Every year as part of Paris in July, I like to share some music. Generally I choose songs with the word Paris in the title but I have used lots of them before so only have more obscure songs available, so I am changing it up a little bit.
Recently I read French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain, and there was quite a bit about music in the 1980s. Originally I thought it was going to be a book about music and nostalgia but it ended up being quite political but it did inspire my first selection for my post today.
For my post today, I am starting with one of the songs that was mentioned in the book as a French song that made it big around the world. I then thought about other modern songs that would fit (kind of) into this category
Ça plane pour moi by Plastic Bertrand (1977) - In the book French Rhapsody, we follow some of the members of a cold wave rock band who never made it. This song was referenced quite a few times in the book. Apparently this song has had a bit of controversy around it around whether the singer actually sang it. Interestingly, Plastic Bertrand (not his real name) was from Belgium but he had a French father.
Joe Le Taxi by Vanessa Paradiso (1987) - When I thought about other songs that made it big around the world this one came to mind. I didn't realise that she was so young when she recorded it though! Apparently she is still touring as well.
Blue by Eiffel 65 (1997) - Fast forward another 10 years and this song was everywhere. It certainly got a lot of airplay in Britain where I was living at the time! Turns out Eiffel 65 are Italian but with a band name like that I couldn't leave them out!
Aux arbres citoyens by Yannick Noah (2007) - It was actually a coincidence that the first three songs I have shared were released in 1977, 1987 and 1997, so I thought it would be fitting to choose a song from 2007 as my next choice. When I looked at the list though, there wasn't really any particular song that jumped out at me. However, I was curious to see that Yannick Noah had a hit in that year and this song was Song of the Year. Yes, that is the same Yannick Noah who was a successful tennis player, but he looks every inch the rock star in this video!
Makeba by Jain (2017) - When I looked at the list of French hits for 2017 this was the one that jumped out at me as being a song I was familiar with, but that may well be because it had a resurgence in the last couple of years after being used in a couple of ads.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books with Honorifics in the Title (“…an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person’s name, e.g.: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Mx., Sir, Dame, Dr., Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person’s name, as in Mr. President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.” For more info, click here.) (Submitted by Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog)
I am always grateful for my handy dandy spreadsheet that I have been maintaining for 20 years or so for these kind of topics. Apply a couple of filters and you at least have the start of a list!
My first 5 books have a French connection in honour of the fact that we are half way through Paris in July.
The Madamoiselle Network by Natasha Lester - This book tells the story of the only woman to lead a resistance network in WWII. It is a really interesting book, although I must confess I am not sure why it is called Madamoiselle given that the main character was married when the main part of the story started! Guess it just sounded better than the Madame Network which could be something completely different! (my review)
Madamoiselle Victorine by Deborah Finerman - I hadn't thought about this book for years which probably isn't a surprise given I didn't really like it. Interestingly finding out what happened to Victorine Meurent is one of the strands of The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl which I was reading last week.
Mrs Harris goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I love the movie of this book and have watched it several times. I did also listen to the audio. At some point I will listen to more of the Mrs Harris books. In future books she goes to New York, Moscow and Parliament! (my review of the movie and the book)
A Star for Mrs Blake by April Smith - This book tells the story of some mothers of soldiers from WWI who were given money by the US government to travel to France to find the graves of their dead sons.
The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - I thoroughly enjoy reading Antoine Laurain's books and this one was a lot of fun! (my mini review of this book and two others by Antoine Laurain)
Miss Graham's Cold War Cook Book by Celia Rees - I really enjoyed this book in which a young teacher is sent to post WWII Germany to help in the rebuilding process but she is also there to provide information, which she does by sharing coded recipes. (my review)
The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart - This is an older book now which when I read I thought was a super fun idea but I wasn't sure about how it turned out as a reading experience. I do still love the cover on that one though (my review)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - I have such fond memories of reading this book many years go. I recently read Simonson's latest book, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, and that was a lot of fun too! (my review of Major Pettigrew)
Sir Thursday by Garth Nix - This is part of the The Keys to the Kingdom series. I read all seven books in the series between 2007 and 2010 but I only ever reviewed the first three.
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon - This is part of the spin-off mystery series which features Lord John Grey who we originally met in the Outlander books.
I mentioned in last week's post that I had started a few books. I still have a couple of those books in progress.
I did finish A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K Runyan. This is the current Cook the Books selection so now I just have to decide what to make before I post my review this weekend.
I also finished The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl. I did like this one, but there was something that bothered me about the book. The review for this one will be up soon where I will elaborate!
I read The Village Cafe in the Loire by Gillian Harvey for a blog tour this week. I do have another blog tour later in the week but I haven't started reading that book. I best get onto that.
I also started Adam and Evie's Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen. I have no idea where I saw this book which then prompted me to then request it from the library. It's a romance that is set in Vietnam which is interesting. I am enjoying visiting lots of the famous sites of Vietnam through the book.
We had our read on a theme book club meeting on the weekend. The theme for this meeting was war and I actually read 4 books that fit the theme. They were The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn, The Lost Story of Sofia Castello by Siobhan Curham, The Girl from Normandy by Rachel Sweasy and A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K Runyan. The picture above shows some of the books that were read by the whole group. Next month we are doing something a little different for us as a group and that is we are all going to read the same book. The book we have chosen to read is Butter by Asako Yuzuki.
I was very excited this week. I got some physical book mail from a publisher for the first time in forever! So excited! I have booked to go and see this author at an event soon so I will be trying to read the book before then!
I'm watching
We watched a documentary that was produced by the Sail GP team called Uncharted. Basically it was about Australian sailor Jimmy Spithill leaving the US team and starting a new Italian team and how both teams fared following the changes
I stumbled across a TV show on Disney called No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski. I had no idea who the host is (apparently he is the food and wine expert on Queer Eye), but the show certainly looked interesting. The idea is that he takes a special guest through their family history but also focusses on the food that their ancestors would have eaten. Think Who Do You Think You Are but foodie. The first episode was with Florence Pugh and I really liked it. I will be watching more this week.
We finished watching the first season of Murderbot. I was pleased to see that the series has been renewed for a second series!
I also saw that there is an adaptation of Before the Coffee Gets Cold announced. Will definitely watch that. There is already a Japanese language adaptation but I haven't been able to watch it yet. I might see if I can find it on any of the streaming services this week.
Life
After being sick for weeks, I finally feel better although I do still sound a little croaky.
My first social outing in weeks with anyone other than family was to go and see the play Julia, which is a two woman show which tells the story of Julia Gillard who was the Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. The show builds up to the famous speech that she gave in Parliament on 9 October 2012 about misogyny. It was an exceptional play.
On Sunday went to the Bastille Day Festival at the Queen Victoria Markets. We were only able to be there for just over an hour but loved the vibe. We wandered around drinking hot chocolate, having a very nice macaron, listening to music and we bought some delicious pate which we will find an opportunity to eat soon.
Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.
In terms of the books read in June, there were 70 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 20 participants. There were 69 individual titles reviewed, written by 66 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 11 or just 1.
So which book was reviewed more than once in June?
Last year The Women by Kristin Hannah was the most reviewed book for the whole year. This month, it was reviewed by both Bree from All the Books I Can Read and by myself. This book certainly made both of us feel a lot!
There were also two other authors who had more than one book reviewed.
It is hard to believe but we are half way through the challenge already for 2025, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the stats for the first 6 months and see what stands out.
So far this year there have been 366 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 32 participants. There have been 335 individual titles reviewed, written by 292 different authors. There are 3 reviewers who have reviewed 25 or more books each with Laura from Laura's Reviews having contributed an astonishing 53 reviews so far! Thank you to everyone who has shared their links with the challenge.
There are 3 books that have all been reviewed 3 times for the challenge. They are The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn, The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry and The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau.
Agatha Christie tops the list of authors who have been reviewed most with 10 reviews, followed by Kerry Greenwood who has been reviewed 6 times, and Kate Quinn and Patrice McDonough who have both been reviewed 4 times.
And so far there have been 29 books reviewed that have the words death or murder in the title! What a bloodthirsty bunch of readers we are!
It will be interesting to see what changes over the next 6 months when I do the statistics for the whole year!
If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.
I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz
Last year I listened to The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods and I thought it was an okay read, a tad on the underwhelming side, but okay. That didn't stop my from jumping at the opportunity to read this book the second I saw it on Netgalley. A mysterious bakery in France - yes please. And I am so glad that I did as I really enjoyed this book!
When Irish woman Edie Lane sees an ad for a job in a bakery in Paris where the only requirements are that the person speaks English and has some experience working in the service industry, she knows this is the job for her! So what if she doesn't know anyone in Paris. It[s Paris, and it will help her get out of the rut she has been in for a while.
Things start to go wrong when she finds out that she isn't going to be working in a bakery on rue de Compiegne in Paris but rather she has accepted a role at the bakery on rue de Paris in Compiegne, about an hour north of Paris by train. So much for living the Paris dream.
When she finally arrives at her destination, she is given a less than warm welcome by the owner of the bakery, Madame Moreau. The one thing that was made very clear is that under no circumstances was Edie to mention the kitchen downstairs where all the baking happened. That area was very much out of bounds to everyone except Madame Moreau and the delivery boy Manu.
Thrown straight into work in the bakery, Edie realises that is going to take some work to get her French up to scratch enough to understanding most of her customers. But while the cafe is busy, there is also a black cloud hanging over it's futures. Developers are buying up all the buildings on the street and they want the bakery too. Maybe this is why Madame Moreau is always so surly, except for when she is serving the customers. Then she is very friendly with everyone except Edie..
As Edie's time in Compiegne continues she gradually begins to make some friends who slowly help bring the charms of the town to the fore. There is Geoff who gives tours of the area, Nicole the hairdresser whose boyfriend is in a band, and then there is Hugo who keeps on turning up. Hugo loves taking photos of old buildings and he and Edie just click straight away, All the while, Edie senses that there is something strange going on in the bakery, a touch of other worldliness, and she needs to work out what it is.
Sprinkled throughout the story there are small sections which tell the story of Pierre Moreau, who originally founded the bakery, including some of the events in the town during WWII. Some of the actions taken at that time continue to shape the town and relationships even now.
This is a book that you don't want to read when you are hungry. There are so many delicious sounding foods mentioned that you can almost smell them as you read. And there was a passage that just made me crave a proper French hot chocolate. Or Dutch. Something from that Northern part of Europe. I wouldn't be that fussy.
Inspired by a recipe book that she found in her room, Edie begins to cook some of the recipes, but also to make some of her own concoctions, a mixture of French and Irish flavours, to sell to the locals and tourists alike.
Music is also very important in this book, often being used as a tool to change the moods of the characters, to inspire memories and to draw people together.
The town of Compiegne has an important place in 20th century history. In a train carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, the Germans signed the armistice which ended WWI. Years later, Hitler made the French sign their own surrender in the same train carriage in the same location. There is also a chateau nearby with links to Napoleon. I am always drawing a mental map of what our next trip to France might look like, and Compiegne is definitely on the route I have in my head after reading this book.
It turns out that this isn't a new book. It was originally released around 10 years ago and has been revised and rereleased this year. Either way, I am so glad that I found this book as it brought me a lot of joy as i read it!
I am sharing this review as part of Paris in July, with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge that I host.
Rating 4.5/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Baked Ratatouille with beans Sunday - Meatballs Monday - Chicken Parma with chips and broccoli Tuesday - Sausages, mash, vegies and gravy Wednesday - Greek Style chicken with smashed potatoes Thursday - nothing Friday - Tonkatsu Ramen
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Thanks to Paris in July, over the last couple of years I have been making my way through the backlist of popular French author Antoine Laurain. Last year, I shared a review of what is still my favourite, An Astronomer in Love, as well as mini reviews of three other books. Today, I am back with another three mini reviews of the books that I have read since last years Paris in July event.
I was trying to get French Windows read for last years event, but I ran out of time. In this book, Nathalie is a photographer who is having therapy as she can no longer do her job after she accidentally photographed a murder. Her doctor, Doctor Faber, sets her the task of writing stories about the people who live in the building opposite her. Soon he is having to wonder whether she is making up the stories, or if they might be true. And if they are true, how is she finding everything out. One of the things that I notice regularly in these books is the smoking, and here Doctor Faber is a self proclaimed gifted smoker and this is central to the plot. This seems pretty French to me!
The President's Hat is probably my second favourite story from this author. One night accountant Daniel Mercier is having dinner in a Parisienne restaurant when the President comes in to dine. At the end of the night, Mercier realises that the president has left his hat behind. Daniel takes it home and realises that when he wears it he feels empowered to behave differently. However, it isn't long before Daniel loses the hat himself and other people get to feel the power of the hat! What follows is almost caper-ish as various parties try to locate and obtain the hat. It's a lot of fun.
My most recent read was French Rhapsody which was published in 2016. This was a little deceptive as it started out as though it was going to be very nostalgic about music and about the different lives that people can lead when they start from a similar point in time. It did, however, end up being quite political, talking about right wing politicians in French politics. Structurally, it is very interesting, and the starting premise for the book is very clever. A doctor named Alain receives a letter through the post that should have been delivered 30 years previously. At the time, he was a member of a cold wave rock band and they had submitted a demo tape in the hope that they would get picked up by a record company. When they didn't get any interest, the band all went their separate ways. Now Alain is trying to contact them all again. Whilst we get perspectives from the band members, there are also additional perspectives from other characters as well. It does have some trademark Laurain elements in here from unusual meetings and unseen connections to silly humour.
I love that whilst there are some trademarks in his writing, each of the books is very different.
I think I still have The Portrait and Smoking Kills waiting for me on my Kindle, and then hopefully there will be an English translation of his latest book which is called La Dictee in French (The Dictator) coming soon as well.
A shout out to the translators for these books. French Windows was translated by Louise Rogers La Laurie. She also worked on the translation of The President's Hat along with Emily Boyce and Jane Aitken. These last two also translated French Rhapsody.
French Rhapsody was one of my Twenty Books of Winter and also counts for the Books in Translation Challenge
Last year I read and enjoyed Sophie Beaumont's novel The Paris Cooking School (review here) so as soon as I saw this one I knew I was going to read it. It just took me a bit longer than I intended it too. That does, however, mean that it is still fresh in my mind so that I can review it as part of Paris in July! Hoorah!
When Sydneysider Emma Taylor's French born mother Corrinne passes away, Emma believes that Corrinne was on the verge of telling her the truth about her life in France before she ran away, most notably who Emma's father is. The only clue that she has is a photo of her mother lying in a field. Corrinne has always refused to talk about her past and Emma has had very little to do with her French grandparents. Emma is determined to repair those relationships, although she does wish that could have done that before her grandfather died. Now, she has come to Paris to get to know her grandmother Mattie, and to try and find out why Corrinne ran so far away and never looked back.
Charlotte Marigny has returned to her native Paris from England to take stock of her life. She is a successful garden designer and together with her husband Tom they have their children and created a great life together. However, Charlotte feels like Tom is drawing away from her and has been for some time. Facing the end of her marriage, she needs some time and space.
Florist Arielle Lunel has had to start her life over. When she was widowed she also lost her business and she was left with two young children and no assets. Fortunately, she was able to move in with her sister in Paris and now works in one of the market stall at the flower markets where she gets to use her knowledge behind the meaning of flowers to create meaningful and beautiful displays. She doesn't have time to even think about a new romance, especially not after her domineering parents in law seem to be determined to take her children away from her as they believe they can provide them with a better life.
In both of her Paris books Beaumont does a great job of drawing together several people who are, at first, completely separate but there are invisible webs which connect them all. In this book, those webs all draw the characters to the flower markets.
Emma decides that she is going to start working on her grandmother's garden, a task that is now too much for Mattie. It also gives her a place to hide when she keeps on butting heads with Marc-Antoine, a successful businessman who has been close to her grandparents for years. There she meets Arielle. Charlotte is also drawn to the markets because of her work and she is impressed with Arielle's design style. And with Charlotte having been Emma's mother's best friend as a teenager the circle is complete.
The closer the circle becomes the closer the three women are to be being able to answer all their questions, even if they didn't know all the questions they needed to ask yet!
There are some lovely little cameos from some of the characters in The Paris Cooking School, but they are things like there is a cheesemaker buying milk from the farm that two of the characters visit. If you haven't read the first book you probably won't even notice the moments, but I did and I appreciated them.
When we did a walking tour in Paris, we were constantly reminded that behind many of the gates and doors on the streets that we were walking along, if you looked through you might see a gorgeous mansion or a lovely courtyard. This book takes it to the next level and says that beyond those you might find gorgeous gardens. Some are public, and others, like the one at Sophie's grandparents house, is private. I love that there was a version of the gorgeous hand drawn map drawn by Mattie which shows some of the public gardens in Paris. Maybe next time we go to Paris, because there will be a next time, we can use the map to find a little piece of garden paradise. We did go to the flower markets although it was January so everything was a little quiet but it was still beautiful.
There is something about Sophie Beaumont's writing that just really works for me. I find it very relaxing to read. There are some lovely romantic connections for a couple of the characters, a lot of Paris sights, some great food and of course flowers everywhere. I am already looking forward to her next book, In the Paris Fashion, which is due to be released in November.
I am sharing this review with Paris in July. This was also one of the books I nominated to read as part of 20 Books of Winter and this is the sixth book I have read this year with the word Paris in the title!
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