Archives des Becoming French - FUSAC Paris Classifieds

Hogtied in the Hexagon? comprehend France part 1 of 3

Hogtied in the Hexagon? comprehend France Part 1 Our choice of 15 Books to help you better comprehend France. First of all what is "hogtied"? To hogtie is an Americanism that goes back to about 1890 literally meaning to tie an animal, in particular a hog, with all four feet together. Figuratively the phrase means to thwart or hamper. So below is the beginning of our list of 15 books that'll help you feel less bewildered and more comprehend France. What is the Hexagon? The Hexagon is a nickname for France! (due to the mainland's nearly hexagonal shape) Part 2 of this article Part 3 of this article Dictionnaire amoureux de l’Histoire de France Max Gallo Max the historian works the alphabet from A to Z with entries ranging from Alésia to Jean Zay, touching along the way on Bernard de Clairvaux, Dreyfus, François Ier, Gambetta, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Henri IV, les intellectuels, la laïcité, le maquis, Saint Louis and Verdun. When Monsieur Gallo says he lov…

Understanding the Municipal Elections in France

First: what is a Municipality? In France a municipality is referred to as a « commune ». The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, meaning a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from Latin communis, things held in common. This new word replaced that of parish, which under the Ancien Régime designated simultaneously a religious entity (still relevant today), a territorial administrative district, and a fiscal one. Introduced by royal decree in December 1789, along with the word "mayor," this new designation was definitively established in November 1793. The gift from the Convention on Christmas Day, 1792was universal suffrage. However that concept was short lived when under the Directory, and for almost the entire 19th century. Then during the third Republic of 1884 mayors were designated by the municipal councilors. At the same time, universal male suffrage was introduced. A municipality thus consists of the …

The Saints on the map of Paris

Whether you walk across Paris or look at the metro or street map, you often see places named after a Saint. Such familiar names as St Genevieve, St Denis, St Vincent de Paul etc... Have you ever wondered who were these saints on the map of Paris and what their history was? We did! Here is a bit of history on the Saints on the map of Paris.

Sainte Geneviève

Logically the patron saint of Paris, St. Geneviève, is the one you come across most often. Her statue by Paul Landowski graces the Pont de La Tournelle in the 4th district. There is also one in Jardin du Luxembourg. She is on the front of Notre Dame as well. The Catholic church is celebrating the 1600th anniversary of Genevieve this year. A relic, her index finger, and her sarcophagus is in a chapel dedicated to her in the church of St Etienne du Mont a church in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte Geneviève where she lived and prayed.

She was born in Nanterre in about the …

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

Each month in the Book Room online, we recommend newly published books.

A REMARKABLE MAN, DR. SHUNTARO HIDA FROM HIROSHIMA TO FUKUSHIMA is a poignant, eye-opening portrait of a witness to the atomic bomb who dedicated his life to treating and advocating for radiation survivors. This book is chilling, edifying and inspiring all at the same time.

As a young doctor, Shuntaro Hida (1917–2017) played an essential role in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, which he witnessed firsthand only six kilometers from ground zero. Tending to the overwhelming number of victims from day one until his death, Hida spent more than sixty years developing an unparalleled understanding of the harmful effects of internal and external radiation.

Through intimate, thoughtful interviews and compelling reportage, and personal reflection Marc Petitjean has created a worthy tribute to this charismatic, determined man who stood up to complicit businesses and gov…

Paris Lost & Found

Maybe it was the early job at a uranium mine. Perhaps it’s his fascination with the Paris catacombs. For whatever reason, acclaimed author Scott Dominic Carpenter relishes telling stories from beneath life’s mundane surface. A professor of French literature and creative writing at Carleton College, Scott Dominic Carpenter’s books include the 2021 Midwest Bookstore Bestseller French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris, for which he was given a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and This Jealous Earth, a collection of short stories and Paris Lost & Found. In 2018, Carpenter won the Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Award, a national humor writing contest. His award-winning first novel, Theory of Remainders, a Kirkus Best Book of 2013, is currently under option by a major motion picture production company. Always searching for the next unexpected story, Scott Dominic Carpenter splits his time between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Paris, France.

List…

International Bookstores in Paris

FUSAC's own Bill & Rosa's Book Room, is composed mainly of used English books. We also have a certain number of French language books. And when we also receive books in other languages Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish we are reminded what a cosmopolitan city Paris is. In fact we read recently on the city of Paris' website in carefully inclusive French that the population of the city is composed of 22% Paris-born, some place else we saw 26% foreign-born and the rest of Parisians are non Parisian French. The international community stems from 176 nationalities. And 3/4 of Parisians think the ideal city is multicultural. This got us to thinking that there must be bookshops that deal in other languages beyond English and French so we set out to see what we could find and composed this list. After the foreign language shops there's a list of English bookstores in Paris and a few of the historic French shops we thought we just couldn't leave out. If you love…

Are You Becoming French?

Are You Becoming French?The French say that foreigners can never truly “become” French - no matter what legal status is inscribed upon what identity papers they carry around in their France-based wallets (1). Nor might newly minted citizens or official residents wish to swap their own cultural markers, manners and mentalities for those of the local waiter who serves them their morning café au lait et croissant (to say nothing of totally being able to). But if you’re here long enough, your adaptation mirrors those Escher drawings where columns of black geese or fish on the left fly or swim straight across the page, migrating and mutating by imperceptible degrees, melting into and finally becoming their white counterparts on the right. To a greater or lesser degree, whether you expected to or not, one day you realize that you’re crossing to the other side. How do you know that you’ve arrived? When you (a very incomplete list): 1. sound as brilliantly amusing-funny-sarcastic-sn…

Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Where is Bill & Rosa's Book Room?

At the newly renovated Porte de Saint Cloud! Not far at all from the centers of Paris or Boulogne-Billancourt.

Exact address: 42 rue du Chemin Vert 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt. See the map

Metro line 9 to Marcel Sembat; Busses: 22, 42, 62, 72, PC

Contact: Phone or SMS: 07.63.53.28.67, Email: BRBookRoom@gmail.com

When is Bill & Rosa's Book Room open? Click for hours 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 LI…

Hints and Hindsights – FFFFFF. F to the sixth power.

Hints and Hindsights. FFFFFF. F to the sixth power.

The six Fs. Fascinating, Fun Facts and Figures about France and French.

They come in handy more often than you’d think: during lulls in parties, as intros or outros to speeches, when you need to prove to some arrogant twit that at least some foreigners know there’s a world beyond Main Street and a timeline that precedes 1776. But let’s not get too arrogant ourselves - even for the most cultivated among us, some of these are real jaw-droppers:

-> When was the last guillotining in France? No, it was not during the 1793 Reign of Terror. It took place in Marseille on September 10, 1977 (that’s nineteen seventy-seven!) to end the life of Tunisian immigrant Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of having tortured and murdered his 21-year-old his former girlfriend, Elisabeth Bousquet. (France abolished the death penalty in 1981.)…

When the French are less French

When the French are less French This is the installment that our French hosts, cousins, counterparts, entourage have dreaded. When the French are less French. (We offer it, however, with tender feelings, hoping that will matter.) For years, FUSAC’s Hints for Newcomers-Hindsights for Oldtimers column has explored Anglo-French cultural and linguistic differences, the behavior and words that separate Parisians from Peorians, Niçois from New Yorkers, Cabourgais from Clevelanders. But while some of those differences are so profoundly embedded in millennia of national identity as to seem eternally immutable, others have begun melting away. Blame globalization. Blame the ubiquitousness of U.S. TV series. Blame students sent on exchange programs and executives sent on voyages d’affairs. Blame the “cool” appeal of Anglo jargon or the difficulty of fitting French verbosity into 140 characters. Whatever the reason, here is a (merely) four-category list of evidence that the gaping gulf is…

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