Paris in July 2011 - Au Revoir

I can't believe how quickly this month has flown (I know I keep saying this but it is just so true I feel it needs repeating!) - now here we are at the end of Paris in July 2011.
Tamara and I would like to thank each and every one of you who have embraced Paris in July and joined in for the ride. We are overwhelmed by the amount of interest that has been shown by the blogging community - we knew that there were many others out there who shared our love of Paris and all things French but we didn't realise it would be quite this big! We are seriously contemplating taking time off from our jobs next year to run this event!
Thank you for all of your posts and comments along the way. We would love to hear from you all about what you would like included for next years event so please feel free to comment away on this post - we are more than happy to hear constructive criticism and ideas - the more the better!
Once again Tamara has taken some time from her busy travelling and studying schedule in France to do a wrap up of posts from this final week (she stresses this might not be exhaustive):

Books
- Lunch in Paris, Elizabeth Bard - A Bookish Way of Life 29/7/11 & Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 19/7/11

- The Vendetta, Honore de Balzac - A Work in Progress 19/7/11, & Book around the corner 19/7/11,

- The Virgin Blue, Tracey Chevalier - An Adventure in Reading 25/7/11

- Brodecks Report, Philippe Claidel - Another Cookie Crumble 29/7/11

- Writers in Paris, David Bourke - Beauty is a sleeping Cat 22/7/11

- Cheri, Colette - Bibliothas 25/7/11

- Pot luck, Emile Zola - Books and Chocolates 27/7/11

- Incidents in the Rue Laugier, Anita Brooker - Books and Chocolate 16/7/11

- Only Connext: Julia and Hadley - Books as Food 24/7/11

- The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, Bridget Asher- Books as Food 22/7/11, & Curling up 28/7/11

- the Chalk Circle Man, Fred Vargas - Books as Food 21/7/11

- The Suicide Shop, Jean Teule - Chasing Bawa 21/7/11

- Paris Album 1900-1914, Jean Cocteau - Chasing Bawa 30/7/11

- the Beast of the Camargue, Xavier-Marie Bonnot - Curiosity 22/7/11

- The Paris Wife, Hemingway - Dolce Bellezza 24/7/11

- 13, rue Therese, Elena Mauli Shapiro - Fleur Fisher 24/7/11

- Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, Simone de Beauvoir - Naked without books 24/7/11

- A Pedestrian in Paris, John Baxter - Packabook

- Madame Tussaurd by Michelle Moran - tell me a story 31/7/11

-Lunch in Paris, Elizabeth Bard - Adventure of an intrepid reader 30/7/11

- No and Me, Delphine de Vigan - the Novel World 25/7/11

- Man Ray in Paris, rin Garcia - Truth Beauty and freedom, 26/7/11

Music

- Nouvelle Vague "dance with me" - Fleur Fisher 27/7/11

- Lucienne Deyle - Not sophisticated 30/7/11

Food

- La Cuisine Francaise - Just one more thing, 30/7/11

- Paris breakfasts - adventure of an intrepid reader 23/7/11

- Pizza Baguette - the Novel World 30/7/11

Movies

- Delicatessen - Literary relish 21/7/11

- the Diving Bell & the Butterfly - Sawcat 24/7/11

- Midnight in Paris - The Story Girl, 25/7/11

- L'etaile de Mer, Directed by Man Ray - Truth Beauty and Freedom 26/7/11

Others

- Inauguration of Poincare, Paris (Photo) - Curiosity 27/7/11

- French Beaches - Curling up

-Fraily and Endurance - Flowersandstripes 29/7/11

- more Hemingway - Lakeside Musings 21/7/11

- Day 7, Rue Montorgueil and Pompidou Centre - My cosy book nook, 30/7/11

- Au revoir Paris (review of food, movies, books etc) Only Orangery 31/7/11

- of weather, tour de france and other things - Third Storey Winder 24/7

And now on to our prize winners for this final week, they are:

Molly - My Cozy Book Nook
and
Caroline - Beauty is a Sleeping Cat

Congratulations to all of our prize winners - I hope to have the prizes out in the mail to you over the next couple of weeks.
For now it is au revoir from Paris in July - we hope to see you all back next year but until then - Happy Reading!

Paris in July - Week 3

Reflecting on week 3 of Paris in July - and I can't believe we are almost at the end of the month! I haven't "spoken" with Tamara today but I know she will be somewhere in Paris madly celebrating this win!
I must admit I have spent a lot of this past week dreaming of travel and thinking about when I might be able to get back to Paris myself - hopefully it will not be too far in the future. In the meantime I have had Paris in July to fuel my dreams. Tamara has sent me an email summarising what people have been doing during this week:

Books


- La Traversee, Phillipe Labro - Kelly

- 13 rue Therese, Elena Shapiro

- The sweet life, David Lebovitz - Kristens booknook, my cosy book nook

- Paris was ours, Penelope Rowlands - Lakeside

- The belly of Paris, Emile Zola - Lakeside

- A moveable feast, Hemingway - Lakside

- Carmen, prosper merimee - Literary Relish

- My life in france, Julia Childs - my cosy booknook

- Mastering the art of french cooking - my cosy booknook

- Paris by the moon, adam gopnik - cosy booknook

- The gourmet rhapsody, Muriel Barbery - only orangery

- Leaving home, Anita Brookner - a book sanctuary

- The Chatelet Apprentice - a work in progress

- Quiet corners of Paris - Paris au Calme by Jean-Christophe Napias (2006), beauty is a sleeping

- L'homme aux cerdes blues (the chalk man) Fred Vargas (1996) - book around the corner

- Rue Laudier, Anita Brookner - books and chocolate

- French Leave, Anna Gavalda - books as food

- Monsieur Linh and His Child, Philippe Claidel - curiosity

- Biography of Louuis Pasteur (1882 - 1895) - curling up

- French Lessons, Ellen Sussman - curling up & kelly

- The sharper your knife, the less you cry, Kathleen flinn (2007) - elle-lit

- The hare with amber eyes, edmund de waal - gondal-gal

- My life in france, julia child & alex prud'homme - gudruns tights

- Gigi, Collette - gudruns tights

Films

- A very long engagement - only orangery

- French Kiss (1995) Megan Ryan....- gabriel reads
Music

- Aicha, cheb khaled - not too sophisticated.

- 'juste toi et moi' by Indochine - gabriel reads

- Also Paris, Mano Solo - gabriel reads

Others

- a few of my favourite french things - Kelly

- croque-monsieur, french sandwich - only orangery

- pictures of PARIS - Rikkis teliedescope

- Paris Fashion - curiosity

- Top 12 French reads - curling up

- Bastile Day - Curling up

- Parisian Pillows - curling up

- Champagne - Flowers and stripes

- Gallic stripes (fashion) - Flowers and stripes

- Francophone Friday - Gabriel reads


Thank you to everyone for all your fantastic contributions and now onto this weeks winners, they are:

JoAnn - Lakeside Musing
and
Marg - The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

I will pop over to your blogs to leave you a message and let you know how to get in touch with me to claim your prize!
I hope everyone enjoys the last week of Paris in July 2011 - please leave the links to your posts for this final week in the comments section of this post. Tamara and I would also love to hear your ideas, comments, suggestions etc... for next years event. We are so excited by how many people are interested in joining in this event that we really want to put some thought into making it even better next year.

No and Me - Delphine De Vigan

My read for Paris in July this week took me to another side of Paris - the side that as a tourist you might come face to face with but not necessarily think a lot about - or do anything to help - the issue of homelessness.
No and Me is the story of 13 year old Lou Bertignac - a bright Paris school girl dealing with the collapse of her family after the sudden death of her baby sister. Lou is extremely intelligent but struggles at school when it comes to making friends and fitting in. As part of a social sciences project for school Lou starts to conduct interviews with a young girl she has met at one of the metro stations. No is an adolescent who has been homeless for some years following the break down of her family life. She has established a tough exterior in order to survive on the streets but inside she is a teenager with hopes and fears. Lou and No tentatively build their friendship until Lou approaches her parents to ask them if No can come and live with them.
This was wonderful, if at times sad, story of the connection between the two girls but it also had a much broader message about the issue of homelessness in Paris (and the world in general) and through the character of Lou the social conscience of the book is able to come through;

I thought to myself that if everyone took in a homeless person, if everyone decided to look after just one person, to help them and be with them, perhaps there'd be fewer of them in the streets. My father told me that wouldn't work. Things are always more complicated than they seem. Things are what they are, and there are lots of things you can't do anything about. You probably have to accept that if you want to become an adult. We can send supersonic planes and rockets into space, and identify a criminal from a hair or a tiny flake of skin, and grow a tomato you can keep in the fridge for three weeks without it getting a wrinkle, and store millions of pieces of information on a tiny chip. Yet we're capable of letting people die in the street.

Paris in July - Week 2

 Well, here we are at the half way mark in Paris in July 2011 - I can't believe how fast it is going! I have included in this post some photos of French themed things I have been engaging in this week as part of my Paris in July celebration. Head over to Tamara's blog to hear about her adventures.

Thank you to everyone who is participating in Paris in July this year - I have said it before but Tamara and I are just blown away by the many amazing people and bloggers who are interested in being a part of this event. I encourage you all to stop by the blogs on the list to the right and check out the variety in posts - there is so much inspiration to be had!

 Now, onto the winners for this week. There are actually 3 winners this week - Tamara has chosen a winner from last week and we have each chosen one for this week and they are:
- Jeanie - The Marmelade Gypsy
- Ellie - Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
- Bibliolathas

Congratulations! I will be heading over to your blogs to let you know how to receive your prizes.
Have fun during week 3 everybody - you can leave your links to your week 3 posts in the comments section of this post.

Therese Raquin - Emile Zola

My second read for Paris in July was much more successful than my first (see below). I had actually purchased this copy of Therese Raquin for last years Paris in July event but did not get around to reading it - I am so glad that I managed to get to it this year.
Therese Raquin is the infamous novel of adultery by French author Emilie Zola. The book was first published in 1867 and caused quite a bit of a scandal because of the content it portrayed (having read it I can't really see why - I think it paints such a horrible picture of adultery - so much so that surely people would be turned away from it!!).
Therese Raquin is sent to live with her aunt and sickly cousin, Camille, as a young child. She grows up in the shadow of Camille's illnesses and neediness and it is arranged by Camille's mother that the two will marry - with the absence of love or devotion on behalf of Therese. The family move to Paris and take up residence in a dingy apartment where Therese starts to drown in misery and hopelessness. Enter Laurent, a work colleague and friend of Camille's who soon starts to spend a great deal of time at the Raquin's home, taking a fancy to Therese - more as a distraction and a bit of fun as opposed to a great love. Therese and Laurent start a passionate, physical affair which leads them to believe they are madly in love and in need of only each other. Decisions are made by the two that lead the story in a particular direction that seals their fate as a couple and as individuals.
I simply loved this book - the story and the characters were completing absorbing and the way the narrative flowed made the reader feel as though they were inside the heads of Therese and Laurent - not always very nice places to be but it made for fantastic reading! The book reminded me a lot of another French favourite, Madame Bovary and apparently Zola was a huge fan of Flaubert.

Now onto my next Paris in July read - I only hope my next read will be as good!

Paris Times Eight - Deirdre Kelly

 Paris Times Eight is my first completed read for Paris in July 2011. As I said in my post yesterday I had started out reading Consolation by Anna Gavalda but I just found it way too depressing - it wasn't helping me enjoy the Paris in July ride at all! So, rather than push on I decided to change tracks.
Paris Times Eight is Deirdre Kelly's story of her connections with Paris through the eight very different visits she has made there from a young woman just leaving school to a mother with two children of her own. This book was definitely a lovely trip through the main tourist areas of Paris told from the viewpoint of the author but it didn't really seem to go too far beyond that for me. The author clearly had another agenda in writing the book - to explore and review the complex relationship she had/has with her mother but it was hard to see how this fitted into the author's experiences and love of Paris.
The writing was solid and the parts of the book that looked directly at Paris were enjoyable but the rest for me felt like a poor mother/daughter memoir. Nevertheless, good to be back in Paris!
My next read, Therese Raquin, is looking at a different time and aspect of Paris - and so far I am loving it...

Please leave your links to your posts for this week in the comments section of this post - looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you are indulging in...

Paris In July - Week 1

We are already into the second week of Paris in July - time flies when you are travelling!

Thank you so much for all of your links and posts - it sounds like everyone is having a wonderful time - not only with their own Paris in July journey but also reading about what everyone is is doing to celebrate the month. If you would like to read some of the posts from the first week please see the comments section on the this post of mine or just go to the sidebar to the right and work your way through the wonderful blogs participating this year.

I have had an email from Tamara this morning - she is in France and having a wonderful time but is having some trouble with internet connections and posting/blogging - she will join us just as soon as she can. I know she has been reading many of the participants blogs and soaking up all the thoughts and reflections on Paris.

I started out my Paris in July adventure with the book Consolation but I have to say I have abandoned it for the moment (just way too depressing I'm afraid!). I can handle sadness but depression for my first read for the month was just not what I was looking for at all!

I moved on to Paris Times Eight: Finding Myself in the City of Dreams which was a lot lighter - my review will follow soon.

Now, onto the prize winners for this first week - Tamara and I will both choose a winner so we will have to wait to hear from Tamara for her choice but the winner from me for this week is Her Royal Orangeness from Only Orangery - if you haven't already please head over to her blog to read her reviews on the movie Midnight in Paris (which, thanks to many of you I am now dying to see) and the books Suite Francaise (one of my all time favourites), Just Like Tomorrow and Flowers for Mrs Harris.

Thank you to all of you for making this a great first week of Paris in July - now onto week 2!

Paris Memories

Paris in July has given me the opportunity to reflect on my one and only trip (so far!) to Paris in 2009. To say I fell in love with the city at first sight is an over used cliche I know - but it is oh so true! I was completely blown away by the architecture, the style, the food, the art - even the light seemed amazing in Paris. I actually cried when we had to leave after four days (even though we were going to London - another one of my favourite places in the world). My trip to Paris helped to open up a whole new world of literature for me as well - I had never really been interested in French literature before my trip but I find myself drawn to it now - and even though my knowledge of the language is virtually non existent I feel that my knowledge of the history and culture is growing all the time with my reading.

So, I will be using this time during Paris in July to remember my first time in Paris but also to discover new ways of experiencing the French capital from my eastern Australian home.

Bonjour! Welcome to Paris in July

It is finally here - the month of French festivities and blogging that we have all been waiting for - Paris in July! We now have over 60 people signed up and ready to read/watch/cook and listen along - Tamara and I are really excited by the amount of interest there has been this year and we are looking forward to a fun filled month.

If you post about your Paris themed reading, watching, listening or doing over the next week please leave a link to your post in the comments to this start up post to be included in the prize draw for the week. It's also never too late to join in so if you would like me to add your name to the list on the right please just let me know by commenting to this post.

I still haven't chosen by very first read for the month (I know - I'm leaving it a little late!) but it will come from the selection in the photo above, Metrostop Paris, Paris Metro Tales, My Life in France and Consolation.

Paris In July - It's Almost Time!

I can't believe how the time is flying - we are half way through the year and it is almost time for Paris In July to start! We have 53 people signed up and ready to participate which is fantastic but it is not too late to join in the fun - just leave a comment on this post and I will add your name to our list.

I have to admit to being quite busy over the past few weeks and I haven't had a lot of spare head space to start thinking about the books and movies I am planning to enjoy for the month - this weekend might allow some time for that I hope. I have pulled one of my books off the shelf in preparation, Shannon Bennett's Paris looks like the perfect option to start the month with. What are other people going to be starting off with??

I will be back on the 1st July to officially kick the month off. After that there will be weekly wrap up posts, prizes to be given away as we go along and posts from Tamara as she winds her away around France. Looking forward to all of the Paris themed fun.

Paris in July - Join in the Fun!

We now have 28 people signed on for the 2011 Paris in July event. If you head over to Tamara's blog you will see that she is offering an early prize before we even get under way on the 1st July.

I have created a side bar to the right with all of the participants so far - please let me know if your name is not there or I have made a mistake with the link to your blog etc...

It is never too late to join in so if you are interested at all just leave a comment in this post - you can check out all about the event here.

Looking forward to the 1st July!

Paris in July - 2011

For the second year Tamara from Thyme For Tea and I have decided to come together to host "Paris in July" a month long blogging experience to celebrate our love of all things French and Parisian. We had such a great time last year we can't wait to do it all over again!

For those of you who participated last year the guidelines for the event will be pretty much the same (Tamara and I reserve the right to throw in some surprises here and there1). Paris in July will run from the 1st - 31st July 2011 and the aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening to, observing, cooking and eating all things French.

Tamara will actually be in France during July this year so she will be able to take us to the heart of things with her posts. Some welcome words from Tamara;

I'm so excited to be joining Karen again in co-hosting the 2011 Paris in July event. This year I will be the French Correspondent, actually on location in France for the month of July. While this will make for interesting administrative arrangements, I am committed to fulfilling my part of co-hosting in this, our second year of Paris in July. My travel plans include some time in Paris, then actually riding my bike along with the Tour de France through the Pyrenees and the Alps from July 11 - 24th then I will be in Montpellier for two weeks attending an intensive French language program. This means I will be able to post on regional cuisine, art, culture and local history and geography. I will also be able to investigate or research any questions participants choose to send me during the month... Imagine what fun we can have with that!

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - 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 (lucky Tamara!)

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

If you are interested in being a part of this experience leave a comment on this post and we will put together a side bar showing all of the participants. There will be weekly French themed prizes during the month for which we will randomly draw the winners from all the French themed posts of that week that link back to us. We will be writing weekly wrap up posts for you to link your posts to.

We have designed a couple of images to represent our Paris in July experience so feel free to add these to your blog if you are joining us. We will write posts leading up to the start of Paris in July to give you some ideas about what you might like to include and to share the books, films, music etc... that we are planning to experience ourselves during the month.

Looking forward to travelling to Paris with you in July!