If you were moving to Paris for a while, what books and music would you bring?

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I'm going to "visit" a school there for a semester and stay on through the summer, and I'm kind of hoping to have the archetypal American in Paris experience (but, you know, without the bullshit-- if that's possible).

I've read Celine's first two books, Camus' Stranger, Plague, The Fall (although i guess that's amsterdam), some Sartre.. um, Madame Bovary, and I guess that's it. I'm bringing first two Proust volumes and Beckett fiction, but I plan on picking up some Henry Miller (both Tropics, Black Spring, and Clichy are in my amazon cart) and some Hemingway. Which of his books concern Paris? Movable Feast? I've never read him. What else is there? Gertrude Stein?

For music, the only French albums I have are Histoire de Melody Nelson and a couple tracks of Scott Walker singing some Jacques Brel. What other albums/collections would you bring? Django Reinhardt? Edith Piaf? Satie?

Thanks :)

The thread in the archives about what to do there have been helpful, as well.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

why would you bring french stuff to france?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

you mean:

why wouldn't I just buy it there?

why do would i be interested in media from the country i'm visiting?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i wouldn't bring anything remotely related to paris. you'll get homesick or sick of paris or something. bring whatever you like.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

Brel is Belgian.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

(But do listen to his music. It's fantastique.)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's cool to bring Paris-related stuff. Mostly for "OMG I know that street!" reference moments, those really help you form a bond with the place where you're living imo.

Musicwise, I'd recommend Jacques Dutronc, Francoise Hardy and Frances Gall. Also, Supa Saian Crew and similiar, just to remind you that, y'know, it's not all chansons over there anymore than it's all music hall in London or all old-timey jazz in New Orleans.

Nathalie, he sings about France a lot tho!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

Also, if you can, get yerself the Gainsbourg 2DVD set, for fab footage of him walking around Paris, dropping bon mots, asking for De Sade at bookstores and scowling at weddings.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 11 December 2005 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

How's your French, poortheater?

― M. White (Miguelito), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

emile zola.

― emsk ( emsk), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

Down and Out in Paris and London

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

How's your French, poortheater?

Awful. I speak near-fluent spanish, though, so it might take me less time to grasp all the conjugation, etc. I'll be taking a french language course, though, and I plan on burning some language CDs from the library before leaving the US.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago)

Definitely get the Gopnik book - Paris to the Moon.

― Mitya (mitya), Monday, 12 December 2005 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

poortheatre it looks like you are into really old touchstones of modernism, adjudged many many years ago to be classics. so you will probably like paris a lot, because they judged themselves to be classic many years ago, too. it's not all like that, though. my recommendation is to pack light and learn something about frenchiness that's NOT 30-80 years old

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 12 December 2005 00:16 (nineteen years ago)

and some Hemingway. Which of his books concern Paris?

The Sun Also Rises, which is pretty great.

― sleep (sleep), Monday, 12 December 2005 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

i kinda agree with tracer... but the old shit is awesome too!

sorry i didn't mean to be snarky. about 5 years ago i did the same thing, moved to paris for 4 months. it was great.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

tracer otm w/r/t the 30-38 years old thing. xpost.

― Clay (cws), Monday, 12 December 2005 01:23 (nineteen years ago)

how is it pt's fault if paris's rep as epicenter of western culture peaked 40+ years ago?? s/he'll learn about not-then by being there.

watch some early godard before you go, it'll give you the impression that hep frenchies think of americans as gangsta badasses and your confidence will soar!

― submersion, Monday, 12 December 2005 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

NOTHING BUT MAGMA!

Actually I wouldn't be able to resist taking some Gong, Brigitte Fontaine, Gainsbourg, etc. as well. Buy some Colette Magny records while you're there and sell them to me pls.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 12 December 2005 01:31 (nineteen years ago)

Be sure to do some Living Theater-style anarchist street performances while you're there!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 12 December 2005 01:32 (nineteen years ago)

Paris is still cool, but different parts of it are cool than were cool back in the 60s, is all.

Don't pack a bunch of French books. You want to lug a bunch of books all the way to Europe and back? If you need them when you're there, buy them there and mail them home at book rate (cheap, but takes over a month, but.. cheap). Bring David Bowie's Scary Monsters. Go hang out in the 10th and 18th and 20th arrondissements & maybe the 13th too. The Latin Quarter is boring.

www.skyrock.com

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

http://bimbo.tower.free.fr/

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

No arrondissement is boring if you keep your eyes open.

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 12 December 2005 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

True enough, but the 5th was pretty quiet most of the time, and there are some parts of the city that I find well & truly boooooring.

http://www.divandumonde.com/
http://www.webbar.fr/
http://www.forumdesimages.net/

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 02:11 (nineteen years ago)

You will also be able to buy a lot of the standard stuff at that big English-language bookstore whose name I forget at the moment.

― Mitya (mitya), Monday, 12 December 2005 04:53 (nineteen years ago)

thanks, guys. i should have mentioned that i'm also bringing a lot of non-french stuff as well-- but i can pick that stuff without assistance :)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 12 December 2005 05:25 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry for being so snarky. Brel's cool. :-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Monday, 12 December 2005 05:32 (nineteen years ago)

word up to the 18th (and the little-loved 19th!)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 05:34 (nineteen years ago)

Be sure to do some Living Theater-style anarchist street performances while you're there!

oh noes! i had a great moment yesterday with some guy in his sixties that went like this (make sure you read my contribution in severely handicapped voice):

PT: Dude, is it just me, or was the Living theatre was some lame hippie shit?
Old-ish dude: 1968, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Julian Beck snuck me and my friends in through the freight elevator and sat us on the stage during The Brig... It was an event.

For non-drama folks, this is like a "Losing My Edge" claim along the lines of "I was there, when Beckett said, 'That's the point-- he never shows up.'" well, not quite that cool, but still..

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 12 December 2005 05:36 (nineteen years ago)

Ha ha, well my knowledge of Grotowski is slim but I associated him with Pirandello/Artaud/Living Theater style hijinx. Sorry to offend with the lame hippie shit!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 12 December 2005 06:34 (nineteen years ago)

nono, you're right-- i was being a total dilettante. i had just read a few pages about living theatre in one of my textbooks and made a sweeping dumbshit generalization of the whole group. this guy set me straight, though.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 12 December 2005 06:41 (nineteen years ago)

"Hippie shit" is definitely OTM but "lame" doesn't really apply. There's a great Living Theater video put out by Mystic Fire (sadly no DVD) that gives a good taste of what they were about. I'll send it to you in exchange for Colette Magny LPs :)

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 12 December 2005 06:54 (nineteen years ago)

Clignancourt is in da house!

― Baaderonixx weaves a daisy chain for... SATAN!! (baaderonixx), Monday, 12 December 2005 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

I went to paris

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 12 December 2005 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Brel, Camus etc is about the same as preparing for a New York trip by packing Salinger and Kerouac.

The French music scene is pretty lively, Radio France Internationale have a pretty extensive English-language site for Francophone music:

http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/accueil/index.asp

As for literature, it's sort of in the doldrums at the moment. There's some good French crime fiction, though. Also, read Houellebecq's Extension du domaine de la lutte.

― jz, Monday, 12 December 2005 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

salinger was born in new york, though?

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 12 December 2005 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

hooray the 18th. Goutte d'Or, Barbès, represent represent..

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

I spent three months in Paris prior to my final year at University. I took one of my reading lists along to Fnac and purchased:

A l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie - Hervé Guibert
Le bleu du ciel - Georges Bataille
L'Espèce humaine - Robert Antelme
La Douleur - Marguerite Duras
La Peste - Albert Camus

They kept me occupied all summer on my long commute.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Monday, 12 December 2005 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

How's your French, poortheater?
Awful

Oops, I should read threads more carefuly. I'm not sure how many of them are available in translation, except Uncle Camus obv.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Monday, 12 December 2005 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

bataille is translated, more's the pity.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 12 December 2005 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

What I would buy is a bunch of policier novels.. I have a couple (in translation.. not my pref. but they were on sale at a bookstore here in the US).

http://www.gallimard.fr/catalog/Html/event/serie_noire.htm

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

Look for some north African/west African writers maybe.. The thing is even if you want to read famous French writers en francais you can buy those in any decent college bookstore here.

this book is excellent:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_n%E2%80%99est_pas_oblig%C3%A9

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

Darla g, how in the world did you manage to go to la goutte d'or? I once was walking around in Paris and I accidentally came upon la goutte d'or. Some guy started talking to me then threatening me and acted all creepy about my being almost in the goutte d'or. And that happened twice. So I've never been inside the goutte d'or, only next to it. What have I done wrong? :'(

― Jibé (Jibé), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

Brel, Camus etc is about the same as preparing for a New York trip by packing Salinger and Kerouac.

Which wouldn't be that bad an idea, either. Learning to love a city's history - howeever romanticised - isn't the worst way to learn to love a city. The present will take care of itself.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

i stayed on rdl goutte d'or once!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

Frankly, the more that I think about this, the less I would recommend you bring anything. If you feel the need to read in English, you can always go to Brentano's or Village Voice, but I would recommned immersing yourself as much as possible in the local culture.

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 12 December 2005 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure if I've been on the rue itself, I used to go up to Barbes to visit the Guerrisold thrift shop and stuff, Chateau-Rouge as I recall was v sketchy. I had a friend who lived near there but in Montmartre, and uh, she tended to hold very loud conversations in English (something I preferred not to do, and her French was quite fluent) which evidently annoyed some dude and his giant rottweiler or whatever, and he shoved me out the door of the metro as I was stepping out onto the platform to let passengers out. Rude!

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

Ahh Guerrisold... I was a regular of the one at porte de Clichy...
I think Chateau Rouge's rep is a bit exaggerated.

― Baaderonixx weaves a daisy chain for... SATAN!! (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

heh. i thought i started this thread two y ears ago.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 09:22 (nineteen years ago)

JEAN MICHEL JARRE!

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

I usually went to the Guerrisold at Montreuil on my way to the flea markets out there, I don't think I ever had much luck at any of them except the first trip where I picked up a couple of nifty vintage Italian wool sweaters. but it was fun anyway.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

If you bring DVDs, take along La Haine.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

"Greenwich Killing Time" by Kinky Friedman

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

"Fire and Glory" by Kardinal Offishall

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

"Ready to Die" by the Notorious B.I.G.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

"Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism" by V.I. Lenin

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

and "Toujours Provence"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

I'd bring lots and lots of DYRUGS!!!! haha of course beit alsoi u would bring THE BABYSHAMLES because they;re the greatest band ever!!! also some of the livertines but try noyt toi have too much of teh gay katl barat

also did mentuon teh drugs???? crack and herion and al;l that good stuff L:))

― pete doherty, Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

'The French Revolution' by T. Carlyle ;-)

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

okay, this was kind of a stupid thread, but i thought i'd follow up.

i've been here for almost a week now. i foudn a great studio apt. on rue de roquette near the voltaire metro stop (about twenty feet from pere le chaise cemetiere) on the border b/w 11th and 20th eme... pretty cool, so far, although it's taking me longer than I hoped to find a lonely parisienne to stroll along the seine with haha.. i've been getting along pretty well with nothing but superficial guidebook french. knowing spanish seems to help a lot (i actually tested in to intermediate french, but we'll see how that goes) and everyone really does walk around with a baguette... anyway, this ain't no blog, but of your recs i ended up buying and bringing Down and Out in Paris and LOndon, Moveable Feast, and Scary Monsters.. i also picked up Epileptic by DAvid B., and it's, like, one of the best things ever so far.

do some of you live in paris?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Saturday, 14 January 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

used to. for a year.

I miss it. I don't have any money to go back right now.

wanna buy me some Mosquitos or Stephane Kelian shoes & mail em to DC? ;)

Are you in a school program? I wonder if it's the one I did. Our study center was over in the 8e but we could take classes at Paris III, which I did, though it was harrowing to say the least (sitting in master's seminars thinking please please please don't anyone ask me to talk).

― dar1a g (daria g), Saturday, 14 January 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

yea, i'm in an undergrad program at the american university of paris. i think we can take classes at the sorbonne, too.. i don't to leave, either. i'm staying at least until late june, but i don't really know how i'll ever be able to come back. eek. i'm way broke already, too. i'm on a pea soup, wine, and bread diet right now.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 15 January 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

there's a "shakespeare & co." that has cheap second-hand books in english, if you run out

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 15 January 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

I'm so jealous of you. I hope to visit Paris... perhaps I can do one of those "study abroad" things as well. How did you get involved in it? Did you need certain grades or something?

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 15 January 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

i miss paris too

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 16 January 2006 00:49 (nineteen years ago)

"La Boheme"?

― That I Could Clamber to the Frozen Moon and Draw the Ladder (Freud Junior), Monday, 16 January 2006 04:28 (nineteen years ago)

If you're in university check with your study abroad office - even if your school doesn't directly have the program you want, often you can go through another school's program. Required GPA varies & often isn't too strictly enforced I think..

Paris center for critical studies (theory wonks, film geeks, fashionistas, oohlala). Looks like they've changed the program somewhat, when I went it was kinda take whatever classes you want wherever you want if you're nervy enough to do it & the profs say OK:
http://ciee.org/program_search/program_detail.aspx?program_id=78

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 16 January 2006 06:11 (nineteen years ago)

there's a "shakespeare & co." that has cheap second-hand books in english, if you run out

i went there the first day i got here. there's a bunch of weird dudes that live on the second floor, apparently.

maybe i should buy a french book and try to read that. it would have to be pretty basic, though..

i just ate a tuna baguette from some street vendor... uuuhgghh..

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 16 January 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's about time AleXTC, our resident ilXor in Paris starts organising events! Maybe he can book the Lizard Lounge or something...

― Baaderonixx, born again in Xixax (baaderonixx), Monday, 16 January 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

I am living in Paris. Enjoy your stay in Paris.Never realised there were that many ilxors living here. It's actually a bit strange, most people who come to live in Paris love it, whereas those who've been living there for a while can't help but not enjoy it all that much. That or all the people I see are grumpy grouches.

― Jibé (Jibé), Monday, 16 January 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

L'herbe est plus verte blahblahblah...

― Baaderonixx, born again in Xixax (baaderonixx), Monday, 16 January 2006 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

Paris is really densely populated which can make it pretty stressful at times. It's a city you have to get away from every couple of months to stay sane.

― jz, Monday, 16 January 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

ok, me voila !
so, who's in paris these days ?
maybe we could start a FAP paris (and i'm sure Baaderonixx could make a thalys leap for the occasion).

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Monday, 16 January 2006 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

I am in Paris. I am all about a FAG! (Fancy A Glass of wine, I haven't had a beer since geting here in november).

― richardk (Richard K), Friday, 20 January 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

I am all about a FAG

hum. interesting sentence out of context.
anyway, that would be more FAGOW then !
so, so far we're 3 ilxors to FAGOW ?

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 20 January 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, pun intended, but FAGOW is better. Anyway, it seems to have been a bust. I am summoned away from the city for a week or more; but I am looking for a permanent place in paris (no matter how small), email if you know of anything.

― richardk (Richard K), Monday, 23 January 2006 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

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