I love to cook and I love French bandes dessinées, so when I learned that the comic author and artist, Christophe Blain, had written a book about one of France’s top chefs, I wanted to check it out. Published by Gallimard in 2011, En cuisine avec Alain Passard is the…
On May 18, 1922, one of Paris’ grandest hotels was the site of a legendary dinner party. Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust, were among the attendees. The evening is featured in a book, titled Proust at the Majestic: The Last Days of the Author…
I’m not a big fan of winter. Living in Michigan, in a drafty old house, I’m perpetually cold from November through April. Yet, I appreciate the month of January. The days already seem noticeably longer and there is snow on the ground, helping to brighten the season’s gloom. I also…
We all love underdogs: the urban breakdancer that one day makes it on Broadway; the business school dropout that becomes a millionaire; the single parent who takes on the school board and wins; the whistleblower who exposes corporate or governmental corruption. Yet few of us have the stamina to undertake…
When Biden announced in April that he was upholding Trump’s agreement to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, I decided that I would check out War, by bestselling author Sebastian Junger. I’ve long known of Junger’s work as a war correspondent, and I was glad to finally give this book…
Four weeks ago, I began reading L’Archipel d’une autre vie, along with Emma at Words And Peace. We invited others to join us and set a goal to have half of the book read by May 3. When we were a quarter of the way through, I sent some questions to Emma…
This year I’ve been listening to more audiobooks. The Michigan winter, along with the imposed confinement of the pandemic, was beginning to take a toll. I needed something to motivate me out the door and into the fresh but frigid air. Below are my quick takes on a few of…
While I’ve had this blog for a few years, I didn’t start writing regular posts until the Coronavirus pandemic hit and life ground to a halt. Writing is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I wasn’t sure I could maintain the pace of producing a post…
