Henri, Orwell and me - Paris in July

M. Pokora - Le jour qui se rêve (extrait de... by MPokora-Official

Paris in July is about my own journeys to Paris in beyond - my past journeys, and my future journeys. This year I'm making a promise to myself to spend my month in virtual Paris by immersing myself in french language, food & wine, literature, music and travel plans. So here's my plan - each week I'm going to try to do two personal posts, and on the alternate weeks, I'll do a wrap up post of all the Paris in July activity. You'll note that I've added the blog roll to the right hand column of my blog  - so we can all check on what others are doing.

Books on my list include:

• Stuff Parisians Like - this was a gift a while ago, and it's time to have a look inside
• Henri Walks to Paris - this sounds delightful and shouldn't be too difficult to read
• George Orwells - Down and Out in Paris  - my personal challenge to learn more about famous people, and Paris while I'm there... (this is a free edition)

Music - each week I'm going to find a new french artist (or new to me) and share the links with you
Food - I love to cook something on the weekends - so when i can I'll cook something french, and share it with you here too.
Travel plans - When I travel I do my research first. I thought I would like to do some research for my next unplanned trip to France. I'll try and post some of my findings - hopefully on topics like

• best cocktails in Paris
• gluten free in Paris
• Walking in France
• markets outside Paris (there's heaps of websites devoted to Markets in Paris).

One week to go and the tension is building. Cant wait. See you soon in Paris!

Challenges and Buttons

Wow - it just couldn't get any better than this! It's the start of the Japanese Literature Challenge 7 hosted by Bellezza and Karen at Bookbath has made some great new buttons for this years Paris in July - the blogging journey to Paris. Go to Karens Blog to see her great designs.

It's been a busy weekend here in my place - and I had every intention of posting today. I'm sorry - I'll have to get back to this soon - I have started a blog roll for Paris in July 2013 on the righ hand side of my blog, and I'll keep adding as we get more sign up....the meantime - dont forget to post your intentions of joining us for Paris in July by leaving your name here or on Karens blog.

Welcome to Paris in July 2013!

Welcome to the start of the Paris in July blogging event. Karen from BookBath and I are once again looking forward to co-hosting Paris in July, a month purely dedicated to reading, watching, eating, listening to and enjoying all things French. Karen said that ‘although things have been a little quiet around BookBath of late there is one event that is sure to bring me out of blogging exile’. Paris is always good to entice someone out of exile – and for us in the Southern Hemisphere, it gives us a chance to enjoy a virtual summer.

This will be the fourth year that Paris in July has been running and Karen and I are excited to be once again embarking on our virtual trip to Paris with you all.

The event will run from the 1^st – 31^st July and as always there will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part - just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas for the month might include:

- Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction

- Watching a French movie

- Listening to French music

- Cooking French food

- Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)

- Or anything else French inspired you can think of...

Karen and I will be writing weekly wrap up posts throughout the month as well as contributing our own Paris inspired musings. As in past years there will be French themed prizes to be given out to some lucky participants too.

Something New! We are also be looking to add another element to Paris in July this year by including special guest posts on our own blogs – if anyone is interested in being an official “Paris in July Guest Blogger” please leave a comment with your blog/contact details on this post and give us some indication of what you might like to write about in your post.

Stay tuned for more details and Paris in July 2013 buttons to pop onto your blogs.

Hoping that you will be joining us in Paris this year!

To join, just leave a comment and link to your blog here or on Karens blog, and we'l collate a blogroll.

 

It's coming....

Paris in July is coming soon....

Karen at Bookbath and I have agreed we're up to hosting 'Paris in July' again - are you up to it too?

Watch this space over the next week and we'll get up more details, but we're pretty much following the same guidelines as previous years.

See what we did in
2010
2011
2012

PS. GO CADEL!!! He's back on the Podium again. Yeh.... here's comes the Tour de France, and many more French 'reves'.

Bookshelves

from Renee Claire

Bookshelves make a home... they bring warmth, wisdom, love, and colour into the room. With bookshelves comes openness, connection and community. We don't have enough bookshelves in our home - so I've been scouring for idea's. Here's just some that I'm excited about.

from Renee Claire - bookshelves

from Annes Built ins & Bookcases

 What can I say, some of these examples just make you want to read, some make me want to write, and some just make me want to sit. I think that's what I'm looking for at home, and haven't quite got.

from Leife Shallcross - bookshelf envy

from Leife Shallcross at Bookshelf Envy

There are some hurdles to get over when it comes to choosing bookshelves - like

• size of the house and rooms
• style of the house
• built in or fee standing
• white or light coloured, timber, or dark colours
• do i have to redecorate the whole room
• can i afford it?

I found an interesting article highlighting 33 of the best bookshelf designs, but I still come back to thinking it needs to be right for your house, your use, and you lifestyle. What are some of the other things I should be thinking about? and what makes a bookshelf work for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts..

1Q84 and other reading news

I did it! I finally finished 1Q84. This was one of my dedicated reads for the Japanese Literature Challenge 2012. It's been an epic journey for me to get through this book, but I really wanted to do it. I enjoy Murakami's writing, he can transport me to the strangest of places, and this book was just as good a read as others. Although, the ending left alot to be desired. I'm mean, after all they'd been through, and the mysterious little people getting such a feature, why did it just end 'happily ever after' for the lovers..... why didn't the little people play a stronger part in the ending? what about the dhota and the mezza? I'm left with more questions than answers.. Did I miss something? or did other readers feel similarly 'let down'.

On a more practical note to self - one of the reasons I found this book so difficult to finish was that I do alot of my reading on the train to work - but this one was too big to throw in the bag. I really would've been better with three books separately, or electronically.

So, since Christmas I've been getting familiar with Kindle on  my minitab (7") and I've been reading a little more from that. I recently finished "Goodbye Madame Butterfly: sex, marriage and the modern Japanese Woman" by Sumie Kawakami. This was a collection of interviews with Japanese Women about the reality of their relationships. A fascinating read, touching, humbling and encouraging. Now I'm reading "Snow Child" on my Kindle, as was recommended by Dolce Bellezza last year.

So while I'm reading one book on the train, and in waiting rooms etc.... I've also got some real books on the TBR list. As in the photo above, I was given these books for Christmas and really want to read them, but finding the time is the challenge. For now, I've picked up 'The Lady Cyclists Guide' which got some great reviews in the blogging world last year also. See Fleur Fischer, Jennys Blog, and 1girl2manybooks. 

Reading has been a significant challenge for me, and one of the things I'm proud to say I'm working on as an adult. I recently sent myself off to a reading course, which turned out to be very encouraging. It was more focused on reading for business, but 2 significant learnings for me were

• reading for pleasure should be just that - pleasure. No rules, no deadlines, and no need to read something you don't enjoy reading.
• sometimes it can be very helpful to guide your eyes because moving your eyes in a line is not actual normal. using one or two fingers to guide to eyes can be very helpful. 

 So, I have today off and I'm going to find the time to actual read for pleasure.

Les Merveilleuses

I love visiting the Ladurée website – I would prefer to be in the shop, but I’ll take the second best option. Visiting this weekend, I found that Ladurée are celebrating Les Merveilleuses with the release of a special flavour of macaroon. But who are they? I’ve not heard of the féte les Merveilleuses before. So a little bit of research was in order. (some from Wikepedia)

Did you know about The Incroyables ("incredibles") and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses ("marvelous women", roughly equivalent to "fabulous divas")? 

They were members of a fashionable aristocratic subculture in Paris during the French Directory (1795–1799). Whether as catharsis or in a need to reconnect with other survivors of the Reign of Terror, they greeted the new regime with an outbreak of luxury, decadence, and even silliness. They held hundreds of balls and started fashion trends in clothing and mannerisms that today seem exaggerated, affected, or even effete (decadent, self-indulgent). 

Many Incroyables were "nouveaux riches" who had gained their wealth from selling arms and money lending. Members of the ruling classes were also among the movement's leading figures, and the group heavily influenced the politics, clothing, and arts of the period. 

Ornate carriages reappeared on the streets of Paris the day after the execution (28 July 1794) of Maximilien Robespierre, which brought an end to the Reign of Terror and signalled the commencement of the Thermidorian Reaction. There were masters and servants once more in Paris, and the city erupted in a furor of pleasure-seeking and entertainment. Theaters thrived, and popular music satirized the excesses of the Revolution. 

Napoleon’s wife to be, Marie-Josèphe-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie, was one of a small elite of remarkably gifted, charming and alluring young women around whom Parisian Society gathered at the close of the eighteenth century.

Out of the chaos of the Revolution and the Terror, French society slowly started to collect itself. A subculture of aristocratic and fashionable young people established themselves around the “salons” held by these women of means, charm and education. They provided the setting for a society of shared political allegiances, cultivated conversation, parties, balls and amorous dalliances. They attended the theatre and drew attention to themselves in public by adopting a supposed simplicity of dress – or as one wit described it “undress”.


 “Les Merveilleuses” – literally, the Marvellous or Wonderful, cultivated garments based on the almost transparent, body-revealing garments of Greek and Roman sculpture and even the Roman hairstyles of tumbling curly hair. The boldest of these women, Madame Hamelin, whose portrait by Andrea Appiani is in the Napoleon exhibition, notoriously appeared in public virtually naked beneath the flimsiest of muslin dresses, sometimes bare-breasted. The young widow Rose de la Pagerie, the Vicomtesse de Beauharnais, was less extreme in her dress than her friend Madame Hamelin – although no less alluring.

Initially the wearing of simple Greek and Roman-like garments served to reinforce Revolutionary rejection of the excesses of the AncienRégime, and nakedness in art signalled purity, however the sheer garments of Les Merveilleuses – their simplicity notwithstanding – were decidedly erotic.