Books, books, books, to read and to give

parisdiaArt, Books1 Comment

I had read only one book of short stories by Nina de Gramont, my talented American cousin, “Of Cats and Men” published in 2001. She has since published six more books and her latest one, “The Christie Affair” was for a long time on the New York Times best seller’s list and is translated into twenty languages. It is a … Read More

Villers Cotterêts, the new citadel of the French language, is open

parisdiaArchitecture, Art, Books, History, Technique3 Comments

I was totally excited to finally get to Villers Cotterêts after a series of mini disasters (the opening visit was cancelled) and an hour and a quarter of driving from Paris. The small town of 10 000 inhabitants,  is pretty dreary and the castle which houses the new Cité Internationale de la Langue française stands out like a meringue among … Read More

A spectacular exhibition in Chantilly … in 2025

parisdiaArt, Books, Performing arts3 Comments

The rain was drizzling on Maison de Sylvie in Chantilly but the atmosphere was electrical when Mathieu Deldicque, director of Musée Condé, and Marie Pierre Dion in charge of the rare books, announced that the “Mona Lisa of Manuscripts” Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, would be (partly) exhibited for three months in June-October 2025. The last time … Read More

Claire Bretécher, Prix Émile Perreau Saussine, Journée des Plantes in Chantilly and a novel on worms…

parisdiaArt, Books, Flowers and gardens1 Comment

The Autumn Journées des plantes in Chantilly were heavenly with perfect cool and sunny weather and newcomers such as Jean Marie Dheedene from the Clematis Foundation in Belgium. He develops new clematises which survive better the heat and need little watering and has classified them all according to the flowering period and the perfume. I visited Claire Le Meur who … Read More

Trendy books get signed at Galignani’s!

parisdiaBooks2 Comments

What does an art book on “Bagatelle” and a biography of Princesse Bibesco have in common? They get signing parties at Galignani‘s, the English bookshop on rue de Rivoli, where Karl Lagerfeld used to buy hundreds of thousands of € of books every year. The month of September is traditionally rich in new novels and the rentrée littéraire is ready … Read More