It was a dazzling week in which Desperately Seeking Paris found bits of beauty everywhere —be it on the town, in the ‘hood or at home.
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Hello Guys and Gals!
When I signed off for summer a week or so ago, I had not anticipated so much good news coming my way. First there was the selection of Veronica's Grave as a New York Public Library TOP PICK for Summer 2017, followed days later by the breath-catching news that Missing Mother, the Canadian version of Veronica's Grave, had made the Bestseller List in Canada during its first week in the stores. When I asked my editor at HarperCollins Canada if that entitled me to call myself a 'best-selling International author,' his response was: Absolutely!
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I'm honored that Veronica's Grave: A Daughter's Memoir made the 2017 summertime reading list of none other than the New York Public Library! The list is comprised of the top picks of librarians throughout the library system. That my memoir was selected by the head librarian at the exciting new Bronx Library Center seems most fitting as I was born in the heart of the once Beautiful Bronx where "the best people live."
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I did not want to pass up this opportunity to, once again, wish you good luck and fortune in the new year. But since the Chinese New Year is something my dear friend Diana Paul knows more about than I do, I am forwarding her insights on what we can expect in the Year of the Rooster.
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After months in the works, this week finds us doing the final edits of the audio-book of Veronica’s Grave: A Daughter’s Memoir. The Audible version, narrated by Leslie S. Miller, will be released shortly on Amazon, iTunes and through other nationwide outlets.
Listening last week to Leslie’s reading of my memoir was a joy! I became so carried away, that it was as if I was listening to someone else’s story. So, who is this enchantress?
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Calling all Francophiles! Calling all fashionistas! Calling all bookworms!
The stars fell into alignment over The Museum at FIT this week as several international experts on Proust and the Belle Époque, gathered for a fashion symposium marking the opening of a superb exhibition: Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe.
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What books are tucked away in your beach bag this summer? on your Kindle? lying next to the bed on the night-table? Did you say Veronica’s Grave? Well, that certainly makes me as happy as the day is long. As do your notes and emails telling how much the book has meant to you. Keep them coming! It has long been my hope that Veronica's Grave would shed light and bring understanding to a neglected problem -- that of children who have been silenced for a lifetime by family secrets.
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I am honored that Veronica's Grave received such a thoughtful and charming review from Inspired by Books -- a thinking woman's blog devoted to seeking the inspirational in books. Be it in the classics or in poetry, in memoir or in mystery. This lover of books, Andrea Laszlo, does it all! Here is her recent post on Veronica's Grave:
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If a biography or an autobiography tells the story of a life, a memoir tells of the turning points in that life that help to answer the question: How did I become who I am? What I’ve come to realize is that — and this may be due to my youthful attachment to that inveterate gumshoe, Nancy Drew—I’m drawn to literature set in foreign locales. Growing up in a quiet neighborhood where nothing exciting ever happened, I counted on Nancy’s exploits to spark my imagination and brighten my days. Nancy loved to travel; so did I—even vicariously. So, if a trip abroad is not in your immediate future, here are a few transporting recommendations.
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What are the French reading? To find out I drop by Albertine, a bookshop that's an arm of the Cultural Services Department within the French Embassy. Their mission is to promote the best of French literature, cinema and the arts in America. Once past Cupid at the entryway, you will find the library at the rear of the building.
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You could easily pass it by. I know I did. Until the day, when heading for lunch at The Mark, I found the doors at 25 East 77th Street, steps off Madison Avenue, wide open. Within was one of the smallest and coolest bookshops in town—an outpost of the luxury brand Maison Assouline.
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The thought Je suis Charlie races around in my synapses. It’s a cold rainy morning as I head for Albertine, the library at the French Consulate on Fifth Avenue. What I’m looking for is a novelby Michel Houellebecq, one of France’s most controversial and celebrated writers. It was his latest novel, “Submission,” a futurist vision about a clash of Western values with those of radical Islam, that was scheduled for publication the very day that cold-blooded terrorists massacred twelve people at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
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There's a new girl in town. ‘Albertine,’ a bookshop, has opened at the French Embassy onFifth Avenue. The brainchild of the French Cultural Counselor, Antonin Baudry--himself the author of "Weapons of Mass Diplomacy"--the shop will carry both English and French books, thereby filling a gap left by the closing of the Librairie de France at Rockefeller Center in 2009, when they found they could no longer afford the escalating rent. Of course, by opening within the French Embassy, 'Albertine', who always was a clever girl, has side-stepped that issue.And it;s in my neighborhood. I walk over, passing one of the Embassy's neighbors on East 79th Street. Don'y you love the entrance-- the doorsand the cascading flowers?
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