Paris

The photographs and stories in this book are truly remarkable. The underground world Brassai allows the reader to navigate is one that will leave a mark on your heart and tear at your soul. From lonely streetwalkers to the many faces of Parisian nightclubs, this amazing photographic journey gives a modern audience a true glimpse of what life was like in the 30s.

Don't let the title put you off, there is very little in this book that would shock a modern audience. Times certainly ain't what they used to be. Brassai's photos and writings of a time now long gone however will slowly infuse in you a strange and somewhat uncomfortable nostalgia for a time long before you were born and places you wouldn't visit had you been born. Removed so far in time, it's all very safe - perhaps.

I cannot remember of a better book of photographs about Paris. This small book is a gem. Black & white pictures add to the famous artists quotes a wonderful perspective. You can also consider that these quotes add deepness and universality to the innovative approach of Paris caught by the photograph. Even if the photographs went after the writing of the quotes you could reasonably consider the quotes were made after the photographs. In short, buy this book, don't bring it with you in Paris. It would be useless. Offer it to the one you love (either a kid of a grand-ma) after you brought him or her to Paris.

Paris is a city of many moods. Mr. Kraft captures the moods of this great city with his stunning photography combined with compelling literary quotations.

This book allows you to walk the streets of Paris and see the sights through the eyes of one who obviously has a great love of the culture. The literary quotations (some very well known, others more obscure)provide an unexpected richness to Kraft's body of work.

I recommend this book to anyone who has been to Paris or hopes to one day. Even if you've never thought of visiting "The City of Light", this lovely book will have you yearning to book the next flight out.

If you have to read a book and are entering the 12th grade or beyond this is the one to read, it has suspense on every page and it's interesting, If i can read the whole thing anyone can, time passes by quickly when you read a good book and this is a great one trust me

A small, quiet French village dominated by a sense of social status is well described in this novel by Georges Simenon. The book has an amazing sense of atmosphere, of believable characters and situations, of the dark world in the pouring rain in which the three victims die... The moral of the book is concerned with the social statuses of the characters, of how the normal people despise the aristocracy, how the aristocracy despise the aristocracy and the citizens. The book is, like all Simenon, well-written and believable, even in the most fantastic situations, dragging the reader onwards and onwards, unable to put the book down.

When Maigret meets a serial killer, it's a dramatic face to face and, as usually, Maigret can understand why the killer acts in such an horrible way. Maigret don't excuse the killer but can understand. Like said Simenon : "Understand but not judge".

This is one of my very favorite Simenon novels; superbly paced and brilliant characterizations.

This is a thoughtful well-plotted mystery. The author does a fine job portrayng Maigret, the other detectives, the victim (an elderly lady), her niece and her niece's son. The writing is simple and easy to understand. Simemon does not waste words but he brings the characters to life. The reader will be kept guessing until the end of the book.

Imagine drinking a glass of Calvados. The title is ambiguous. She was a tiny woman insisting upon seeing Chief Inspector Maigret personally. Madame Antoine, aged, having lived in her apartment for a long time, reported that her things had been moved. There is only the key she keeps in her bag. A niece and her son are her only relatives. She is pefectly aware that a young person might consider her mad. The concierge says she is very much like any other old person living by herself. Her clear gray eyes make an impression on Maigret. Then she is murdered, suffocated, and an investigation ensues. The police search and question, after all this is a police procedural. Maigret discovers that the victim had practiced twenty five years of thrift. A character named Le Grand Marcel is brought into the picture.

The fineness of the writing (translated?) transcends the genre. Picking up a Maigret novel is a matter of dealing in a brand name consumer good. One is never disappointed. The storytelling is simple, classical, felicitous. Simenon used masterful economy in his art. The short bursts of information create an almost Raymond Carverish style. One is transported to Paris in the Spring. Time spent in the company of Maigret and his gifted inspectors Lapointe, Lucas, and Janvier is a pleasure.

Another great Maigret's novel.

Splendid evocation of week-ends along the river (Seine) in the thirties. The atmosphere is close to the impressionism.

You have to read this novel !

One of the very finest novels among the phenomenon that is Maigret. As usual, Inspector Maigret solves a murder through empathy, by understanding the lives of the people involved in the case, but this time, the linchpin is an enigmatic Englishman, a man Maigret both likes and loathes, and, next to the great detective, one of the most fascinating inventions of Simenon. A superb and satisfying book for the fan or the first time Maigret reader.

The setting is Paris in the early 1960's. The venerable Inspector Maigret is nearing retirement age and growing increasingly stout. Paris is hit once again by a series of jewell heists. Maigret has known for twenty years that the Corsican crime boss Manuel Palmari has been behind the crimes. Over the years, Maigret has developed respect and even professional admiration for Palmari. During the middle of the latest crime spree, the wheelchair bound Palmari is found murdered in his apartment. This is Maigret's opportunity to unravel a mystery that has been bothering him for 20 years. This story has all the classic elements that Jules Maigret fans love.

Georges Simenon's Maigret Bides His Time provides an unabridged Jules Maigret mystery telling of a detective plagued by jewelry store heists - in the daylight. The Parisian inspector has his hands full, and Clifford Norgate's background in Shakespearean drama brings the underlying drama to life in this mystery.

Just came back from a trip to France. I bought this in UK before going to Paris and very glad I did that. I drove through the streets in Paris and did not get lost once with this map. (which is amazing for me from past experiences) Easily found a gas station shown on the map when I need one.

This is a wonderful atlas which is helpful on many different levels. Useful for getting around in public transit and on foot. I love Paris and this atlas has helped me love it even more.

I simply love this book. I was twelve when I first read it and dogeared and yellow as it is, it never leaves my bedside table to this day. It is also my heavy-duty travel companion for it is laden with interesting anecdotes of the crème de la crème artists of the turn of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. Misia was the daughter of a Polish sculptor and grew up in haute bourgeoisie Paris. Through her different marriages to the editor of an influential art magazine, a media mogul and a Spanish painter, she had the chance to hobnob with the likes of Verlaine, Mallarmé, Débussy, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Vuillard, Diaghilev, Nijinsky, Satie, Picasso, Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy or Coco Chanel. Try reading it before you undertake your next trip to Paris or while you listen to Débussy's Faune or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. It'll give you new insights on your next visit to the Musée D'Orsay. A fascinating account of a fascinating period in art history.

The list of Misia Sert's friends would read like a who's who of the cultural elite of Paris from the end of the Second Empire-World War II. Lautrec, Picasso, Coucteau, Chanel, the whole Ballet Russe crowd, and of course Proust. She was more a muse than creative genius herself, although she was supposed to have played the piano quite well, something we will never know for sure. This book is an enjoyable read and demonstrates just how wonderful life can be if one is good-looking, wealthy and well-connected.

I was given this book as well as the second and third in the series (Mystery of the Magician and A Scent of Murder) as a birthday gift when I was eleven or twelve. I loved this series as I was very taken with the romaticism of it. It was very exciting to read about a sixteen year old American girl at the turn of the century, visiting France and solving crimes. I lost my originals long ago, and I recall that the books were not bound very well. Pages started to fall apart while I was reading them.

I work in a bookstore that deals in new books only so was unable to order these as they are (obviously) out of print. Imagine my happiness when I found 1-4 yesterday at a used bookstore, for 60% off of the cover price of $3.95. I came here to see if that was all of the series.

Very glad to have found these and surprised to find out what they're going for here, considering what I paid for them! The cover art is beautiful, and there are very nice pen & ink sketches peppering each book.

Would definitely recommend them for pre-teen girls...all of the elements of good reading for that age group. I'm enjoying re-reading them as well. :)

Scour the used sites/stores...you might get lucky.

I loved this book as a young teen, and I was hoping to let my children read it someday. Ms. Howard's descriptions of Paris were so real that I felt like I was the one solving the mystery with Paris. This book should be released again!