Not accessible to public visitors
The American Library in Paris is one of my favorite institutions. It's been around only a few years longer than the American Women's Group in Paris, and like AWG, plays the role of a bridge between the United States and France. It's a resource for its members and the larger community.
The American Library has a fascinating history that dates to World War I. Its past members, speakers, and contributors have included Edith Wharton, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Colette, Henry Miller (you could find a copy of Tropic of Cancer here when it was outlawed in the U.S.!), Richard Wright, and Mary McCarthy.
There are programs for every age, book groups for many interests, speakers, and workshops. And it provides a quiet space for browsing English-language newspapers and magazines, the cookbook collection, the art history and fashion sections, or whatever takes your fancy. For me lately, that means the murder mystery section -- the inimitable Agatha Christie and Elizabeth George!
Luckily for us, we have secured a private tour of the Library. We'll meet and greet the staff and new director Jeffrey Hawkins, see a selection of the library's archives, and tour the recently-renovated building. It's not too late to sign up -- please see the Events calendar on the AWG web site. And afterwards, lunch nearby at La Fontaine de Mars, one of the oldest Parisian bistros, on rue St. Dominique. Please come join me!
I have been remiss in not continuing to publicize this magazine -- Inspiring Women -- which is so relevant to so many of us.
Inspiring Women is an on line magazine profiling the lives of FAWCO members around the world, who have used their skills, talents, and passions to make a difference in the global community. It was created by our own Elsie Bose, a longtime AWG Paris member and FAWCO Advertising and Sponsorship Manager.
Click here for the spring issue: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/59850697/inspiring-women-spring-2018. Women in Sport and Fitness is the theme!
Each issue has a special feature on one of the FAWCO regions, with local recipes, and a focus on one FAWCO club. All of the magazine's advertising is interactive, so if you are interested in what is on offer, just point and click!
If you would like to suggest a member to be interviewed, contact editor Liz MacNiven at inspiringwomen.editor@fawco.org. To advertise, contact Elsie at advertising@fawco.org.
20+ Wonderful, Exclusive Prizes!
Grand Prize: Luxurious Two-Night Stay at the George V!
Sign Up + Purchase Raffle Tickets Through the Activities Calendar
Fun For All!
Please join us for a special AWG Paris evening membership meeting to celebrate April in Paris and support AWG charities.
This fun evening will include snacks! wine tasting! surprises! plus plenty of chat and catch up time—and the Prize Draw for the April in Paris Raffle.
An important component of AWG Paris is offering support to community organizations, both locally and globally. To facilitate this, dedicated AWG Paris members have gathered 20+ great prizes for this fun event. Buying tickets is easy! Simply purchase Digital Raffle Tickets on the website. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances to win! The more you buy, the cheaper the ticket price! But every bit helps! Every ticket goes to support AWG charities!
Prizes include:
All proceeds will go to select charitable groups supported by AWG Paris.
The digital tickets will be transformed into paper tickets that will be drawn live! at the April in Paris event on April 12.
1 ticket: 30 euros; 3 tickets: 75 euros; 5 tickets: 100 euros; 10 tickets: 175 euros
Winners do not need to be present to claim their prizes, but of course, we hope you can join us.Watch for more information in the coming weeks! If you have an item to donate to this worthy cause, please contact msaub6@gmail.com
Sign up and purchase tickets today on the website.
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2018
Time: 6:30 to 9:30 PM
RSVP: Sign up directly through the Activities Calendar
You will receive an auto reply with full details on the address.
By popular request, I'm adding the rest of the books that Wednesday Afternoon Book Club will be reading this year. There are some thought-provoking selections here. Consult the Events calendar for dates when Book Club meets.
April's book is The Hidden Life of Trees, What They Feel, How They Communicate, by Peter Wohlleben. From The Guardian: "A book called The Hidden Life of Trees is not an obvious bestseller but it’s easy to see the popular appeal of German forester Peter Wohlleben’s claims – they are so anthropomorphic. Certainly, a walk in the park feels different when you imagine the network of roots crackling with sappy chat beneath your feet. We don’t know the half of what’s going on underground and beneath the bark, he says: 'We have been looking at nature for the last 100 years like [it is] a machine.' "
This one is a bit of a departure for me, but one of the pleasures of a book club is that one reads books one might not otherwise. I'm looking forward to seeing how I get along with it.
In May, we have Forest Dark, by American novelist Nicole Krauss. From Amazon: "One of America’s most important novelists" (New York Times), the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The History of Love, conjures an achingly beautiful and breathtakingly original novel about personal transformation that interweaves the stories of two disparate individuals—an older lawyer and a young novelist—whose transcendental search leads them to the same Israeli desert."
And our last book of the club year, for June, is Lincoln in the Bardo by American George Saunders, whose original and experimental voice comes through in this, his first novel. I first encountered him through his short stores because as a Southerner, how could I resist a book called CivilWarLand in Bad Decline?
The setting of Saunders' novel, the bardo, is an intermediate space between life and rebirth where the grieving American president visits the crypt of his young son, Willie.
From Good Reads: "Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?"
At the May meeting of Book Club, perhaps we can begin to discuss selections for next year's list. Hope to see you soon.
Even if you can't make it to our monthly Wednesday Afternoon Book Club, you can still read along with us. (And by the way, if anyone would like to start an Evening Book Club, I bet you would find takers).
February's book, due to be discussed on the 14th, is a real journalist's book, by former Time magazine Paris bureau chief Tom Sancton. He first wrote about the complex Bettencourt affair for Vanity Fair in 2010, then just last year, published The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal that Rocked Paris. And my question for you, after reading this, is what is the most French thing about this story? Because to me, it seems very French!
In March, we are reading The House in Paris, by Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, who died in 1973. My Vintage Classics edition of this has an introduction by A.S. Byatt. She first read it as a child, almost accidentally, and has reread it throughout her life, making a new judgement of it each time. She describes it as "...a novel about sex, time, and the discovery of identity." I'm looking forward to rereading it almost as much as I am reading it.
It takes place over one day, and involves two children, strangers to each other. There are secrets, an agitated hostess, and a dying matriarch, so I expect it to be complex in a very different way than our February book, although they both feature, in the end, dying matriarchs. I suppose we all have books that we first encountered when too inexperienced to understand them fully. That could be another interesting point of discussion.
Also for you readers out there, AWG is planning a private visit to the American Library in March. Keep your eye on the events calendar!
Now that you’ve decked the halls and trimmed your tree it’s time to start stuffing those stockings! We’ve gathered some of our favorite gift ideas for everyone on your list.
Stocking Stuffers
1. Chocolate
Every chocolatier in Paris steps up their gift set game during December making chocolate one of the easiest gifts to shop for. There are hundreds of delicious shops both big and small so you really can't go wrong. We like shopping at À la Mère de Famille, the oldest chocolatier in Paris founded in 1761, where chocolate bars are just 5 euros a piece.
2. Confiture
3. Lavender Soap
4. Angelina's Hot Chocolate
5. Parisian Mug
6. Sea Salt
7. Uber Gift Card
For Under the Tree
1. A Year of Reading Membership
2. Tea
3. Paris IQ
4. OMY Paris coloring poster
5. Skincare advent calendar by Susanne Kaufmann
6. Putain Calendar
7. Spirits
8. Candles
9. Harry Potter Illustrated Books
10. Original Artwork
We don’t know about you, but this cold weather has got us wanting to curl up on the couch with a good book and a mug of vin chaud. And while it might be too cold to explore the city on foot – why not discover a new side of Paris through the pages of a novel? We’ve rounded up some of our favorite books about the city of lights, guaranteed for a cozy winter read.
The Alice Network
by Kate Quinn
Source : Goodreads
The New Paris
by Lindsey Tramuta
Everyone's heard of Paris’ cafes, baguettes and corner bistros, but what about the boutique coffee shops, fusion cooking and cocktail creations? In a striking “cultural study meets guide” writing style, American native Lindsey Tramuta attempts to capture the changes in everyday life in Paris over the past decade. If you’re tired of the same old tourist guide reputation and want to learn about the people, places & ideas fueling the "real" Paris you know and love – this book is for you!
The Bettencourt Affair
by Tom Sancton
Liliane Bettencourt is the world’s wealthiest woman and heir to the L’Oreal 36 billion dollar fortune. Enter artist, photographer and now accused con man Francois-Marie Banier, who received hundreds of millions of dollars from the 95-year-old heiress. Read all about the controversy that ensued as Vanity Fair contributor Tom Sancton covers the real-life scandal that ensnared this high society family, their global beauty brand, and even the former president of France.
Bonus! This book will be read by the AWG book club in 2018. So if you’re dying to debate fact vs myth from this story with other novel-loving ladies, please join us! Book club meets the second Wednesday of every month – check the activities calendar & newsletter for more details.
Flaneuse
by Lauren Elkin
A delightfully innovative and provocative novel, Flaneuse blends cultural observations with memoir-style passages on a journey to discover the relationship between the city & the women who walk them. We accompany the Flaneuse, “a determined and resourceful woman keenly attuned to the creative potential of the city, and the liberating possibilities of a good walk” through Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice & London. For anyone who feels a little out of step living in a foreign land.
L’Appart
by David Lebovitz
Anyone who’s both lived and cooked in Paris knows the famed author and chef David Lebovitz for his life-saving blog with dummy-proof guides on what to buy, cook & eat in France. His new book L’Appart, begins with an apartment renovation and explores the age old question of what makes a house a home. Peppered with new recipes and a generous helping of humor, Lebovitz discusses French culture, food and how he found a home in his adoptive city.
Wondering where to find these and other English language books in Paris?
We recommend Shakespeare & Co (37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005), WH Smith (248 Rue de Rivoli, 75001), Librairie Galignani (24 Rue de Rivoli, 75001), and The American Library in Paris (10 Rue du Général Camou, 75007). These locations often have special events such as readings by the author.
More English language bookstores in Paris can be found on one of our favorite resource websites Time Out Paris, and of course if you prefer your books come to you there’s always Amazon.fr
Source : Rose & Ivy
At Veronique’s AWG cooking class the other day, we pooled our collective wisdom to come up with some suggestions for your Thanksgiving meal (assuming you’re brave enough to cook it at home). There was a great deal of American experience around the table, and the invaluable input of Veronique, who assembles an enormous Thanksgiving buffet every year for her American husband, friends, and family.
Below you’ll find our collection of tips and tricks for preparing your own home-cooked Thanksgiving meal, à Paris!
Where to Shop
Source: What's Gaby Cooking
Our break-through suggestion from Veronique is Picard! If you haven’t discovered the frozen food store yet, it’s time to check them out, in particular for their frozen soups, cranberries, spinach, and pumpkin puree. The pre-stuffed turkeys and other poultry that you can buy and pop in the oven for a festive dinner if making dressing isn’t your favorite way of spending time. They also have frozen croissants, pain au chocolat, and gauffres (waffles) which are great for breakfast if you’re expecting company.
We also highly recommend Marks & Spencer. These are scattered all over Paris and offer popular American ingredients such as brown sugar, baking powder & chocolate chips. They also have lots of cheddar cheese (in case you are missing it), as well as a fabulous variety of ready-to-cook meals and pre-made desserts at excellent prices.
Galeries Lafayette Gourmet and l’Epicerie at Bon Marché also have American food sections. Bon Marché has baking powder, Karo light and dark, cream of whatever soups, and canned pumpkin. Also Tabasco Bloody Mary mix if your Thanksgiving party starts off that way! You can also find many of these products on amazon.fr and have them delivered right to your door.
What to Cook
Source : Half Baked Harvest
Source : What's Gaby Cooking
For the gravy, fond de veau, found in the bouillon section of the grocery shelves, makes an excellent base – it is a much-reduced veal stock that gives a rich taste to the gravy. Thicken it with Maizena Sauceline, which does not contain flour but is a perfect last-minute addition if the gravy is too thin.
Source : Jessica in the Kitchen
To make cornbread for your dressing (that’s what Southerners call stuffing), go to amazon.fr (but watch out for delivery charges!). ! If you search for “cornmeal,” there are several alternatives. Or you can use polenta, which is a lot finer in texture, but still works. Naturalia, a chain of organic grocery stores, has farine de mais. If all else fails, head over to one of our recommended “American stuffs” stores above to find some good ol’ Stove Top or Jiffy Cornbread Mix.
Source : EatWell101
Source: A Cozy Kitchen
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is arguably one of my most favorite holidays. The main attraction is eating, drinking, laughing, eating, and spending time with people you love (oh, did I mention eating?)
However, in my charming 30sqm apartment, there isn’t much room for a Thanksgiving dinner table... not to mention it’s a little difficult to cook a turkey in a toaster oven #pariskitchenproblems
So if like me you are seeking alternatives for this year’s turkey fix, AWG has got you covered. We've rounded up some great options - and none of them involve washing dishes.