Cynthia D. Bertelsen's Blog, page 4

A Bookshop in Paris: Living the Dream … Until a Dictatorship Destroyed Free Thought

Shakespeare is the happy hunting ground of all minds that have lost their balance. JAMES JOYCE, ULYSSES Just about every book-loving tourist visiting Paris knows about Shakespeare & Company, a funky and unusual bookshop. Located at 37, Rue de la Bûcherie, overlooking the Seine, with a magnificent view of Notre Dame to boot, it’s usually … More A Bookshop in Paris: Living the Dream … Until a Dictatorship Destroyed Free Thought

What Scares Me More than Stephen King’s “The Shining”

This year – 2024 – scares me more than does Stephen King’s The Shining, published decades ago, 1977 to be exact. And that’s saying a lot, an awful lot. Truth be told, I have never been able to neither read the book all the way through nor watch the film to the ghastly end. (I … More What Scares Me More than Stephen King’s “The Shining”

Paris at War, a Review

This year, Santa Claus brought me a most unusual book, David Drake’s Paris at War, 1939-1944. In 2008, David Drake wandered through what he calls a “controversial exhibition of colour photographs staged in the library devoted to the history of the city” of Paris, the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, 22, rue Malher. … More Paris at War, a Review

Chronicling Survival in the Face of Evil

Being alive, being in the world has always been a desperate struggle for survival. We sometimes dub this state of affairs “dog-eat-dog.” However, the root of this phrase actually means the opposite in its original Latin: canis caninam non est. Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro recorded this Latin proverb in his De Lingua Latin (About … More Chronicling Survival in the Face of Evil

A Different Slant: A German Officer in Occupied Paris

In today’s America, there’s a certain glorification of tyrants, certain ideologies. Most of the time, when reading of Germany’s Nazis and World War II, it’s easy to lump people together, to believe that everyone followed the party line. One exception to that, I recently discovered while doing research for my new writing project, was Ernst … More A Different Slant: A German Officer in Occupied Paris

An Appetite for Paris

You know those books you read years ago, loved, and then put back on the shelf? But couldn’t really forget, no matter how many years flew by? For me anyway, A. (Abbott) J. (Joseph). Liebling’s Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris (1959) counts as one of those books. Mr. Liebling’s writing included a lot more … More An Appetite for Paris

Clio, the Muse of History: Why History is Important

As a writer, I find inspiration in so many places. Gossip whispered at parties, current newspaper reportage, anecdotes revealed by family members over a few mugs of coffee, the odd remark overheard in a doctor’s waiting room or in an elevator, and on and on. History, however, provides me with more than enough material to … More Clio, the Muse of History: Why History is Important

Paris Fiction: Mark Pryor’s Henri Lefort series not to be missed, etc.

Talk about rabbit holing! My latest writing project, about World War II France, takes me to new rabbit warrens every day, or so it seems. I thought it only fair to share some of my finds here on “Gherkins & Tomatoes.” And among those finds is novelist Mark Pryor. According to his bio, his background … More Paris Fiction: Mark Pryor’s Henri Lefort series not to be missed, etc.

Dreaming the Mythical France: Paris

Abobe Stock photo (Stockbym) Day by day, I scroll through social media, gazing at photos of Paris. The Paris I see in these glossy portfolios is my Paris. And, again, it’s not. I see few images of the banlieues, Belleville, Drancy, the blocks of high rises flanking the highway from Charles De Gaulle airport to … More Dreaming the Mythical France: Paris

Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America, by Sandra A. Gutierrez

Long-time readers of this blog know that my love of Latin America sprang first from my college major in Latin American Studies. Food played no part in the formal curriculum but on the ground in Mexico – Mexico City, Veracruz, Mérida in the Yucatán – as a student in Puebla, I discovered a whole new … More Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America, by Sandra A. Gutierrez