France Books

THE LAST TROUBADOUR (Hist/Mys/Susp-Ramon Troubadour-France-1241) - Ex
Armstrong, Derek - 1st in Trilogy
Künati, 2007, US Hardcover - ISBN: 1601640102

First Sentence: The approaching Mayday festival drew larger than normal crowds to the unholy city of Carcassonne.

It's 1241, Pope Gregory is soon to die and the Inquisition is responsible for the torture, murder and burning of those deemed heretics. Dame Esclarmonde de Foix, the High Lady of the Carther Christians has been captured and brought to Carcassone to be tried as a heretic.

Ramon is a Troubadour whose mother had been burned at the stake. With the aid of a scores, a Templer, the Baug Balar entertainers and other friends and allies, Ramon has a plan has a plan to rescue the Lady.

What a remarkable book. Armstrong symbolizes each of the main characters with a card from the Tarot deck, but each character is also taken from history and the events of the time. It is not necessary to have any knowledge of the Tarot to understand or enjoy this story, yet I found it interesting to learn how old it is.

It's hard to say enough about the characters. Many of them develop as the story progresses. There is Ramon, the talented, fair and roguish troubadour; Arnot, the strong and tattered Templar, Nevarra, an albino woman with a white owl who can cast magic; and many others. They become real; you cheer for the heroes and heroines and you despise villains.

The story is set after the Crusades to the Holy Lands and the Cathar Crusade, during the time of Inquisition. Armstrong, through his sense of place and the characters, illustrates the brutality of the period. The descriptions of the battles, torture and deaths are graphic and horrible. These are offset these with scenes of humor, charm, romance and a touch of magic; black and white. The action in the book escalates with each chapter to a wonderful conclusion.

But it's not the end. Book 2 of the trilogy, "The Last Quest," is due out October 1st and I've placed my order.

If you loved the outsized adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics), you will surely be delighted by Armstrong's second novel, The Last Troubador: Song of Montsegur. Set in the turbulent, insecure 12th Century when Christendom set itself against Islam in the east and reforming elements at home, this book has the large stage in which to handle some universal themes.
What sets this apart from most historicals and calls Rabelais to mind is the author's tongue which is so firmly planted in his cheek that even when we are transported by the death-defying action, we're always aware of the multiple levels of meaning. Most historical novels are necessarily short-lived: their view of history is a product of their own moment and so they become dated. The Last Troubador will no doubt be around for a long time because the wink and the nod to the reader is truly timeless.

By the way, I found this book because I'd read Armstrong's The Game, a very different detective novel that shares the same dry inviting humor.

Lynn Hoffman, author of the semi-Rabelaisian bang BANG: A Novel

Yummy characters. Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but it is. Yummy, yummy. From the twisted and dark Diableteur to the golden-haired troubadour, there's isn't a character I didn't fall in love with. The Seigneur who redeems himself through love. The object of his love, the untouchable Dame of the Cathars. I even love the future pope (don't tell anyone!) Cardinal Sinibaldo Fiesco. This is a triumph, everything I love in a historical, from fighting, spunky ladies to romantic men with swords, and other weapons! I have to admit I was a little uncertain at first when the author made this tie-in from characters to Tarot cards. This was how I heard of the book, but I was all ready to hate the idea. I loved it. The Troubadour is the fool. The Magician is a woman, a snowy, white haired pagan sourceress. The Empress was the ever-pregnant mother of the travelling Baug Balar. And the Baug (it's like a circus, with trained horses, magic tricks, acrobats, really nice) is my favorite collection of images. The author throws in a nice dash of humor, but doesn't get carried away, shaking it up with some well-researched historical events and environment. I've been to Carcassonne, and it was so nice to see this beautiful place come to life. Over the top? Not really. Just so much to enjoy! The only thing I'm not happy about is the ending... it's fulfilling, with the main mission achieved, but as it turns out it's the beginning of an even greater quest. Which makes me very impatient for book 2, The Last Quest, which I'm definitely going to order. The Last Quest: Song of Montsegur

You don't have to know anything about the mysteries of tarot to enjoy this engrossing, fun read. It's a well-done combination of sword-and-sorcerer fantasy and historical adventure set in the 13th century. The tone is light, yet layers of period detail give it more depth than you might expect, and the characters are fascinating whether or not you understand their tarot inspirations.

Ramon Troubadour, the hero of the trilogy (yes, this is the first of three volumes), is a Fool extraordinaire on a quest to save the holy Dame of the Cathars from the fires of the Inquisition. The story is full of knights and kings, circus acrobats and animal acts, mysteries and magic, not to mention continuous action and sharp-tongued humor from the Fool as he goes about the business of discovering the secrets of the age.

The Catholic Church doesn't come off very well in this tale, as you might expect since it's set in a period when red hot pokers were as important to the holy orders as communion wafers. The trilogy itself is driven by a quest to find the world's most important religious relic and the machinations of the Pope and the evil Diableteur, a scythe-carrying devil. Other fun characters include a one-eyed Knight who may or may not be a Templar and a circus fortune-teller who also happens to be a witch.

The story moves along and carries the reader with it. I found it both engaging and entertaining.

Witty, dry, well-paced, this story worked for me on all levels. Original plot and well executed, what else can a reader ask for? I recommend it for everyone to read. The characters are engaging - you are made to feel as if you are there with them, which is what a great story is meant to do. I loved it and will certainly read another novel from this talented author. Derek Armstrong is a keeper for me.

This book contains stunning pictures, interesting fact and information, information on the most spectacular beaches and ocean crated phenomena, tidal and wave phenomena, weather related phenomena, and information on many, many species of sharks, whales, jellyfish, fish, crabs, coral, etc. A must buy for any ocean/nature lovers, nonfiction coffee table book fans/collectors, or anyone who just love interesting facts and appreciates stunning photography.

This is a huge book packed with information and gorgeous photography. There is plenty of science contained in these glossy pages from how the planets in our solar system formed, to the breakup and movement of our land masses to their current day positions, ocean currents, weather, ecology, glacial periods, and so much more. Most of the first half of the book is devoted to these subjects. The second half of the book gets into ocean life, from the smallest to the largest, how they live, feed, defend themselves. The pictures are breathtaking. This is a great educational book for all family members. Trust me, this one won't just sit around on your coffee table.

This book is not a typical "coffee table" book. Although full of beautiful photographs, there is equal emphasis on educational text. Instead of being a book containing only full-page photos of ocean life, each page is a collage of wonderful photos and short articles that you will want to read. The publisher of this book (DK), offers a variety of books in this format (travel, etc), and the layout of this book is similar. That is not to knock the photos at all - they are great and some are full-page, but this book isn't page after page of full-page photos as some others are.

That said, this is an excellent educational text with so much interesting information to offer. (It made me want to read the book cover-to-cover, which would probably keep me busy for at least a few days!)

The four main sections of the book include:

Introduction
Ocean Environments
Ocean Life
Atlas of the Oceans

The Introduction section takes a scientific look at the earth. A sampling of the topics of this section include "The Evolution of the Oceans", "Tectonics and the Ocean Floor", "Hurricanes", and "El Nino and La Nina". Mixed in with the photos are a number of color drawings and graphs to help the reader understand the concepts.

The section on Ocean Environments includes articles on specific places like San Francisco Bay and Hardanger Fjord as well as general information on habitats such as Salt Marshes, Mangrove Swamps and Rocky Sea Beds. The pages are full of photos of the areas as well as typical species found there.

The largest section is on Ocean Life and focuses on the variety of creatures found in the sea. Exhibited within these pages are a number of amazing photos of plants and animals that I had not seen before (though I'm not an expert on this subject) including creatures such as the Glass Squid, the Blue-Ringed Octopus and the Goblin Shark. I thoroughly enjoyed the short paragraph articles describing unique aspects of the species shown as well as the longer texts on topics like "Echinoderms" that includes anatomy, reproduction, feeding and defense sub-articles.

The last section is Atlas of the Oceans and includes maps of the different oceans and text describing them.

Again, the focus of this book is learning, not just amazing photography, and it does an excellent job of offering a smorgasbord of articles on different topics. If you really want to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants while paging through fantastic photographs, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!

NOT 500 pages and if I had paused to read the item description properly I wouldn't have bought this book! Way too good a price to be true, it is not another edition of the wonderful Cousteau-forwarded book, but a perfectly respectable DK full-color children's book with many very nice color photos. Probably very worth $7.99 and I was just far too greedy to read the fine print.

I had been looking for a comprehensive ocean book for a while, and more or less found it here. A complete overview of the ocean: physical features, marine life, fishing, exploration - this book covers it all. Great photography and short pieces of information on hundreds of the ocean's species will immerse even the most casual terrestrial browser.

The species featured in this book are well distributed - representing all classes of animals and plants, and all zones and ocean communities, from the coastal to deep sea ecosystem. Their mini synopsis of species is proceeded by a helpful overview of the general category that covers them (such as mollusks: their basic anatomy, movement mechanics, feeding and life cycles for the entire group) before telling you about, let's say, the octopus. The bulk of the book is on ocean biota, with a smaller sections on ocean environments and an atlas of the oceans.

Perhaps the biggest gap I see in the book is that it covers fisheries and other human impacts (trash, pollution, warming, acidification) only minimally and sporadically. The human impacts are highlighted for only a few key species, instead of treating it as an separate issue in its own right that affects, directly or indirectly, all forms of marine life. Indeed, the subtitle for the book, "the world's last wilderness revealed," is misleading and biased. It's akin a travel brochure selling an overrun tourist destination like Waikiki as exotic and pristine ("come and watch the natives surf!" I read once somewhere) - given our massive interference with most of the ocean, the term "wilderness" simply does not apply, except perhaps for the Antarctic region, for now.

But what the book does cover, it covers it well, being both engaging and informative. Over 500 pages serve as a good introduction to our waterworld.

I recently saw "Man on Wire" in the theatres (more on that later), and having seen this movie prompted me to seek out the book that high wire walker Philippe Petit wrote about his 1974 wire walk between the WTC Twin Towers.

"To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk between the Twin Towers" (244 pages; originally released in 2002) is a reconstruction, both verbally and visually, of this extraordinary event. Petit tells the tales of the early days, of his high-wire walks between the Paris Notre Dame towers and at the Sidney Harbor, only to be caught by the fantasy of the World Trade Centers, by a picture in a French magazine. The book details the preparations for the improbable feat, and it reads like a thriller (such as how did they manage to get all the gear into the Towers without being detected), even when you know the eventual outcome. The book comes with many visual details, like how Petit and his crew studied the WTC in detail (all the while trying to stay ahead of law enforcement and security guards). Petit brings a lot of poetic moments to the book, describing his inner feelings both as he was preparing for this impossible feat, and best of all as he is walking the high wire between the WTC towers. The book has a number of great pictures of that walk but to be honest I wished it had more.

In all, this book is a fabulous read, whether or not you have seen that "Man on Wire" documentary. But let me tell you that "Man on Wire" is one of the most fascinating movies I've seen recently. Best of all, Philippe Petit turns out to be one of the most engaging tale-tellers I've seen on screen in memory. Don't miss it!!

This book pulled me out of the doldrums. What an appealing person Petit is! Daring, ingenious, and courageous to an insane degree, he pulled off the greatest feat of street theater in the history of the world. He makes the phrase 'the impossible dream' stand up and dance. What I didn't appreciate until I read this book was what a fine engineering coup it was - all the rigging done clandestinely in the dead of night, so that at first light he was ready to step into the air.

And what a nail biting read! He re-creates the months long drama, keeping you right there with him all the way to the exhilarating end. What I also wasn't prepared for was how agile and graceful a writer he is and what a benevolent, endearing spirit.

You think you're facing a daunting challenge? Read this book and put yours into perspective.

I have just finished reading this book. The tension was unbearable as the operation in the sky was carried out and as I read on I realised.... my feet were sweating!! Perhaps my fear of heights was coming through but here was an experience that has never happened to me whilst reading. Do yourself a favour and get a copy.

I remember seeing the WTC towers being built, still partly framed in steel, as a child in the late 1960's. I also remember a snippet of this event in the news in the 70s. But, it was (I think) Ken Burns' American Stories on TV that reminded me of it and really gave it perspective that blew my mind as to how unbelievable an event it was. To me, it wason a scale of things like landing on the moon. With that still fresh in my head, I looked into the event and found this book and was unable to put it down from the first page until I finished it.

This book is inspiring. Petit is a bit crazy, but to pull off a hack of this magnitude, you have to be. Genius is touched with madness. To say the feat is inspiring is a great understatement. The logistics, planning, obstacles overcome, and just plain luck that all aligned in the end were really incomprehensible - more so after reading this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed every page. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with things I need to do and obstacles I face, and I look at that timeless picture of Petit between the towers on the cover of this book and I am inspired. If he could do THAT, certainly I can find a way to overcome whatever is in my way today. THis book is fantastic.

Firstly, i am so surprised that this book does not figure in the "Hype list" of any Media outlet. Luckily, i came across a short review of this book in a magazine and was intrigued to know that Sep11'2001 was not the first time that the towers of World trade centre captivated the attention of millions around. It was way back in 1974, when a French tightrope walker did the unprecedented daredevilry act of walking between the peak of two towers on a cable which he had rigged illegaly the previous night. He walked for 45 minutes from one tower to another, making the sky his theatre. Why did he do it?? Was it for fame? Money? Lunacy?? Philipe Petit's book explains the whole adventure in simple prose accompanied by sketches and photographs which were done during the unfolding of his "project". It is an amazing adventure. Reading it is like reliving it- Petit achieves that magic of retelling a story and giving his readers a feeling of experiencing it vicariously.

When Petit was asked by a TV crew why he did it - his answer was, when i saw three oranged, i juggle. When i see two towers, i walk ! ;-)

Petit was not alone in his effort to breakthrough the security of the towers and implement his plan. Aiding him where his friends who believed in his ability and went to great lenghts against all odds in planning and pulling off the feat.

This is a great book, in the true spirit of adventure and the endless capacity of a human to set and achieve his goals. One more imporant thing to note, Petit doesn't sound arrogant or egoistical. At the peak moment of his success, he is modest and humble, bowing to the gods in every element which helped him in the feat - the wind, the sea, the people below, his dear friends, the friends who stood by and the friends who gave up- he sees gods in all of them and thanks them for their role.

I am not given to effusive praise and there is nothing like a perfect ten. But, this is a fine read.

Camille Chevalier Karfis has created a unique guide to Paris. Without omitting the best known sights, she also writes persuasively of others that are unknown to many tourists, but which certainly merit a visit. But beyond this, she has also addressed the needs of visitors who want to improve their French before they make the journey, by providing an engaging story in 17 chapters about a French-speaking couple from the U.S. enjoying a week in Paris. The vocabulary, grammar,and delivery begin at a very easy-going level but become progressively more demanding as the story continues; nevertheless, the slope is very gentle, and someone who can only manage Chapter 1 at first should be able to progress before long through the remaining chapters. The complete text and a translation are always available to those who can't grasp everything on a first listening. Those with intermediate skills, who will understand the material more quickly, can gain useful speaking practice by echoing each phrase - the relaxed pace always allows this. Even advanced speakers are likely to find the travel information of interest (and they might want to use the story on friends or family members).

Camille (at learnfrenchinboston.com) is evidently a very talented and inventive teacher, and has managed to break out of the inefficient traditional classroom routines that leave so many students stranded when they arrive in France, no matter how many tests they have passed. I can warmly recommend "Une semaine à Paris" to students and teachers alike.

Perfect for anyone wanting to understand daily French conversations! (and even be able to speak as well). No more quizzical looks when a shop owner asks if you need assistance. No more gesturing wildly to get your point across. This book, and especially listening to Camille's CD's over and over again, will truly enhance your next trip to France. There are so many ways to learn here - try NOT reading the book but rather just LISTEN to the CDs - amazing French education tool! Nothing like it on the market! Superb technical quality!

I bought this CD/book combination just before traveling to Paris, and I've enjoyed listening to and reading it many times. Now that I've 'been there,done that' in Paris, reliving my trip through Thomas and Angela is really fun. Plus I know my French has improved because now I can listen to most of the CD in my car without having to look at the text to figure it out.

A good nice story, with a lot to learn and a nice kiss at the end. You read and you listen.

Basically my title says it all; Camille should do more of these.
The book & CDs are good learning tools.
I have suggested these products to others.
Felix

Great book, easy read. If you love bicycling and the Tour de France this is another side of the race. This book is not just about bicycle racing. There are many themes going on. The story of Johan Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong, Team Discovery and other cyclist, then the life philosophy that anyone can apply to their life.

This is a great book that I really enjoyed. It was well worth the money. I can't say it exceeded my expectations because they were very high. I can say that I wasn't disappointed at all. Thank you for making this great book available.

Thanx for the insight of the spectacle surrounding the most exciting sport in the world. I might as well keep on!
see you on the pavé roads in Belgium!

The only problem with the book is that it's too short! If you watch the Tour De France on TV you will love this book. The book covers everything from Johan's surprisingly successful career as a professional cyclist to the inside story about Lance's bluff on Alpe d'Huez. And it's quite well written. Even if you're a sports fan but not yet a cycling fan it's a great read.

Johan Bruyneel, the team director of the US Postal/Discovery teams from 1999 to 2007, hails from Belgium (as do I), and I kinda grew up with him watching him on TV (he is 4 years younger than me, yea I'm giving away my age here). After a somewhat unremarkable professional cycling career (the highlight being wearing the yellow jersey in the 1999 Tour for one day), Bruyneel struck a bond with Lance Armstrong, and at the young age of 34 became the team director for the US Postal team.

"We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success With the Mastermind Behind Eight Tour de France" (224 pages) brings Bruyneel's musing on what it was like to be Lance Armstrong's team director, and what a delight it is to read. Bruyneel is his humble self, even though confident all the way through. The title of the book comes from a conversation with Lance Armstrong, after he recovered from cancer, when they discussed their tactics for entering the 1999 tour: if they were gonna enter the race, 'might as well win it'. And win they did. The beauty of this book is that it gives insights on how determined all of them were in winning the Tour, again and again. But the hardest test for Bruyneel comes after Lance retires in 2005, and heads a team in 2006 and 2007 without Lance, posing the question "whether I was a team director who had won seven Tours thanks to one rider, or whether I was a winner in my own right" (Alberto Contador won the Tour in 2007 for Bruyneel's team).

If your interest in professional cycling is limited to the Tour de France, this book is not for you. The book oozes of great details on other things going on in the sport, including the Tour of Georgia, the one day Classics (such as Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders), etc. Bruyneel's musings are fund to read, and this book flies by in no time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED reading for professional cycling aficionados.

The Human Comedy is a saga of 92 novels that Balzac said was written by French society. Legend described him as the night-shirted social recorder working until dawn fueled by liters of coffee. Lost Illusions (1837-1843) is considered to be one of the best of the novels in the series in scope and structure. From the frenetic world of writers and booksellers in Paris to the grueling life of hard work and boredom in villages, Balzac traced the systematic destruction of illusions in his characters. No one could be trusted (friends, foes, or family) when the creative or inventive characters attempted to reach a goal. The flicker of hope and joy related to an artistic or business accomplishment was extinguished within days or hours. The enduring artists and producers were those who lived almost without hope, guided by a strict code of ethics protected only by their ability to keep their accomplishments secret. Ultimately, some of these survivors reached their goals. But by then, they no longer placed high value in them, much of the luster lost with their illusions. Lost Illusions set the standard for many of the wonderful French novels of the subsequent years of the 19th Century. The reader is immersed in French culture in a manner similar to the later writing of Gustav Flaubert.

Lost Illusions by Balzac is one of the most famous novels out of the ninety two he wrote in his lifetime and maybe also among a million his admirers have written in 175 years since his first novel was published.

Balzac choses Lucien as a romantic, good-looking dreamy poet. We are first thrust into his provincial life, with details about his ordinary life and extraordinary ambitions that he has no means of realizing. Except patronage by an older woman! She leads him to Paris, only to abandon him to fight his way into the high society. How Lucien rises and falls in the glamorous, amorous, corrupt and vicious life as a journalist in Paris is picturized through a narrative that is bathed in realism, and yet proceeds through both suspense and wit, in the spirit of the pace at which Balzac could conjure up such novels.

In the provinces, Lucien has a friend, David, who likewise is somewhat lacking in social and economic acumen, and is a hard working inventor. David own father ruins him by extracting an unreasonable price for the printing press that he leaves or sells to his own son. Crafty competitors take advantage of David's credulous character. David endures both provincial small mindedness and economic setbacks suffered to keep Lucien afloat. Balzac displays his knowledge of these disparate characters with remarkable attention to detail. He weaves an undercurrent, of what could have passes as a dissertation, on the art and science of paper making.

Balzac creates in his one book, a saga that unravels friendship, love, jealousy, lust, ambition, vanity, greed and absurdity that lurk in our beings and in our relationships. By using two main pillars, Lucien and David, Balzac erects a bridge into the two worlds of poetry and science. He shuns hint of any romance of either worlds, and shows how much character, how many hardships and set-backs, how much devotion and labor are required for a man to become a known poet or a scientist.

I am quoting an example from this translation (carried out by Katharine Prescott Wormeley):

"No one can be a great man cheaply," said d'Arthez in his gentle voice. "Genius waters her work with tears.Talent is a moral being which, like all other beings, is subject to the maladies of childhood. Society rejects undeveloped talent just as nature removes her feeble or deformed creations. Whoever wishes to rise above his fellows must be prepared to struggle, and not recoil at difficulty. A great writer is a martyr who does not die - that's the whole of it!"

Besides the two pillars, the book has an interesting array of characters. Actresses, society women, editors and publishers, lawyers, struggling writers, dandies - all appear with their human failings and foibles as part of a drama that unfolds with an enrapturing narrative. Be it history, economics, alchemy, or psychology, or any topic under the sun, Balzac ushers in his great knowledge, suspending and supporting the story with able and apt pointers, tresses and metaphors.

Balzac's Lost Illusions is undoubtedly a classic everyone can enjoy and must read at some point in their lives. Highly recommended.

I read this book during my latest visit to my favorite middle east country. I must admit that I didn't enjoy this book as much as others. I felt like it was slow to come around and I thought there was too much detail on (seemingly) unimportant things at times. I'm just a regular person, so that said if you are an accomplished reader you may love this, for neophytes such as myself, other titles are more likely to be properly enjoyed (see my reviews)...and keep me updated!

This is one of the best novels by Balzac, which is to say much, since he is still one of the best writers that have ever lived. Here, as in the rest of his work, the reader can appreciate Balzac's knowledge of worldly life, and especially the world of business, so alien to other writers. In this book he elaborates on the printing business as well as on journalism -vastly so-, back when it first began as a mercantilist activity. He contrasts the small life and intrigues of the province with the -no less petty but more gandiose- life and intrigues of the big city, Paris, and in particular of the faubourg Saint-Germain, the paradise of the Parisian jet-set.

David Sechard is a young man who inherits, at great cost, his cold and greedy father's printing business. Lucien Chardon (later "de Rubempre", after taking his impoversihed mother's more aristocratic last name) is his best friend. Both of them share a love for poetry, but it is Lucien who comes to shine as the young genius of province, the promise for whom it is worth it to sacrifice it all. Lucien gets the love of one Louise de Bargeton, the "queen of Angouleme", the most cultivated and refined woman in town. Louise promises to take Lucien to Paris, introduce him into the great society, and make him triumph as a poet. His family gives him all they can to get him started, and off he goes to Paris. But he happens to be arrogant, proud, and insecure, and soon he suffers the despise and insolence of aristocrats and other rich people. After what he believes to be an offense from Louise, he rejects her, earning her eternal hatred.

In the meantime, Lucien has been spending time with two very different circles of friends. The first is composed of a group of young intellectuals, hardworking guys sacrificing money and fun for the sake of science, art, and knowledge. They are there for him in times of need, and encourage him to keep up with his writing. The second group is a bunch of journalists, easy going but corrupt people who convince him to achieve quick fame and money. Lucien gets more and more trapped by this seemingly easy life, and after he conquers the love of the prettiest actress in Paris, his fate is decided. He achieves fame and fortune overnight, and so he jumps completely into the world of parties, frivolity and silly competition for status. At this point in the novel, Balzac introduces us to the sordid, decadent, and disgusting world of journalism understood as an unmerciful network of extortion and constant blackmailing. Lucien slides down that road, getting recognition and fame, oblivious to the growing net of envy that closes in around him every day.

What follows is the sad story of an unlikable character. Lucien has very little redeeming qualities about him, as opposed to some of his early friends, his young lover and his family. He is blind as blind can be, since his extreme selfishness builds a cloud in which he lives. He cares for nobody, except perhaps for the little Coralie, and he goes on leaving too many wounded bodies by the side of the road. Nevertheless, this character is the vehicle that allows Balzac to show us the real world out there. This writer never ever gives up to the temptation of sweetening things for the reader, he's brave and persists on his plan. Balzac is never a moralizing preacher, he is just a skillful painter of life as it is.

Here, as in the rest of his work, you will find characters who also appear in other novels, an ingenious device intended to give us a feeling of reality. This book is never boring and builds up tension rapidly, even for its length. It is an encompassing ride through all the fancies of youth gone wrong, as well as an unrelenting depiction of all the falseness and emptiness of high society. Much recommended.

I love Balzac. At his best he soars above the rest of French literature and here he is definitely at his finest. Easy to see why Proust thought him the best, at his best. Vautrin/Collyn is at his most sinister and attractive. If you haven't read Balzac before, this is the best to start with.

this humor in this book is incredibly dry, original and astute. New Yorkers should especially appreciate it but many of the scenes will crack up anyone anywhere...and, to boot, it's all in the interest of a great cause

Cooperative Village is a laugh from cover to cover. Madeson hits the nail on the head, capturing the essence of living in a co-op in New York City, with it's cross section of colorful characters. The adventures she takes you through makes you want to turn the pages as fast as you can, because you won't believe it could get nuttier and it just does...
Can't wait for the next book

Fran Madeson's "Cooperative Village" is a wacky, wonderful, and frequently hysterically funny antidote for whatever George Bush has managed to do to you. I rarely laugh out loud when reading a book and I really did when I read this one. Madeson's imagination and voice are simply unlike other authors out there. It's a story, it's a political commentary, it's a cockeyed look into the world of little old Jewish ladies who rock.

Frances Madeson has a vivid imagination. Working from the real and cultural geography and of an actual New York City housing development, she creates a web of hysterially over-the-top characters whose outrageous behavior seems normal to each other. It is dripping with social and political satire. It is a wonderful, unique and truly funny book.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but it was too scattered (which I think was done by design). I guess this is suppose to be a wacky look at a strange days in the lower east side, with a few negative comments about her old job to make you wonder where she worked and more comments about her mother that makes you wonder about what the mother did.

Smart, almost too funny. I have presonaly recommenedd this great book to at least 5 ladies. Must have book to all woman. Love it.
Thank You
Lauran

This book is awesome for all the single girls, newly single women. If you need direction in how to find a man, and how to learn his reactions this is the book for you.

Lauren Frances is one clever fox.

She knows how to 'play the cold/cruel game' the men so blatantly boast about..

but in a warm/sophisticated and feminine manner. If men aren't human enough to stay with the woman he has just had a wonderful/intimate night with ..then so be it.. however he is clearly not human.. but a bird who flies away.. lol! This is the new revolutionary book to seduction and what mindset to have when playing this 'game' that men have started...

lookout guys, you've stirred up some trouble!

Lauren Frances is the leader to the new crew of women who are "pimps" (LOL!) to say the least... hehe

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read on the mating game!

Ms. Frances has done her field work and her observations are not only witty and entertaining, but very insightful.

Should be a "must read" for every female.

The woman who wrote this book is clearly quite clever. Her associations of men to birds is truly amazing. There are quite a diverse number of birds out there, from eagles to doves to peacocks. This book is entertaining, but I can't say it changed much about the men in my life (or how I deal with them). I'd buy it for the humor, but not for the self-help aspect.

This is one of Elizabeth David's classic cookery books, bursting with good advice and as always, beautifully written. Her research was excellent and she always added interesting historical asides and information. If you are looking for a typical recipe book with artfully arranged photos, and the latest trendy dishes, then this will not be for you. The book, written in 1960, has some line drawings, but is otherwise pretty much free of frills.
However, if you are a serious cook, either amateur or professional, and enjoy reading about great French country cusine, this this is for you!

The truly remarkable thing about Elizabeth David was not so much that she could write enthralling and compelling cookbooks ("Mediterranean Food", "French Provincial Cooking", "Italian Cooking"), but that she transformed a glum, drab post-war England by the beauty of her prose and her ability to evoke the sunshine and brilliant colours of the mediterranean. And, further north, the simple beauty of cuisine bourgeoise, home cooking french style.

It was this book that got me started on a lifetime of home cooking. Like all great cookbooks, it can be read and savored without cooking at all. Her ability to evoke time and place is startling -- for example, her recipe for little courgette souffles is wrapped in the story of how she first enjoyed them. Of course, this was in a small country restaurant where the proprietor used his own recipe to make them for her.

She talks vividly about La Mere Poulard and her Mont St. Michel omelettes, for which she offers the original recipe. Roughly translated from the french, it reads: "Monsieur, I get some good eggs, I put them in a bowl and beat vigorously. Then I put them into a pan with good butter and stir constantly. I will be very happy if this recipe gives you pleasure".

I remember, over 30 years ago, the first time I made her recipe for pork chops "to taste like wild boar". They do indeed, and very good they are. Her recipes for classics like Cassoulet, and Bouillabaisse are vivid and provide the cultural context as well as precise directions. Her description of a bouillabaisse on the beach makes you want to catch the next plane there.

She explains the environment of her recipes, their milieu, and their progenitors so that you get right inside the whole theory and practice of french cooking. This is not haute cuisine, though it is not always simple to execute. But her sympathy for the process of cooking and her ability to describe it precisely prefigured writers like Richard Olney and Alice Waters, who owe her, as do we all, a great debt.

In any case, she is directly responsible for the appalling culinary assaults I have perpetrated on family and friends for longer than I care to remember. I still use the book, though most of its pages are now stored directly in my memory.

This book assumes that you know something about cooking and working in a kitchen. Many times amounts of ingredients are not specified, but easily guessed at. The recipies are relatively easily prepared and well worth any effort. I have never prepared a poor meal using this book. Ms. David was a leader in Britain in bring continental cooking to the British Kitchen. This is not a new book but still one of the best, and a favorite. I have used it since 1972 and am still finding things to make. Compared to Alice Waters, the preparations are less fussy but equally satisfying. I would recommend this book to a cook who has experience, it is most likely not a good wedding present, but entirely appropriate for the 5th anniversary.

Elizabeth David is one of foremost writers on food in the latter half of the 20th century and this book has her most celebrated writing. For this reason, I was inspired to write this modest review when I saw Amazon feature the volume as an offering, 43 years after it's first publication in England.

It is a coincidence of no small meaning that this book appeared within two years before the publication of Julia Child et al's landmark `Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. Child was even worried, when David's book appeared, that it may steal a lot of the thunder from Child and her colleague's effort. The fact is, the two books are very much like the Wittgensteinian `duck rabbit' optical illusion in that they deal with the same subject but from different points of view.

One distinction is that while Child's book is simply a cookbook of French recipes, David's book is a long essay on French cuisine, offering the sketches of recipes more as exercizes to be completed by the reader than as true recipes. In fact, it is one of the most enduring legacies of Child's book that it redefined the detail to which a recipe writer should go in order to adequately communicate the process of preparing a dish.

A second distinction between the two is that they deal with two different facets of French cuisine. As David recites from work by Curnonsky, there is haute cuisine, la cuisine Bourgeoise, la cuisine Regionale, and la cuisine Improvisee. David discourses on the third while Child, et al present the second.

For many, including such luminaries as Jeremiah Tower and Alice Waters, Elizabeth David is the fountainhead of thinking on the French notion of `la cuisine terroir', sometimes interpreted by the notion `what grows together goes together'. For David, this is the heart of regional cooking, and the thing which most distinguishes it from cooking at restaurants where clientele arrive at any time of the year or the day and expect to be able to order virtually any well known French speciality.

One of the passages which best characterizes David's approach to a lot of cooking is her opening statement on the perfect omelette: `As everybody knows, there is only one infallible recipe for the perfect onelette: you own.' I'm sure this would not work for Daniel Boulud, but it works just fine for me, after having seen about five (5) different, contrary techniques on how to make the perfect omelette.

It's interesting to constantly encounter reminders that the book was written before the widespread distribution of Teflon coated cookware, as there is no mention of it, even for egg cookery. I believe the book is all the more valuable for this fact, in that it paints a picture of a cooking style which has irrevokably been changed by technology. A second technological change brought upon the world by the French themselves is the 'robot-coupe' or food processor. It's noteworthy that the device is only mentioned in Notes to the 1985 edition where it is pointed out that the device was a major contribution to both the good and the bad aspects of nouvelle cuisine.

As stated above, the recipes are not as much presented as a blueprint to reproduce every dish cited, but rather to illuminate the discourse. One of my favorites is the entry for Salade Nicoise, where not one but four (4) different variations are given, including the variation of Escoffier.

The sections on French kitchen equipment and French techniques appear to be quite complete and absolutely essential if you embark on reading a cookbook written in French. The book has a short essay on each of the major culinary regions of France, starting. Almost obviously with Provence which is blessed not so much with great culinary talent as a great source of produce, similar, perhaps to the situation in California where the `la cuisine terroir' could take root much more easily than in Toledo or Albany. The largest portion of the book is chapters on cuisine by type of foodstuf or type of preparation such as:

Sauces
Hors-D'oeuvres and Salads
Soups
Eggs and Cheese
Pates and Terrines
Vegetables
Fish
Shellfish
Meat
Composite Meat Dishes
Poultry and Game
Left-overs
Sweet dishes

The book ends with a bibliography which alone is worth the price of the paperback volume.

This book begs to be read from cover to cover. The only other writers who come to mind of a similar caliber are John Thorne, M.F.K. Fisher, and Harold McGee. Elizabeth David's books belong in the library of anyone who loves to read and prepare food and this is her best.

This book is unequaled, engrossing, superlative. It remains, despite the four decades since its publication, the finest book on authentic French cooking in the English language. To that extent, it is uncompromising - a quality not likely to endear it to the timid or fadish american cook - but never daunting. The sheer sensuous beauty of the food evoked in these pages is a loving, prolonged essay on one of the glories of western civilization.

This is my all-time favorite book on jewelry making. Each page is a treasure. The illustrations are exquisite, the directions are so easy to understand, and the jewelry is breath-taking.

This is one of the most beautifully designed and inspiring jewelry books I have ever read. I went right out and bought a ton of gorgeous supplies and began creating.

If you like collecting charms, this book is for you. Lots of fun pictures and interesting stories about charms and their famous owners. If you want instructions how to make your own charm bracelets this book is not for you.

This book is a must have for every jewelry artist . You will spend many hours looking at the pages. It needed to have step by step photos for some of the projects. This is the type of book you want to grow old with.

The book is laid out in a very artful way and the pictures are beautiful. The projects listed are unique and doable. Great book for ideas and just to look at and enjoy.