A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi
A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

Author: Charles Timoney

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2009-08-06

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0141924276

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Vocabulary alone isn't enough. To survive in the most sophisticated - and the most scathing - nation on Earth you will need to understand the many peculiarities of the (very peculiar) French culture. And for that you need A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi. If you want to fit in with the French you'll have to know how to deal with sardonic waiters; why French children hate Charlemagne; the etiquette of kissing, joke-telling and drinking songs, what to do with a bidet, the correct recipe for a salade nicoise and, of course, how to convey absolute, shattering indifference with a single syllable (Bof!). Charles Timoney, the author of Pardon My French, provides a practical, pleasurable guide to the charms of the Gallic people - from their daily routines to their peerless gesticulations, from their come-ons to their put-downs. Read on and put the oh la la back into your French vacances. Your inner gaul will thank you for it.

French Women Don't Get Fat
French Women Don't Get Fat

Author: Mireille Guiliano

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2004-12-28

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1400044804

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#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The book that launched a French Revolution about how to approach healthy living: the ultimate non-diet book—now with more recipes. “The perfect book.... A blueprint for building a healthy attitude toward food and exercise"—San Francisco Chronicle French women don’t get fat, even though they enjoy bread and pastry, wine, and regular three-course meals. Unlocking the simple secrets of this “French paradox”—how they enjoy food while staying slim and healthy—Mireille Guiliano gives us a charming, inspiring take on health and eating for our times. For anyone who has slipped out of her Zone, missed the flight to South Beach, or accidentally let a carb pass her lips, here is a positive way to stay trim, a culture’s most precious secrets recast for the twenty-first century. A life of wine, bread—even chocolate—without girth or guilt? Pourquoi pas?

French Women Don't Get Facelifts
French Women Don't Get Facelifts

Author: Mireille Guiliano

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1455524123

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The author of the bestselling French Women Don't Get Fat shares the secrets and strategies of aging with attitude, joy, and no surgery. With her signature blend of wit, no-nonsense advice, and storytelling flair, Mireille Guiliano returns with a delightful, encouraging take on beauty and aging for our times. For anyone who has ever spent the equivalent of a mortgage payment on anti-aging lotions or procedures, dressed inappropriate for their age, gained a little too much in the middle, or accidentally forgot how to flirt, here is a proactive way to stay looking and feeling great, without resorting to "the knife"-a French woman's most guarded beauty secrets revealed for the benefit of us all!

Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood in France during the Hundred Years War
Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood in France during the Hundred Years War

Author: Craig Taylor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-10-10

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1107513111

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Craig Taylor's study examines the wide-ranging French debates on the martial ideals of chivalry and knighthood during the period of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Faced by stunning military disasters and the collapse of public order, writers and intellectuals carefully scrutinized the martial qualities expected of knights and soldiers. They questioned when knights and men-at-arms could legitimately resort to violence, the true nature of courage, the importance of mercy, and the role of books and scholarly learning in the very practical world of military men. Contributors to these discussions included some of the most famous French medieval writers, led by Jean Froissart, Geoffroi de Charny, Philippe de Mézières, Honorat Bovet, Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier and Antoine de La Sale. This interdisciplinary study sets their discussions in context, challenging modern, romantic assumptions about chivalry and investigating the historical reality of debates about knighthood and warfare in late medieval France.

The French Republic
The French Republic

Author: Edward G. Berenson

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2011-10-15

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 0801460646

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In this invaluable reference work, the world’s foremost authorities on France’s political, social, cultural, and intellectual history explore the history and meaning of the French Republic and the challenges it has faced. Founded in 1792, the French Republic has been defined and redefined by a succession of regimes and institutions, a multiplicity of symbols, and a plurality of meanings, ideas, and values. Although constantly in flux, the Republic has nonetheless produced a set of core ideals and practices fundamental to modern France's political culture and democratic life. Based on the influential Dictionnaire critique de la république, published in France in 2002, The French Republic provides an encyclopedic survey of French republicanism since the Enlightenment. Divided into three sections—Time and History, Principles and Values, and Dilemmas and Debates—The French Republic begins by examining each of France’s five Republics and its two authoritarian interludes, the Second Empire and Vichy. It then offers thematic essays on such topics as Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity; laicity; citizenship; the press; immigration; decolonization; anti-Semitism; gender; the family; cultural policy; and the Muslim headscarf debates. Each essay includes a brief guide to further reading. This volume features updated translations of some of the most important essays from the French edition, as well as twenty-two newly commissioned English-language essays, for a total of forty entries. Taken together, they provide a state-of-the art appraisal of French republicanism and its role in shaping contemporary France’s public and private life.

When The World Spoke French
When The World Spoke French

Author: Marc Fumaroli

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2011-06-14

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 1590173759

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A New York Review Books Original During the eighteenth century, from the death of Louis XIV until the Revolution, French culture set the standard for all of Europe. In Sweden, Austria, Italy, Spain, England, Russia, and Germany, among kings and queens, diplomats, military leaders, writers, aristocrats, and artists, French was the universal language of politics and intellectual life. In When the World Spoke French, Marc Fumaroli presents a gallery of portraits of Europeans and Americans who conversed and corresponded in French, along with excerpts from their letters or other writings. These men and women, despite their differences, were all irresistibly attracted to the ideal of human happiness inspired by the Enlightenment, whose capital was Paris and whose king was Voltaire. Whether they were in Paris or far away, speaking French connected them in spirit with all those who desired to emulate Parisian tastes, style of life, and social pleasures. Their stories are testaments to the appeal of that famous “sweetness of life” nourished by France and its language.

Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses
Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses

Author: Trudie Booth

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2012-08-03

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0071789588

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Go Beyond Conjugation and Learn the Right Verb Tenses for Speaking and Writing in French If you’re looking for help memorizing French verb conjugations, any French verb book will do. But if you are interested in becoming fluent, you’ll need to learn how these building blocks are used in everyday, natural language. That’s where Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses comes in. The ideal reference and workbook for beginning to intermediate French learners, Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses shows you when and why to use certain verb tenses and gives you plenty of examples, increasing your confidence in choosing the right word. This updated second edition of Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses lets you: Learn when and why to use different verb tenses Reinforce your knowledge with everyday examples covering a wide range of topics Build your verb skills using more than 300 engaging exercises With numerous skill-building exercises, comprehensive verb conjugation tables, and the proven Practice Makes Perfect format, you will learn to master French in no time at all.