There's a Book for That: Paris!
Ooh la la! It’s Paris Fashion Week (September 29-October 17), and our social media is full of runway coverage and reels of The Eiffel Tower sparkling at night in the City of Light! If you can’t be there, we say oui! to the vicarious pleasure of picturing yourself in Paris with these beautiful books!
THE PARIS NOVEL: A NOVEL by Ruth Reichl
“Stella decamps to the City of Light—and pungent goat cheese, chilled wine, garlicky snails—in this giddy, escapist confection from Ruth Reichl, food writer par excellence.”—Vanity Fair
Bestselling author Ruth Reichl takes readers on an adventure of food, art, and fashion in 1980s Paris in this dazzling, heartfelt novel.
CHANEL: HER INTIMATE WORLD by Isabelle Fiemeyer
This illustrated biography offers unprecedented insight into Coco Chanel’s complex and enigmatic life through new research and analysis of the designer by an expert historian.
PARIS SHOPFRONTS: ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE CITY’S BEST-LOVED BOUTIQUES, BRASSERIES, BARS, AND MORE by Joel Holland, Vivian Song, Sarah Andelman
From the Marais to Montmartre, the Latin Quarter to the 1st Arrondissement, this delightful book offers a unique glimpse into what makes the city a magical and wonderfully diverse place to walk and shop.
DO IT IN PARIS: AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO 450 PLACES TO VISIT, SITES TO SEE, AND THINGS TO DO by The Editors at Do It In Paris
The ultimate reference guide to the best things to do in Paris—many of which are hidden or unexpected—from the editors of the hit online magazine. Organized as a stroll neighborhood by neighborhood, the book invites the user to collect impressions, memories, and keepsakes of visits to different spots, allowing it to become a true souvenir album or scrapbook of experiences.
THE LOUVRE: A GUIDE TO ART by Dominique de Font-Réaulx, Laurence des Cars
The Louvre’s art collection is a training ground for the eye. In this book, readers will discover more than four hundred of the museum’s masterpieces, dating from before the invention of writing (7000 BCE) up to the mid-nineteenth century, including romantic or realist works. The richly illustrated guide is organized chronologically and features milestone events in world history, such as the fall of Babylon, the invention of the printing press, and the abolition of slavery in France. Punctuated with focused entries that explore themes like cultural exchange, humanity, power, beauty, the sky, and nature, this compact reference offers readers the keys to understanding art from a global perspective.
COCKTAILS IN PARIS: FASHIONABLE DRINKS FOR ALL SEASONS by Audrey Laroux, Kelly Smith
Cocktails in Paris is your illustrated guide to mixology á la Française, with 50 cocktail recipes for sipping before, during, and after dinner, as well as notes on glassware, garnishes, syrups, and French bar staples like Champagne, Pastis, and Lillet. From an effervescent Suze spritz in the courtyard at sunset, to cozying up in front of the fireplace with a boozy boulevardier, nothing says savoir-vivre quite like apéro hour.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GARDENS OF PARIS by Stéphane Marie
From the most famous gardens—Versailles, Luxemburg, or Tuileries—to the hidden leafy gems—such as the Château de Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard vegetable gardens, the Bourdelle museum’s sculpture garden, or the Albert Kahn Japanese-style garden—this guide takes readers on a cultural tour of France through twenty-five spectacular gardens in and around Paris.
I’M MOSTLY HERE TO ENJOY MYSELF: ONE WOMAN’S PURSUIT OF PLEASURE IN PARIS by Glynnis MacNicol
After New York City emptied out in March 2020, Glynnis MacNicol, aged forty-six, unmarried with no children, spent sixteen months alone in her tiny Manhattan apartment. The isolation was punishing. When the opportunity to sublet a friend’s apartment in Paris arose, MacNicol jumped on it. Leaving felt less like a risk than a necessity. What follows is a decadent, joyful, unexpected journey into one woman’s pursuit of radical enjoyment. The weeks in Paris are filled with friendship and food and sex. There is dancing on the Seine; a plethora of gooey cheese; midnight bike rides through empty Paris; handsome men; afternoons wandering through the empty Louvre; nighttime swimming in the ocean off a French island. And yes, plenty of nudity.
JOIE: A PARISIAN’S GUIDE TO CELEBRATING THE GOOD LIFE by Ajiri Aki
In this beautifully photographed volume of everything French, Ajiri shares what she’s learned about living in Paris—from hosting the perfect apéro (happy hour) to lingering around town like a flâneur (loafer) to thrifting for antiques at the market. While exploring the prettiest cafes and shops, you’ll be inspired to reclaim your right to leisure as the French have, so you, too, can savor the spontaneous, joyful moments that happen every day.
POEMS OF PARIS edited by Emily Fragos
A beautiful hardcover Pocket Poets anthology of poems from across the ages inspired by the City of Light. Poems of Paris covers a wide range of time, from the Renaissance to the present, and includes not only the pantheon of classic French poets, from Ronsard to Baudelaire to Mallarmé, but also tributes by visitors to the city and famous expatriates from all over the world, including Pablo Neruda, Samuel Beckett, Rainer Maria Rilke, Vladimir Nabokov, Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Bukowski, and many more. All the famous sights of Paris are touched on here, from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower, as are such classic Parisian themes as food, drink, and love, and famous events from the Revolution to the Resistance.
EIFFEL’S TOWER: THE THRILLING STORY BEHIND PARIS’S BELOVED MONUMENT AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD’S FAIR THAT INTRODUCED IT by Jill Jonnes
The story of the world-famous monument and the extraordinary world’s fair that introduced it.
PARIS: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CITY by Colin Jones
From the Roman Emperor Julian, who waxed rhapsodic about Parisian wine and figs, to Henry Miller, who relished its seductive bohemia, Paris has been a perennial source of fascination for 2,000 years. In this definitive and illuminating history, Colin Jones walks us through the city that was a plague-infested charnel house during the Middle Ages, the bloody epicenter of the French Revolution, the muse of nineteenth-century Impressionist painters, and much more. Jones’s masterful narrative is enhanced by numerous photographs and feature boxes—on the Bastille or Josephine Baker, for instance—that complete a colorful and comprehensive portrait of a place that has endured Vikings, Black Death, and the Nazis to emerge as the heart of a resurgent Europe. This is a thrilling companion for history buffs and backpack, or armchair, travelers alike.
For more on these and related titles visit the edelweiss collection: Paris
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