From the cover one is in for a treat, both to the eye and palate. The photography in this cookbook is simply gorgeous. How can one take a shot of a man holding a rooster in front of a bin of corn and make it look like a million dollars? It's here.

The recipes are the best of the tradition which the French are world famous for. Here are stressed the best in ingredients, cooked lovingly with patience and care and technique to bring out their succulence from French Regions.

Feast on such as "Cod and Vegetables with Garlic Mayonnaise" "Stuffed Breast of Veal" "Lyon Style Onion Soup" "Veal Stew" "Pears in Beaujolais."

Truly Bon Appetit.

Bravo Monsieur Bocuse. Finally, an authentic French Cuisine Book. The recipes are simple and truly traditional. The ingredients are available at your corner grocery store and THAT is a refreshing change. The only French Cookbook you will ever need.

With all the scenery and none of the rude people, this book is better (and certainly much more affordable) than a trip to France. For those of us who remember--and sorely miss--the Rotherts' restaurant, "DuJour" in Fort Wayne, the recipes are a godsend. Let's hope Lois sells many many many copies and uses the royalties to publish a companion cookbook ... of Larsh's bread recipes!

I urge you to buy this book or at least look at it. It is a beautiful book. Charming in style with beautiful images. But the best part is that it is not just a rehash of old recipes, or recipes congured up to be different. When you eat one of these soups, there is a depth to the flavor, and you could think you were in France. I commend the author for preserving these old soups.

This is must reading (or gazing) for any serious student of Proust's IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME. Photographer Paul Nadar was a photographer for whom at one time or another virtually every member of Proust's social set and family sat for at one point or another. The value of this volume for someone reading Proust is twofold: allowing one to see high quality photographic reproductions of many of the actual models for Proust's characters, and providing a vivid picture of the way these people dressed, how they wore their hair, some of their cultural preoccupations, and what their favored accessories were.

I am not a fan of any method of reading Proust that degenerates into a study of Proust's life, that is more concerned with figuring out who the "real" Odette or Albertine or Saint-Loup was. The "real" Odette was a fictional creation by a literary genius of the first rank, and she cannot be found in any of these photographs. Not even in gazing at a photography of Robert de Montesquiou do we see Baron de Charlus, despite our knowledge that he was Proust's most important model for Charlus. But looking at these photographs breaks down the distance between Proust's world and our own. Odette may be based on several real life models, but it is helpful to know what the women that Proust knew looked like in forming our own mental picture of Odette or Gilberte or Oriane or Saint-Loup. I also find it much easier to imagine visually Proust's world after seeing precisely how those members of his social set dressed.

The book also has a great deal to teach about portrait photography in late 19th and early 20th century Paris, at least in an upper class studio. The range of photographs is fascinating, not merely in the posed photos with the subjects dressed in their finest clothes, but in the ones where various individuals appeared "in costume." This includes not merely a series of marvelous photographs of Sarah Bernhardt dressed as various characters, but men and especially women appearing in amateur theatricals. One section features a many of the more celebrated individuals of the time whom Proust either met or loosely based some of his characters on, such as Bernhardt (La Berma), Anatole France (Bergotte), Faure (Vinteuil, though only musically), and Claude Monet (one of several models for Elstir).

Physically, the book resembles a well-produced art book, with a cloth binding, high quality paper, and the highest quality reproductions. It is easily the most attractive book on Proust I have in my rather large collection of Proust titles. Not just a great book on Proust, but a beautiful one as well.

This is a must for any fan of Proust--you get to see not only what the originals for his most memorable characters (the Ducehsse de Guermantes, Swann, Charlus, Mme. verdurin) looked like, but also the interior of one of the great fin-de-siecle chateaus where one couple (the Prince and Princess Radziwell) lived. The Nadar photographs are sharp, startling and magnificent. I've wanted a book like this for years.

This exhibit took place in New York, Paris and Amsterdam and focuses on Dr. Paul Gachet, Van Gogh's doctor in Auvers-sur-Oise during the last two months of his life.

Always a controversial figure (partly due to his arguable incompetence, partly due to the questionable authenticity of some of the works in his possession), this book is a wonderful exploration of the man and his collection. The authors, both frequent and well respected contributors to Van Gogh scholarship, explore Gachet and his collection (now owned by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris) to an incredible level of detail. The amount of research behind this book is staggering and it makes for an extremely compelling and satisfying reading experience.

This is a beautifully photographed book and a great adjunct to anyone who has, or is presently reading Proust, or just interested in the Belle Epoque or reading Edith Wharton etc.

A truly informative, lovely cookbook with great pictures, and most importantly, terrific recipes. The author has a real fondness for the region and knows her food. Cooking out of this book takes me back to one of my favorite regions of the world. A real winner!

If there were six stars in the rating system, French Regional Cooking would take them all.

Want to make the perfect Tarte Des Demoiselles Tatin? It's here! Coq au vin? Oui!

The recipes are easy to follow and the most authentic that I have ever used.

Anne Willan writes wonderfully well and her recipes will never let the user down. If there is a fault with the book, it is that Mme. Willan assumes that the reader is not a beginner in the kitchen.

And who said the English can't cook?

"Germaine de Staël Revisited" is a delightful and very interesting book about an unusually prolific author, hostess of sparkling salons, and controversial political person. She was a perceptive observer of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Years, and about culture and life in Italy and Germany.The forthright and sometimes fiery style of this long-dead author of non-fiction books, plays, poetry, fiction, and scholarly articles led to remarkably large sales of some of her 47 publications within a few days of their appearances.

The mother of five children, with four different men, Mme. de Staël was criticized emphatically by many of her contemporaries and also by some modern scholars. Her busy 51-year life and accomplishments began when this only child of wealthy and prominent parents was an observer in her mother's Parisian salon. The family affluence, which she astutely managed after her father's death in 1804, made it possible for her to defy the disapproval of Napoleon Bonaparte, and to travel in Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia, and England. Her book Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution française "...is a series of philosophical , political and subjective reflections marshaled in the service of a thesis... [It] expanded into an overview of French history from Charlemagne to Louis XVIII, with emphasis on the scourge of tyranny in every form... The 60,000 copies of Considérations that appeared in 1818 were sold out within a few days. A second edition came out immediately, a third in 1820... [It] was reprinted in 1820 ... 1836 and 1838; three further editions came out in 1843, 1862, and 1881... [H]er son-in-law Victor de Broglie, a spokesman for her liberal principles, was appointed prime minister [of France] by Louis-Philippe in 1835 [18 years after her death]."

Both before and after leaving Paris Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël's primary residence was the Château de Coppet, Switzerland. Her father had purchased this property in 1784. After her death in 1817 her children burned all of their mother's private correspondence, but published and republished her finished works.

Gretchen Rous Besser is a second generation feminist (by her own description). She has written a book that has appeal far beyond the range of academic studies of French literature and modern women's writings.

Prof. Besser's admiring reappraisal does include some forthright criticisms of the prejudices and elitism of "...an early superwoman who not only juggled marriage and children with a career but [also] produced a significant and enduring body of work. She stood fast in a period of political turmoil; more important, she channeled her beliefs into action. She had an extraordinary effect on her contemporaries and a lasting influence on posterity. While a true precursor of feminist consciousness, Staël is too protean to be confined within any single classification ... she may incarnate, generations ahead of her time, [Simone de] Beauvoir's impossible dream of a woman who 'has taken the weight of the world upon her shoulders'?" sent by "a reader in Belmont, MA." [Please do NOT disclose my AOL E-dress.] [Disclosure: I have known Prof. Besser and her husband since their marriage many years ago. And I share with her a distaste of the once-popular 1958 book "Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Staël."]

This is an excellent reference for experts and beginners alike. The book starts with illustrations and explanations for the most basic elements of cooking.

Each recipe, and this is its best feature, tells you the degree of difficulty with one (simplest) to three chef hats (most difficult). It also tells you the preparation time and cooking time, so you know before you engage in a recipe, how much time it will take you. Last but not least, the recipes are superb! You really have to try them! I bought the book in (circa) 1986 and am looking for a new copy/print.

I teach French in an elementary school four afternoons a week, working with children that range in age from kindergarten to 6th grade. The students have great fun with this coloring book, learning a new word each day and coloring in the the picture that goes with it. The page with Paris is one of the best in the book as it has a cute and simplified drawing of the Seine and the major touristic sites of the city at different sides of the river's banks: Eiffel Tower, Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, and Arc of Triomphe. The drawings are large, fun, and not overly intricate; it doesn't take more than 10 minutes to color in one page. The coloring book serves as an alphabet book with a letter introduced on each page and then a corresponding picture. The pages are definitely of higher quality (more durable) than in a regular coloring book. Beware that there is no pronunciation guide to accompany it. There's no dictionary either, but it is not needed as the picture is enough of an explanation. The pages will not tear out easily if you're planning to hang up the the artwork afterwards. Kids will definitely have fun with this coloring book in or outside of school though. Even toddlers who are beginning to color will have fun with this book.