If you follow my blog, you’ve probably recognized that I have a penchant for sobering literature. While feel-good stories aren’t exactly banned from my shelves, most of what I read is either nonfiction or historical fiction that sheds light on a troubling period in human history. Likewise, when it comes…
Like Marcel Proust’s madeleine dipped in lime blossom tea, a chance visit to the Pat Conroy Literary Center this week elicited a flood of memories from my childhood. Unlike Conroy, I grew up in the north. My parents were diehard liberals, free thinkers that decried America’s involvement in Vietnam and…
Night had fallen last December when I left the Musée Carnavalet after attending an exhibit on La Régence, a period in French history that marks the dawn of the Enlightenment. Despite the darkness, the streets of the Marais were still bustling with activity and I felt the same pull to…
I know Madame Bovary is hailed as one of the greatest works of French literature, but after plugging away at the first 200 pages of the book this summer, I had to give up. I can’t say the writing is bad—far from it. The story simply failed to pique my…
I never imagined I’d begin a blog post with the words “this week I had a hysterectomy” but such is the case. I’ve decided that I might as well let it be known that I have more in common with my two female cats than I did one week ago.…
I’m writing this post from the deck of a cedar A-frame, 8400 feet above sea level. My kids and husband Andy, are here with me in southern Utah. I’ll characterize our location as the middle of nowhere, roughly equal distance to Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks. We’ve been doing…
If you’re like me, you enjoy giving books as presents. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me to share a list of my favorite sensational reads related to France. I’ve updated the list in time for the holiday season. My latest entries are denoted by **. Don’t be…
I recently read A Son at the Front, by Edith Wharton, the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Wharton, the daughter of wealthy New York aristocrats, lived in Paris during World War I. Throughout the conflict, she dedicated herself to France’s defeat of the Germans. She volunteered…
