Sorry to be a pedant, but Madame Bovary was married, and cheated on her husband with single guys, if I remember correctly. She does not apply in this case.

Thanks for your helpful comments, Judith de Haan.  Like Judith Martin, I’ve always wanted to tackle the Federalist Papers, but I’ll follow up on your advice and read de Tocqueville first.

How about primer books on Thucydides’ The Peleponnesian Wars? Do you have any advice there? 

 

JJB, I got lunch a few times at Starwich, and while it was a pleasant joint, it wasn’t unique or extraordinary enough to withstand the competition.

If you need Green and Black chocolate, you need to visit the Food Emporium on 3rd Ave. and 68th St. which actually has the best chocolate department in Manhattan, on the ground floor. Not only do they carry Green and Black, but they also carry Amadei, Pralus, Scharffen Berger, among many other brands.

Also, for vegetables, Agata & Valentina and Citarella are more reliable and carry a bigger variety  than Food Emporium. 

 

Hey wowwowwow, with your investigative skills can you find a salon in the US that offers the Economist, the New Criterion, the Atlantic, Foreign Affairs and maybe Der Spiegel for its customers? I know you can do it. Thanks!

Thanks for the plug for “The Leopard,” Love Goddess. Once the reader meets Prince Fabrizio, it will be lust at first read… Darcy who? I love the book more than the movie, but the movie is a solid four stars, it’s one of Visconti’s best, and the casting was perfect.

This is probably a minority view, but a reader probably has to be at least 25 to appreciate The House of Mirth. The closer the reader is to Lily Bart’s age, the closer the story cuts. Unless she is exceptionally mature and aware, they’re more apt to just nod and say, “oh, that won’t happen to me. I’ll find an appropriately handsome guy who likes the same things as I do to marry me one of these days, lalala.”

Did Karl Rove think this up? What a brilliant, brilliant man.

A collection of Stendhal’s letters, “To the Happy Few.” It’s the nearest thing to having him as a friend.

Congratulations on your new apartment. Speaking as an ex-Vancouverite who lives in NYC, Cioppino’s is a nice restaurant, and their chestnut soup is divine, I also reccomend you try Il Giardino, which has a beautiful room and outdoor space. Blue Water Grill is fabulous, as is their wine list. And if you haven’t been to Le Crocodile, yet, you have to go. Real souffles, the best Dover Sole, frog legs, steak with Bearnaise sauce, etc. Vancouver also happens to have the best Japanese and Indian restaurants in North America, Tojo and Vij. Finally, Vancouver has so many excellent used bookstores. If you’re the type who gets a thrill from 1970s Penguin editions of WS Maugham novels with racy covers, go to McLeods. Albion Books, Tanglewood and PulpFiction books are also worth visiting.

Sleeves! Aaah, those were the days.

Thanks for the news of the closing sale of the Rockefeller Center French bookstore, JJB. C’est triste, ca, but perhaps now I can splurge on the Robuchon cookbooks they carry. The 2nd best place to find French books in NYC is the basement of the Strand. It’s only 2 1/2 shelves wide, but The French Publishers’ agency often drops off books there and I sometimes find some random treasures like a Pleiades edition of Marguerite Yourcenar’s work. If you’re ever in Cambridge, MA, check out Schoenhof’s Bookstore, which is owned, I think, by Gallimard. Great selection of French books, as well as German and Spanish, and a very pleasant store to visit.

First night of Richard Strauss’s Salome in Dresden. The soprano singing Salome is the American soprano, Judith Martin. Runners up: Kathleen Ferrier in Orfeo, Ezio Pinza singing Don Giovanni at the Old Met.

Thank you for your memories and the raffish picture. I could only hope to look so cool wearing one glove. I hope a magazine commissions a longer piece from you about your time in the court.

Metropolitan - the Upper East side before girls dressed in Uggs and velour sweatsuits… talking about Thorstein Veblen (sp) at parties. Stolen Kisses - Truffaut film in the Antoine Doinel series. Set in Paris. Gigi.

Thanks for the memories. I had no idea Lily of the Valley is the official flower of May, but instinctively, this week, I gave my usual Mitsouko a break and have been wearing Diorissimo, and have been a crazy good mood from the lily of the valley notes. It’s like having a trio playing Haydn following me around.