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How hard can it be for an American to pass France's unique exam for English teachers? This wickedly funny memoir examines France's love-hate affair with the modern world. "Her tragi-comic story explains how France produces the worst English teachers in the world" - LE POINT; 'Funny and ferocious" - THE PARIS TIMES; "Dramatically funny" - L'EXPRESS; "Highly instructive" - NOUVEL OBS
After losing her high-tech job in Paris, Alice Wunderland dreams of a new, unemployment-proof career as an English teacher, and takes France's official state exam. Unfortunately, her Arizona English fails to impress, and she vows to investigate why French schoolchildren rank last for English skills in Europe.
An arresting and absorbing novel that spans decades, drawing us into the turbulent lives of a family in Southern California after the sudden death of the father. Beginning in 1962 with a shocking loss, Shining Sea quickly pulls us into the lives of forty-three -year-old Michael Gannon's widow and offspring. Brilliantly described and utterly alive on the page, the Gannon clan find themselves charting paths they never anticipated, for decades to come. Told with a cinematic sweep, Shining Sea transports us from World War II to the present day, crisscrossing from the beaches of Southern California to the Woodstock rock festival, from London's gritty nightlife in the eighties to Scotland's remote Inner Hebrides, from the dry heat of Arizona to the fertile farmland of Massachusetts. Epic, tender, and beautifully rendered, Shining Sea is the portrait of an American family-a profound depiction of the ripple effects of war, the passing down of memory, the making of myth, and the power of the ideal of heroism to lead us astray but sometimes also to keep us afloat.
By turns humorous, bittersweet, historical, or surreal, each of these carefully selected stories invites readers to explore a different facet of Paris.
Clare Moorhouse, the American wife of a high-ranking diplomat in Paris, is arranging an official dinner crucial to her husband's career. As she shops for fresh stalks of asparagus and works out the menu and seating arrangements, her day is complicated by the unexpected arrival of her son and a random encounter with a Turkish man, whom she discovers is a suspected terrorist. Like Virginia Woolf did in Mrs. Dalloway, Anne Korkeakivi brilliantly weaves the complexities of an age into an act as deceptively simple as hosting a dinner party.
"Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You is aimed at first-time visitors to France as well as long-term expatriates. Designed to help readers 'crack the code,' avoid common mistakes, and get off on the right foot with the French, the book begins with five easy-to-follow essential tips 'for even brief encounters' by introducing a few French phrases and how to say them that will pave the way for a positive experience in France. The tips are followed by 10 chapters that go into a deeper explanation of French habits, manners, and ways of viewing the world. Hulstrand shares the perspective she has gained in nearly 40 years of time spent living, working, teaching, and tra...
No city has attracted so much literary talent, launched so many illustrious careers, or produced such a wealth of enduring literature as Paris. From the 15th century through the 20th, poets, novelists, and playwrights, famed for both their work an...
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Never before has there been a guide for the visitor on foot that is so far reaching, so comprehensive, so detailed or so deeply researched. "Around and About Paris" is the perfect companion to the city. Entertaining and informative, "Around and About Paris" will show you both the Paris that flirts and flaunts itself and the hidden Paris that lies behind windows, within courtyards, around street corners and even under the cobblestones. It will enlighten you about the past, present and future of what you see -- the history, the tensions, the developments, the schemes. And it will show you the gems -- the places that have universal appeal simply because of their supreme beauty. -- From publisher's description
A tale inspired by the Russian mail-order bride industry finds young engineer Daria landing a secretary job at a foreign firm and redirecting her licentious boss toward a more willing mistress before taking work with a matchmaking agency, through which she meets an American teacher who fails to attract her as strongly as an irresponsible mobster. Includes reading-group guide. Reprint.