Six Degrees of Separation: Orbital to The Secret Daughter of Venice

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

This month's starting point is Orbital by Samantha Harvey.

Usually when I sit down to write this post, I just have to look at the book title and the idea of where the first link, and then the second link, etc etc will take me. My main challenge is in completing a chain not using books I have used multiple times before. This was not one of those months. Part of the reason is that I was trying to force a direction but it just wasn't working. Sometimes, you just have to keep it simple. 

Over the last 18 months, British author Gillian Harvey has become a must read author for me. She writes books about life in France and starting over. Her new book, Midnight in Paris, comes out in the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to reading it!

Midnight in Paris is a movie that I have seen quite a few times and which features several very famous authors who lived in Paris in the golden years of the 1920s. One of those authors was Ernest Hemingway and the book I am choosing is A Moveable Feast.

From a moveable feast I am then linking to Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter. Baxter is an Australian who has lived in Paris for many years and published a number of books about the city and his experiences.

My most recent read about Christmas in Paris was Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin. I do have several books that I could have chosen about Christmas in Paris. Is anyone surprised.

Moving from Paris to Venice, my next choice is The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods, which I read recently.

Also set mostly in Venice is The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood. This is the second book in the Shakespeare Sisters series, and tells the story of a woman who is trying to find her true identity during WWII.

I mentioned that I struggled at the beginning this month. Once I get going though, the connections do just happen. I was just finalising this post when I realised I had accidentally done a seventh degree. I could probably keep going as well. Maybe I will do a Top Ten Tuesday one day with ten connections! 

Next month, the starting point is Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: Paris books!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Throwback Freebie (Pick a TTT topic that has been previously done. Maybe you missed it, weren’t blogging then, or you’d like to update an old list you made. All previous topics are listed below.)




We are part way through Paris in July (hosted by Emma at Words and Peace), so rather than do a throwback, I am going to choose the last ten books I have read with Paris in the title

A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin - My review of this one will be up in the next couple of days! It was good though!

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - WWII, dual timeline and a really good read! (my review)

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer - I have enjoyed all the Kelly Rimmer books that I have read so far

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I fell in love with the movie and then read the book. Here's my review of both

Twenty One Nights In Paris by Leonie Mack - This was my first Leonie Mack but I have read everything she has put out since. (my review)

The Girl from Paris by Ella Carey - Ella Carey has a few books set in Paris (my review)

The Black Swan of Paris by Karen Swan - This is a WWII novel but it is more of a thriller than I would normally read.

An American in Paris by Siobhan Curham - Another WWII novel (my review)

Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter by John Baxter - I really enjoyed this short non-fiction look at a specific area of Paris

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - Books and Paris. Yes please.

Have you read any of these, or have any other Paris suggestions for me?

Vintage Weekend Cooking: Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter

I originally posted this review back in 2021, but given that we are about to head off to Europe, it seemed like a good time to bring it again as a Vintage Weekend Cooking post. (Did I say 2021  - actually I meant 2011)

We are going to be in the Netherlands for Christmas. Of course, I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a white Christmas, but if possible I would like it to snow on the day and then disappear ready in time for us to start driving! Is that being too selfish?

A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread—and didn't speak a word of French—unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family.


Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"—a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles–based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet—for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.

One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!

John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.

The main focus of the book however is detailing his quest for the perfect Christmas menu. After being accepted by his now wife's French family he took on the cooking duties each Christmas often trying new dishes that wouldn't normally grace the French table. Later this month I will share a passage from the book about his first French Christmas.

He takes us with us as he searches for the perfect ingredients - oysters, cheese, a piglet with skin so that he could share the perfect crackling - one of the great pleasures in life that is virtually unknown in France where most pork is sold without the skin! And with this list of perfect ingredients he can create an unforgettable menu for the Christmas festivities.

This was such a fun read. It was warm and funny and made me salivate as I read it! I can't wait to read more from Baxter. There were whole sections that I could have quoted from for weeks of Weekend Cooking posts, and it gave me several other ideas as well!


If you fancy indulging in some French festivities this Christmas, then this is a perfect book to read!

Christmas in Paris in July

I don't know if Christmas in July is a thing all over the world, but it is here in Australia, or maybe it is just in my little corner of Australia. I even went to the bakery and they had traditional Christmas mince pies for sale, so it is definitely more than just in my friend circle. One of the nice things about that is that we can have the full on traditional Christmas dinner when it is cold, instead of when it is very hot! If we are organised enough we can wear our Christmas jumpers, we play Naughty Santa so everyone ends up with a small gift, my brother in law makes eggnog on occasion and generally we all have a lovely time. 

This year we spent time with a friend I formerly worked with who is crackers about Christmas (deliberate pun!) for a Christmas in July celebration so it was great to catch up with all the people I used to work with.

This year, we are planning to spend a week or so in France over the Christmas/New Year period, and the last time I was there nearly 30 years ago (how on earth has it been that long!) it was around Christmas time too. So today, I thought I would share a few Christmas (in Paris in July) related bits and pieces.

When I was last in Paris back in 1994, it was very early in my tour, so we really were a bunch of strangers on a bus who were about to spend 3 and a bit weeks together. We went to a small restaurant, where I tried snails for the time and received a small gift from the tour director. After dinner we went to a local church around the corner and had the most magical experience of midnight mass in French. I wrote more about this experience here.

If all goes to plan we will be in the Netherlands for Christmas then spend a few days in Northern France, followed by a few days in Paris in early January and then onto Southern Italy. I am therefore very hopeful that I will get to Paris in all it's glory, but just in case here are some lights

Last year I discovered Tatiana Eva Marie who is a Swiss born jazz musician who grew up in France but is now based in New York.  She released a Christmas album called Wintertime Dreams: A Parisian Christmas a couple of years ago that I listened to a lot last Christmas. It is such a delight to listen to with it's mix of classic songs, violins and accordians, and plenty of songs that sound like they have jumped out of the typical soundtrack which nevitably accompanies any movie set in Paris.

Here is a taster:

Currently I am reading a book called The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France by John Baxter. I am not going to finish this book in time to post about it for this year's Paris in July event. However, I have read a couple of other Baxter books over the years, most notably his book The Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas. My full review is here, but I am going to share a quote from very early in the book about Baxter's first Christmas with his new French family.

With Jean-Paul present, the meal could begin. A few minutes later, he took his place at the head of the table, and the other dozen guests arranged themselves, with me at the foot.

The marathon of Christmas dinner commenced.

I'd been warned what to expect. After the foie gras, we'd be enjoying white boudin veal sausage with fried apple, then roast pintade - or guinea fowl - a gratine dauphinois of sliced potatoes baked with cheese and cream, accompanied by green beans and carrots, followed by cheese, and Francoise's twenty-five-egg mousse - each course with its wine, including champagne with the dessert.

The goose liver was delicious enough for one to spare little thought for the poor bird that produced it.We smeared it into fresh white pain, larger brother of the more familiar baguette, washing it down with '84 Bordeaux from Madame's own cave - which was literallya cave, hollowed out of the rock on which this house was built.

The women never stopped handing around plates, offering more foie gras, and returning to the kitchen for bread or cornichons. Jean-Paul exchanged a few phlegmatic words with Jean-Marie, then fell silent. From time to time he would tilt a wine bottle away from him and stare at the label, as if it might have changed miraculously into a better year.

Joyeux Noël en Juillet!

Paris in July is hosted by Tamara from Thyme for Tea and Deb from Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in France which I still haven't read

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week there is a freebie, so we can pick our own topics. I am choosing to tie in my participation in Paris in July with a TTT post, so I bring you Books set in France which I still haven't read. All of these, and more, are currently on my Kindle.

The Perfect Meal by John Baxter - I am currently reading this at the moment.

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg - This sound so interesting!

The Season of Dreams by Fiona Valpy - I actually have three unread books by Fiona Valpy on my Kindle, all set in France

The Little Antique Shop under the Eiffel Tower by Rebeca Raisin - I have read a number of Rebecca Raisin books, but not this one yet!

The French Photographer by Natasha Lester - I read The Riviera House by this same author last year, but I haven't read this one yet.

The Second Worst Restaurant in France by Alexander McCall Smith  - There are two books featuring cookbook writer Paul Stuart. The first was set in Italy, but this one is set in France.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - I read other Pam Jenoff books years ago, but not this one yet.

The Lost Girls in Paris by Jina Bacard - It appears girls get lost in Paris quite often.

The Dressmaker of Paris by Georgia Kaufmann - Such a clever cover!

A Light in the Window by Marion Kummerow - Sounds interesting!

Have you read any of these? I am also sharing this post as part of Paris in July!

This Week...

I'm reading...

It's been a couple of weeks since I did one of these posts. Life sometimes gets in the way, as I am sure itdoes for everyone.

Currently I am reading two books, both of which will meet the current theme for my read-on-a-theme bookclub. The theme this month is winners, which I have taken to mean winners of prizes.

First up, I am reading The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France by John Baxter. This book is an IACP Cookbook Award Winner (Culinary Travel). This will also be something that I might talk about as part of Paris in July, if I get it finished in time that is.

The other book I am reading is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. I know. I am very late to the party. This book won The Women's Prize in 2021. It seems as though this might be a popular choice. One of my bookclub friends is thinking of reading the same book!

I'm watching...

Over the last couple of weeks I have been to the movies three times! Including two times just this weekend. The three movies I saw were Thor: Love and Thunder (meh), Where the Crawdads Sing (really good adaptation) and Tuesday Club, which is a Swedish movie (loved it!). Here's the trailer for Tuesday Club

I did see some trailers for other Scandinavian movies I would like to watch, notably A Taste of Hunger starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who was in Game of Thrones, and a movie called Margrete, Queen of the North. Maybe I will make it to the movies again this weekend.

Last week, I reposted my review of Romantics Anonymous from a few years ago. Just reposting made me want to watch it again, so I did!

My son has been nagging us for months to start an anime series called One Piece. Tonight we realised that he is not going to stop,so we watched the first couple. Apparently there are more than a thousand episodes. It has made us laugh if nothing else, but not sure we will be committing to the whole thousand eps. That's a huge commitment.

Life

We are thiiiissss close to having our new house ready, but it would seem that we are far away from selling this one.  We are very much over having to keep the house spotless for  open inspections. Fingers crossed we will get a buyer soon.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers that Feel Like Winter

Paris in July:  Paris Songs

Romantics Anonymous

Weekend Cooking: World Ice Cream Day

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

This week....

I'm reading....

I mentioned last week that I had just started The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. It was really, really good! I read most of it on Saturday afternoon and it was super easy to get lost in the pages. I'll be posting a review later this week (don't be shocked!!)

The book that I started after that was Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter by John Baxter.  An embarrassingly long time ago I started reading The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris but I never finished it. I had read other books by the author so knew I enjoyed his voice, but never have managed to pick it up again. Maybe this will be my time!

I'm watching...

Nothing new really. We are still working our way through the series I have talked about in previous posts.

In life...

On Tuesday night we went to hear Neil Gaiman speak which was a bit of fun! The interviewer was a true fan and that definitely came across in the questions. Topics discussed ranged from death to his punk period, to his TV writing for Good Omens and Doctor Who, amongst other things!

During the course of the night, he did a couple of readings, including reading his upcoming children's story. I think he is pretty much the only author I know of who could get away with reading their upcoming childrens book at a reading which was organised by a writers festival!

The space where the talk was held is amazing. I have never been into this theatre before because it is generally not open to the public. It was designed by US born architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin who are more famous for designing Canberra, our nations capital. It is a beautiful art deco style theatre and I am so glad that I have had a chance to visit there now!



Yesterday we did the culture thing and went to see a couple of the exhibitions that are on at the National Gallery of Victory. The first one was called Kaws: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness which I really enjoyed.

The second was a joint exhibition of works by Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. I quite liked the art by Keith Haring, but really don't get the other one. I came out realising that whilst I took quite a few photos, none of them were by Basquiat.

I guess I just don't necessarily get modern art. I do keep on going to these exhibitions to try and learn about art and culture, but I don't always get it. At least I liked some of it. My husband wasn't a fan of any of it!

Last week I mentioned that we were on a short getaway. Have to say it was fabulous! The area is known for it's mineral springs so we spent a couple of hours at the mineral baths, bathing in the mineral water pools, the salt pool, the sauna (but not for very long), various spas and then followed that up with scones, jam and cream. By the time we got back to our hotel room we were buggered, but eventually we got enough energy to go for a walk around the local lake. I didn't take many photos but here they are

It was a fabulous couple of days!

It's a lovely area and we have talked  about coming back but there are also so many other areas within a short distance of Melbourne that we would like to visit too.

Obviously, we have our big trip planned but we also recently booked a weekend stay at Uluru (Ayers Rock) later in the year which I am super excited about as neither of us have been there before. Something to look forward to

I am thinking that maybe I need to split my This Week posts into two because I am finding that I have a lot to say which makes the posts a bit long.


Posts from the last week

Weekend Cooking: February Bakes
Bookish quotes: The Lending Room in the Little Bookshop on the Seine

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

John Baxter's first French Christmas

For last week's Weekend Cooking post I reviewed John Baxter's Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas. My quote today comes from that book and is describing the author's first French Christmas with his new extended family.

This quote comes from page 19:

With Jean-Paul present, the meal could begin. A few minutes later, he took his place at the head of the table, and the other dozen guests arranged themselves, with me at the foot.

The marathon of Christmas dinner commenced.

I'd been warned what to expect. After the foie gras, we'd be enjoying white boudin veal sausage  with fried apple, then roast pintade - or guinea fowl - a grating dauphinois of sliced potatoes baked with cheese and cream, accompanied by green beans and carrots, followed by cheese, and Francoise's twenty-five-egg mousse - each course with its wine, including champagne with the dessert.

The goose liver was delicious enough for one to spare little thought for the poor bird that produced it.We smeared it into fresh white pain,, larger brother of the more familiar baguette, washing it down with '84 Bordeaux from Madame's own cave - which was literally cave, hollowed out of the rock on which this house was built.

The women never stopped handing around plates, offering more foie gras, and returning to the kitchen for bread or cornichons. Jean-Paul exchanged a few phlegmatic words with Jean=Marie, then fell silent. From time to time he would tilt a wine bottle away from him and stare at the label, as if it might have changed miraculously into a better year.

Page 19 - Immoveable Feast - A Paris Christmas

Weekend Cooking: Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter

A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread—and didn't speak a word of French—unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family.


Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"—a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles–based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet—for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.

One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!

John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.

The main focus of the book however is detailing his quest for the perfect Christmas menu. After being accepted by his now wife's French family he took on the cooking duties each Christmas often trying new dishes that wouldn't normally grace the French table. Later this month I will share a passage from the book about his first French Christmas.

He takes us with us as he searches for the perfect ingredients - oysters, cheese, a piglet with skin so that he could share the perfect crackling - one of the great pleasures in life that is virtually unknown in France where most pork is sold without the skin! And with this list of perfect ingredients he can create an unforgettable menu for the Christmas festivities.

This was such a fun read. It was warm and funny and made me salivate as I read it! I can't wait to read more from Baxter. There were whole sections that I could have quoted from for weeks of Weekend Cooking posts, and it gave me several other ideas as well!

If you fancy indulging in some French festivities this Christmas, then this is a perfect book to read!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.