The Hedgehog

A lovely friend leant me a copy of The Hedgehog a few months ago. It's taken me far too long to get to watching it, but finally I did. I was feeling very guilty about not having watched it yet. It was nothing personal, I do think this is probably the only DVD I've watched all year. Paris in July helped to push me over the edge the other night.

Le Hérisson/The Hedgehog is based on the French mega seller The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I can't say how closely it follows the book as sadly I haven't read it. I did start it on the Thalys on the way from Amsterdam to Paris in 2013. I fully intended it to be my Paris read in Paris that year, but I was too excited on the train, and couldn't settle into reading (anything). I think I read a page or two, and so it still remains unread to this day. 

I wasn't aware that there had been a movie version made of The Elegance of the Hedgehog until my friend was telling me about it. It's a lovely example of French quirkiness. Eleven year old Paloma lives with her family in a large Parisian apartment. She is intelligent and somewhat precociously witty. Paloma likes to film her family on her father's old video camera. Naturally this annoys most everyone particularly her older sister. 

Paloma forms a rather grim view of adult life, and plans a countdown to her suicide on her 12th birthday. It's an odd, but charmingly French story well worth seeking out, with some laugh out loud moments along the way. There are also delightful readerly moments, mostly featuring Tolstoy. Most of the action takes place within the apartment building so there aren't all that many gratuitous Paris porn shots. 

Paris in July

Chambre de Marcel Proust

Some things are worth waiting for. I had to wait for my visit to the Chambre de Marcel Proust. Proust's room is on display at the wonderful Musée Carnavalet. I tried to see it on my first visit to Musée Carnavalet in 2010, but of course the only wing that was closed that day was the wing housing Marcel's famous room. I had more luck in 2014.

Musée Carnavalet is a fantastic free museum of the history of Paris. It's really worth a visit. (Update: Musée Carnavalet was free on my visits in 2013 and 2014, they now request a voluntary €5 payment).

I've never read Proust (well I did start one time, and I think I read one sentence or 20 or so pages, I wasn't ready for it), but I'm rather intrigued by him. I do like reading about Proust. I've got the audiobook of Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life on in the car at the moment, and it got me to thinking about Proust again. 

The lovely courtyard at Carnavalet

Proust's famous cork lined room. I don't remember it as quite so yellow as it seems in my photos. It certainly wasn't what I expected of a cork lined room.

Alain de Botton in How Proust can Change Your Life describes Proust as "a man who has spent the last 14 years lying in a narrow bed under a pile of thinly woven blankets writing an unusually long novel without an adequate bedside lamp." 

The inadequate bedside lamp 

Portrait of Proust's father, Dr Adrian Proust,
a famous author in his own right and an
eminent public health physician

The commentary indicates that the furniture and objects are from three successive addresses where Proust lived in Paris after the death of his parents. 

102 Boulevard Haussmann (December 1906 - Juin 1919)

8 rue Laurent Pichat (July- September 1919)

44 rue Hamelin (October 1919 - 16 November 1922)

Apparently the cork was installed  in 1910 at Boulevarde Haussmann at the suggestion of Anna de Noailles ( who has the adjoining room in the Musée Carnavalet) to give him the silence necessary for his writing. He was to write the majority of Á la Recherché du Temps Perdu lying in his single brass bed. 

I've had two quick visits to Musée Carnavalet, but still haven't had the time to do the audio tour. Clearly, I need to go back. 

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Paris in July 2016

Top 10 Childrens and YA Books That Adults Can Learn From

Adults can always learn something from quality childrens literature. And enjoy them too. A recent list from The Guardian.

Young people tend to be the bravest readers. I’ve met many adults who say “I don’t read children’s books” as if they are in a foreign language they never learnt. But many of them are teaching big, bold lessons disguised as beautiful, challenging stories.

1. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

2. Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

3. The Wave - Morton Rhue

4. The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge

5. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

6. Am I Normal Yet? - Holly Bourne

7. Refugee Boy - Benjamin Zephaniah

8. The Tulip Touch - Anne Fine

9. Panther - David Owen

10. Asking for It - Louise O'Neill

2/10

Quite a few here that I haven't heard of before. Always more to do. 

Best in Show

Best in Show is a fabulous exhibition currently on at Orange Regional Gallery. It is an exhibition inspired by Steve Miller's 2012 book Dogs in Australian Art, which is now available in a  new expanded edition to accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition was a wonderful eclectic mix of media, form and style representing dogs in art since the colonial Australia. Visitors were greeted by Smudge on entering the exhibition. 

Tim Storrier is a prominent artist from Bathurst. He won the Archibald Prize in 2012 for The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch). It was a particularly controversial win- after all it's difficult to win a portrait prize for a painting that doesn't actually feature a face. It did feature a little dog called Smudge - although I didn't know that at the time. 

Smudge. 2010. Tim Storrier. 

Poor Smudge was there in person too. 

Smudge was a rescue dog previously known as Midgey. Sadly, as Midgey Smudge was owned by a teacher and one day she ate a guinea pig which just happened to be the classroom pet of her owner. And so it was off to the pound for Midgey. Thankfully she went on to greater fame. 

I loved this arrangement of dogs by Craig Koometa. 

Dog snow globe!

Lair. Fiona Hall 2004

Roy- Prince of Orange. 2009. Victor Gordon.

I was interested that there were two paintings referencing the super famous Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa. I laughed out loud to see this one. It's got a fabulous title too. 

Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute.
1992. Lin Onus. 

Portrait of the artist's wife c 1902. Rupert Bunny

Bargain Hunter. 2013. Joanna Braithwaite.

I don't think I've ever seen the wave facing the other way, it's somewhat disconcerting. 

Dent at sea. 2006. Peter Kingston. 

Dog in a gas mask. 2103. Peter Wegner. 

My best friend. 1910. Douglas Fry. 

Log Dog. 1970. Aleks Danko.

Sadly Best in Show finishes tomorrow July 3. 

Orange Regional Gallery
Byng St Orange
10-4 daily (closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday)

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Are polka dots acceptable for over-25s?

I do like to read the weekend papers. I like all the supplements.  The book reviews. The art reviews. The recipes. Often these aren't easily available online, and it's nice to read the magazines, much like I prefer to read real books over ebooks. And yes, I even like the fashion pages. Most often they make me laugh or shake my head. "Really, $3000 for that. I don't know who buys this stuff."

Last week I read the Weekend Australian Magazine from June 11 2016 and I can't tell you how often I've thought about this silly little article in the last week. I'm not fully sure why but I was more than moderately incensed by the proposed age limit on polka dots. Do fashion people really think like that? Is it something anyone needs to think about? No wonder that the model looks downcast. I have a polka dot scarf that I enjoy wearing at the moment, and I'm a little past 25. Although it is true that you do need a certain je ne sais quoi to be able to pull off top to toe polka dots.

Glynis Traill-Nash appears to have recovered from her mistake at removing polka dots from her wardrobe and perhaps it was all a little bit of fun. I was then astonished at her suggestions for how we might include some polka dots in our mundane lives.

Like this Marco De Vincenzo dress. On sale for a mere $4, 359 (but now the price has dropped even further to $2,490)- I simply can't ever imagine spending $2,490 on a dress. Never mind that the full original price was $6, 228. And is it irony that she's picked a dress that wouldn't suit anyone over 25?

Who then needs to carry a copy of Alice in Wonderland?

Similarly while it is super cute and dotty, are we average newspaper readers meant to aspire to a handbag that is $1518 (on sale)? Perhaps we are because I can't find it on the matchesfashion.com website anymore. I do really like Mary Katrantzou's use of print and colour though.

Or an $1787 ring?

I could have written this post about pretty much any fashion article, but the polka dot comment pushed me over the edge. It's been a while since I had a bit of a rant. It was time. There, I feel better now.

11 Children's Books That Pass the Bechdel Test

No, I'd never heard of the Bechdel Test before either. But it's a great concept. Two named female characters in a book have to have a discussion about something other than a man. Not every conversation of course, but some conversation along the way that doesn't mention a man. Originally a description of gender bias in film, this fun list applies it to kids books.


1. Matilda - Roald Dahl

2. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis (well 2 and a bit of 7)

3. Beezus & Ramona - Beverly Cleary

4. Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (see my review)

5. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

6. The Witches - Roald Dahl (see my review)

7.  Number the Stars - Lois Lowry

8. Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate Di Camillo

9. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares

10. The Baby-Sitters Club Series - Ann M. Martin

11. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

7/11

Actually I've just realised that I did hear of Alison Bechdel very recently when The Book Club read her graphic novel/memoir Fun Home (Series 10 episode 3), and now I've seen it pop up in a book vlog this week too.

Zoella Book Club Summer 2016

So I'm not really up with Zoella, but last week she partnered with WH Smith in the UK to launch a book club. It seems to be a YA summer reading list- apparently it's summer some places. The launch video of reading suggestions had 600, 000 views in two days- and that has to be a good thing. All the books are selling like hot cakes.

There's a little bit too much hair flicking throughout for my taste. But in case you want to cut to the chase and know what the books are- here they are.


All The Bright Places - Jennifer Nixon
We Were Liars - E. Lockhart
Everything Everything - Nicola Yoon
The Potion Diaries - Amy Alward
Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
Beautiful Broken Things - Sara Barnard

They're quite a reasonable selection of books actually, and it does appear that she's read and loved them all. A few of them are sitting in my house in my literal TBR, others have been in the wishlist for some time. As always there's a couple of titles I've never heard of.

If you can't get enough of celebrity book recommendations, here are 10 celebs that love themselves a book too, never mind that I haven't heard of some of these celebrities...