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English Books Paris: What’s New at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Each month in the Book Room online, we recommend newly published books and for March we've selected some books to help with learning English and one to get you to venture out of town.

HALF AN HOUR FROM PARIS

Londoner Annabel Simms has been circling around Paris for more than 25 years. Her first book An Hour from Paris came out in 2002 followed by A Half Hour in 2018 Just recently a revised version of the closer in Half an hour from Paris 12 secret day trips by train was republished. There’s a lot to enjoy just outside the city where there are fewer crowds and more nature plus a chance to stretch your legs on a walk. A Half Hour was Fully revised and updated in 2023. Written with humor and flare for the unusual and authentic, Annabel shares her delight in the little-known treasures of the Ile de France. Half an Hour from Paris presents 12 destinations which are easy to reach from central Paris. Each destination is with a carefully planned walk,…

Coups de cœur at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Coups de cœur at Bill & Rosa's Book Room is an article that features a favorite selection our recent donations that are available for purchase. COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons Flora Post is orphaned at twenty and decides her only option is to descend on relatives - the doomed Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm, where she takes each of the family in hand and brings order to their chaos. What we think: This comical portrait of British rural life in the 1930s will have you roaring with laughter. Available at the Book Room, 5€ The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes In May 1937 a man in his early thirties waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now. And few who are taken to the Big House ever return. What we think: This is a remarkable fictional biography of the great Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovi…

Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

What is Bill & Rosa's Book Room ?

First of all, for us, a Book Room is a comfortable place to spend some time. Think of it as the reading lounge on the ocean liners of yore with a western bent. Our maître-mots are

Read, Write, Relax. Buy, Borrow, Donate.

Bill & Rosa's Book Room has several aspects. It is first a USED BOOK SHOP and a LENDING LIBRARY. There are many novels of all genres for sale plus non-fiction, biographies, history, some poetry, cookbooks, cats, books on Paris or France, memoirs and children's books. Most books are in English, but also in French and even a few bilingual. Prices start at just 2€.

The 500 volume lending library has four sections :

The Sylvie and Henry Noullet Library: novels mostly in English Bill and Rosa's Library of the American West includes no…

Merde! Stephen Clarke, Interview with a Paris author

"Not one of the other Stephen Clarkes you might have read about, who include an Olympic swimmer, a world-record-holding pumpkin sculptor and various criminals. I'm just the author whose new novel, Merde at the Paris Olympics, is now out." -- Stephen Clarke

If you are an expat in Paris (or not!) you must know the adventures of Paul West, The hero of A Year in the Merde and its sequels depicting French lifestyle from his personal perspective as an English man. The books became incredibly famous as many people could relate to the story. Who never had problems adapting to a new country? The language, the workplace, meeting people... many subjects tackled in the books with a great sense of humour. As a French girl, I was very amused by those books. Even if Stephen Clarke gently points out some of our weird traits, it is obvious that deep down he really loves France. As a matter of fact, I found out he lives in France! I spent a few years in…

Anglo authors in Paris

Paris is inspiring! Did you notice? This fair city has inspired quite a few writers in the English-speaking Paris community and they have set their ideas into novels and stories. Since community is more important than ever, we are presenting recent fiction by Anglo authors in Paris, some quite well-known and some first books. The books below are not all set in Paris, but they are certainly inspired by the community here. Books are pretty much the easiest thing to choose and send for gifts! Keep an eye on Bill & Rosa's Book Room for 2024 events by these Anglo authors in Paris.

THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles, a now Parisian who grew up in Montana down the street from a French war bride.

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her belov…

Book Room Events

Upcoming Book Room Events: 20 April 16:00 Have you ever wondered how chocolate is made, or where it comes from? Wondered if that "really good" chocolate you've been eating is actually all that great? Join Lisa Allen, Pastry Chef, Chocolatier and Level 2 Certified Chocolate Taster, for an in-depth introduction to the world of fine flavor, single origin chocolate, how it's made and what it can taste like. She will have some visual aids and of course some amazing chocolate for you to try, and a few spare bars for sale. This is a unique opportunity, as these chocolates are world chocolate gold award winners not available for sale anywhere else in Paris. She will also be gathering interest for upcoming longer events on Fine Chocolate Tasting by itself, as well as masterclasses to taste and pair them with fine wines. Free, please sign up at brbookroom@gmail.com 27 April 16:00 Story time in English for children ages 4 to 8. Free, please sign up at brbookroom@gmail.com 25 Ma…

Who makes Book donations to Bill & Rosa’s Book Room?

Book donations to Bill & Rosa's Book Room. So who are the people who donate their books to Bill & Rosa's Book Room? Each donation is different and brings a new profile and trip to some very interesting apartments and towns. Many people give us their entire libraries at once, some bring in a few books at a time. For example Barney's estate donated more than 2000 books on Paris, art and novels. Barney was an American who lived in Europe most of his life. His wife was German and they lived in Germany and then Paris. From browsing his library we can see that Barney kept busy attending readings and lectures in Paris. Many of the novels that had been presented at Shakespeare & Co and the American Library over the years are signed by the authors and include flyers about the event or newspaper clippings about the author. Barney was also a friend and fan of the Fluxus art movement which provided some incredibly rich hand crafted one-of-a-kind books. There was a portrait of …

A brief History of the Cookbook

Most households have at least a few cookbooks: perhaps some have been passed down through generations; perhaps others, more recent, cater to the various dietary needs and restrictions in the household. Cookbooks are a familiar sight, but what do we really know about their history? One of the most famous early cookbooks dates back to the 2nd century BCE. It is called the Deipnosophistai (“The Learned Banquet”) and is a treatise on food and food preparation written by Athenaeus, a Greek gourmet. This was however not the earliest cookbook by any means. That honor goes to the Yale Culinary Tablets, three of which date back to 1730 B.C. They are from the Mesopotamian region, or what is today Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In fact, much of what we eat today was cultivated or domesticated in that region. The tablets provide recipes for more than two dozen Mesopotamian dishes, such as stews of pigeon, lamb or spleen (A team of international scholars set out to recreate three of the r…

Interview with American writer Jake Lamar

American writer Jake Lamar will visit Bill & Rosa's Book Room on June 3 to discuss his latest novel, Viper’s Dream which has just been published in English. He is an American author who has lived in Paris for almost 30 years, he teaches creative writing at Sciences Po and is the author of a memoir, seven novels, numerous essays, reviews and short stories and a play. He is also the recipient of several prestigious prizes, among which the Lyndhurst Prize and France’s Grand Prize for best foreign thriller. He is fascinating to listen to, passionate about Harlem jazz and has a excellent speaking voice that will draw you in. This is the first part of our interview with him:

Q: You started out as a journalist for Time Magazine, so my question is, have you always wanted to be a writer and have you always known you wanted to write ficiton?

A: I’ve known since the age of 12 that I wanted to be a writer and that I wanted to write fiction. The jo…

Les Livres français au English Book Room!

Comme Bill & Rosa's English Book Room est en France nous mettons en avant de temps en temps des livres qui nous plaisent en français. On a déjà vu le stéreotype des Français avec les chiens, French Poodles, entre autres. Il va de soit qu'il y a un pléthore de livres pour enfant avec des chiens comme caractère principal. Voici notre choix de quatre [livres] chiens qui [pour]suivent un [livre] écureuil! LUCKY JOEY Joey l’écureuil vit avec sa famille dans un grand parc à New York. Rapide et agile, il aime son travail malgré les risques. Joey est laveur de vitres ! Du haut des immeubles, Joey rêve de voyages et de mariage avec Léna, son amoureuse. Tous les deux travaillent dur pour que leur rêve devienne réalité. Se laisseront-ils rattraper par les aléas de la vie ou la chance de Lucky Joey finira-t-elle par tourner ? Album 6 à 8 ans. Author: Carl Norac & Stéphane Poulin, Publisher: Les Lutins, L’école des loisirs JOBS DE WOUF Saviez-vous qu’il existe des chiens…

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