We came across this book last year as we were planning an early spring visit to France. The maps are great and derived from Hugh Johnson's book "Wine Atlas", and are a good start to planning your driving. They are certainly not going to replace a good Michelin map but they provide good context and highlight the Grand CRu wineries in bold type.

   The recommendations are very good if you are not on a budget. The restaurants we visited from the book were top notch, but pricey at 15-20 Euro for prix fix lunch and upwards of 40 Euros for supper.

5 comments about A Tramp Abroad.

1. A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain's tongue-in-cheek, semi-fictionalized account of his second European trek, is, despite it's 600+ pages, a lightning quick read. Twain's singular wit is on full display engaging the reader to such an extent that pages swiftly fly by. Though not his best piece of travel writing (see Innocents Abroad), I devoured this book in large chunks eager to see where Twain wandered next. When he arrives in the Alps, A Tramp Abroad vaults from an amusing piece of travel writing to a supremely satisfying form of entertainment.
   
   If there was any disappointment it occured with Twain's unexpected exit from the stage. A Tramp Abroad covers Twain's travels in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, but concludes quite suddenly with mere mention that the Netherlands are next on the docket. Yet, wishing a book to continue confers no blackmark on an author. It is further confirmation that A Tramp Abroad easily merits 5 stars.



2. A Tramp Abroad is the third and least successful of the travel books written by the pen of Mark Twain.
   In this book we follow Twain as he tours Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. I found the early chapters chronicling his visit to Heidelburg University; hilarious visits to opera houses and tale tales such as the Blue Jay yarn to be well done.
   The longest section of the book deals with Twain's alpine climbing adventures in Switzerland. This material is interesting but goes on a bit too long for the modern reader.
   This is a fine book and deserves to be read and enjoyed by a wider readership that better known but lesser Twain novels and
   travel writing,
   I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys listening to a great author recount his peregrinations through Europe in a leisurely and informative manner.



3. It's fascinating to compare my own experiences, having lived now 3 years in Germany, to those of an American from 125 years earlier. I've been learning to speak German, and his Appendix on the "awful" German language was hilarious. In poking fun at German grammar (e.g., long sentences), he purposely commits the same errors in his own writing. The scene "riding" the glacier down the Alps was so funny I had tears running down my face. It's amazing to think that it was written in 1879, when America was barely a century old, and the insights and perceptions then can be incredibly, eerily similar to either my or "typical" American's attitudes today.
   
   I'd recommend it to anyone, but particularly to anyone visiting or living in Europe. It's way funnier than his "Innocents Abroad", which is also a good read on travel in Europe.



4. This is a single book, not the whole set and the book is in less then usable quality. The seller was to send return address materials and has not as of 12/19.



5. I listened to the audio version of both books, and will admit up front that the narrator for this one is not one of my favorites, but I got past that after a while.
   Twain seemed to be "padding" the narrative with an awful lot of folktales and legend, rather than his own experience. There's a lengthy (and highly annoying) "fantasy" sequence - I suppose he was trying for parody - as well. I found myself fast-forwarding through almost a full cassette of a gory description of two deuls (near the beginning); he delights in recounting grisly mountaineering stories later on during the novel. The storyline ended abruptly at the end of cassette 11 of 13; the last two were the appendix, which I skipped.
   I really liked "Innocents" and am planning on purchasing "Following the Equator" (I looked through it at a bookstore and it seemed pretty interesting), but I wish I'd skipped this one. Three stars for the humor when he actually describes his own experiences.

5 comments about The Parisian Woman's Guide to Style.

1. I bought this book, and several others in the whole french chic genre.
   
   I agree Frederik Fekkai's book, A Year of Style, and Genevieve a Darieaux's book are supreme.
   
   So is Things a Woman Should Know about Style by Karen Homer.
   
   Leah Feldon's advice on dressing rich and dressing thin is along these lines and really good value if you are trying to create a core or capsule wardrobe along french chic lines. Which translated simply stands for quietly elegant.
   
   Anne Barones 3 Chic and Slim books are terrific, available on her website, so you needn't pay the inflated prices on the web but they are definitely worth every penny. Google her name and the title, and the site should appear.
   
   Finally Entre Nous was a great book discussing a lot of different aspects of french life including the diet, wardrobe, manners etc.
   
   This book in comparison comes up WAY short. The pictures are outdated already, which wouldn't be such a problem if the text had anything of value to say.
   
   The classic perfume list was interesting, as were the bits on what goes into the basics of a wardrobe
   
   but you can figure that out using Karen Homers tiny but terrific little book Things a Woman Should Know about Style (which is a terrific companion to Genevieve a Dariaux's A Guide to Elegance-- it updates Genevieve quite nicely).
   
   all in all I'd say hang onto your money, and buy:
   
   Anne Barone's 3 Chic and Slim books,
   
   Things a Woman Should Know about Style by Karen Homer and
   
   Genevieve a Dariaux's A Guide to Elegance along with
   
   Frederic Fekkai: a Year of Style (out of print now, but worth getting!) and
   
   Does This Make Me Look Fat?: the Definitive Rules for Dressing Thin for Every Height, Size, and Shape by Leah Feldon
   
   Leah has good advice on shopping for quality, and if you want more, she has an out of print one that dates back 20 years that still has good advice in it.
   
   as well as Entre Nous by Debra Olliver.
   
   That little "bookshelf" will net you a thousand times better advice on learning grace, style and chic than this little photo essay book.



2. I have "French Chic" by Susan Sommers also, and this book book by Veronique & Virginie Morana is more contemporary in my opinion. "The Parisian Woman's Guide To Style" is not written by an American in Paris, like Sommers. It was written in 1999 by two French natives who own a boutique in Paris. Although 6 years old, the pictures still look current in their simplicity. The authors have managed to capture classic French elegance without looking stodgy or outdated. Their basic wardrobe elemants and accessories apply whether your lifestyle is working mom, a college girl seeking to upgrade her image or even a socialite. There are some interesting beauty and style tips. The back of the book lists boutiques to check out when you're visiting France (if they're still there.) There are many great color photos as examples. The drawback is that all the recommended items are expensive and French-made, which isn't realistic for a woman on a budget. However, you can use this a guide to selecting and combining the best wardrobe pieces within your own budget when you visit department stores. You can always find good quality knock-offs.



3. I was very disappointed in this book. Mostly the mother-daughter team, who own a costume jewelry shop, tells you to buy expensive French brands you already knew about. The book is about half photographs of them wearing classic clothes that don't look particularly French---cream, khaki, navy and other neutrals. Very tasteful, and stylish in a quiet way, but nothing specifically French. Maybe that's the point. Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier was vastly more useful in understanding what makes french woemn seem more stylish. She is an American who lived in Paris for a decade married to a Frenchman.



4. As someone who has been to Paris many times and has many Parisian friends I find this book to be stuffy and out of date. Yes, true, there are still many women in Paris who dress in the "old school" way but the average woman on the streets in no way represents what these women are trying to sell. However, they do give some interesting advice that is classic and can be used and adapted for wherever you live or travel.



5. This book was published the same year that I lived in Paris. I like it for sentimental reasons, it gives you a picture of the street fashion that year. One of the outfits in the book is identical to the favorite outfit of one of my french friends at the time. However, this book is now outdated and I agree whith J. Whithford that Elegance by Madame Dariaux is a far better book.

5 comments about French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France.

1. I really loved this book. It made me laugh out loud. It made me tear up. It made me want to get my hands dirty.



2. Beautiful writing, and a delight to read. You will go back to it over and over again!



3. As May came to Wellsboro, I longed for the smell of fresh air and the feel of my hands in the dirt. Reading Richard Goodman's "French Dirt" satisfied me when my garden efforts were stymied. An account of an American who eventually gets to know his new neighbors in a small village in France, I think "French Dirt" is better than the more well-known books by Peter Mayle.
   
   Editor,"Of A Predatory Heart"



4. As an avid gardener, I was excited to read this book and then sorely disappointed. The author is clueless and not in a charming way, he seems to approach his garden as one with ADD would, later abandoning it entirely after much help and assist from others. His infatuation with a young frenchman is strange. The book does not give insight into the french not does it illicit any clear gardening instruction or technique. He and his girlfriend simply plop the plants they bought into the ground. With nothing else to do, he is at the garden twice a day weeding and watering. The author clearly has friends in publishing for this story to get binded.



5. This book is a prime example of a first-person account gone wrong. The main problem is that Goodman is just too self-aware to give us any unfiltered view of his experience.
   
   Goodman agonizes over his gardening decisions, and tries to present himself as a humble student of the people of the village. But beneath a thin layer of humility lies a gargantuan ego that rears its head on every page.
   
   By his own account, Goodman pesters locals for help, advice, and affirmation at every turn. After prevailing on a couple of new friends and acquaintances for a lot of help, he abandons the effort and moves back to America before the season is even completely over. He doesn't even seem to recognize that this might be unfair to the people who have helped him in various ways.
   
   More importantly are the glaring omissions and gaps. Goodman's relationship with girlfriend Iggy is probably the most important thing in his life during the time the story takes place, but we never get a sense of how that relationship progresses from seemingly functional to rocky to over. He's happy and willing to speculate on the gossip surrounding the locals, but he won't share the dirt on himself. Indeed, some passages read like a passive-aggressive appeal to his now-ex, either wooing her back or shifting blame away from himself.
   
   Goodman does do one thing right, and that is to give a very interesting window into the life and people of the tiny French village. But too often, that window is spoiled by the images of Goodman fawning over the locals, practically begging them for affirmation that he is a member of their little community (which, of course, he isn't).
   
   So, I can't really recommend this book. The writing is not honest, the protagonist is not likable, and the garden itself is too transient to accumulate any weight.