We’re thrilled to announ
ce the contest winners for our Writers Between the Covers giveaway! Sara Brockunier, Heather Gregory and Kate Mullen will all be receiving a copy of our salacious new book about the love lives of famous scribes, hot off the press this week. We hope they have as much fun reading about these writers’ exploits as we did writing about them!
Instagram @NovelDestinations
#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
2 comments
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October 30, 2013 at 8:38 am
Gary
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/29/visiting-writers-homes
I thought you would find this of interest,girls! Peace out! Gary
November 1, 2013 at 11:10 am
joni
What a wonderful article Gary! Thanks for drawing our attention to it….. I think we’ll do a post about it and the Langston Hughes house being up for sale later this week. The house looks really cute!