I just finished an excellent book, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died in the 1940s, by Anne Sebba. I think was the best book that I have read so far this year. Sebba makes it clear that the situation for women in France during the war was incredibly complex. Some women still went to couture shows and wore custom jewels from the greatest boutiques on Place Vendôme, while others queued for inadequate food. Women resistants were not recognized as combatants, so they were not eligible to be compensated after the war. They were, however, given honors by the government for their heroism. On the other hand, women who were deported to concentration camps were neither considered combattants nor heroic resistants, but rather victims. People didn’t want to hear their stories after the war because they ran contrary to the national rhetoric that France was full of bold resistants who took on the Nazis and won, not victims of four terrible years of occupation. It’s a fascinating series of accounts based on eyewitness interviews, journals, and letters. I highly encourage you to you read it, especially since we just marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Paris.
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If you like police thrillers, you should check out 
I enjoy the interior scenes of French painter Pierre Bonnard. He was born on October 3, 1867 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, a suburb of Paris.
Bonnard settled in Paris in 1888, where he studied at the Académie Julien and the École des Beaux-Arts. With Maurice Denis and Édouard Vuillard (with whom he shared a studio), he was influenced by Paul Gauguin’s expressive use of color and formed the Nabis. The name comes from the Hebrew word for “prophet.” I saw some of his paintings this summer at the musée du Sénat’s lovely exhibit about the movement.
While other artists at the end of the 19th century were tending towards abstraction, Bonnard was influenced by Japanese prints and concentrated on landscapes and interiors which strove to create subtle effects in light and color at the expense of perspective. At the turn of the century he was moved by the intensity and passion in the paintings of Van Gogh and this led him to become a founding member of the Salon d’Automne in 1903. Thereafter he was influenced by Les Fauves (literally “the wild beasts”), whose strident colors and distorted images he tamed and harnessed to his own style. Bonnard died in southwestern France on January 23, 1947.
Several years ago, a French friend introduced me to the song “
Netflix recently recommended a French film to me with the English title 
His father, Seyolo Zantoko, a recently graduated doctor from the Congo, but who trained in France, agreed to be a physician in a tiny village that could not attract a new doctor. He hoped that he’d be able to bring over his family from the political unrest of the Congo and eventually be sponsored for French citizenship. Integration came slowly and put a strain on the whole family. I don’t think it’s a plot spoiler to tell you that all eventually works out well for the Zantoko family. The story is told with lots of humor along the way, even though the message is a serious one. I highly recommend this film to you. Have any of you seen it?
Octagon House
Sausalito Houseboats – On our way to Muir Woods, we stopped at the colorful houseboats in Sausalito. I can recommend Fred’s Place (1917 Bridgeway) for classic and tasty breakfast or lunch options if you want to have a meal before going for your hike in the woods.
Stinson Beach – After our hike, we drove a few miles to the beach and just enjoyed a lovely walk along this wide, uncrowded beach.
After having spent an idyllic time in Aix-en-Provence this summer, the film 
The film, by director Danièle Thompson, examines their relationship over many years, culminating in the rupture over Zola’s depiction of his friend in 
I don’t think it was a great film, but it gave a view of the friendships and rivalries of an incredible group, such as Manet, Monet, Maupassant, and Renoir, at the time of the Salon des Refusés and the birth of Impressionism. I also enjoyed seeing the streets and fountains of Aix incorporated into the film, as well as the singing of the cigales, or cicadas, that are the soundtrack of Provence. It’s in French and subtitled in English.
This year, I discovered a new-to-me French clothing brand near Saint Sulpice church, Maison Standards. This home of chic basics has been around since 2013, but used to be only online. Now it has a handful of Parisian boutiques in addition to Internet sales.
As it was during one of the twice-yearly official sales periods, when big discounts lure customers in, the first thing that I noticed about them is that there were no markdowns. The founder, Uriel Karsenti, keeps prices relatively low by eliminating middlemen. Because the look is totally timeless, there is no need to dump one season’s clothes to prepare for the next.
If you also like well-cut classics in quality fabrics at fair prices, this is a brand to consider. And if you won’t be in Paris, their Internet business is alive and well, shipping men’s and women’s fashion to many parts of the world. The equivalent of “fast fashion” in French is la mode jetable (lah mowed shjet-ab-luh), literally “disposable fashion,” and that is the exact opposite of the Maison Standards esthetic. My only regret is that my closet is sufficiently well-stocked that I couldn’t justify picking up several pieces. I was on the hunt for a red dress, and they did have one contender, but the color was too tomatoey for me (a different dress from the one above), so I regretfully left empty handed. But I’ll be back.
Parisian chic
