Book Review!

I've read most of  the "french inspired" lifestyle books that have been released over the years. Periodically I've reviewed a few on the blog. I just finished reading 2 - one is a new release "My Paris Dream" by Kate Betts and the other other was published in 2013 (but is new to me!) "French Women Don't Get Facelifts" by Mireille Guiliano. 

I had high hopes for "My Paris Dream" and they weren't fulfilled. Perhaps they were too high?! Maybe I'm a bit jealous that I didn't hightail it to Paris after school and make living there a reality?!

Not sure of the answer to that, but I was disappointed with this memoir. Kate Betts, who ultimately became the editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar, came from a background of privilege: she was the 4th generation of her family to graduate from Princeton University. She paints herself as a fairly regular girl who bucked the system and followed her dream of living in Paris instead of becoming a New York money making machine like many of her fellow graduates. It seems a bit of a stretch (to me anyway) that she ended up working for Fairchild's Women's Wear Daily without any use of her familial connections. Fairchild himself was a Princeton grad. If I had enjoyed her writing style and her exposition more that would not be an issue, but I felt that something was missing from this retelling of her story: more detail, more honesty, more explanation of the slang words used and more juicy, insider details about, for example, Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld, both of whom she worked with. Some writers have made me drool when evoking Paris or Italy, this memoir did not.

On a brighter note, I enjoyed Mireille Guiliano's latest instructional manual much more and I can definitely tell you why. First, she is of the less is more school, very no nonsense and practical. Secondly her information is spot on! She discusses, for instance, estrogen and Vitamin C and her recommendations are the latest, most scientifically supported! I know this because, just this week, I met with the Cleveland Clinic's Holly Thacker who is one of the preeminent women's health doctors in the world and her recommendations to me were exactly the same!! 

Here's to one of my favorite things: reading. Cheers, La

Frugal French

Below is, hopefully, a link to a NYT's article I read today. It speaks to me of a difference between my American culture and that of the French, one that I write about here sometimes, thrift. When I attempt to communicate that feeling of satisfaction inherent in loving a beautiful, old object that has a history, been handed down perhaps, and IS the real thing rather than a stand in, I feel that the fact that it was also the frugal choice sometimes feels cheap.
http://tinyurl.com/y7hhhbp

enjoy,
La

Frugal French

When I started on the French Chic journey I almost singlehandedly plunged us into debt. I thought I had to have all the books, beauty treatments and accoutrements (La Bonne Cuisine de Mme E. Saint-Ange, check, at $40.00/expensive cream from Jane Seybroyen to cleanse my face, check, at $100/Lampe Berger, check, at $120. etc). What I know now is that the French, while epitomizing chic, are among the most thrifty people in the world. And that is another thing I love about them - they don't make economizing look painful and cheap - they elevate it to the height that they are seen as being super discriminating about EVERYTHING they bring into their lives. Not cheap, not thrifty, not flintskints, not tightwads - but discriminating consumers seeking only the best. As a result of war and scarcity, they use every part of an animal for cooking. Many of us would run screaming from pig knuckles and tongue, snails and tripe. The French make them into sought after delicacies. They might buy one terrific skirt and wear it forever - maintaining a stable weight (bien sur) so they always fit into it properly - perhaps having it tailored to fit perfectly, or altered slightly to better express their fashion personality. Maybe she'll change the buttons on a sweater to alter the look rather than buy a new one. Take her beloved shoes to the cobbler for an overhaul.
Now that I am focused on eliminating our debt I took La Bonne Cuisine to Half Price Books (it's such a big cookbook that I think shipping via Amazon would be counterproductive) and they offered me fifty cents!! Needless to say I brought it back home and began to really think about what I've learned from the French concerning thrift and I'm going to make it a point to economize a la Francaise. Not a penny pincher will I be, but a discriminating consumer in every thought, word and action.