Paris

I am one of those who became entranced by Louise Brooks after seeing her in "Pandora's Box". She appeared to be highly sexual, intelligent, and to be marching to the sound of a drummer that she alone heard within herself. It turns out that she was all of this. This is an excellent biography and a lesson about what happens to those who despise the opportunities that life presents to us and to those whose lives are driven by sex rather than common sense. Louise Brooks was a very modern woman despite having been a star of the silent screen. She made only a few films but her performances in those films stand up with the great performances of today and their naturalism makes the acting of most silent screen starlets seem idiotic. While other actresses were concerned with nothing but their looks, Brooks was reading Shaw and Proust. While others did all they could to ingratiate themselves with the movie studios, Brooks had nothing but indifference for them. She turned her back on fame, fortune, and power. She could have had a brilliant career but always sabotaged her chances. She had beauty and incredible sex appeal. She had Chaplin as a lover. She wrote. She lives on today as an image of a woman ahead of her time and also as a tragic waste. Her own difficult personality drove everyone away. Her lack of discipline was childish. She fascinates. This is the best biography we will ever get of her. Recommended.

This Bio does not look upon Louise Brooks as sympathetically as other's Bio's do. Here we feel that we are being told the truth - as not everything in her life was perfect, or admirable, or even sympathetic. Louise Brooks was still a person who did things her way. And this books tells us what her was. A wonderful look at a wonderful Actress, Dancer and Writer.

An all-emcompassing book for fans of Louise Brooks. It has interesting stories and beautiful photos.

Mandie is in France with her Grandmother, her friend Celia, and her Grandmother's friend Senator Morton.
Accompanying them is Jonathan Guyer, a stowaway they found on the ship in the previous book. Since his father can't get him then, they agree to take him to his aunt and uncle's house in Paris.
But when they arrive, they can't locate his relatives. Then Jonathan is kidnapped, and Mandie and Celia chase the carriage until it stops at a large, forbidding castle. Do Mandie and Celia have the nerve to go in and rescue him? Find out!

I enjoyed this book very much, the part about Uncle Ned. If you notice, Uncle Ned is in every book, and Snowball is in every picture, except 'Mandie and the Forbidden Attic.'
Sorry, but the books about Mandie going to Europe are all slow going. They're all interesting, but slow going. I was the teeniest bit bored with them.
But they're still good books, and I recommend them to anyone.

This book is so great because I just love Mandie and I have every Mandie book. My reccomedation is: Read it!

This is a Great Mandie Book. She has just arrived in Europe with Celia and Jonathan, the stowaway. There is a mysterious telegram waiting for Mandie at the hotel. This leads to another mystery, and three mysterious french speaking girls. The strange lady from the ship appears again. Mandie and Celia get lost in Paris, with nothing to lead the way back to the hotel but the Eifle tower. Then someone unexpected shows up... This is a very good Mandie Book which you must read. But be sure to read the books in order to understand them most.

This is an outstanding atlas. The book's size is very convenient, it is easy to carry, and fits nicely into a purse or a coat pocket. The map scale is excellent. All details that a visitor would need such as car parks, metro and RER stops, post offices, churches and every possible building and landmark are clearly marked on each page of the atlas. The detailed maps show all side streets so we never had any fear of getting lost on our walks. There are also separate pages for the bus, metro, and train lines serving the Paris area. The atlas is limited to the central Paris area so a visitor would need additional, larger scale maps of the Paris region if travel plans include driving to the city or around its various extended suburbs. This is the only set of maps you would need if your travel plans include the usual tourist attractions (the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, etc). However, this is not a guide book, so you will need a separate tour book of the city.

Excellent for walking, driving, and even taking metro. I purchased the 2000 edition and it's very easy to read and also has a metro map and regional train map. Valuable indexes for all streets, museums, schools, landmarks, etc. as well as for emergency phone numbers. If you're going to Paris and are buying only one book to prepare for the trip (highly unlikely...!), then get this one!

This is the best one that can fit in your pocket. Michelin always puts out maps of fine detail and great color, yet easy to use. I've tried a number of street atlases in Paris but I found this to be the best and most useful.

As I opened this book, I wondered whether I would be disappointed by yet another author who pushes aside the possibility of pre-birth communication. I have read books on the dreams of pregnancy that speak of symbols, wish fulfillment, and the mind's tendency to sift through possible outcomes. It takes courage to assert that some dreams may be genuine communications from the soul of the unborn child. Raina M. Paris has that courage. This is a wonderfully satisfying book, written with the touch of a poet and full of common sense. There are rich chapters devoted to both the mother's and father's experiences, exercises to increase dream awareness, and an insightful glossary of common dream symbols as they pertain to pregnancy. One of the most delightful aspects of Paris's style is the way she accepts premonitory dreams as entirely natural events, "mysteriously ordinary, like life." This is the approach I prefer in dealing with all channels of pre-birth communication.

As pregnant women and mothers, we are force fed consumerism as we give birth to the newest generation of the American consumer--we must stop and tune into our souls, our children's future and our own hearts. Ms. Paris' book provides this much needed stop sign in a busy world. Motherhood needs to be acknowledged for the spiritual transformation that it is, and not as the ultimate ride down the birth canal into a material world. Ms. Paris' book offers insights and fresh perspective into the dream world that we cross into when we become mothers. It is soul food in a material world. Forego the "What booties to buy" book and buy this book instead. It will change your dreams, your future and your child's entry into its conscious dream--LIFE. Also a wonderful chapter on men and fathers to be--who are equally as important at every stage of a child's life.

This is a warm and wise book, lovingly written, on the myriad and wonderful ways that soul moves in the lives of those chosen to give birth. It offers sure and steady counsel for the unfolding of an inner process which might otherwise seem bewildering and overwhelming. Ms.Paris writes straight from the heart, with a sure knowledge of her subject. A must for all prospective mothers-to-be, and for their mates as well.

This guide, like others in the Cadogan's range is chock full of information, and not photos. If you are looking for maps (other than a Metro and RER railway map inside the back cover and the walking maps) and colour pictures you are advised to look elsewhere.

After opening chapters looking at 'Paris in a Weekend' ,practicalities, history, art and architecture and several short pieces on topics such as dog poo and modernism (well worth reading - very entertaining, but make sure your spectacles prescription is up to date - the print in this section is very small!), the guide really gets into its strength.

The bulk of the book is built around 11 different walks, in 11 different neighbourhoods. All are thoroughly described with an accompanying easy-to-follow black and white map. Each walk has an indication of how long it will take (excluding museum visits), suggestions for restaurants and cafes on the route and comprehensive information on the sites.

This makes the book perfect for a visitor spending an extended time in Paris, who wants to discover the city the best way possible, or for the repeat visitor who has the good fortune to be able to return to Paris time and again.

After the Walks, the museums of Paris are listed and cross-referenced to where they occur in the Walks text. The Louvre and Musee d'Orsay are described at length. A section then follows on peripheral attractions - lying further afield than central Paris. There are listings for restaurants, accommodation and nightlife venues.

The writing in Cadogans tends towards the opinionated, witty, slightly ironic (but not smart-alec) and drily understated British style. It appeals to me in the same way as Rough Guides do.

This is not a book for the first-time short-term visitor intending to see the "Top Five" and then move on. There are plenty of other guides catering to that market, and fulfilling their brief admirably (try Rick Steves, Let's Go, Frommer, Lonely Planet for example). But if you want a book with some substance and detail which will be just as rewarding a read back at your hotel as accompanying you on your on-foot rambles around this beautiful city, then I can't recommend it highly enough.

Opinionated, controversial, occasionally intolerant, sometimes jarringly critical, but always possessing at heart a deep affection for the city, this guide will point your gaze towards places people, places and events that may well be unknown to the majority of born and bred Parisians.

It is deeply learned, but never stuffy, memorably describing the decor of one church and "cold potatoes", the descriptions on the walks ensure that once you arrive at a given site, you are aware of its historical and architectural context.

Previous reviewers have referred to the guided walks in the book, and these are indeed its jewel. It will absolutely make so much more of your time in Paris than you could have believed possible if you make the effort to follow as many of them as you can. They are not arduous treks, they can be leisurely strolls and the book makes sure that you know the very best places to stop an eat (or drink) on the way.

Buy the book, read the history (also humourous, but quite bloody) on the way, use it whilst there, and relive your Parisian peregrinations on the way back by rereading the walks you had a chance to follow.

You will want to go back

The walking tours in this book are incredible. Fun, interesting, perfect directions (even for those of us who are directionally challenged!). The history, art, architecture sections are also well worth reading and opinionated just enough to make them truly interesting and unique. I plan on buying as many other travel books by this couple as I can find.

I thought the book was very amusing and enjoyable to read. The charactors were ell thought out and very funny at times. The descriptions of the settings gave you a detailed picture in your mind.

WOW! this book was the best of the three in this series! it was really sweet and well, it was about this girl who was spending the year in france and she wanted to meet a romantic french guy, and then she sees this guy from her home town back in the US and he just wants a french girl who he can't speak too, because he doesnt know french and she doesnt know english to make out with. then slowly they start to fall for each other! IT IS A MUST READ!!

This is an amazing book! I read Kit and Robin, (The London part of this series) first, but you dont have to. Rachel Hawthorne does an amazing job on this book... All Dana wants is to fall in love with a romantic Parisian guy, because Paris is the city of romance...Sometimes love is found in the most unexpected places...

Herb Moore left the "Island" the day I arrived from the balmy Bronx. The nexy day Sgt. Egge picked up Platoon 375. We outposted on 5 December 63. There are some dates you will never forget!! Moore captures Sgt. Egge magnificently. He is a man who is burnt not in my mind but in my soul. Fear and pain must be over come. I did not grasp this until two + years later when I went to Viet Nam, Republic of. Never saw Egge again. Strange, it is close to 40 years and I still hear the cadence call.

Herb you done good and got it like none before you.

Herb L. Moore, an enlisted Marine from South Carolina who served during the Vietnam era, gives an excellent account of his own USMC boot camp experiences at Parris Island.

While this book does not have quite the commercial "spit shine" of other books that address boot camp, I actually appreciated it more than other related books due to the fact that the author recounts recruit training experiences with a bit more honest "true grit" than other accounts. His description is offered as seen through the eyes of a recruit versus the eyes of a detached author as with so many other military books written today.

In addition to a very good account of daily boot camp life, Herb Moore also provides near the conclusion of his book a provoking discussion on why tough training is needed in order to have Marine's ready to handle combat experience. His words ring with an air of wisdom and truth that, again, you won't find as frankly discussed in many other books.

Herb Moore is to be highly commended for authoring this book. If you are looking for a philosophical and detailed explanation of the Corps place in society, I would recommend Thomas Rick's "Making the Corps", and if you are looking for a book that chronicles the training regimen of USMC boot camp then I would recommend Daniel Da Cruz's "Boot", but if you are looking for an engaging and honest account of what boot camp life is like when viewed through the eyes of a recruit than I would strongly recommend grabbing "Rows of Corn" first!

Semper Fi, John G. Kennedy (USMC 1996 - 1999)

I went through basic training at Parris Island the same year as the author. I found this book to be the only accurate description of what happened in Marine Corps boot camp. The descriptions of the DI's were right on target. The relentless stress is written between the words so accurately I felt like I was back in 1963. I wonder why no one has made a movie on this book. A great read of a real life experience!!

Canadian writer Morley Callaghan (1903-1990) published 16 novels and more than 100 works of short fiction, and he was one of the first Canadian authors to make his living solely from his craft. Callaghan believed in capturing the bare truth and honest emotional content of people's lives, so his prose shuns stylistic busyness. Edmund Wilson called him "the most unjustly neglected novelist in the English-speaking world," and Maxwell Perkins called him the world's best short story writer.

THAT SUMMER IN PARIS, as a memoir of Paris in the 20s, is every bit as engaging a book, if more limited in scope, as Hemingway's A MOVEABLE FEAST. The book begins with Callaghan's inspiring story of meeting Hemingway while working on the same paper in Toronto--at the time Callaghan was in his early 20s (still in college), and Hemingway was a couple years older. Hemingway had temporarily left Paris and was in town working for the paper to provide his wife Hadley with the benefits of Toronto hospitals during childbirth. Hemingway quickly became a sort of literary patron for Callaghan and, when he returned to Europe, took Callaghan's short stories with him and passed them around Paris. Fitzgerald became enthusiastic about Callaghan's work and also began championing him with Paris and New York publishers. After Callaghan published 2 books of fiction (in no small part due to the help of his "Paris friends"), Callaghan finally made his own visit, with his wife, to Paris in 1929. The anecdotes he recounts are simply marvelous, and I can't recommend the book highly enough. Boxing matches with Hemingway, Fitzgerald's drunken histrionics, a strange evening with Joyce and a phonograph... it's priceless stuff.

I had never heard of Morley Callghan before reading this book. Which is unfortunate because the book is hard to put down. It is well-written, informative, amusing, thought provoking and gives insight into several notable literary figures from a first hand perspective.

They say that timing is everything and the fact that this particular writer just happened to be sitting on the Boulevard Montparnasse on the right evening of the right year, means we have a further insight into the lives of those Paris expatriates, Hemingway and Fitzgerald and others. At the same time, this may be an opportunity for some people to discover Morley Callaghan, who is a very fine writer in his own right. His life ran parallel to Hemingway's for some time, as they met in Toronto and later in Paris and remained friends thereafter, even if they saw each other only rarely. In a sense, he is just the person to give us a penetrating look behind the legends that were being created in the cafés and bars of the ville lumière at the end of the thirties. This is a delightful book as well; Callaghan is nobody's fool, which means he's not writing for the mundane reasons that might otherwise be expected, and you can trust him. He is painting a portrait of a world teetering on the very brink (it is the summer of 1929), and in his own artful way, he has succeeded in giving us a rare glimpse into the ill-lit streets and nightclubs just before it all fades away into the decade of hopelessness that followed. It's well worth finding this book if you can - it's a little gem.

Marguerite's father Jacques is the most famous manuscript illuminator in Paris, when he is injured and cannot finish the book he is working on, Marguerite sets out to do it for him. We see Marguerite travelling round Paris buying the things she needs to complete the book, then we see her preparing the pages, mixing the paints, and completing the picture her father was working on. The story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations showing life in medieval Paris and details of illuminated manuscripts. This charming book is an ideal intoduction to the middle ages for children (especially girls) showing that there was more to the period than knights in armour and plague. A lovely and unusual book.

600 years ago, Lady Isabelle of Paris ordered a book from Papa Jacques, a famous book maker and he has only three days left to finish it. However, Jaqueses' eyeglasses is broken. So Jaqueses' daughter, Marguerite finished the book for him. Margurite went to Master Raymond's house for gold leafs, a farm for parchment, the market for eggs, goose feathers,parsley, and a pot of honey, and finally the apothcary for dried saffron flowers, madder roots, a cake of vermilion, some wax, pine pitch, and some lapis lazuli stone. At her house, Marguerite prepared he pens and paint. Then Marguerite started to paint. On one page, which was decorated with Lady Isabelle's favorite daises Marguerite colored Lady Isabelle's robe and hair. When Isebelle came to check on the book, she was very impressed.

Wow, this book has the most beautiful illustrations I have seen in a long time! My daughter and I just love the story and the fold out pages! We have been inspired to do more digging into this topic. I am going to share this book with my Grade 2 and 3 art students. A definite must for little artists.

Yes, Baudelaire, himself told to his friend Troubat:"These are The flowers of evil again, but with more freedom,much more detailes, and much more mockery". Noone before Baudelaire has ever concepted the poem in prose which would express so many special, original and protesting sensations. This urban, very personal poetry is a product of the metropolitan noisy atmosphere, and as it is surrounded with fog of overpopulated, but yet unexplored areas.This poetry expresses more than the actual meaning of the words is telling.Spleen is created of prose and pure poetry, of the reflection of the analytical spirit and intuitive introspection.The apostle of pain and depression,Baudelaire is the one who analyzes his own and other people's sins, expresses himself as a moralist in this book as well.

Charles Baudelaire's Paris Spleen is a wonderfully original work, one happily outside the framework of American literature and its broad range of sensibilities. Most notably, these 51 short prose poems illustrate how truth, and the most accurate perceptions of life possible, can be reached purely by honing the senses and then melding them with the more passive facilities of the mind; logic and rational thinking, as demonstrated here, are for the vulgar, those in denial, those simply unable to accept the very rich, very broad, self-evident smorgasbord of life. Baudelaire, both a tragic and a comedic clown, also effortlessly illustrates how melancholy and joy are by no means mutually exclusive categories of human feeling and experience.

Set largely against specifically autumnal landscapes, our wandering poet indulges in "the mysterious and aristocratic pleasure of watching" whenever he is not a direct participant in the events these visionary pieces describe. Solitary, 'fluent in outrage,' cranky, self-tormented, lovelorn, misanthropic, and pedagogical by turns, these pieces find the poet stalking bereaved widows, peering unseen through the candle-lit windows of neighbor's homes, asking philosophical questions of "enigmatical" strangers, shunning crowds, luxuriating in midnight solitude, greeting the twilight with a bow, reading the time of day in a cat's eyes, "suffering before Beauty" in all its forms, futilely but vocally castigating inflexible Dame Nature, advising the world on the varieties of glorious drunkenness, dreaming of tempting devils, beating the poor, pitying aged, poverty-stricken circus performers, rebelling against infinity, arguing with mistresses, and listening, eavesdropping, and relentlessly observing wherever he goes.

Not surprisingly, the poet's vision of urban Paris lies somewhere between the multiple canvases of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec; garishly colored, slightly grotesque, heavily populated with heavy, heaving women and friable grande dames, Baudelaire's city is a fluid and respiring stage for life's pantomime, open to and allowing for all combinations and possibilities. By contrast, his autumnal countryside is a place of relative purity, where the poet wanders alone under piercing blue skies and roaming, shadow-casting clouds.

In one of the more hallucinatory episodes, the poet, "under a vast gray sky, on a vast and dusty plain" comes upon a short procession of men with "worn and serious faces," each of whom carries a very large, monstrous chimera on his back, the muscles, tendons and limbs of the beasts wrapped tightly around them. None the wiser after his inevitable questions, the poet observes that "under the depressing dome of the sky" the men moved past and beyond him, each "with the resigned look of men who are condemned to hope forever."

Paris Spleen is a wise, serious, and occasionally dour work. But if its only sometimes-tragic underpinnings and conclusions are embraced by the reader, then its vibrant, bawdy, colorful, and transcendent aspect will reveal itself shamelessly in turn. Baudelaire is so confident, unselfconscious, and plain-spoken that his perceptions are remarkably easy to visualize, his emotions as expressed easy to share and make one's own. It's a rare book that is as multi-prismed as this.

Baudelaire implies that if man could accept mortality, reasonably subdue his ego, and curb his more flagrant dreams, life would fall into the glittering, far from perfect, but certainly tolerable and potentially enjoyable miracle it really is. The poet seems to reach the same conclusion about life that Isak Dinsen does at the end of Out Of Africa: man must accept, without exclusion, every facet, aspect, element, and component of existence before existence-before life--will give anything back to man.

In no way a despairing book, Paris Spleen is a sheer pleasure to read, contemplate, discuss, laugh over, and digest. Readers will carry their copy in their back pocket until it falls into tatters, and force copies on friends, family, and strangers. Beautifully translated by Louise Varese. Highly recommended, especially to the non-creative who would like to see, however briefly, as a poet sees.

The book that helped me overcome my prejudice against poetry--I carried "Paris Spleen" around with me for a couple of weeks after I first read it, and kept turning back to certain poems as I went about my daily errands. Even though it's nearly 150 years old it seems as timely and contemporary as it must have seemed when it was first published--absolutely top-notch.