Home before Home. . . On Ex-Pat Grandkids and Nursing Colds and French Detective Novels. . .

We’re back in Bordeaux after a busy week in Italy — a few days at our daughter’s home in a small town outside Rome, a few days in Florence, a day trip to Naples. I…

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Desire for a New Bag, Prune-Coloured.. . . Or?

We’re back in our Bordeaux rental now, where it will be good to sleep more than four nights in a row in the same bed, to have easy access to laundry facilities (we have a…

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Our Readalong Continues — “Childhood” Complicated in Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend

With all the demands of moving, I must admit that I wished I hadn’t committed to a Monday post on those first ten (short, admittedly) chapters of the “Childhood” section of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant…

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The Joys and Challenges (and Potential Shame) of Imperfection . . .

I’ve just finished Jhumpa Lahiri’s marvellous memoir about learning and living in Italian, a memoir she felt compelled to write in Italian (but which has been translated to English by Ann Goldstein who is best…

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Moving In, Starting Afresh, and Reading Along. . .

I’m a bit preoccupied with our move this week (that’s the fountain on our new terrace, above), but I have a few posts ready to roll out here this week, and there will be a…

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Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, all words and photographs in this blog are my own. If you wish to use any of them, please give me credit for my work. And it should go without saying, but apparently needs to be said: Do not publish entire posts as your own. I will take the necessary action to stop such theft. Thanks.