Category: Book Group

When in French

I recently finished a book that surprised and delighted me so much that I need to share.

For a couple of years, I’ve received New Yorker writer Lauren Collins’ e-mail newsletter and followed her on Twitter, but I never intended to read her book, When in French: Love in Second Language. I assumed (falsely) it would be a personal memoir about her love life, maybe a more realistic version of “Emily in Paris.” (I knew from Collins’ Twitter feed of her scorn for Emily.) A couple of weeks ago, stopping by the public library near my winter home, I saw a stack of these books on a table and picked it up on a whim. (One great thing about the library: if you don’t like a book, simply return it with no remorse.)

No one resembling the fictional Emily is in this tale and neither is Paris. The setting is primarily Geneva, where Collins relocates with her new husband and begins to learn his language. The couple met in London and fell in love in English. Although the relationship provides the raison d’être for the book, the story is primarily a deep dive into the role of language in our lives and culture.

Collins explores the mysteries of language and how it has fascinated philosophers, academics and some oddball characters through the centuries. She is particularly attuned to considering how language influences individual thought and behavior as well as the culture in which it is spoken. Although her direct experience is in English and French, she draws from a broad range of encounters, contemporary and historic, highlighting consequences from amusing to tragic that have occurred when languages collide.

Collins relates her personal experiences of French acquisition reshaping her relationships and interactions. Centrally, learning her husband’s language reduced their misunderstandings and provided a crucial window into his psyche. As she progresses in her French classes, she begins to pick out fragments of his conversation with others. One evening she is listening to him speak to his brother on the phone and notices his use of the word quoi to punctuate sentences. “Even as it dawns on me that I may have pledged lifelong devotion to a man who ends every sentence with the equivalent of ‘dude,’ I’m taken by an eerie joy. Four years after having met Olivier, I’m hearing his voice for the first time.”

Out in the wider world, Collins’ perceptions also change. For example, her American egalitarian background initially caused her to recoil at the French distinction between the familiar and the formal: “The necessity of classifying each person one came across as vous or tu, outsider or insider, potential foe or friend, seemed at best a pomposity and at worst an act of paranoia.” Eventually this dissonance reverses: “The correctness that French requires revealed itself as not vanity but courtesy, guaranteeing that every person, however weak or humble, commanded a measure of respect.” She relates hearing a Homeland Security officer address an older man ahead of her in line at arrivals in New York and that his “undifferentiated English ‘you’ hit me like a bludgeon.”

Cultural differences not related to language are also observed. One in particular will strike at the heart of American moms. Towards the end of the book, Collins gives birth to her first child. Her description of the standard services provided by the Swiss hospital are almost too much to bear for those accustomed to U.S. healthcare. The coup de grace: on the day after her daughter’s birth, an aesthetician arrives in her hospital room to offer her a pedicure, manicure, foot massage or hair style, a soin postnatal to which every new mother is entitled “to help her feel more like herself.”

Finally, one of my favorite tales in this book doesn’t involve language at all. Lauren and Olivier rent a house in Corsica for a week and bring their families together for a vacation. The American contingent doesn’t speak any French, and some of the French contingent doesn’t speak English. But they are all in, ready to embrace each other in their differences and commonalities. Olivier has informed his family that the Americans typically eat breakfast by grabbing leftovers from the fridge while standing in the kitchen. His French parents proceed to the kitchen, gamely prepared to try the American custom. Meanwhile, Lauren’s parents are on the patio, seated at the table and ready for petit dejeuner in the French manner. The French custom prevails as it has attracted converts and really, who wouldn’t prefer baguettes, coffee and conversation at table?

I’m reluctant to return this book to the library. (I will! I will! I can never be even one day late). But perhaps I’ll buy a copy so I can read it again, and again.

Bordeaux, du vin

So summer sidetracked the project a bit, but let’s get back to it.

This week’s video.

As I mentioned last time, the northern part of the Aquitaine region is probably best known for Bordeaux, France’s most celebrated wine. Indeed, its global fame helps keep the premier cru out of the price range of ordinary mortals. For a fascinating film on this subject, check out Red Obsession, a 2013 documentary about the nouveau riche in China paying insane prices for the Bordeaux luxury brands.

Happily, all is not lost for the budget-minded wine enthusiast. Bordeaux has thousands of wineries and most of them are ignored by the Chinese. Not all of them produce excellent wine, but a good wine merchant can steer you to the values. My neighborhood wine shop stocks multiple wines we have enjoyed from Bordeaux for less than $20/bottle; for some vintages, such as 2015, he tells me that even mediocre producers had great success.

Most Bordeaux is red wine blended from several grapes, and the region is divided by the river Garonne, which creates the “Left Bank” and “Right Bank” subcategories of Bordeaux. Books have been written on the breadth and diversity of Bordeaux wine classifications, and I won’t attempt to write another one here. For a good, concise primer, check out these 10 essential facts from Vincarta. Easy! Now off to the wine shop.

The city of Bordeaux, which is supposedly the second most visited city in France after Paris, is a must stop for anyone wanting to explore the region’s viniculture in person. In 2016, the world’s most eye-popping wine museum opened in Bordeaux. La Cité du Vin is likely to be a premier cru destination for the wine tourist.

La Cité du Vin. Alice Veaux [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Bordeaux is also a hub for booking tours to the area chateaux. Expect to be set back about $90 per person for a half-day tour.

If you take my advice and get into the Bruno books, you’ll undoubtedly want to explore the neighboring wines of Bergerac. These share roughly the same climate and soil as Bordeaux, but not the same prices. You may need to go to France to try some, however. They aren’t easy to find in the United States. Here’s a funny story about Bruno and Bergerac from California. My neighborhood wine shop, which specializes in French wine, had nary a bottle from Bergerac at my last visit.

In France, wine is an integral part of a meal and rarely consumed without food. In southwestern France, we have entered the land of duck, or le canard. Duck is to this region as lobster is to Maine. The most iconic dishes are duck confit and foie gras, but the French have probably prepared le canard in every imaginable manner.

Duck can be harder to find in the United States, and here in northern Michigan, it is expensive. We’ll splurge for duck when we explore Gascony. For our northern Aquitaine menu, we made chicken and potatoes.

I’m fortunate to own a copy of Paula Wolfert’s masterpiece, The Cooking of Southwest France: Recipes from France’s Magnificent Rustic Cuisine. Unfortunately, it’s out of print, so if you want your own (and if you have more than a passing interest in le sud-ouest, you should!), you’ll need to find one in the used book market, and I recommend doing it quickly as this classic is likely to become more elusive and expensive the longer it remains out of print.

For our meal from the upper Aquitaine, I prepared two recipes from the book, and I’ll share my edited version here. Both were simple and received effusive praise from our guests.

The chicken dish specified sour green grapes, which is a thing one can get in the Dordogne but not in northern Michigan, so I used green table grapes. However, Black Star Farms in northern Michigan sometimes makes verjus. And, if you’re in Traverse City, Maxbauer has duck fat.

Sarlat potatoes on left, chicken à la dordogne on right.

Chicken Legs with Sour Grape Sauce in the Style of the Dordogne

  • 4 lbs chicken legs, at room temperature
  • salt and pepper
  • 4.5 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 12 plump unpeeled garlic cloves
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 6 to 7 tbsp verjus
  • 3 cups unsalted chicken stock, reduced to 1 cup (I used goose stock because I had it)
  • 3 dozen sour green grapes
  • 1.5 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  1. Trim away excess fat from the chicken legs. Dry well and rub with salt and pepper.
  2. Set a large, deep skillet over moderately high heat. Add 2.5 tbsp of the butter, then the chicken, skin side down, and the garlic cloves. Brown for 1 minute each side, shaking the skillet to keep the chicken and garlic from sticking.
  3. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet tightly, and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover the skillet, tilt, and skim the fat off the pan juices. Turn the chicken over. Add the white wine; cover again, and cook slowly for another 10 minutes.
  4. Uncover the skillet; add 5 tbsps of the verjus and quickly cover the pan so that chicken pieces absorb all the aroma and flavor. Cook slowly for 5 more minutes.
  5. Add 3/4 cup of the stock and cook for 5 minutes. Raise the heat; add the butter and the remaining stock and verjus. Swirl over heat to combine. Add the grapes and just warm through. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Arrange the chicken, garlic and grapes on a warm platter. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve hot.

Sarlat Potatoes

  • 2 pounds red potatoes (waxy potatoes are best)
  • 3 tbsps rendered duck or goose fat, or fat scraped from duck confit
  • 2 tsps finely minced fresh garlic
  • 1.5 tbsps minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

  1. About 30 minutes before serving, peel and rinse the potatoes. Using a mandoline or food processor, cut into 1/8-inch slices. Do not wash the slices.
  2. Heat the fat in a well-seasoned, 10-inch cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat. Add the potatoes and let them brown for an instant. Cook, turning with a spatula to coat well with the fat and avoid sticking, for about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate. When some of the slices begin to brown, press down on the potatoes with a spatula to form a flat round cake. Reduce the heat to moderately low, cover the skillet with a tight-fitting lid, and cook for 7 minutes.
  3. Raise the lid to allow steam to escape. Wipe away any moisture on the lid. Toss the potatoes gently so the crisp bottom pieces mix with the rest of the potato slices. Gently press down again with the spatula; cover and cook for 7 more minutes, shaking the skillet to keep the potatoes from sticking.
  4. Repeat #3. Then remove from the heat and let stand without uncovering for 30 seconds. Remove the cover quickly so the moisture doesn’t fall onto the potatoes. Wipe the inside of the cover dry. Tilt the skillet and spoon off and reserve any excess fat.
  5. Cover the skillet with a plate and invert to unmold the potato cake. Return the reserved fat to the skillet and set over moderate heat. Slide the potatoes back into the skillet and cook, uncovered, until the second side crisps, about 3 minutes. The potatoes should look somewhat like a cake and be puffy, crisp and golden. Transfer to a heated serving platter and sprinkle with the garlic and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Bordeaux and the Dordogne

I could start by writing about the famous wine region and the world heritage city often called “Petit Paris.”

But this is my space and I’m most eager to tell you about Bruno.

For the uninitiated, Bruno is Benoît Courrèges, and he doesn’t really exist. Bruno is the chief of police of the fictional village of St. Denis in the lovely Dordogne Valley area of France. He’s Andy Griffith with a French accent, and he never lets solving the crime get in the way of a good meal.

Bruno is the creation of Martin Walker, a retired journalist turned mystery novelist. Mr. Walker and I shared the same employer (United Press International), although not at the same time. He is an Englishman who has a holiday home in the Dordogne and, according to a New York Times profile, modeled his hero after a real local police chief.

I’ve been so enthralled with Bruno and his lovely country that I had pegged the Dordogne as our main destination on our family trip to France last year. But then April happened in Michigan, with unrelenting blizzards (yes, really), just as we were making reservations, and we had a family consensus that we needed to go as far south as possible. The Mediterranean won out over the Dordogne.

In my part-time bookseller gig, I often recommend the Bruno books to fans of Louise Penny, who also writes a mystery series with recurring characters and a village setting. I don’t know which charming town has a higher murder rate, Louise Penny’s Three Pines or Martin Walker’s St. Denis, but I would happily take my chances as a resident of either, if they existed.

For those who want to visit Bruno-land, sometimes called Dordogneshire for its popularity among the British, Mr. Walker proposes a seven-day itinerary on his website.

This week’s video

The relationship between England and this region of France, also known as Le Périgord, is a long one. Several centuries long. The English had claims to the land from Alienor d’Aquitaine (remember her from two weeks ago?), and it was a bone of contention during the medieval Hundred Years’ War. The legacy of this period of conflict is the stunning, picturesque landscape known as the Valley of 1000 Castles.

Beynac Chateau. BY KRZYSZTOF GOLIK – OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 4.0, HTTPS://COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG/W/INDEX.PHP?CURID=65604631

Another prime attraction of the region predates castles and feuding monarchs by many millennia. Paleolithic humans left a substantial legacy. The Vézère Valley in the Dordogne region has 147 prehistoric sites and 25 decorated caves that are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The most famous are the Lascaux cave paintings, which had to be closed to tourists to prevent damage; a replica site nearby is open to the public.

I also must mention that one of our favorite movies was filmed in the Dordogne. Ever After, a feminist retelling of the Cinderella story starring Drew Barrymore, is a fun way to get a look at the place from afar.

Finally, Bordeaux. The sixth-largest city in France, affectionately nicknamed “Little Paris,” boasts a stunning center of historic architecture that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also a port of entry for exploring the famous wine region, which we will do next week.

Centre-Val de Loire

Before you read our blog post, please take a moment to read this news about biodiversity. It’s far more important than anything we have to say.

This week and next, our pretend tour de France takes us to the Centre-Val de Loire region, otherwise known as the upper Loire Valley. This area southwest of Paris is the France of picture books and legends. And we are “visiting” at a significant anniversary.

This week’s video

Unlike many other regions, the Centre Val-de-Loire region is not a historic province;  it is, as its name perhaps implies, the heart of historic France, the area between the Paris region and the Loire valley that was for many centuries the centre of the kingdom of France – at times when the territory which is today known as France was divided among the kingdoms or duchies of Normandy, Burgundy, Aquitaine, Anjou and others less important. In this respect, the regions of the Centre and the Ile de France are France.

https://about-france.com/regions/region-centre.htm

This region nourished by the Loire River has been an important European center since at least the Roman era. Often called the “garden of France” for its lush agricultural lands that have yielded abundant crops as well as spectacular wines, the Loire Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Blois. By Wmeinhart (talk · contribs) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=212108

Most of the region’s claim to fame was established during the Renaissance, when French kings brought their courts from Paris to get away from it all. Yeah, even back then that was a thing. The nobility and hangers-on who accompanied the court built elaborate chateaux, or castles, that make the Loire Valley one of France’s most popular destinations.

The Loire Valley has so many chateaux that you would probably need many years, if not a lifetime, to adequately visit them all. But if you want to try, right now is the perfect time to get started.

Just a few days ago, on May 2, Italian President Sergio Mattarella joined French President Emmanuel Macron in the Loire Valley to mark the 500th anniversary since the death of Leonardo da Vinci. The great Italian painter and inventor lived his last years in Amboise at the invitation of French king Francois I. He died and was buried there. Many events are planned in the region this year to celebrate 500 years since the Renaissance.

One of our favorite movies fictionalizes Leonardo’s time in France. Ever After, a somewhat feminist retelling of the Cinderella story starring Drew Barrymore, has Leonardo in the role of the fairy godmother. It was filmed in the Dordogne, not the Loire, and there is no historical evidence that Leonardo performed any matchmaking services while in France, but it is still a delightful film.

If you want to read a biography of the greatest of Renaissance men, Walter Isaacson’s best-selling Leonardo da Vinci is now in paperback.

Leonardo is one representative of French-Italian relations during the Renaissance. The women from the de Medici family of Florence who became French queens may have been the most significant members of that dynamic.

But did you know that Scottish history is also deeply interwoven with the French? One historian claims the Auld Alliance between the two countries may never have formally ended. Among the fruits of this alliance was the sheltering of the young Mary, Queen of Scots in the French court. If you enjoy historical fiction, I highly recommend the second book in Scottish author Dorothy Dunnett’s series known as the Lymond Chronicles, Queen’s Play. Much of the action takes place in the villages and chateaux (and once on the rooftops!) of the Loire Valley, where our hero has engaged in an elaborate intrigue to protect his child queen.

Another fruit of this connection involves whisky and wine, but we’ll get into that next week.

For now, enjoy these photos of some of the châteaux in the Loire Valley, courtesy of wiki commons.

  • Château d’Amboise. Exif_JPEG_PICTURE
  • Château de Usse, the “Sleeping Beauty Castle.” Ввласенко [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
  • Château Chambord. Taxiarchos228 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]
  • Château de Chenonceau. Ra-smit [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or GFDL (https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)]
  • Château de Sully-sur-Loire. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1413225

French women: not so fat

A book I read and re-read every time I need a little inspiration to get myself properly aligned with the universe is French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. Thinking of it as a diet-advice book misses its usefulness as an exercise in practical philosophy. The book is really about breaking free of the “diet” trap and embracing the pleasure of a proper meal, accompanied with a glass of wine or champagne.

Guiliano is a French woman who has lived most of her adult life in the United States. Before writing the book, she was president and CEO of Cliquot, Inc., the U.S. branch of the renowned champagne house. In New York, she writes, “my business requires me to eat in restaurants about three hundred times a year.” She is well-positioned to contrast the French way of eating with the American one.

Of course, French women do get fat, but not nearly as much as American women. Obesity rates in France are about half of those in the United States. While I couldn’t find statistics, my personal observation is that morbid obesity is rare in France.

Previously I listed some of the French characteristics in a little slideshow. If you noticed, none of them involved carb-counting or fat-shunning or food bans of any sort. They all focus on style.

While Guiliano obviously endorses French dietary practices, she doesn’t chastise Americans for succumbing to snack foods and oversized portions. She’s been there, done that, and she recovered with the help of some sensible French advisors, notably a family physician she calls “Dr. Miracle.”

Guiliano is not a nutritionist and she doesn’t pretend to present a medically-endorsed health plan. Most of the book is about how to eat, how to savor food and find pleasure in mealtime, with modest portions. She emphasizes quality, which makes excessive quantity superfluous.

Aside from a few recipes , the only content that resembles a “plan” in the usual pattern of the diet book genre is a recommendation for a phase Guiliano calls “recasting.” That process begins with three weeks of journaling and then a weekend mini-fast, eating only boiled leeks and their cooking liquid. In this, my fourth reading of the book, I’m trying the “Magical Leek Soup” kick start for the first time. After a severe winter that derailed some of my good French practices, I need an extra boost. So this is what I’ve been eating all day, and continuing through tomorrow.

There is indeed something magical about it, and it goes to the heart of the French food philosophy. At breakfast, the boiled leek was decidedly inferior to my usual toast and egg. At midday, it was a remedy for hunger. But at dinner, every bite was delicious as my palate had attuned to the pure taste of a simple vegetable simply cooked.

Still, I’ll be happy to enjoy a more substantial dinner tomorrow, and a glass or two of wine this weekend.

Pays de la Loire

So, when we were planning this project of a year-long “visit” to all of the regions of France, we first had to define our regions. Would we use the administrative regions that have existed since 2016, or the regions from 1982 to 2016, or even the historic provinces? Ultimately, thinking of the project in culinary terms, we decided on a blend that made sense to us and worked for our schedule.

Some of our regions are old school, some are cultural and some – like Pays de la Loire -reflect the current administrative boundaries.

This region, along with the Centre-Val de Loire, is called the “Garden of France” and probably is most famous for its fabulous chateaux. During the Renaissance, the French royal court shifted to the Loire Valley, where kings and wealthy courtiers constructed these elaborate palaces that are now among the top tourist attractions in France.

Château de Saumur in Saumur, France. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=375340

Last year, when we were planning a real visit to France, a cycling trip to the Loire Valley had been on our agenda. Then April in Michigan happened (more blizzards) and we decided to go as far south in France as possible, so most of our 2018 trip was spent along the Mediterranean. Cycling the Loire Valley remains an unrealized goal, and one we hope to accomplish on our next visit.

The most visited Loire chateaux are in the Centre-Val de Loire region, so we’ll take up this topic again when we “go” there in two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Pays de la Loire offers a transition from last week’s visit to Bretagne (Brittany) because part of it is historically and culturally Breton.

This week’s video

The capital of the region and the sixth-largest city in France, Nantes is culturally and historically part of Brittany. The Dukes of Brittany made it their primary residence, and their castle is one of the top attractions of the city.

By ChateauDesDucsDeBretagne20090906.jpeg: Plindenbaumderivative work: Paravane (talk) – ChateauDesDucsDeBretagne20090906.jpeg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15897849

Nantes was a major port for the slave trade in the 18th century. A meditative public park commemorates the victims of this disturbing time in French history and also highlights ongoing global struggles against slavery.

Nantes is now considered one of the best cities in France for quality of life, and a particularly appealing destination for a family vacation with kids, although it is in no danger of eclipsing Disneyland Paris (seriously, on our Paris-Dublin flights last year, every kid on board was either going to or coming from Disneyland).

Jules Verne was born in Nantes, and city pays homage to the pioneering novelist with an amusement park inspired by his adventure stories. Les Machines de L’Île looks like fun for kids of all ages. Who wouldn’t want to take a ride in a mechanical elephant or a giant bug on a carousel?

Duch [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Sailing upriver from Nantes (and a river barge trip is a popular way to see the Loire, with many operators offering excursions), you will find a unique, quirky and nearly unknown attraction on the isle of Chalonnes-sur-Loire. Le Lenin Cafe is a museum to the Soviet founder and a celebration of revolutionary ideals. The establishment offers food, music and accommodations in accordance with its principles of resistant tourism. There is no information in English on this place.

Continuing on upstream, we come to another area of historical importance. Angers was the original seat of the Plantagenet dynasty that ruled England and parts of France for three centuries. Again, I’ll recommend  historian Dan Jones’ fascinating book The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England.  We will continue to meet up with them in our tour.

Château d’Angers.

At the eastern edge of the region, we come to the large and important village of Saumur. Its wine trade provided the setting for Honoré de Balzac’s novel Eugénie Grandet, an excellent novel (albeit hard to find in print) capturing provincial life in early 19th century France.

Saumur brings us (finally!) deep into a French wine-growing region, which we’ll explore next week in the culinary edition.

FrancoFile Friday: Français en Caroline du Nord

The French, they are everywhere.

A restless and curious people, the French have explored and inhabited nearly every part of our planet, spreading French language and culture wherever they journey. Sometimes this influence has been unwelcome (see colonialism). But today, hooking up with French culture is usually a pleasant experience.

Recently, we were on vacation in North Carolina and we found a treasure trove of French experiences. Of course, French restaurants and eateries are plentiful, as expected. Even in the suburb of Cary, we stumbled upon two crêperie food trucks in the same parking lot.

One of my favorite stops for years has been the La Farm French bakery in Cary. It is far from a well-kept secret; wait times for brunch on the weekends can be long, but the take-out queue moves fast for those getting bread or pastries to go.

If you speak or are learning French, eventually you may want to read a book en français. One of three French bookstores in the United States is located in Raleigh. We visited Des Livres & Delices and were impressed at the large selection – classics, contemporary literature, history, travel guides and more. The shop, located near Five Points, also includes a small French grocery and offers online sales and shipping.

Des Livres & Delices, Raleigh, N.C.

Another enchanting stop was about an hour west of Raleigh in the small town of Pittsboro. A French-American couple (he’s from France, she’s from North Carolina) opened the eclectic shop French Connections nearly 20 years ago in an old house on Pittsboro’s main street.

Whimsical art on the lawn of French Connections, Pittsboro, N.C.

Inside, owners Jacques and Wendy Dufour have collected a delightful gallery of fabrics and art to share France and Africa with North Carolina.

The gorgeous fabrics made me vow to learn to use my sewing machine.

The couple also lived in Senegal. African handicrafts, art and textiles fill two large rooms of the shop.

For the Francophiles who want to gather, Raleigh has an active chapter of Alliance Française, offering weekly activities and special events. It is connected with a language school for children and adults wanting to learn French.

And for conversation, each city in the Triangle has a French Meetup group.

First FrancoFile Friday video.

We hope you enjoyed our first FrancoFile Friday post. This will be an occasional thing whenever we find something non-regional we want to share, so check back regularly.

On Monday, we’ll take you to the region of Pays de la Loire, which is not just for wine and chateaux!

Degemer mat à Bretagne

That was Brançais. (Breton + French, I’m coining the term.) It means welcome to Brittany!

Brittany (Bretagne in French, Breizh in Breton) may be the least French region of France. The Celtic history of this northwestern peninsula has left a unique and fascinating legacy of culture and language, albeit endangered in modern times.

Human ancestors have lived in Brittany since the Stone Age. Many prehistoric sites can be visited today, including the Carnac stones.

Carnac stones. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Prior to the Roman conquest of Gaul, the area that is now Brittany was inhabited by five Celtic tribes. This population, largely rural, retained its culture during the Roman era. Later, near the end of the 4th century, Celtic peoples from Wales and the southwest of England migrated to the region. It is from this migration that the region derives its name.

For more on the history of Brittany, Encyclopedia Brittanica has a nice overview, and of course, Wikipedia.

Pointe du Raz. S.Möller [Public domain]

By French standards, Brittany is a rugged, out-of-the-way destination. It’s off the beaten path for tourists as well, and that’s the tourists’ loss. Brittany has natural and cultural attractions that make for a great vacation or permanent residence. With a third of France’s coastline, many marine animals and birds can be seen along the shore and the hundreds of islands off the mainland. Inland, the land is forested, hilly and characterized by small villages, often highly picturesque. The principal cities are Nantes and Rennes, the latter of which has been listed as the best city in France for foreigners to live.

Dol-de-Bretagne. Schorle [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

Language

As discussed in this week’s video, Brittany has a Celtic native language, although it is in rapid decline. Efforts are underway to revive Breton, but today’s speakers are almost all elderly. Still, if you travel to Brittany, you may see a few road signs in Breton.

Books

The ancient walled town of Saint Malo is Brittany’s most-visited attraction. It is also the setting for one of my favorite novels -indeed, a favorite novel of many readers – the Pulitzer-Prize winning All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Set during World War II, this moving story of two teenagers caught in war on opposite sides is one I highly recommend.

And, if you are at all tempted to visit or relocate to Brittany, pick up the charming memoir I’ll Never Be French by Mark Greenside, a New Yorker who moved to Brittany with his girlfriend. She left, he stayed, and he recounts his experiences integrating into a Breton village. He is grateful for the warmth and generosity of his neighbors, who welcome him and rescue him from numerous mishaps.

Finally, Honoré de Balzac set one of his novels in Brittany. Les Chouans is out of print in English, but you can find it for online to download for free.

Our video this week, with a special guest.

Next week, we’ll take a look at some of the food of Brittany. There will be crêpes!

My Life on the Road

Well, not my life. Gloria Steinem’s.

[Here is the book review section of this website, which will occur sporadically when one of us is thinking about or reading a book and can’t find someone in our immediate vicinity with whom to discuss it.]

A conversation at lunch yesterday led me to contemplate, in the middle of the night, Steinem’s outstanding memoir, My Life on the Road. I read this a couple of years ago and was mesmerized, and I have recommended it frequently to friends and to customers at Brilliant Books.

Incidentally, the book was the first one chosen by actress Emma Watson for her online feminist book group, and being Emma Watson, she had the opportunity to interview the legend.

The book chronicles the eight decades of Steinem’s fascinating life, focusing on the many social movements in which she was deeply involved. I expect this first-person narrative is already on the reading lists of some college courses and it’s well worth reading for any student of history, even those without a feminist interest.

For me, equally compelling was the story of the events that shaped Steinem. Often in the memoir, she recalls a random encounter with someone that prompted her to change her views or pursue a different strategy. Sometimes these are conversations with strangers in a situation not typically conducive to attention, such as a cab ride.

mot français du jour— écouter

French word of the day, it means “to listen”

Reading My Life on the Road made me vow to become a better listener. I was reminded yesterday, while confessing my occasional lack of attention to exchanges with family members, that I need to renew this resolution.

In our hyper-busy world, in which we are emboldened to speak out — sometimes to excess on social media, right? — we may be well-served if we pause to listen, truly listen, to what other people have to say. I’m resolved to follow the glorious example of Gloria!