Books, Books, Books!
Friday, January 8 at 2 pm
Via Zoom
Join Village members for a roundup of some interesting books they’d like to share. The two books feature life in France during WW II – and some of the same cast of characters. The Zoom will include some photographs of the people and places of the period. Kathy Regele will be the host.
Frankie Jueds and Kathi DiMenna will talk about Chanel’s Riviera: Life, Love and the Struggle for Survival on the Cote d’Azur, 1930-1944 by Anne De Courcy. The revolutionary French fashion designer, cultivated friendships with the rich and famous – the Prince of Wales, Churchill, and Picasso – who she entertained at her villa on the French Riviera. The account also covers the German invasion and Chanel’s controversial role.
Kathi DiMenna will talk about Mistress of the Ritz: A Novel by Melanie Benjamin. This historical novel, set mainly in the 1940’s, is a lively portrait of the opulent Paris hotel which drew Picasso, Hemingway, Cole Porter, Coco Chanel – and Hermann Goering. The hotel director and his American wife, who secretly worked for the French Resistance, were also real people.
This is not a traditional book discussion. You don’t have to have read any of the books, but if you have read one of them, please feel free to add your comments after the reviewer talks. You may also ask questions – but don’t ask us to give away the ending!
We hope that you may want to read one or both of the books – and that you may want to participate in future Zooms of Books, Books, Books! by talking about a favorite book. Contact Kathi DiMenna at kadimenna@aol.com if you’d like to recommend a book and talk about it.
Please register in advance so we can email you the Zoom link. Click here to register online, or call 267-444-4507 (M-F, 9-6). If this is your first Zoom event, don’t worry. We’ll send you all the information you need before the meeting. And you can join from a phone as well.