Desperately Seeking Paris
For those of you following my blog, you’ll remember that last week Veronica’s Grave won a silver medal for memoir in an international competition, with entries coming from more than a dozen countries. Thinking such good news called for a celebration, we headed for one of the hottest destinations in town, Le Coucou on Lafayette Street, sharing as it does the corner at Howard Street with the new Eleven Howard hotel.
Read MoreNot only did this week find Veronica's Grave winning the Readers' Choice Silver Medal, it also has been named one of Women Writers, Women's Books recommended reads for September.
Here is what they had to say about Veronica's Grave:
Read MoreDon’t delay, hurry on down before September 25th to see “Stuart Davis: In Full Swing,” a retrospective of more than 80 significant works by the American modernist painter on exhibition at the Whitney Museum.
At the age of 16, Davis talked his parents into letting him quit school and join a group of painters known as the Ashcan School, under the leadership of Robert Henri. Other notables in this group included Edward Hopper and George Bellows, both of whom have major works in the Whitney’s permanent collection. What was revolutionary about the Ashcan School was their subject matter—the urban landscape of America, bustling with millions of immigrants and stamped with grittiness and vitality.
Read MoreWhat books are tucked away in your beach bag this summer? on your Kindle? lying next to the bed on the night-table? Did you say Veronica’s Grave? Well, that certainly makes me as happy as the day is long. As do your notes and emails telling how much the book has meant to you. Keep them coming! It has long been my hope that Veronica's Grave would shed light and bring understanding to a neglected problem -- that of children who have been silenced for a lifetime by family secrets.
Read MoreI am honored that Veronica's Grave received such a thoughtful and charming review from Inspired by Books -- a thinking woman's blog devoted to seeking the inspirational in books. Be it in the classics or in poetry, in memoir or in mystery. This lover of books, Andrea Laszlo, does it all! Here is her recent post on Veronica's Grave:
Read MoreThis week I have the great pleasure of hosting the author, film critic and my friend, the multi-talented Diana Y. Paul.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Diana is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a degree in psychology and philosophy, and of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a PhD in Buddhist Studies. Her debut novel, Things Unsaid (She Writes Press, 2015) has won the award for best New Adult Fiction from Beverly Hills Book Awards for 2016, as been ranked #2 in the “Top 14 Books about Families Crazier Than Yours” and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Read MoreIt came as a shock to learn last week that I have a number of symptoms associated with ‘Untreated Francophilia.’ They vary in both severity and in the type of activity one chooses to engage in. Less acute symptoms, for instance, might include planning the next trip to Paris, within minutes of having returned home from France. Markedly more severe symptoms include the stalking of French restaurants, cafes and patisseries wherever you happen to find yourself. Experts say the only cure for French Stalker Syndrome is total immersion in French culture -- a month of two in the south of France would be therapeutic.
But finding it impossible to jet off to France any time soon, I head downtown for a few hours to check out a new French outpost in the Flatiron District, Le Coq Rico: The Bistro of Beautiful Birds.
Read MoreWriters and film-makers continue to successfully mine stories stemming from World War 2. “The Innocents” is such a film—a Polish-French film by the director Anne Fontaine that takes place in December 1945. Based on real events as described by Madeleine Pauliac, a French Red Cross doctor who had served with French troops in war-torn Poland, the film illuminates the various crises of faith that befall a convent of nuns who have been ravaged by marauding Russian troops who forced their way into the monastery and raped the helpless women.
Read MoreWhen a nephew’s wedding in June brought us north to Poughkeepsie for a weekend of festivities, we thought it the perfect time to squeeze in a visit to the CIA – not to the Central Intelligence Agency, but to the legendary Culinary Institute of America. So it was we arrived on a Saturday morning at the campus in Hyde Park, not knowing exactly what to expect, but having been forewarned by a desk clerk at the hotel that reservations for the dining rooms, be it for lunch or dinner, are hard to come by.
Read MoreOne of the great joys of Paris has to be the scores of specialty museums, each with its own focus, each with its own charms. Some of the museums mentioned in the following article will be familiar to the readers of ‘Desperately Seeking Paris,’ in that I’ve blogged on them: le musée Picasso in the exquisite Hotel Salé; the musée D’Orsay in the magnificently reconstructed train station; and the challenging musée du Quail Branly, a veritable vertical garden, its walls cloaked in greenery.
What intrigued me about the article was how, if you planned well, you could save yourself a bundle of euros, enough to splurge on a lovely lunch with a glass of vin rouge between the morning and afternoon visits.
Read MoreHappy Father's Day! The following quote, which says it all, comes from T. D. Jakes, an American author, pastor and filmmaker:
I want to congratulate all the men out there
who are working diligently to be good fathers
whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers
or just spiritual fathers.
And what follows is an article that appeared about Veronica's Grave in the Independent Journal Review.
Read MoreHello, Everyone!
When publishing a book nowadays, it's not enough to simply write it. You must 'support' it and one way of doing so is by writing related articles that, hopefully, will be picked up and published by others. Recently, I had the privilege of posting the following article on the influential website, Women Writers, Women's Books. I know that some of you who are on my Facebook have seen it, but for those of you who haven't, I'm publishing it today, along with a few added photos. Enjoy!
Read MoreAcross the street from Bryant Park on East 42nd Street, on the ground floor of the Grace Building, is the eponymously-named Alsatian-inspired Gabriel Kreuther. Barely a year old, Guide Michelin has awarded it one star, with many patrons insisting it deserves better than that.
Having left The Modern after nearly ten years at the helm, Mr Kreuther has repeated the highly successful concept seen at MoMA of a more casual bar room adjoining a luxe dining room. The overall effect is welcoming, a bright and airy space in the heart of Midtown. A desirable addition to a street that's overloaded with fast food places.
Read MoreIn the 1940s, when Barbara Bracht Donsky was 3 years old, her mother vanished from her life. At first, her father told Barbara only that his wife had gone away for a while, and the little girl distracted herself with her grandmother, brand-new baby brother, and the various relatives and friends who regularly gathered at their lively apartment. When, five years later, her father announced they were moving and asked Barbara to call a pretty new woman “Mom” and never mention her “real” mother again, she knew something was really wrong.
Read MoreIf a biography or an autobiography tells the story of a life, a memoir tells of the turning points in that life that help to answer the question: How did I become who I am? What I’ve come to realize is that — and this may be due to my youthful attachment to that inveterate gumshoe, Nancy Drew—I’m drawn to literature set in foreign locales. Growing up in a quiet neighborhood where nothing exciting ever happened, I counted on Nancy’s exploits to spark my imagination and brighten my days. Nancy loved to travel; so did I—even vicariously. So, if a trip abroad is not in your immediate future, here are a few transporting recommendations.
Read MoreHello, Everyone!
This past week has been a whirlwind of activity, centering on the book launch of Veronica's Grave May 9th at the New York Society Library. Rather than tell you about it, I’m going to share a Facebook post written by another She Writes Press author, Marcia Mabee:
“I was thrilled to attend Barbara Donsky's debut author event for Veronica's Grave last evening. A Washington D.C./Virginia resident, I just happened to be in New York City accompanying my husband who is attending a conference. When I saw that Barbara's book was trending No. 1 on the New York Post, I sent her a note congratulating her and asking if, by chance, she would be doing an author event. She enthusiastically invited me to attend her fabulous event at the New York Society Library -- the oldest library in New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton.
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