Join me in Paris...

I have finally found a new blogging home. It is still early days and there is much building and creating to do but one of the first events that I will be involved in is Paris in July. Hoping you will join me at my new space - A Wondering Life...

Farewell Paris for another year...

So July has come to an end and as such so has our month long journey to Paris and all things French. I would like to apologise for my absence from the blog over the course of July, efforts of returning to work and planning a party for my ever energetic now 1 year old took its toll on my blogging time - much more so than I anticipated. As I have mentioned in other posts since Baby BookBath's birth - I really seriously underestimated just how much of an impact she would have on my life and I am most definitely still in that period of adjustment - not sure how long that will go on for... But I would like to thank each and every one of you for joining in our event - I hope much French inspired fun was had by you all! I also want to say a huge thank you to my co-host Tamara for taking over all of the organising in my absence - as usual a wonderful job T!
I think Tamara and I will be planning a trip to this gorgeous French Lounge in our area soon to celebrate...
And finally, a photo to show you my main reason for blogging slackness - I'm sure you will all agree - a face that is hard to resist...

Paris in July Week 1



Hello fellow Paris travellers! How has week one in France been for you?
I have to say my mind has been swaying all over the place this week and I can't seem to nail myself down to just one book or piece of music or art - I just keep jumping from one to another! But more about that in a separate post...
I will add a Mr Linky below so you can add the links for your Week 1 posts - so looking forward to travelling around to see what everyone has been up to.

Settling into Paris...

I have to admit that Paris in July has sort of hit me from out of the blue this year! I mean, I knew it was coming up and Tamara and I have spent time talking about how we would like to run the event this year but I think time in general just feels like it is moving too fast for me at the moment!
So, I was a little caught off guard on Monday when it came time to choose a Paris themed book to dive into. Luckily my shelves are well stocked...



I have started reading My Life in France by Julia Child and although I am only a little way into it I am loving her enthusiasm for all things French, particularly the food, and am enjoying being taken into another place and time with her memories of her time in Paris post WW2.



A trip to the library this afternoon also enabled me to pick up another book that I have been wanting to read for a long time - Tete-a-Tete: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre by Hazel Rowley. I fear this may be a little heavy going but I am so intrigued by both of these amazing people that I want to give it a go.

How about everyone else - what is helping take you to Paris this week?

It's off to Paris we go...



Paris in July 2013 officially kicks off tomorrow - Monday 1st July. Thank you to all of you who have already signed up to the event either through Tamara's blog or through my post here.

 It is never too late to join in so please add your name to the Mr Linky page attached to the end of this post or head over to Tamara's blog and leave your name in the comments section in one of her Paris in July posts. I have had some very helpful suggestions about what I am doing wrong with Mr Linky and why all of our names are not appearing at the end of the post so I will work on having this fixed for my first wrap up post at the end of the week.
I will be posting wrap up posts here at BookBath on Sunday 7th and 21st July while Tamara will be writing the wrap ups on Sunday 14th and 28th July at Thyme for Tea. We will also be posting final wrap ups at the end of the month to cap off our event.

Heading into July has been a very busy time for me - Baby Bookbath will turn 1 at the end of the month and I am busily trying to plan a special party for her as well as heading back to my "day job" as a social worker in the mental health field. Despite this busyness I have been eagerly awaiting the start of July so that I can spend some down time travelling within the beauty of Paris. I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you all and look forward to seeing what you are all reading, watching and listening to as we head off to Paris this week...

Sign up for Paris in July

In just over a week Tamara and I will be hosting a trip to Paris and we would love for you to join us.
I am going to attempt to make a 'Mr Linky' link at the bottom of this post so if you are joining us for Paris in July please add your name and the name of your blog if you have one here.
If you have any problems with the Mr Linky please leave me a comment on this post and I will see what I can do.
Looking forward to heading to Paris with you all!

Packing for Paris...

I have been spending some time thinking about what I will bring along with me on our Paris in July jaunt coming up very soon.
I have some gorgeous Paris/French related books on my shelves that I haven't had a chance to get to as yet so I would like to make time for some of those, especially these two:

 

The Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of and Outsider in Paris

by Stephanie Lacava

 

Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France

by Vivian Swift

 

 

 

 

And I think my Paris in July treat to myself will be the new Carla Bruni album...

 

 





 

 

I would also love to dive into a really good French novel - any thoughts on what I could read???

 

Looking forward to boarding our Paris bound jet plane in July...



Paris in July buttons

I have spent some time over the weekend being creative (well, as creative as I get!) and have put together some buttons for you to add to your blogs for our upcoming Paris in July event. Please feel free to use as many as you like - just remember to link back to BookBath or Thyme for Tea
I will write an introduction post soon where you can add your name to Mr Linky if you are going to join us on our French trip. In the meantime please leave a comment on this post if you are interested in being one of our guest bloggers for the month - you can choose the topic for your post - as long as it is something Paris or French themed!
Looking forward to July!

It's almost Paris time...

 

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 - Tamara from Thyme for Tea and myself 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.

This will be the fourth year that Paris in July has been running and Tamara 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...

Tamara 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.

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!

Change is coming...

 

 

 

The past year has been a time of massive change for me, the birth of the delicious Baby Bookbath (who is just about 6 months old now) and the accompanying change from full time social worker to full time/over time mother, the death of my beloved fluffy boy Ewok, the massive restructuring (and sometimes loss) of my reading life and in the next couple of weeks a physical move from our home of the last 10 years to a new house - a very exciting and needed move but a time of sadness too.

In all of this change, re-structuring, loss, challenge, happiness and love my blogging has ultimately taken a back seat - not through choice but through practicality and logistics. I often haven't had the physical time to even turn on the computer - or if there has been that moment of time I have not had the emotional or mental energy to think about formulating a post.

I have missed my blogging. I have missed that connection with other readers and bloggers who share similar interests and passions and I have missed the debate and communication that occurs over differing tastes and opinions. I have missed having the time and space to read and read and then read some more - enjoying the reading for itself but also the thoughts that swirl as I read about how I will interpret this experience through my blogging. Mostly I have missed the people - so many of you have helped to shape by current reading/bookish experiences and have challenged me to be a wider, more open, more adventurous, better reader.

So, I am making a re-commitment to BookBath - but with a twist. I'm not sure that BookBath can continue in its current form. My world has changed and I feel that my blog, as an online interpretation and expression of that world, has to change too. There will still be books - how could there not be??!! But I feel other aspects of my life will also come into play - my hope is that this will once again open up this space and become inviting not only for me - but for all of you as well!

I'm not completely sure yet what this new blog vision will look like - but I am looking forward to discovering it. I'm hoping you will stick around for the journey, wherever it takes us...

I'm Still Here...

OK, so almost 2 months since my last post and I feel like my blogging world is leaving me behind. This being a mum sure takes up a lot of time, energy and headspace! My Baby Bookbath is now 4 months old and really becoming her own little individual - the good news is she seems to really like books! I wasn't sure how I was going to cope if she didn't!
As for my own reading - I am already noticing some changes. I have so much less time to read now that I want to make every word count. I feel the pressure to choose my reading materials carefully as I don't want to waste precious time on books that won't feed my reading needs. That being said I have now finished 3 whole books since Pia's birth on the 31st July. A dismal total when I look back at my previous reading habits but I feel they are 3 books that I enjoyed and devoured - quality over quantity. I am hoping to get some more detailed reviews of these 3 books up on the blog soon.
I have abandoned any hope of writing reviews for all of the other books I have read this year prior to Pia being born but I will add them to my sidebar so that you can see what I have been reading (and so that I can see I have accomplished something reading wise this year!).
Until reviews are up, some photos to reflect my current world...

I May Have Jumped the Gun...

I might have spoken too soon about my return to normal blogging activities - this parenting thing sure is a roller coaster! I really am hoping to get down to some actual writing very soon but in the meantime here are some photos to help express my world at the moment - and yes, there are books in it!!

 

The Weeks That Have Been...

Baby BookBath is now 7 weeks old and (hopefully!) she seems to be catching on to the whole sleeping thing a little more! Which might mean I am able to resume some reading and blogging - we will see...
In the meantime, before the normal book reviewing and posting picks up again, some photos to show what things have been like in the BookBath household over the past 7 weeks...

My 8 Pound Reason for not Blogging Lately...

Baby BookBath arrived on the 31st July - a little dramatically but we are all well and settling in to the world...

The Lollipop Shoes - Joanne Harris

The thing about sequels is that as a reader you come to them with so many expectations - you want a story and characters that resonate with you the same way in which the first book did and you want them to taken further so that you feel you are getting even more of the story - an extension of what wasn't able to be given to you in the first book. You also want a sequel to carry on the tone and spirit of the initial story - you want to feel as though you are in the same world - with slight differences. These might be unrealistic expectations but they are there all the same. They are very much the expectations I had when I started reading The Lollipop Shoes, the sequel to Chocolat as part of our Paris in July event. Unfortunately, after finishing The Lollipop Shoes I didn't feel as though my sequel expectations had been met and I was left grieving for the magical feeling I had when I first read Chocolat. The risk of reading sequels!!
The Lollipop Shoes is set 5 years after Chocolat ends - Vianne (now known as Yanne), her eldest daughter Anouk (now know as Annie) and her youngest daughter Rosette are living in the Montmartre district of Paris again working in a chocolate shop but one that has none of the magic or distinctiveness of the shop Vianne had established in the village of Lansquenet. Yanne has worked hard to fade into the background, creating a "normal" life for her and her children, courting no magic or disruption. This seems like a reasonable wish for a mother of two young children but it does not feel true to the character of Vianne/Yanne at all - the spunky, vivacious woman from Chocolat has all but disappeared making the tone of the novel feel flat and hopeless. Harris has introduced a new character to try and balance this out, Zozie de l'Alba enters Yanne's live and brings the magic she is unable, or unwilling,  to rustle up herself at this time. Zozie is more than what she seems and her magic, while bringing new found success and prosperity to the chocolate shop, has its downsides in the way she uses it to play Anouk and create more of a division between mother and daughter bringing the book to its ultimate climax.
This book is much longer than Chocolat - although I didn't feel it needed to be this long the end part of the book was much more engaging that the beginning and middle sections. Some familiar characters from Chocolat arrive on the scene - but even they are not able to spark the book up for me. This was just a case of the sequel not hitting the mark, or coming close to being as wonderful as the book that inspired it. I was planning to read the third book in the series, Peaches for Monsieur le Cure but I think I will stop while I am slightly ahead and the magic and glow of Chocolat is still glowing...

Paris in July - Week 3 Wrap Up

I can't believe we are already at the end of our third week for this years Paris in July event - time sure does fly when you are in France!!
I'm still wistfully looking at the pile of books that I want to get through before the end of the month and I just know Paris themed reading is going to be continuing well into August for me...
One of the highlights for me this week was an interview with Tamara and I by the lovely Charlotte from The Book on the Hill - please check it out here if you have not already. Many thanks to Charlotte for including us and our Paris in July event on her blog.
I did manage to finish The Lollipop Shoes this week and I will post my review very soon.
In the meantime I would love to catch up on what everyone else has been reading, watching, cooking etc... over this third week so please list the links to your posts in the comments section below.
And into the final week we go...

Paris in July - for the small ones

This Paris in July is extra special for me as it is the month that my partner and I are expecting our little Baby BookBath to arrive. She already has a full bookcase awaiting her arrival and quite a few Paris/French related reading waiting for her...

Madeline is a classic that I just had to have for her collection - I even managed to find a board book copy so she read it earlier in her life!

I haven't actually read The Fleurville Trilogy by Countess de Segur but I have read that they are supposed to "French Classics" and they are beautiful, cute books that I'm hoping will be a good read as well.



Pom Pom Where are You? is a gorgeous picture book about a dog lost in Paris - already a favourite with me!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a book I actually bought for myself after seeing and falling in love with the movie version of the book - but I am willing to share my books with Baby BookBath!

Are there other French children's books you would recommend I add to this collection? I'm sure there are many missing...

Chocolat - Joanne Harris

My second completed read for our Paris in July 2012 event was a re-read of a much loved novel for me, Chocolat by Joanne Harris.
I remember reading this book when it was first released and what a fuss it created in the reading world - it was one of those books that people asked you if you had read and that you passed on to others once you had read it yourself. It really has a winning combination, chocolate, France, travel, wanderlust, magic, love and of course, more chocolate! Joanne Harris has written a lovely piece on her website about her influences in writing the book.
Chocolat is the story of Vianne Rocher, a young woman recently arrived in the small French village of Lansquent with her six year old daughter, Anouk. Vianne and Anouk are travellers through life, rarely settling in one place for very long but in Lansquent Vianne sees the opportunity to try and create a home for herself and her daughter and so they settle in an old bakery with Vianne turning the shop into the La Celeste Paraline Chocolaterie Artisanale - a decadent chocolate shop filled with Vianne's hand made creations.
From the very beginning it it clear that Chocolat is a book for all the senses;

We came on the wind of the carnival. A warm wind for February, laden with the hot greasy scents of frying pancakes and sausages and powdery-sweet waffles cooked on the hotplate right there by the roadside, with the confetti sleeting down collars and cuffs and rolling in the gutters like an idiot antidote to winter.

It is Harris' sensual and evocative writing that really makes Chocolat such a beautiful book for me - I really feel as though I have been transported to this French village and am sitting in the Chocolaterie drinking a rich, creamy hot chocolate with a truffle on the side...

Of course Vianne's dramatic entrance to the community of Lansquent and her establishing of a chocolate shop in the middle of lent does not go unnoticed. The local priest, Reynaud, takes particular offence to Vianne and Anouk's arrival and sets out to damage her reputation and turn the community away from their lusts for her chocolate and friendly company.

Chocolat is still as beautiful and enriching to me as the first time I read it, a book that takes the reader to France and the world of magic and chocolate without being unreal or completely escapist.

Paris in July - Week 1 Wrap Up

I can't believe the first week of Paris in July is already over! Time flies when you are having fun...
I have finished my re-read of Chocolat (review post to come this week) and have started reading the sequel The Lollipop Shoes which I have to say is a very different book to the first.
I'm really looking forward to reading about and seeing what everyone else has been up to this week so please add all your Paris in July related post links in the comments section below this post so that we can all follow along. Please forgive me for no adding a Mr Linky but my computer skills have abandoned me and although I know it should be easy to work out my brain is just not functioning so well today!!
Remember, it is never too late to join in the fun so please go to the introduction post here if you would like to add your name to the Paris in July 2012 event.
Tamara will be wrapping up Week 2 so head over to her blog, Thyme for Tea at the end of this week to see what Paris/French related fun has gone on this week.
Happy Paris in July everyone!!

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky - Simon Mawer

Mawer’s book, The Glass Room, was a complete winner for me when I read it in 2009 so I had no hesitations in picking up his new book, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. Even though I finished the book at the end of last month I am going to cheat a little and include it in my Paris in July reading list as so much of the book took place in Paris and rural France.

I can’t say that I found The Girl Who Fell From the Sky quite as captivating and original as The Glass Room but it was still a wonderful read.

The book is set during WW2, the main character Marian Sutro is a young half British/half French woman working for a war department in London when she approached by a secret agency to train for undercover work in France. It all seems a little surreal and convenient the way she is recruited but I guess that is how things were done?? I would like to read some actual accounts from women who had worked in these sorts of positions and agencies during war time to compare - although I am sure Mawer did his research. As well as her role as an undercover agent there is very much a personal side to Marian’s story as her arrival in Paris during the German occupation brings her into direct contact with a past family friend and potential lover, Clement.
There are all the elements of a traditional spy story here with undercover missions, double agents and a feeling on behalf of the reader that we are never really quite sure who’s side everyone is on. But there is also very much the coming of age story of Marian.

Beautiful, tight prose keep the story moving and although this book didn’t hold the same magic as The Glass Room for me it was still a fantastic story with characters to cling to.