Archives des Cultural Assimilation - FUSAC Paris Classifieds

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

Each week in the Book Room online, we recommend newly published English books that we love.

This week's new books recommended by Bill & Rosa are perfect for summer in France.

C’EST CA LA FRANCE ! "Donnez-moi la main, je vous emmène dans votre pays." dit le français Frédéric Hermel qui vit en Espagne depuis près de trente ans mais reste profondément attaché à ses racines : la France et son Pas-de-Calais natal. Exilé volontaire, il visite dans cet ouvrage les petits et grands trésors de notre pays, ces merveilles du quotidien qui marquent notre différence mais que, souvent, nous ne savons plus voir ni apprécier. Chaque chapitre est construit comme un tableau dans lequel l’auteur brosse avec tendresse le portrait d’une particularité typiquement française : les bals du 14 Juillet, la passion du pain, le vouvoiement, le parfum, mais aussi les poèmes de Victor Hugo qu’on apprend à l’école ou l’attente fébrile du passage du Tour de France… Tous ces tableaux form…

French Like Moi: City of Light Bulbs

By Scott Dominic Carpenter author of French Like Moi

Listen to Scott read City of Light Bulbs

Surprise is the highest form of pleasure, and it’s easier to find than people think. You don’t have to invest your 401(k) in Powerball numbers to enjoy the fruits of unpredictability, or even travel by Amtrak. No, it turns out you can simply move to Paris, where the ordinary so often leads to adventure.

It went like this. Shortly before Anne returned from the States, I finished painting the walls and pushing the furniture back in place. During my final check, I discovered the bedroom lamp had burnt out. This led me to hoof it to the local supermarket, which stocks bulbs of various shapes and sizes.

Only after I returned home with my trophy did I realize my error.

In France, the base of a bulb is called a culot, a word derived from cul, which translates as “ass.” Although ungentlemanly in some contexts, c…

Click and Collect at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Follow the links below to view pdf files of the current inventory of Bill and Rosa's Book Room. More than 5000 titles!

Available for Click and Collect pick up or delivery, just email fusac.office@gmail.com with your selection, we'll send you a link for payment via CB (or take check or cash when you get the books) and arrange for pick up or delivery. For delivery the minimum is 6 books. Depending on where you are we may be able to deliver directly to you (please tell us your postal code). We also have a pick-up point at the Hotel Marignan 75005.

Are you in the Yvelines?: Villepreux, Les Clayes-sous-Bois, Plaisir, Feucherolles, St Nom-la-Bretèche, Rennemoulin, Fontenay-la-Fleury, Noisy-le-Grand, Bailly. Minimum order 25€ for free delivery

Anyone who orders 5+ books will receive a free copy of Elaine Sciolino's La Séduction (A book about France and the French and how seductions of all types, not just sexual, make them tick.)

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ECU Film Festival 9-11 April, 2021

ECU Film Festival ECU Film Festival offers the European cinema-loving public much more than a full program of quality and riveting independent films. Every year, the festival provides a unique, inspiring and interactive experience that all attendees are encouraged to partake in. Whether it is workshops taught by industry professionals, in-depth discussions with “Official Selection” directors in the Q&As that follow every screening session or other various events - there is something for everyone to enjoy. ECU Film Festival's “Official Selection” films are original and represent the best quality, creativity and innovation within the independent film industry. This level of excellence has helped to create a well-respected film festival whose focus is to discover fresh and cutting-edge filmmaking talent. This dedicated search goes beyond Europe: it is a global hunt for those that foster the ÉCU mission. ÉCU 2020 had a total of 802 films submitted from 91 countries. 87 fi…

New oaks for rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris

Rebuilding Notre Dame Last Fall while riding bikes through the Forest of Marly we saw some freshly cut oak tress of impressive size. We imagined them to be the new elements for rebuilding Notre Dame. We were a bit ahead of the times in our thinking as the selection of trees has started just this March. Oak trees from French forests will be selected for rebuilding Notre Dame's own “Forest” and another roughly 1000 for Violet-le-Duc's wooden steeple. The Forest of the cathedral is the framing that holds up the roof and consolidates the walls. It burned dramatically in 2019. The original medieval beams came from thousands of different oak trees and because of the size of the structure it was a rare architectural work admired by professionals the world over. Beginning 2021 was the time to choose the trees that will be used to rebuild this structure so that they can be harvested by the end of March before the spring growth begins. They will come from all over France from bo…

We love Le Chat and he is setting up on the Champs-Elysées!

From 26 March to 9 June, the City of Paris hosts a temporary installation of twenty monumental bronze sculptures of the famous "Le Chat" by Philippe Geluck on the Champs Élysées. The exhibiton is called LE CHAT DEAMBULE. The famous fat, but highly intelligent and well dressed tomcat takes up residence in central Paris, before undertaking a grand tour of France including Bordeaux, Caen. The sculptures continue on to Luxembourg and Brussels arriving for the inauguration of the Le Chat and cartoon drawing museum in 2023. Don't miss this fun event that will be reminiscent of the Botero sculptures on the Champs in the early 1990s.

If you haven't yet discovered this ironic cat it is time you did. He's the central character in more than 20 cartoon albums and has some pretty funny observations on the quirks of life. In thirty-eight years, Le Chat has entered the hearts of all generations with his good nature, his humor, his humanism and his very particular way to tackle …

Virtual visit: Black & White: an aesthetic of photography

The Black & White exhibition has been hung, everything is on the walls, but the public is kept at bay.

After three (!) attempts to open the exhibition to the public "Black & White: an aesthetic of photography Collection of the National Library of France", the Rmn - Grand Palais has innovated and put virtual tours online until 18 June. Their hope is that the public will enjoy the exhibition anyway, but FUSAC reporter Judith Bluysen was not convinced.

The Noir & Blanc : une esthétique de la photographie exhibition presents black and white masterpieces from the photographic collections of the National Library of France (BnF), exceptionally brought together for the occasion. Nadar, Man Ray, Ansel Adams, Willy Ronis, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Mario Giacomelli, Robert Frank, Wil…

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. Our maître-mots are

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

Bill & Rosa's Book Room has several aspects. It is 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 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 novels, non-fiction and art books in bo…

Women Scientists International women and girls in science day

International Women's Day is 8 March. But I didn't know there was a day dedicated to Women Scientists - I should have suspected it though. This year and (every year) it was 11 February. We missed it, but we can still bring forth Women Scientists and doubly honor them for International Women's Day. These three were pioneering women scientists, two American, one French, who surrounded Rosa Bonheur, the namesake of our Book Room.

Natalie Micas was Rosa Bonheur's partner in life. She was a painter, like Bonheur, but also an engineer. She was born in Paris on the 26th of April 1824. Nathalie Micas was represented in the Hall of Science at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chica…

Brighten your day. Books are the perfect antidote for the gray and gloomy.

At Bill & Rosa’s Book Room, we have the perfect antidote for the gray and gloomy winter weather: books, a lot of them, to suit all tastes and demands! Iasmina has selected a few to help pass the time and brighten your day. All our books are pre-loved so you'll love the prices too!

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (4€), The Full Cupboard of Life (3€) The Kalahari Typing School for Men (4€) by Alexander McCall Smith

There’s nothing better to take your mind off the cold and the rain than a plunge into the world of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, a series of detective novels by Alexander McCall Smith. Travel far away from rainy days with this novel set in Botswana and featuring Precious Ramotswe, the founder of the first and only female-run detective agency in the country. With unique characters, a good dose of kindness and vivid descriptions of Botswanan life, these are detective novels like no other. These thre…

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Cultural Assimilation

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

French Like Moi: City of Light Bulbs

Click and Collect at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

ECU Film Festival 9-11 April, 2021

New oaks for rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris

We love Le Chat and he is setting up on the Champs-Elysées!

Virtual visit: Black & White: an aesthetic of photography

Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Women Scientists International women and girls in science day

Brighten your day. Books are the perfect antidote for the gray and gloomy.

BILL & ROSA's

BOOK ROOM