Paris

I learned a lot about every day life in France at that time and although she never dwells on the horrific, you get a real sense of how terrible those times were.

I also adored her rather positive outlook on the people. We hear so often about the cowardness, indifference and downright brutality but she shows us that the French were also defiant, brave enough to face death every day....

I cannot recommend this book enough.
Oh ! I know that a lot of people who have read the book wonder what became of her and Kitty Beaurepos, her friend and principal actor in the drama. This is what i have found ... :

From the New York Times, December 25, 1948: "Mrs. Etta Kahn Shiber.....died yesterday at her residence, the Hotel Beacon, Broadway and 75th St, (NYC). She had never fully recovered from a fractured hip, suffered in a fall last summer. Her age was 70." There follows a brief history of her early years, and a five paragraph synopsis of the book Paris Underground.

Also there is a project of a play and a movie (with Winona Ryder) based on the book. Can`t wait...

Having read extensively on the military aspects of WWII-Europe, Paris Underground introduced me to the thrilling world of a completely different kind of soldier -- the resistance fighter. I never expected that a story about two Parisian women could grab and hold my attention so completely. Its was wonderful.

Paris Undergound is a fantastic book with lots of action, intrique, and pure and simple heroism. Thats one of the reasons it was selected as part of Time Life Books' collection: Classics of World War II.

Perhaps the best advice was the tidbit about spending time at the top of the Samaritaine department store next to the Louvre. For the price of a glass of wine or capuccino, we marveled at the incredible panoramic view of the heart of Paris.

The book itself was extremely handy and fit perfectly in a jacket pocket or even a small purse. It was easy to use because points of interest were color-coded (even noted what would be interesting to children) and numbered for those who braved walking around this beautiful city. The more adventurous would surely find the quick reference guide to public transportation helpful.

Can't think of a better guide to take on a first-tour trip than the Tripbuilder. As we cover more cities, the Tripbuilder series is all the information we need.

William Atwood is a dermatologist, and his descriptions of the medical thinking and practice of the time were especially interesting to me. As a holistic practitioner, I appreciated his discussion of the popularity of homeopathy in the 19th century. Chopin, of course, used homeopathy instead of the brutal methods of the allopathic doctors of his time, and seems to have been far better off than he would have been otherwise.

This book was a great help to me in clarifying Chopin's place in his time and adopted country. I expect to refer to it often.

The author, William Atwood, has written two previous books on Chopin and in this third book he shows that he has a deep understanding for Chopin and his time. Covering the period from 1831 to 1849 Atwood covers all manner of subjects in his discussion of Paris, that beautiful city that seemed to produce some of the greatest artists in Europe. The author provides you with an insight into the social and artistic scene as well as some of the more interesting people, places and activities of Paris.

The book covers not only music and musicians but poets, writers, painters, the opera and theatre, medicine, bohemians, people of the street and how they all lived and survived during this turbulent period. The story just flows along smoothly and some of the stories are just amazing.

For instance when Paris decided to solve the sewage problem that tended to blot the city streets they changed the roadways contours from concave to convex allowing the swill and sewage to run off the roads into the new drainage system. The only problem with this was that not all the drains were properly covered and children often fell through the drains into the underground sewer system!

Another interesting little story in the chapter on medicine informs the reader that during the craze for bleeding as a form of combating illness that swept Paris during the early 1830's it was estimated that by 1833 Paris was importing 41.5 million leeches a year!

One of my favourite stories was the tragic tale of Alphonsine Plessis, the lady of the camellias, which can be found in the chapter regarding bohemians and demimondes (I don't want to spoil the story for anyone so you will have to buy the book and read it for yourself). According the Atwood the people of Paris still leave offerings of flowers on her tomb at the cemetery at Montmarte.

For anyone who loves good history, the arts or just a well-written book I am sure they will enjoy this story. In the pages you will find some of the greatest names in the world of the arts, Frederic Chopin, Eugene Delacroix, George Sand, Honore de Balzac, Hector Berlioz, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt, and many many more. The book also provides numerous black and white illustrations showing Paris, its people and its buildings, during this time. This is a great story, an enjoyable read and an interesting piece of history.

This is one of my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Keene did a fantastic job with creating an elaborate, yet intricately woven mystery, in which teen Nancy Drew fans will relish in. A must-have this year. Especially around Thanksgiving.

Erika Sorocco

Quote

Anne-Marie Villefranche's books have been published and re-published as stand alone novels, and, most vexingly as mutliple book novels such as this book Passion D'Amour, with, a new title that has a tendency to obscure the original titles. So, if your are like moi, an afficionado of erotica the chances are excellent that you will have multiple copies of this authors' book ..... that may be the bad news, but, the good news is that her books are fabulous enough that you'll always have a copy nearby to read when you want to while away solitary moments.

This book (Passion d'Amour) has two full novels....

1) Palisir d'Amour 2) Joi d'Amour

In 'Plaisir' the author takes us on a rollercoaster ride of 10 short stories with different characters, plots and settings. Each story of approximately 20 to 30 pages is so well written and so well developed that the reader does not feel cheated after finishing the story and demnding more. Each story has its own climax (so to say) and the characters are so well developed to make the tale viable.

The author very masterfully is able to tell a story without having to get into lengthly set-up before the story even begins. She does this by very deftly tying all the characters together as the sons, daughters, wives etc of a large well known and libidinous Parisienne family in the 1920's .... absolutely marvellous ....

To give you a flavour of the book, in the first story, Jeanne Takes A Lover' we find the young Christophe Brissard (some think this is the author's family) meeting the very married Jeanne Vernay (another well known Parisienne family) at a family dinner. Jeanne visits Christophe in his bedroom, after everyone went to bed, and our two lovers waste little time in tasting the fruits of the flesh. Jeanne however keeps warning Christophe that during his lovemaking he takes her to heights she has never been before and she is very scared. Their secret encounters continue while Christphe and jeanne slowly teach each other to let loose their inhibitions.

In 'Joie d'Amour' we find a similar number of scrumptios short stories. In 'A Lesson for Bernard' a young Bernard Gaillard meets a married Simone Lebrun at a Brissard family dinner. Since taking a lover is such a very very French thing to do Simone and Bernard eventually find themselves together in bed where
Simone is more intersted in using her hands to make love to Bernard than other parts of her body. Although she gives in to Bernards requirment to complete the sex act, Simone simply explains to him that this does not give her the ultimate
pleasure she yearns for, but, she would just rather play with him using her hands. The young Bernard is so disconcerted he seeks the advice of more learned friends to be able to reconcile Simones wants and wishes to his desire to continue the clandestine affair....

Wonderfull works of erotic literature I recommend any of Veillefranches book highly ....

You don't need to go to Paris with a lover to enjoy this book although, with all the sensual treats described within, you're certainly going to want one :-)

The map was easy to read and through all our fighting over it and folding and unfolding, the map stayed in tact! It's also waterproof!

It was so worth the money! We got lost once when we travelled far off the map. But it really is the best map out there! We are keeping it for our next visit!