Stephanie Copeland, president and CEO of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s historic home in Lenox, Massachusetts, has announced that there is a new blog chronicling the efforts to save the estate, which is facing financial difficulties. At helpsavethemount.blogspot.com, bibliophiles are invited to share their stories about visiting The Mount. Visit www.edithwharton.org for more information about fundraising efforts and to make a pledge.
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#LiteraryParis
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Paris is one of my favorite literary locales and not just for all the #classicwriters associated with the city. The Aimée Leduc Investigations series by @carablack51 is set in the 1990s, and each novel takes place in a different part of Paris. The series is terrific and smart and great fun for mystery fans and armchair travelers. As the Washington Post Book World aptly put it, “Leduc’s City of Light is a stylish, dangerous place.”
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One thing I especially like is the trivia about writers, musicians, and other famous figures the author weaves into the narratives. For example, in MURDER IN THE MARAIS, Aimée Leduc’s debut, she joins a tour group at the Victor Hugo House to elude some men chasing her and then hides out there after hours. In MURDER IN BELLEVILLE, an impromptu escape route leads through the Edith Piaf Museum, while in MURDER ON THE CHAMP DE MARS she hails a taxi beside a plaque marking Edith Wharton’s residence on the rue de Varenne.
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If you’re new to the series, there are a whopping 18 novels to discover, including the largest page-turner coming in June. Plus, a free e-book, “The Aimée Leduc Companion: A Guide to Cara Black’s Paris,” highlights sites in the novel as well as some of Black’s favorite places. Time for some trip planning!
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#noveldestinations #literarytravel #wanderlustwednesday #carablack #sohopress #mysteries #books #bookstagram #instabook #armchairtravel #bookish #booklove #paris
#WanderlustWednesday #LiteraryParis
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“It is the conversation of Paris that I always miss so. That and the Luxembourg Gardens and the wine and the newspapers.” —Ernest Hemingway in a 1925 letter
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One of the most literary sites in a city filled with them is the Luxembourg Gardens, which is used as the setting in countless novels from classic to contemporary. In Hemingway’s THE SUN ALSO RISES, Jake Barnes notices the chestnut-trees in bloom as he sips coffee and reads the newspapers. In Victor Hugo’s LES MISERABLES, Marius first sees Cosette amid the flower-beds that “shed forth balm and dazzling beauty.”
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More recently, the Gardens are mentioned often in Cara Black’s excellent Aimée Leduc Investigations series set in 1990s Paris. And in Eleanor Brown’s THE LIGHT OF PARIS, a character has “a pleasant picnic by the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens” (a must-do activity while in Paris).
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#paris #parisinbloom #luxembourggardens #literaryparis #noveldestinations #literarytravel #storiedsettings #hemingway #hemingwaywashere #carablack @carablack51 #eleanorbrown @eleanorwrites #books #classics #booksandtravel #bookstagram #wanderlust #wanderlustwednesday
Happy 165th birthday to #VincentVanGogh.
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It seems a fitting day to return to the mammoth biography VAN GOGH: THE LIFE, which I had started before I left for Spain. I read 550 of the 900 pages and then stopped. I didn’t want to rush through the rest because I had just gotten to what for me is the most interesting part: Van Gogh’s arrival in Provence. And there was no way the book was going on the road with me since it would have taken up half the space in my backpack.
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In 1889, Van Gogh voluntarily checked himself into the Monastery of Saint Paul de Mausole, an asylum in the hills above Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He spent most of the last year of his life there and produced an impressive 150 paintings, including Starry Night.
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Both Saint-Rémy and Arles, the larger and more famous Provençal town associated with the artist, have self-guided walks leading to places he depicted on canvas. Of the two towns, I found more shades of Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy. It’s less developed than Arles, particularly the area surrounding Saint Paul de Mausole. Van Gogh was initially confined to the immediate asylum grounds, painting scenes he saw from his window and inside the walled garden. He was later allowed to venture further afield to paint scenes like the cypress trees and olive groves that still thrive there.
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Today Saint Paul de Mausole is a sanatorium for women where art is used as therapy. Along with seeing a recreation of Van Gogh’s rooms—a sleeping chamber and an adjoining studio—visitors can stroll through the garden, the cloisters, and a Romanesque chapel.
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#vangogh #provence #saintremy #artfuldestinations #biographies #bookstagram #booklove #booksandtravel
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October 25, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Karenne Saylor
I visited the Mount in May 2009 and recently wrote about the visit on my blog. I visited two days in a row, one of them during the Friday night “ghost” tour. In my blog entry, I didn’t mention the tour, although I did have an experience while I was standing outside of the old sewing room, near the elevator. I caught it on a digital recorder and others (including Molly) heard the sound. It was directly below her office.
I will be adding a literary blog entry about Edith Wharton very soon. I have to gather my thoughts first, in order to write a scholarly essay.
October 26, 2009 at 1:24 pm
noveldestinations
What an eerie experience! I really enjoyed the post on your blog about your visit to the Mount, especially all of the photos of the interior.