Coups de coeur
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Humanly Possible
What is humanism and how does it still concern us? Could it save us from fanatics, mystics and tyrants? Could it possibly help us to think? Sarah Bakewell wrote about Montaigne, about the existentialists; this new book tells us about all the inquisitive minds who choose to wander into questioning everything.
A most important read.
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Un conte de la vie
À l'occasion de son discours de réception du prix Nobel de littérature, Annette Comte se souvient de ses dix ans et de celui qui lui a donné l'envie d'écrire. Elle raconte, émerveillée, ce que le flamboyant Magnus fut pour elle l'été 1972, dans le sud de la France. Mais ce n'est qu'en osant, à Stockholm, revenir ainsi sur cette première et immense peine de coeur qu'Annette prendra la mesure de ce qu'un écrivain demande à l'amour. Sophie Fontanel a des accents de Colette dans ce livre qui est un conte de la vie.
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Le mot de l'éditeur
A provocative, wildly funny, intellectually rigorous and engrossing novel, punctuated by Siri Hustvedt's own illustrations - a tour de force by one of America's most acclaimed and beloved writers. Fresh from Minnesota and hungry for all New York has to offer, twenty-three-year-old S.H. embarks on a year that proves both exhilarating and frightening - from bruising encounters with men to the increasingly ominous monologues of the woman next door. Forty years on, those pivotal months come back to vibrant life when S.H. discovers the notebook in which she recorded her adventures alongside drafts of a novel. Measuring what she remembers against what she wrote, she regards her younger self with curiosity and often amusement. Anger too, for how much has really changed in a world where the female presidential candidate is called an abomination?
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Le mot de l'éditeur
The remarkable story of Bess of Hardwick, her ascent through Elizabethan society and the houses she built that shaped British architectural history. Born in 1521, Bess of Hardwick, businesswoman, money-lender and property tycoon, lived an astonishing eighty-seven years. Through canny choices, four husbands and a will of steel she rose from country squire's daughter to Dowager Countess, establishing herself as one of the richest and most powerful women in England, second only to Queen Elizabeth. Bess forged her way not merely by judicious marriage, but by shrewd exploitation of whatever assets each marriage brought. At a time when women were legally and financially subordinate to their husbands, Bess succeeded in manipulating hers to her own and her children's advantage, accumulating great riches and estates in the process. Wealth took concrete form in her passion for building and she oversaw every stage of the construction of her four country houses: Chatsworth, Hardwick Old Hall, Hardwick New Hall and Owlcotes. Hardwick New Hall, her sole surviving building, is stamped all over with Bess's identity and her initials: it stands as a celebration of one woman's triumphant progress through Elizabethan England. In Devices and Desires, Kate Hubbard examines Bess's life as a builder within the context of the male-dominated Elizabethan architectural world. This new biography traces the creation of Hardwick and Bess's lost houses, as well as estates such as Longleat, Holdenby and Theobalds, all known to and coveted by Bess. Throughout, it seeks to locate Bess within Hardwick, her greatest achievement and her lasting monument.
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Le mot de l'éditeur
Miss marcella Mink and sixty-seven of her favorite feline friends live happily in her big house by the sea. But there was a time when Miss Mink's well-being was in jeopardy. After creating her own business - a feline-friendly cruise company - Miss Mink found she no longer had time for herself of her friends. For advice, she turned to her cats, who always seemed so well-rounded, well-rested and well-groomed. By following their example, it was not long before the cat countess was feeling shipshape again. From the benefits of a morning grooming and an afternoon nap to valuable advice on friendship and a healty (fish-full) diet, Miss Mink's twenty cat-approved lessons will have you too living a purrrfect live.
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Le mot de l'éditeur
A love letter to Paris and a memoir of a life spent at its bohemian heart, rich with adventures, misadventures and the beauty of one of the most enduringly romantic cities in the worldThe Existential Englishman is both a memoir and an intimate portrait of Paris -- a city that can enchant, exhilarate and exasperate in equal measure. As Peppiatt remarks: `You reflect and become the city just as the city reflects and becomes you'. This, then, is one man's not uncritical love letter to Paris. Intensely personal, candid and entertaining, The Existential Englishman chronicles Peppiatt's relationship with Paris in a series of vignettes structured around the half-dozen addresses he called home as a plucky young art critic. Having survived the tumultuous riots of 1968, Peppiatt traces his precarious progress from junior editor to magazine publisher, recalling encounters with a host of figures at the heart of Parisian artistic life - from Sartre, Beckett and Cartier-Bresson to Serge Gainsbourg and Catherine Deneuve. Peppiatt also takes us into the secret places that fascinate him most in this ancient capital, where memories are etched into every magnificent palace and humble cobblestone. On the historic streets of Paris, where all life is on show and every human drama played out, Michael Peppiatt is the wittiest and wickedest of observers, capturing the essence of the city and its glittering cultural achievements.
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Le mot de l'éditeur
Kavanagh begins his life patrolling the Wall. If he’s lucky, if nothing goes wrong, he only has two years of this, 729 more nights. The best thing that can happen is that he survives and gets off the Wall and never has to spend another day of his life anywhere near it. He longs for this to be over; longs to be somewhere else. He will soon find out what Defenders do and who the Others are. Along with the rest of his squad, he will endure cold and fear day after day, night after night. But somewhere, in the dark cave of his mind, he thinks: wouldn’t it be interesting if something did happen, if they came, if you had to fight for your life? John Lanchester’s thrilling, hypnotic new novel is about why the young are right to hate the old. It’s about a broken world you will recognise as your own—and about what might be found when all is lost.
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Le mot du libraire
Couturier foisonnant et inspiré, Christian Lacroix a relevé le défi de s'approprier le texte d'un des plus grands classiques de la littérature française : La Princesse de Clèves. Il l'a orné d'une série de superbes dessins originaux qui nous accompagnent avec grâce dans la lecture de ce chef d'œuvre. L’ouvrage est édité en deux versions : l’une en série limitée à 99 exemplaires, présentée dans un emboîtage original avec une lithographie signée et numérotée de Christian Lacroix ; l’autre, en grand format de la Collection Blanche. Splendide ! Ludovic Martin
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Le mot du libraire
Gallimard édite cet automne le deuxième volume des œuvres de Jean d'Ormesson dans la collection de la Pléiade. Ce second tome, dont l'auteur a composé lui-même le sommaire, réunit des romans et des textes autobiographiques où s'entremêlent les deux fils directeurs de son œuvre : l'interrogation du monde et la quête de soi. Ce séducteur nous charme toujours par son écriture gourmande et volubile. Les amoureux de "Jean d'O" ne pourront pas résister à l'acquisition du coffret réunissant les deux volumes. Ludovic Martin
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Le mot du libraire
S'il y a bien un art culinaire exigeant, c'est celui de la pâtisserie. Mais c'était avant que Ferrandi, la grande école gastronomique française, ne vous accompagne pas à pas. 1500 gestes et techniques, expliqués par les meilleurs ouvriers de France, vous aideront à atteindre l'excellence afin de combler les palais les plus sucrés et convertir les plus salés. Ludovic Treffot
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Le mot du libraire
In this, the fifth edition of Assouline's popular cocktail series, reputed cocktail authority Brian Van Flandern considers the raw material of whisky (and whiskey) in all its myriad varieties, and the resulting concoctions are all shot against the backdrop of legendary New York City. Whether you enjoy classics such as the Manhattan and the Old Fashioned or feel like tasting the more rarified delights of the Blue Blood and Sand or the Okinawa John Collins, Assouline's Whiskey Cocktails is an invaluable addition to your drinks cabinet bookshelf. Christian Rutherford
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Le mot du libraire
Cet ouvrage est un véritable voyage intime à travers les différentes facettes de l'autrice des Mémoires d'Hadrien. Nous redécouvrons l'enfance buissonnière de celle qui deviendra académicienne, son amour pour la nature et la méditation – ainsi que sa gourmandise, elle qui comparait volontiers la cuisine à l'alchimie. Ce beau livre est également accompagné de nombreux documents et photographies, qui ont jalonné la vie de cette romancière multiple que fut Marguerite Yourcenar. Ludovic Treffot
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Le mot du libraire
Par essence basée sur un mariage subtil entre légumes, céréales et épices, la tradition culinaire indienne est la plus aboutie des cuisines végétariennes. Les recettes de Pushpesh Pant vous permettront de réaliser facilement un grand nombre de plats élaborés et savoureux qui régaleront aussi bien végétariens que carnivores. La viande ? Pour quoi faire ? Ludovic Treffot
