NORAH JONES: LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS

Norah Jones
Little Broken Hearts
Released May 1, 2012
Blue Note Records

COLETTE: 'GIGI' AND 'THE CAT'

These two short novellas speak to the politics of love. Gigi is a young girl being educated in the skills of the Courtesan, about to enter a world where a woman's chief weapon is her body. However with the bored and very rich Gaston Lachaille, Gigi wants nothing of this 'education'. The Cat is about a love triangle between a man, his fiancee and his beloved Russian Blue cat.

Paperback, 160 pages
by Colette
Translated from the French by Roger Senhouse
Published by Vintage Classics, New Edition 2001
Gigi first published in 1944
La Chatte first published in 1933

FOOD: JAMIE'S GREAT BRITAIN

Talk about comfort food; I'm at the lay in bed reading stage with this tombe. It's truly a love song celebration to the foods and ways of British gastronomy. You can feel Jamie's enthusiasm spring from each page.

Hardcover, 408 pages
By Jamie Oliver
Publisher, Michael Joseph, an imprint from Penguin
(which shows in the suffering harsh reprint of the images)
Pictured left: Oliver at Hamburg book publication

ANNA GALVADA: HUNTING AND GATHERING

Gavalda explores the twists of fate that connect four people in Paris. A starving artist, her shy neighbor, his obnoxious roommate, and a neglected grandmother. This curious group together support one another to face the world.


Paperback, 474 pages
by Anna Galvada
Translated from the French
Ensemble, C'est Tout: Alison Anderson
Published by Vintage Books 2007

AEI WEI-WEI DOCUMENTARY: PREVIEWS AT 2012 SUNDANCE

Aei Wei-Wei: Never Sorry
Directed, produced and filmed by Alison Klayman
Muse Film and Television, 2011
Official web site

PETER SIS: THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS

In The Conference of the Birds Caldecott Honor-winning  book author and illustrator Peter Sís has beautifully adapted this 12th century Sufi poem, which tells the story of an epic flight of birds in search of the true king, Simorgh.


Hardback 160 pages
by Farid Ud-Din Attar (AD 1177)
Adapted and Illustrated by Peter Sis
Published by Penguin Press HC, October, 2011

BROOKE SHARKEY: A TASTE OF TRUTH

London based singer, songwriter and guitarist Brooke Sharkey sings in french and english. She lived in France, then busked her way around Europe, India and South America. She performs shows and festivals, where I stumbled across her off of Columbia Road in London.



A Taste of Truth
EP by Brooke Sharkey
Lil Bee Records 2010

AMÉLIE NOTHOMB: FEAR AND TREMBLING

According to ancient Japanese protocol, foreigners wishing to approach the emperor did so with fear and trembling, conveying ultimate respect. Amelie goes to Japan to spend a year working at the Yumimoto Corporation. Returning to the land where she was born is a fulfillment of a dream; working there turns into a comic nightmare.


Paperback 132 pages.
by Amélie Nothomb. English translation by Adriana Hunter
First published in France, 1999, under the title Stupeur et Tremblements
Won the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Française in 1999

MULGREW MILLER: LIVE AT YOSHI'S VOL. 1 & 2

Live at Yoshi's Vol 1
The Mulgrew Miller Trio
Derrick Hodge (bass) Karriem Riggins (drums)
Audio CD
Released May 25, 2004
Max Jazz Label




Live at Yoshi's Vol 2
The Mulgrew Miller Trio
Derrick Hodge (bass) Karriem Riggins (drums)
Audio CD
Released June 7, 2005
Max Jazz Label

BEN L'ONCLE: SOUL

Ben l'Oncle Soul (Benjamin Duterde, born 1984) is a Belgian soul singer and songwriter. He was discovered by Motown France in 2008. His first release, recorded in a Belgian garage, pretty much blew me away. This recent shiny sparkley CD did the same.

by Ben L'Oncle Soul (as in Uncle Ben...)
Audio CD
Released 2010 Motown Records

JOAN MITCHELL: LADY PAINTER

Lady Painter is the biography about Joan Mitchell, an amazing artist whose main works exploded on the art scene during the 1950s through the 1970s. The author, Patricia Albers, reconstructs Joan's large and impassioned life, her growing prominence as an artist, her marriage and affairs, her life in France and her friendships with various poets and painters. The book was a whoa - phew sort of read, but well worth the ride.


Hardback, 566 pages
by Patricia Albers
Published by Knopf, May, 2011

ZAZ: ZAZ

Zaz, born Isabelle Geffroy, 1980 in Tours, is a French singer with a jazzy, earthy sound. She pretty much exploded on the French charts. By the time I discovered her in July, 2011, her song "Je Veux" could be heard all over Paris.


by Zaz
Audio CD
Released May, 2010 on PID
(or Sony in the states)

MURIEL KERBA: MISSION BOUILLE DE GRENOUILLE

"Dans mon immeuble, on est quatre du même âge, mais c'est Toto qui a eu l'idée le premier : faire sortir de chez elle la vieille rainette du troisième. Et croyez-moi, c'était pas du gâteau!"
I learned lots of fun words from this book. Great illustrations.


Hardback, 34 pages
In French by Muriel Kerba
Published by Gautier-Languereau, October, 2008

BRIGITTE: ET VOUS TU M'AIME?

Brigitte is Aurelie Maggiori (la blonde) and Sylvie Hoarau (la brune), two beautiful ladies with incredible sultry voices and awesome clothes. Fun.

Et Vous Tu M'aime?
Audio CD
by Brigitte
Released April 2011 on 3eme Bureau

RED CATS: POCKET POET SERIES NUMBER SIXTEEN

I found this slim book while cleaning out our stepmother's apartment.
It is a collection of poems from three Russian poets; Yevgeni Yevttushenko, Semyon Kirsanov and Andrei Voznesky. This book became my introduction to the Pocket Poet Series published by Lawrence Felinghetti.


Paperback 64 pages
Published by City Lights Books 1962
Translation by Anselm Hollo
Originally published in Russian in a number of publications
including Literaturnaya Gazeta and Oktyabr

THE WOODMANS: DOCUMENTARY

The Woodmans
Documentary DVD 82 minutes
Released 2010 Kino Lorber Inc.
English

LEON PARKER: ABOVE AND BELOW

There was a time in my life that I dreamt, slept and ate Parker; Alfred Desio had us performing tap routines to three of his pieces. Parker is one of my lost on a desert island musicians. Come to find out he's floating along here somewhere in France.

Above and Below
CD
Released November 15, 1994
Sony Label

FOOD: SUNDAY SUPPERS AT LUQUES

(re-read) Suzanne Goins is the chef-owner of Lucques, a Los Angeles restaurant noted for its Sunday Supper meals. I knew nothing about Suzanne the first time I went to one of her Sunday Suppers, only, I was home from France and missing good lucques - so I went.

Hardcover, 416 pages

by Suzanne Goins with Teri Gelber

Published by Knopf, November, 2005

In English