How to be a Francophile in NYC

It's July and it's a book blogger tradition to post about France during the month of July. I want to start off by showing off some of the French things I love about New York City.

First of all I just love that there are so many French people here. I speak French to someone at least once a week- on the subway, at work, around my town.

I love the French Institute/Alliance Française, headquarters for all things French in NYC. They have a fabulous library, including ebooks, movies, graphic novels (or bandes dessinées as they call them) and a free movie series every Tuesday. Membership also gets you discounts at a bouquet of French businesses in the city.

I love Vosges, La Durée, the macaron trend and all the French bistros throughout the city. For high-end shoppers (not me), there are many French designers with shops and flagships here, like agnès b. and Chanel and such.

Albertine, 972 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY

High end restaurants like Le Cirque also abound, but for everyday, I love the profusion of French bakeries. In my old neighborhood of Forest Hills there was La Boulangerie, and here in Jersey there is Choc-o-Pain, both local treasures brimming with irresistible treats, hearty sandwiches, great coffee and fresh bread every day.

And that's just two of the dozens of French bakeries in NYC. (Dominque Ansel, creator of the famous cronuts, is another, in the West Village. And there are so many others- just walk down the street.)

Brooklyn-based designers Obvious State makes the most adorable totes and mugs with French sayings on them. I want one (of each) so badly.

I love Albertine, the French bookstore on the Upper East Side. Its beautiful building contains French language original books, translations into French of literature from all over the world and translations into English of French and Francophone literature new and old.

Idlewild Books is great for the traveler and Francophile, and they offer language lessons too. They are the only travel bookstore in NYC, I believe. (Correct me if I'm wrong in the comments.)

And finally I love the variety of independent movie houses that show French movies, and all the programming the French Embassy publicizes and helps sponsor. Comedians, concerts, plays, you name it. NYC is a great place to be a Francophile.

Mon Secret, by Niki de Saint Phalle

Mon Secret, by Niki de Saint Phalle. Published 2010, SNELA La Différence. In French. Memoir.

In this brief graphic memoir, late French artist Niki de Sainte Phalle details the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her father, a banker, and some of the consequences on her including some experiences of treatment.

The book appears to be hand-written and from time to time includes stylized, illustrated lettering at moments of great emotional strain. Snakes are a recurring motif and she often draws her S as a snake. She also places emphasis on the letter P, especially when spelling père, or father, and V, for viol, or rape.

The appeal of the book for me is both its look- de Saint Phalle's use of illustrated script and the casual feel of the handwritten pages- and the power of its deceptively simple text. The narrative starts off slowly; her family, based in New York City, rents a house in New England every summer. They go to a new place every year. It's beautiful there, seductive, but there's a menace just under the surface the year she is 11. The first sign is the snakes but I think we're meant to understand the snakes as a symbol of her father's sexuality.

It's a powerful book, raw and emotional. Mon Secret can be read in one sitting comfortably; it's only 30 or so pages long, and although the book is in a larger format the large scrawl of the writing means each page has little text. The vocabulary is also pretty basic and intermediate students of French could handle it with ease.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.