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A rich, lively book about the upheaval in French gastronomy, set against the backdrop of France’s diminished fortunes as a nation. France is in a rut, and so is French cuisine. Twenty-five years ago it was hard to have a bad meal there; today it’s difficult to find a good one. An unmistakable whiff of decline emanates from its kitchens, and many believe that London, Spain, and New York are more exciting places to eat. Parisian bistros and brasseries are disappearing at an alarming rate; large segments of France’s wine industry are in crisis; many artisanal products are threatened with extinction. But astonishingly, business is good for McDonald’s: France has become its second-most profitable market in the world. How this happened and what is being done to revive the gastronomic arts in France are the questions at the heart of this book. Steinberger meets top chefs, winemakers, farmers, bakers, and other artisans, interviews the head of McDonald’s Europe, marches down a Paris boulevard with "alter-globalization" activist José Bové, and breaks bread with the editorial director of the very powerful and secretive Michelin Guide. The result is a striking portrait of a cuisine and a country in transition.
“Groskop skillfully juggles memoir, biography, philosophy, and literary criticism to create a delightful tour through some of French literature’s greats.” —Madeline Miller, New York Times–bestselling author Like many people the world over, Viv Groskop wishes she was a little more French. A writer, comedian, and journalist, Groskop studied the language obsessively starting at age 11, and spent every vacation in France, desperate to escape her Englishness and to have some French chic rub off on her. In Au Revoir, Tristesse, Groskop mixes literary history and memoir to explore how the classics of French literature can infuse our lives with joie de vivre and teach us how to say goodbye to sadness. From the frothy hedonism of Colette and the wit of Cyrano de Bergerac to the intoxicating universe of Marguerite Duras and the heady passions of Les Liaisons dangereuses, this is a love letter to great French writers. With chapters on Marcel Proust, Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert, Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Albert Camus, and of course Françoise Sagan, this is a delectable read for book lovers everywhere. “Ms. Groskop is a skilled raconteuse who brings people—and the page—to life. She writes with a self-deprecating appreciation of the Frenchman or -woman manqué(e) that lurks in us all. You don’t have to be a savant to enjoy this book . . . Au Revoir, Tristesse will make a witty, seductive companion.” —The Wall Street Journal “Groskop’s combination of her own memories, what the novels meant to her at different stages in her life, her description of the authors, along with her description of the novels, will have readers eagerly turning the book’s pages.” —Forbes
Au Revoir to All That takes us on an entertaining and intriguing journey into France's identity, directly through the tastebuds... Offering a fresh and entertaining approach to understanding French history, through its food and wine, Steinberger reveals a radically changing France; a country moving through social and political reform, economic crises and, importantly, the loss of their seemingly unbreakable dominance in all things gastronomical. If the state of France's celebrated cuisine is the bellwether for the state of the nation, things are looking bleak. Top chefs are renouncing their Michelin stars and prized farmhouse cheeses are going extinct because there is no one to make them. Bistros, brasseries and cafés fold by the scores and hypermarkets and superstores account for 75% of retail food sales. The famed wine-producing Languedoc is home to the world's first wine-terrorist organization - winemakers resorting to violence to protect their struggling industry. But while there may be better baguettes in Tokyo than in Paris, and Spain has become the darling of the gastronomic world, there are glimpses of hope. There are up-and-coming culinary stars and outdoor food festivals, pockets of exuberance amid the gloom. And, as long as a praline millefeuille can be celebrated, savoured and allowed to assume talismanic qualities at a Right Bank tea salon, all is not lost. Au Revoir to All That is an essential - almost edible - book for lovers of food, France and culinary history.
A Playful Path, the new book by games guru and fun theorist Bernard De Koven, serves as a collection of ideas and tools to help us bring our playfulness back into the open. When we find ourselves forgetting the life of the game or the game of life, the joy of form or the content, the play of brain or mind, body or spirit, this book can help us return to that which our soul is heir.
All people could do was speculate on the fate of those who vanished - strangers; seemingly random, unconnected: all plucked from their lives and never seen again. The notes found left behind, apparently describing some slender reason for their removal, were all that linked them. They were all delivered by one man. Rodney Moon had admitted seeing those who had been disappeared and to passing the notes, but denied any involvement beyond that. Who wrote the letters, then? Moon shrugged during the trial: 'It has no name,' he said. 'It's a bogeyman. A monster.' He was not mourned when the vengeful bereft finally found him. Some years later, four strangers; seemingly random, unconnected, all take the last train home. But something each of them has forgotten - or is trying to forget - is catching up with them; with a terrible, inexorable purpose. The devil is in the detail, as they say.
How the author left her work, family and friends and went to live on her own in the south of France for six months.
With easy-to-follow instructions and simple explanations, this portable guide covers the most important basics.
A gripping Second World War novel, from the bestselling author of NOTHING LASTS FOREVER and THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL. Liverpool, 1937. Jessica is married to Bertie, a mean, patronising man who she has stayed with purely for the sake of her two young children. To make up for the love and passion that is missing from her life, she spends the occasional afternoon at the local cinema, lost in romantic films. But when an unexpected glass of champagne is offered to her in a Liverpool hotel, the consequences turn out to be shattering. When Bertie discovers his wife's deceit, he is ruthless in his revenge. He sells their house and disappears with her beloved children, leaving Jessica devastated and alone. Then she is asked to visit Paris and help an old friend and her small daughters return to Liverpool before the onset of the war. But Jessica finds herself stranded in Paris under German occupation. With new friends and a small family to care for, she must find the courage that she never knew she possessed...
“In this hilarious, candid, and thought-provoking memoir, [Groskop] explains how she used lessons from Russian classics to understand herself better.” —Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author As Viv Groskop knows from personal experience, everything that has ever happened to a person has already happened in the Russian classics: from not being sure what to do with your life (Anna Karenina), to being hopelessly in love with someone who doesn’t love you back (Turgenev’s A Month in the Country), or being socially anxious about your appearance (all of Chekhov’s work). In The Anna Karenina Fix, a sort of literary self-help memoir, Groskop mines these and other works, as well as the lives of their celebrated creators, and her own experiences as a student of Russian, to answer the question “How should you live your life?” This is a charming and fiercely intelligent book, a love letter to Russian literature and an exploration of the answers these writers found to life’s questions. “[Groskop is] a delight, a reader’s reader whose professional and personal experiences have allowed her to write the kind of book that not only is complete unto itself, but makes you want to head to the library and revisit or discover the great works she loves.” —The Washington Post “Learn how to hack life nineteenth-century Russian style! You’ll totally be like Anna Karenina without getting (spoiler alert) run over by a train!” —Gary Shteyngart, New York Times-bestselling author “For anyone intimidated by Russia’s daunting literary heritage, this humorous yet thoughtful introduction will serve as the perfect entrée.” —Publishers Weekly
An unforgettable portrait of France’s legendary chef, and the sophisticated, unforgiving world of French gastronomy Bernard Loiseau was one of only twenty-five French chefs to hold Europe’s highest culinary award, three stars in the Michelin Red Guide, and only the second chef to be personally awarded the Legion of Honor by a head of state. Despite such triumphs, he shocked the culinary world by taking his own life in February 2003. TheGaultMillau guidebook had recently dropped its ratings of Loiseau’s restaurant, and rumors swirled that he was on the verge of losing a Michelin star (a prediction that proved to be inaccurate). Journalist Rudolph Chelminski, who befriended Loiseau three decades ago and followed his rise to the pinnacle of French restaurateurs, now gives us a rare tour of this hallowed culinary realm. The Perfectionist is the story of a daydreaming teenager who worked his way up from complete obscurity to owning three famous restaurants in Paris and rebuilding La Côte d’Or, transforming a century-old inn and restaurant that had lost all of its Michelin stars into a luxurious destination restaurant and hotel. He started a line of culinary products with his name on them, appeared regularly on television and in the press, and had a beautiful, intelligent wife and three young children he adored—Bernard Loiseau seemed to have it all. An unvarnished glimpse inside an echelon filled with competition, culture wars, and impossibly high standards, The Perfectionist vividly depicts a man whose energy and enthusiasm won the hearts of staff and clientele, while self-doubt and cut-throat critics took their toll.