Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse, was the book which led me to Carcassonne, a town in the South of France. In simple terms, this is a time-slip, grail-quest novel, but this does it would be a disservice to say this book is just like The Da Vinci Code. Labyrinth is not merely a holiday read, jumping on the Grail bandwagon; it is well-researched and rich in historical fact, combined with a touch of magic.
I must confess I am a self-proclaimed Francophile. A visit to Paris brings about a new appreciation for French culture, lifestyle & its people. Unfortunately I am not able to visit as often as I would like, therefore I am constantly in search of books about France, movies or anything, to fulfill my French obsessions.
Last week you were introduced to a few of Europe’s most shady Christmas characters. This week to prove that societal inflicted anxiety that accompanies many Christmas traditions does not stop with the efforts of a few ugly paternal types whose existence plays bad cop to Santa Claus’s good, we bring you a few female holiday heavies.
For those of us brought up on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and the concept of a benevolent Santa Claus with a cast of cute sidekicks, the shady characters to whom you are about to be introduced may come as a surprise.
Book Review Embracing the Un-Average Girl in All of Us Let’s get something out in the open. I’ve got a few years on the author of The Art of Solo Travel: A Girl’s Guide, Stephanie Lee. This is important for me to mention when evaluating this book, because there is something about traveling where we [...]
Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore? ~ Henry Ward Beecher ~ I would add to that, “as in front of Italian food.” Most people will probably arrive at Brunetti’s Cookbook because they are already fans of Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti mysteries series. As a reader who is not an huge fan [...]
Taking a trip to visit a country where your native tongue is not the primary spoken language can be intimidating. But there are a number of easy things you can do to make sure you are understood in Italy. Speaking louder is not one of them; and neither is the commonplace gesticulation cliché. Italians use [...]
