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Post by georgeleitch on Nov 3, 2011 8:21:56 GMT -5
Just ploughing through the Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brien. Unfortunately the library is missing a couple of the early ones which is frustrating but can't be helped. I never thought I would find Napoleonic sea stories that would out do Hornblower but O'Brien manages it.
Not for ladies and Francophiles however.
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Post by geordy on Nov 3, 2011 8:33:05 GMT -5
Is that the series that was made into a BBC mini series a number of years back? It was shown on Public Television here. I recall at the time I first saw an episode at my brother's...and knowing my love of France..he warned me < "The French are the bad guys in this"
The hero was HOT....if I could think of him while reading it would be for Ladies! ;D
I''m almost finished with The David McCullough "The Greater Journey" which I am enjoying..didn't know the inventor of Morse code was a painter!
Then I go back to London for the latest Anne Perry Pitt novel..just finished the Monk one before TGJ.
Then see what holds the library deems to give me!
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Post by georgeleitch on Nov 3, 2011 14:14:56 GMT -5
Sorry Geordie that was Hornblower but if you fancy Russel Crowe watch the movie "Master and Commander" and you will spot him soaking wet.
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Post by georgeleitch on Nov 3, 2011 14:18:54 GMT -5
I should be reading "Waiting for a grand daughter" as we have been patiently awaiting the birth of our second grand daughter since last Wednesday.
Funnily enough someone gave Bhumi one of these French giraffes at her baby shower.
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Post by geordy on Nov 3, 2011 15:23:49 GMT -5
No..the guy I'm thinking of was not Russell..and I did see that movie. This guy was blonde...his big quest was to bring back a Napoleon eagle...besides of course winning the battles! I hope new little girl gets here soon....and she and Mom are healthy, happy...and we know beautiful!  |
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Post by mossie on Nov 17, 2011 14:12:31 GMT -5
Geordy, are you thinking of a TV series called Sharpe. The guy is Sean Bean. The pic on the DVD is your man ?
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Post by mossie on Nov 17, 2011 14:17:24 GMT -5
Currently reading the trilogy "Around and about PARIS" by Thirza Vallois which may have been mentioned here before.
Although published in the '90's, and therefore a bit dated, I find them the best Paris read I've seen. A combination history cum guide book, splitting the city into three logical sections and dealing with each arrondissement individually. Each is given a general rundown followed by one or two suggested walks
Got through the invaluable Amazon secondhand.
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Post by geordy on Nov 17, 2011 19:06:51 GMT -5
Thank you Mossie! Yes that is the series! Sharpe..it comes back to me now..... Did you watch?
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Post by geordy on Jan 8, 2012 7:30:18 GMT -5
Got two books as Christmas gifts..both from 2008..."Napoleon's Privates 2,500 Years of History Unzipped" by Tony Perrottet and "Pardon My French Unleash Your Inner Gaul" by Charles Timoney. Halfway thru the first...short historical tidbits of the more salacious sort!  |
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Post by holger on Jan 8, 2012 9:18:22 GMT -5
Love Sharpe and the music in the series. Started reading the books which have more detail.
Spent the last nearly three weeks, slowly recovering from bronchitis so actually have more time to read and buy books from Amazon. Fun and light historical novels by Susanna Kearsley, who is Canadian, I believe.
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Post by jo on Jan 8, 2012 9:21:15 GMT -5
Just bought the The Art of Living according to Joe Beef, a Cookbook of Sorts. It was David Lebovitz's top cookbook choice for 2011 and it's by the chefs at a Montreal restaurant (that we will hopeful get to this year).
Jo
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Post by georgeleitch on Jan 8, 2012 16:32:06 GMT -5
I was given "1000 years of insulting the French"by the guy who wrote "A year in the merde". A very amusing history book.
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Post by sunshine817 on Jan 8, 2012 17:08:38 GMT -5
He (Stephen Clarke) has another one out I want to get, too -- called "Talk to the Snail".
I ran into him at lunch one day - he's a correspondent for France24 (French CNN), and seemed a little surprised to be recognized, but pleased to hear I'd enjoyed the Merde series (it was funny, even if the protagonist brought a lot of his problems on himself!)
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Post by Belladonna on Jan 8, 2012 23:05:07 GMT -5
I just got the guide book Stephan Clarke wrote about Paris called Paris Revealed, The Secret Life of a City. It is written like his books and not like a traditional guide book. It is filled with great info like:
(when speaking about cycling in the city)...assume that you are invisible to car drivers, or that they want to kill you.
Now that is the kind of advice you won't get from Rick Steeves!
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Post by Jody on Jan 9, 2012 4:16:27 GMT -5
George, I finished my 1000 years book and left it in our Paris apt. for someone else to enjoy. David and I both loved it!
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Post by janetnj on Jan 13, 2012 18:45:13 GMT -5
Unexplored Paris by Rodolphe Trouilleux. I finally found it online at a reasonable price. It arrived today - just in time for a 3 day snowy weekend.
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Post by Jody on Jan 14, 2012 4:37:32 GMT -5
The LAst Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene , an American in Paris without papers during the Occupation. I enjoyed it , not deep but a good page turner!
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Post by PariS on Jan 14, 2012 9:18:37 GMT -5
I've been into historical fiction ala the "Josephine Trillogy" lately. Just finished "The Confessions of Catherine de Medici" by CW Gortner, and am now starting "Madame Tussaud" by Michelle Moran. Yeah, it's fluff, but the easiest way I know to get my French history lessons! After the Medici book, I will never think of the Louvre in quite the same way... |
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Post by btrflyrfree on Jan 14, 2012 9:57:59 GMT -5
Annette, I'm sure you'll enjoy Madame Tussaud. Fiinsihed reading The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason. Though a work of fiction it's based on the author's father in law's memoirs when he was a WWII airman shot down in Belgium. The story is of a widowed American commercial pilot, who forced into mandatory retirement decides to move to Paris find the Belgium family that rescued him when his plane crashed and then the family in Paris that he lived with until being transported by the french underground to Spain and then back to England. And of course the search for the girl in the blue beret. Not a major work, but still a good read. I was hoping it would snow here so I can finish the monster of a book (850 pages)by Stephen King 11/22/63
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Post by PariS on Jan 14, 2012 20:53:22 GMT -5
Sounds really interesting--I'll check it out!
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Let the riot begin! LOL - 
hahahha