Colette Books

I really wish that this book was availible here. I found it in a used book store last year. I read about it in a women's rights manual during high school. Reading the article I searched frantically for Break of Day, as I hope others have done or will. Break of Day works delicately on all your senses. Awakens your nose to the smells of Colette's own gardening. She has you listen to her interesting and sometimes not so captivating friends. Your eyes and hands caress a world of animals, friends, ex-husbands, and nature. Break of Day has you kneeling in the dirt and breathing the air of the coast. This book is about being alive and knowing beauty.

Sir,
You ask me to come and spend a week with you, which means I would be near my daughter, whom I adore. You who live with her know how rarely I see her, how much her presence delights me, and I'm touched that you should ask me to come see her. All the same, I'm not going to accept your kind invitation, for the time being at any rate. The reason is that my pink cactus is probably going to flower. It's a very rare plant I've been given, and I'm told that in our climate it flowers only once every four years, Now, I am already a very old woman, and if I went away when my pink cactus is about to flower, I am certain I shouldn't see it flower again.
So I beg you, Sir, to accept my sincere thanks and my regrets, together with my kind regards.
-- Sidonie Colette

This charming letter from "Sido" --- mother of the most celebrated female writer in France --- to Colette's second husband begins "Break of Day". But forget about the husband. Within sentences, Colette pierces your heart with the ultimate news of her mother: "A year later she died, at the age of seventy-seven."

"Break of Day" is many things, but above all, it's a love letter from Colette to Sido. And that was a stunning departure for Colette in 1928, for she was just coming off the huge success of her Claudine series and her two Cheri novels. In the first, we follow the sensual awakening of a young girl. In the second, a younger man has a long affair with an older courtesan. Not terribly shocking stuff --- child prostitution wasn't outlawed in France until 1909 --- but not discussed in public, and thus very racy reading.

Colette was a powerhouse. She published fifty books. She was a marketing wizard, with chocolate and cosmetics bearing her name. And, in 1954, she was the first woman in France's history to be given a state funeral.

So by l928, Colette --- like our latter-day Madonna --- needed no last name. She was a brand, and her product was sex.

But here she asks a remarkable question: Who obsesses a woman most --- her mother or her man? We're trained by habit and media to think only of the man, the night, the perfume, the champagne. And then there's reality. As women hit their 50s and "the change" frees them from an insistent awareness of reproduction.... but this is beyond me. So I turn to Colette.

Problem: memoir or novel? The catalogue says fiction, but "Break of Day" doesn't even seem like writing. Page after page, you feel you're reading the diary of a season in Colette's life.

Here she is, awake early, writing in a notebook "until the smell of the sea warns me that that the hour when air is colder than water is at hand."

Here she is, fending off worshipful guests.

Here she is, in the closest thing to an ongoing story, dealing with a young man who has no chance of becoming her lover --- trying to pair him with a young woman who's smitten with him.

Here she is, on every page, delivering a bon mot: "I no longer ask for anything except what I can't have" and "My true friends have always given me that supreme proof of devotion, a spontaneous aversion for the man I loved" and "I instinctively like to acquire and store up what promises to outlast me."

And here, most of all, is a tribute to a great mother.

But beware. Colette is a master, and this is a masterpiece; her writing darts toward truth but won't stay there. In Secrets of the Flesh, her biography of Colette, Judith Thurman tells the story of Colette's first wedding night. In the morning, when she came downstairs, there was Sido, still in her party dress. She had spent the night awake, brooding and inconsolably sad --- and now Colette was devastated by her mother's sadness.

A touching scene. But hardly one that suggests a healthy separation. Or anything like the relationship Colette describes in these 168 pages.

So this is fiction. But not like any fiction you have ever read. It's so easy on the eye, so seductive, so physical that you feel the book more than you read it. It's what a man thinks of as woman's writing, in the sense that it's written from intuition and marrow. Men fear irony, Colette writes. And she's hardly the first to note that young admirers --- and admirers not so young --- have urgent needs. She, in contrast, is beyond all that. In her house in the South of France, she has her garden and the sea and the sky for comfort. She's done --- at least for now --- with carnal love. Her heart beats for a greater lover: "Here is the dawn. Today it is all little clouds like a shower of petals, a dawn for those with hearts at rest."

I know a number of women of a certain age who tell me they are glad to be done with the fire and disappointment of romance. "Break of Day" is for them. As it is for the bewildered men in their lives. As it may be for young readers who'd like to know what lies ahead.

It's easy to be dazzled by Colette the superstar. Or entranced by her life. Or lured into her racy novels, though they're so much less sexy now. You'll do better just to read her at her best. Start with "Break of Day" --- and watch her create, one perception at a time, the most admirable and liberated woman you may ever meet in print.

It's a feminist classic and as relevant today as when it came out. I thought I was pretty feminist or 'post-feminist' even, but reading this book helped me uncover some pretty old fashioned ideas that were lurking in my belief system and influencing all kinds of decision making situations. This stuff is pretty ingrained in our society and needs to be thrown out!

This book, though written in 1980, still applies to every woman I know. We all suffer from The Cinderella Complex. Most women never change since they do not recognize the problem. Read this book so you will understand WHY you do the things you do. It really explains a great deal about why women are the way the are. We will never acheive truly equality with men until we understand ourselves. I highly recommend this book and plan on buying many copies of it to give to friends and family.

No matter how hardened one claims to be, no matter how tough a front one puts up, everyone needs some comfort and joy from time to time. "Comfort and Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others" is a deftly written encouragement for everyone to do a little extra to make the world a better place. A profound and touching message, little things like a plush pillow, warm milk, the shoulder of a friend - all can make your loved ones feel better- and in the process, make yourself feel better as well. "Comfort and Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others" is highly recommended to community library self-help collections - and anyone who wants to improve their own quality of life by improving others.

"For me, it was not about constantly seeking new experiences for comfort, but in allowing the ordinary things in my daily life to fully resonate with the depth of comfort they had to offer. I have come to recognize that these daily experiences deepen over time, offering me the gift of comfort again and again." - From the book

Insomnia, death of her sister to breast cancer, infertility--spiritual director and author Colette Lafia weathered life's storms through the warmth of everyday comforts.

In her book Comfort and Joy, Lafia's warm prose knits a cozy tapestry of vignettes, observations, affirmations and gentle questions covering the simple ways we can care for others and ourselves.

I spent this past leisurely spring Sunday with Comfort and Joy while sitting in a lounge chair in my back yard. (In fact, at the author's suggestion to take comfort in a nap, I decided that was a glorious idea--and fell asleep!) I felt a sense of camaraderie as Lafia shared some simple comforts that I, too, enjoy--namely, my pillow, circles, warm baths and comfy clothes.

From empty bowls to laughter, buttery toast to worn shoes, the author tenderly takes readers by the hand, pointing out the beautiful sights, sounds and feelings that are hiding in plain sight amidst even the roughest terrain. Lafia is one of those rare authors who feel like a friend--someone you'd love to meet for lunch or swing in the backyard with while talking about everything and nothing.

Here are some soothing passages from this 131-page softcover book:

On Walking:

"It is comforting to return to this trail again and again, to step on a soil that holds many moments of my life. Landscape is as interior as it is exterior, and in that dual relationship there is a deep, primal comfort."

On Napping:

"I find comfort in listening to my body and not pushing myself all the time. When I nap, I always remove my shoes and my watch. Even if I don't fall asleep, as soon as I shut my eyes, there is an instant relief in letting go and feeling my body stop in repose."

On Creating:

"The morning light begins to appear, gracefully and deliberately like a dancer. And in that mood of awakening, I am drawing without hesitation. Pure instinct. Trusting every mark--a smudge, a smear, thick dark lines, thin gray lines. The drawing is already in me as I open my hands to receive it."

On Applying Comfort in Your Daily Life:

"Receiving the presences of another person's tears is a great gift of comfort to give someone. Allow the person to cry, without judgment or interruptions. Let the tears become part of nature. Sometimes there's nothing to figure out, it just needs to rain tears."

Comfort and Joy would make a delightful gift for Mother's Day (or any holiday!), especially since this book encourages us to seek out the simple comforts of life to ease stress and replenish our spirits, as well as enter a space to receive the comforts others offer. Highly recommended!

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

I was delighted with this book. Having been raised in Cornwall, I was surprized to see how certain parts of the town were so built up years ago! It was more than interesting seeing where some of the street names came from and the families who are still there. This was purchased for my Uncle who has moved from the area and it was just filled with wonderful memories for him. It's a keeper!

I have just completed a week long research trip to Cornwall New York and found this book invaluable. It is concise, accurate, and loaded with phtographs and factoids that make study of Cornwall a breeze. Colette Fulton and Janet Dempsey have done their homework. Highly recommend.

This is a great book for Sindy collectors . As a fan of Sindy and having a lot of her fashions, furniture etc plus over 20 dolls from various years I find it invaluable and the best resource available. Would love to hear from other collectors

I am a collector of Sindy doll paraphernalia and I found Colette's book to be well documented and superbly illustrated. Where photos and illustrations are unavailable, written descriptions are clear enough to identify items. The only fault I found, was 1 year (1978) in the history of the Sindy doll is missing from this book. I have already submitted copies of the catalogue for this year to her publishing house. Thank you Colette for a wonderful book. For me it is the ultimate, make that only, Sindy Doll Collector's book.

Reading the collected writings of Laure one can easily understand why Bataille loved her with such passion. Indeed, Laure lived and wrote with such passion that she shames everyone who is "content with a petty life" and who "abandons the ardor of living through fear of suffering."

Laure's writings which were previously only available in French (pub 1977) are now gathered in this spellbinding volume. Her sickly life and early death (aged 35) make for dark, tightly written meditations on mortality, life and love. her love affair with writer Georges Bataille makes for compelling reading as her desperation at being sick with TB makes her cling to him more. The biographical sketch also sheds light on a key unrecognised figure in the Paris / Surrealism 30s scene. This was a charismatic woman who not only appears in Bataille's fiction buut also on Blanchot's Death Sentence. A must have for any french literature fans. Beautiful stuff. Much loved by the late kathy Acker.

I checked this book out of the library and tried three of the recipes. All three turned out great. Not gourmet cooking--but healthy, tasty meals using simple ingredients that adults and children will both enjoy. I plan to purchase this cookbook.

I was looking for a crock pot cookbook. Most that I have looked at are filled with recipes that I would never fix. My family and I like home-style meals with ingredients that we already have around the house or would normally purchase at the store. Quick Crockery Cooking met both of those demands. This book was filled with great recipes that could be fixed in a short amount of time and then ready at the end of the day when I am too tired to fix something for dinner. It seems anything you cook in a crockpot comes out tasting great. I would definately recommend this book to anyone looking for a crockery cookbook. I first checked it out at our local library and now I am adding it to my wish list.

Watercolor Painting for Dummies is a great book for both beginners and artist who just need to brush (no pun intended) up on the fundamentals of w/c painting. If you're looking for a book to give you all the information you need because you are just beginning, this is it. This book is chock full of everything you need to know and everything they teach in art class.
Another good thing about this book is you don't have to start from the first chapter and read from there (unless you are a beginner).
And there are several projects you can paint "along" with.
This is a good book to have and refer back to again and again.

Wow! Most art books are like the ones you remember from college--sky high prices and nothing but print. Art books need pictures, and this one has plenty of them in color--no guessing as to the artist's tecnique. You can use it as a reference, or start from scratch. It gives you sources for everything you need. A must have for any artist's library.

Finally, a book that covers specialized issues in ways that anyone can understand. It's a great reference in my bookshelf that I will reach for many times. And it's a great gift for my fitness-minded friends. I've already ordered two to give.

This was far and away the best book I have ever read on women's fitness. Easy to understand and well written with great advice. It is about time we had a book written specifically for and about women.

The book is out of date somewhat but it is still a must-have if you are going to Tuscon. The author is very funny and very astute. I can depend on her recommendations and it has a good range of prices. You trip will be much better.