Alison Harris’ new photo book “Paris in Love” —ideal gift for Valentines Day— continues where Doisneau’s famous “Baiser de l’hotel de ville” left off. This charming book of color photographs published by Parigramme, depicting Paris’ romantic Seine, secret gardens, cafe terraces and park bench lovers, would make a perfect “petit cadeau” (only costs 9.90E) for anybody who loves this city. And like Audrey Hepburn said in the film “Sabrina,” “Paris is always a good idea.” For those who might have to wait a little while before getting a flight here, the book “Paris in Love” could be the next best thing.
In Paris the book is available at Smiths Bookshop, 248, rue Rivoli, Paris, 75001 Info: http://www.parigramme.com
Step into a postcard of Paris with this excellent guide to the City of Light. Illustrated by more than 300 color photographs, “No Worries Paris, a photographic walking guide” by Jerry and Janine Sprout takes readers on a visually luscious journey to the city’s striking monuments, as well as into the cobblestone crannies of its villages and along the glamorous fashion boulevards. 
ncisive, articulate and timely reading —this is one of the best books on France to come along in years. While most books about France tend to deal with such topics as how to seat your dinner guests à la francaise or insider tips on correct manners for French kissing, this one strikes a bulls eye for what really makes the country tick. 
Burgundy is a lush region of France, steeped in history and immersed in wine. Imagine a cooking school in a grand château, with a 3-star chef and guests from around the world….under a distant cloud of loss and betrayal. Joan Shore’s new book “Red Burgundy” is a story of progress vs. tradition, commerce vs. culture, the foreign and the familiar. (And the possibility that if you’re very lucky — or very unlucky — the past may catch up with you!) 
A spectacularly opulent relic of royal wealth and power comes alive in “Versailles” a new book by Valérie Bajou, who is a curator at the Château de Versailles and is a renowned specialist of French painting in the 19th century.
Visual Editions has republished or in their words “re-imagined” a classic by French novelist Marc Saporta (1923-2009). The new edition includes an introduction by Tom Uglow and drawings by Salvador Plascencia.
“Paris-Chien: adventures of an ex-pat dog,” a charming and engaging new book by Jackie Clark Mancuso, tells the tale of a Norwich Terrier’s year in Paris. From home sickness to French lessons to the struggle to make Parisian friends this book carries a message for children about how to cope with change in their lives. With a number of French words in the text, the book is a light intro to the language. Illustrated with colorful gouache paintings of Paris streets, parks, markets and cafes, the story will entertain children (and adults) who like dogs and Paris. “Paris-Chien” is Mancuso’s first book. You can visit her illustration website at 
While Paris has been making history in plain view a lot has happened under the paving stones. Located south of the former city gate (the “Barrière d’Enfer” at today’s Place Denfert-Rochereau), a subterranean labyrinth of former quarries holds the remains of six million Parisians, moved there after a decision in the late 18th century to close cemeteries within the city walls for reasons of public health. Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. This guide written by Gilles Thomas with photographs by Emmanuel Gaffard takes us through the vast ossuary maze of sombre galleries and narrow corridors laden with walls of bones where limestone was once mined. The official name for the catacombs is l’Ossuaire Municipal. Although this cemetery covers only a small section of underground tunnels comprising “les carrières de Paris” (“the quarries of Paris”), Parisians today often refer to the entire tunnel network as “the catacombs”. A fascinating guide to the dark side of the city of light. J.M
Voltaire once said “It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.” Most anglos have a negative view of the word and would agree with the Merriam Webster Dictionary definition that seduction implies “the enticement of a person to sexual intercourse or the act of leading aside… “But Elaine Sciolino with her new book tells us that for the French there is a lot more to the story. In France —especially Paris— seduction is a way of life with its own set of rules and codes that take most people who are not born here a lifetime to figure out. 
The Chateau de Versailles covers over 200,000 square meters. It is one of the best-known heritage sites in the world comparable to such icons as the Taj Mahal and Beijing’s Forbidden City. Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the French monarchy. 
Historian and author David McCullough’s new book revisits the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians and architects who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900 to see what France could teach them. McCullough, who has been called a “master of the art of narrative history, is a two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for “Truman” and “John Adams.”