Literary Cafés of Paris


Book Description

That quintessential Parisian establishment, the sidewalk cafe, figures prominently in the city's cultural life. For centuries, native-born and expatriate writers have gathered in cafes to eat, drink, and seek inspiration. Visit the places where Hugo, Dumas, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus sought their muse. Includes a glossary of cafe types, food, and drink.




The World of the Paris Café


Book Description

In The World of the Paris Café, W. Scott Haine investigates what the working-class café reveals about the formation of urban life in nineteenth-century France. Café society was not the product of a small elite of intellectuals and artists, he argues, but was instead the creation of a diverse and changing working population. Making unprecedented use of primary sources—from marriage contracts to police and bankruptcy records—Haine investigates the café in relation to work, family life, leisure, gender roles, and political activity. This rich and provocative study offers a bold reinterpretation of the social history of the working men and women of Paris.







Paris Cafe: The Slect Crowd (Large Print 16pt)


Book Description

This first book about the famous Select Cafe in Paris' richly illustrated with the faces of its patrons' gives a unique glimpse into the daily rhythm and social and intellectual life of a literary cafe. Here is an intimate view - - in word and image - - of its waiters and artist patrons' enabling one to understand the importance of cafe life - - that third great place of every Parisian or would - be Parisian. See here the famous Montparnasse cafe that has been so vital to Paris life for nearly nine decades; from Hemingway' Beauvoir' Picasso' James Baldwin' and George Plimpton to the writers and artists who continue to work quietly here in the back room and meet their friends late in the day for drinks. The artists have their work on the walls' the novelists include the cafe setting in their fiction. The quiet and drama of the Select world illustrates the centrality of cafes - - particularly this one - - to Parisian social' cultural' and intellectual life. The book gives narrative introductions and witty drawings of cafe clientele and staff and is organized through a history of the Select cafe' its daily and seasonal rhythms' particular colorful clientele' and a few of its typical cafe/brasserie food (including a few recipes).




Paris Café


Book Description

Acclaimed author Noël Riley Fitch, abetted by noted artist Rick Tulka, serves the dish on Select, the famous Montparnasse café that for nearly nine decades has been so vital to Paris and its intellectual denizens: from Hemingway, Beauvoir, Picasso, James Baldwin, and George Plimpton to the writers and artists who continue to work quietly there in the back room or heatedly debate every topic imaginable into the night. The artists have their work on the walls; the novelists include the café setting in their fiction. The quiet and drama of the Sélect world illustrates the centrality of cafés — particularly this one — to Parisian social, cultural, and intellectual life. Blending pithy profiles and witty drawings of clientele and staff, the book is organized around a history of the café, its daily and seasonal rhythms, particular colorful patrons, and even its typical café/brasserie food (including a few recipes).




The Thinking Space


Book Description

The cafe is not only a place to enjoy a cup of coffee, it is also a space - distinct from its urban environment - in which to reflect and take part in intellectual debate. Since the eighteenth century in Europe, intellectuals and artists have gathered in cafes to exchange ideas, inspirations and information that has driven the cultural agenda for Europe and the world. Without the café, would there have been a Karl Marx or a Jean-Paul Sartre? The café as an institutional site has been the subject of renewed interest amongst scholars in the past decade, and its role in the development of art, ideas and culture has been explored in some detail. However, few have investigated the ways in which cafés create a cultural and intellectual space which brings together multiple influences and intellectual practices and shapes the urban settings of which they are a part. This volume presents an international group of scholars who consider cafés as sites of intellectual discourse from across Europe during the long modern period. Drawing on literary theory, history, cultural studies and urban studies, the contributors explore the ways in which cafes have functioned and evolved at crucial moments in the histories of important cities and countries - notably Paris, Vienna and Italy. Choosing these sites allows readers to understand both the local particularities of each café while also seeing the larger cultural connections between these places. By revealing how the café operated as a unique cultural context within the urban setting, this volume demonstrates how space and ideas are connected. As our global society becomes more focused on creativity and mobility the intellectual cafés of past generations can also serve as inspiration for contemporary and future knowledge workers who will expand and develop this tradition of using and thinking in space.




The Black Swan of Paris


Book Description

An exquisite WWII novel illuminating the strength of three women in occupied Paris, for fans of The Nightingale, The Alice Network and The Lost Girls of Paris. "A truly outstanding novel...reminds us of the power of love, hope and courage."—Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz Paris, 1944 Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance. When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion. The resistance movement is tasked with silencing her by any means necessary—including assassination. But Genevieve refuses to let her mother become yet one more victim of the war. Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of Occupied France undetected—and in time to save Lillian’s life. In this heart-wrenching novel, bestselling author Karen Robards showcases the extraordinary lengths one goes to save their family from a German prison. A web of spies, the resistance and a vivid portrayal of Paris in wartime.




Paris in Bloom


Book Description

“Get ready for a beauty overload. It’s food for the soul, it’s a book of dreams and details, of flowers so perfect you want to hug them to you.” —Carla Coulson, author of Paris Tango Paris—City of Love, City of Light, City of Flowers. From elegant floral boutiques to lively flower markets to glorious blooming trees and expansive public gardens, flowers are the essential ingredient to the lush sensory bouquet that is Parisian life. With beautiful photography, Paris in Bloom transports readers on a stunning floral tour of the city, and provides recommendations to the best flower markets and a detailed guide to spring blooms. Timeless in content, Paris in Bloom is a book for Paris lovers to savor again and again, one to keep on the nightstand to conjure fond memories of their first visit and inspire dreams of the next. “Brilliantly captures the splendor of French fleurs with lush photographs and elegant prose . . . A masterpiece!” —Laura Dowling, former chief floral designer at the White House “I don’t know how Georgianna does it. She manages to make Paris, already the most beautiful city in the world, appear even more charming, more elegant and more beautiful than it already is . . . Paris in Bloom is filled with a veritable carpet of pinks and whites, pastels and green portraits that make me let out an audible sigh of joy. This book can re-inspire you to believe that yes, life really is quite beautiful.” —Doni Belau, author of Paris Cocktails “Destined to become a classic of its type, Paris in Bloom is Georgianna Lane’s love letter to Paris and to flowers.”—Gray Levett, editor of Nikon Owner magazine




A Paris Year


Book Description

An illustrated love letter to the City of Light.




Hungry for Paris (second edition)


Book Description

If you’re passionate about eating well, you couldn’t ask for a better travel companion than Alexander Lobrano’s charming, friendly, and authoritative Hungry for Paris, the fully revised and updated guide to this renowned culinary scene. Having written about Paris for almost every major food and travel magazine since moving there in 1986, Lobrano shares his personal selection of the city’s best restaurants, from bistros featuring the hottest young chefs to the secret spots Parisians love. In lively prose that is not only informative but a pleasure to read, Lobrano reveals the ambience, clientele, history, and most delicious dishes of each establishment—alongside helpful maps and beautiful photographs that will surely whet your appetite for Paris. Praise for Hungry for Paris “Hungry for Paris is required reading and features [Alexander Lobrano’s] favorite 109 restaurants reviewed in a fun and witty way. . . . A native of Boston, Lobrano moved to Paris in 1986 and never looked back. He served as the European correspondent for Gourmet from 1999 until it closed in 2009 (also known as the greatest job ever that will never be a job again). . . . He also updates his website frequently with restaurant reviews, all letter graded.”—Food Republic “Written with . . . flair and . . . acerbity is the new, second edition of Alexander Lobrano’s Hungry for Paris, which includes rigorous reviews of what the author considers to be the city’s 109 best restaurants [and] a helpful list of famous Parisian restaurants to be avoided.”—The Wall Street Journal “A wonderful guide to eating in Paris.”—Alice Waters “Nobody else has such an intimate knowledge of what is going on in the Paris food world right this minute. Happily, Alexander Lobrano has written it all down in this wonderful book.”—Ruth Reichl “Delightful . . . the sort of guide you read before you go to Paris—to get in the mood and pick up a few tips, a little style.”—Los Angeles Times “No one is ‘on the ground’ in Paris more than Alec Lobrano. . . . This book will certainly make you hungry for Paris. But even if you aren’t in Paris, his tales of French dining will seduce you into feeling like you are here, sitting in your favorite bistro or sharing a carafe of wine with a witty friend at a neighborhood hotspot.”—David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris “Hungry for Paris is like a cozy bistro on a chilly day: It makes you feel welcome.”—The Washington Post “This book will make readers more than merely hungry for the culinary riches of Paris; it will make them ravenous for a dining companion with Monsieur Lobrano’s particular warmth, wry charm, and refreshingly pure joie de vivre.”—Julia Glass “[Lobrano is] a wonderful man and writer who might know more about Paris restaurants than any other person I’ve ever met.”—Elissa Altman, author of Poor Man’s Feast