Unexplored Paris

As all habitués know, Paris is a world unto itself, an endless labyrinth that never seems to exhaust the curious. No surprise then to find that there is a publisher, Editions Parigramme, that survives by producing nothing but books on the city. They’ve been doing it for more than a decade now and show no signs of slowing down; this year alone has already seen the appearance of more than twenty new titles, on topics as varied as poems about Paris, the city’s best bars/bakers/gardens/walks/restaurants, being a young mother here, design, contemporary art, excursions with small kids… Alas, for the hardened Anglophone, they are all in French, though a wonderful guide like Les Patisseries de Paris shouldn’t cause too many problems to anyone with a true love of éclairs au chocolat and palmiers and a basic grasp of the language of Molière and MC Solaar. Continue reading “Unexplored Paris”

Stanley Karnow’s Paris

“Why do people come to Paris any more?” asks Stanley Karnow, Pulitzer prize-winning writer and author of a new book, “Paris In The Fifties.” He lights another Gitane and sips his café crème. “When we came here, we were kind of searching for the belle époque of the ’20s, the Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein era… I’m told that young people today come here searching for the belle époque of the ’50s. Everyone looks backs and says wow! Things were better then. Who knows, maybe they were.” Continue reading “Stanley Karnow’s Paris”