A perfect day to read

This weekend brings us rain and winds and even a storm, and the perfect excuse to curl up on the daybed with a book. A good book. 

I've been on somewhat of a reading rampage lately, currently enjoying Paul Auster's Brooklyn Follies- which seems to be one of his best recent books, on par with the adventures in mankind of the early ones. So far, even more exciting than Invisible, of which I thought the same thing (and I wasn't disappointed) when I started reading it a few weeks back. 

Another book that kept me reading all day last weekend was Houellebecq's La Carte et le Territoire- which just won the Goncourt prize in France, to great controversy (but don't the French love controversy?). Despite all the bad rep he's garnered with the critics and the press in recent years- not being quite PC enough for Paris' liberal intelligentsia - I still think he wrote yet another great book, one with unexpected depths and layers. One only has to look at his brilliant passages on the nature of creation and art, the fascinating (and hilarious) use of himself and other public figures as characters, or his astute vision of his country only a few years ahead, with a countryside revitalized by tourism and the young eco-entrepreneurs. He's merciless in his analysis of the modern world, yet almost tender when it comes to humanity, but without any sentimentalism. And need I say, it's all extremely well written.

(Have you noticed, I'm actually reading male writers? it had been a while. But I still want another Pagano for Christmas, and a Hélène Bessette is next on my shelf.)

What have you been reading lately?

Expecting to fly

So ecstatic about the Kickstarter project being completed and successful! It was an epic last 24 hours but we made it. Thank you everybody! I feel a little bit like this woman, ready to take flight but still a little afraid:

(photo borrowed from an online friend, source unknown to me...)

She feeds you tea and oranges

While in New York I got to make music too, not just visit museums (or, ahem, shopping...).

Through a friend I made another one, Chris Carlone, who kindly offered to play some minimal drums and slide guitar on my songs. Chris is a cool guy, he used to live in San Francisco and is now in the Upper West Side with his family. He does a lot of different stuff - photo, video, music - see some of it here, and there for instance.

So there we were, a first rehearsal one day, a show that night. Then another gig a few days later. That one was at Building on Bond, a sweet restaurant in Brooklyn. They close one half of the room, and everybody gets very quiet. No mics, no tricks. It was wonderful. Even the bartender was careful to wait for the end of a song to use the foam machine...and Chris sounded as though we had had ten rehearsals, instead of that lone one - very tasteful. We had a nice crowd, of both friends and strangers, and oh so very attentive. I ended the set with Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, because for all the years I've been playing it, I always envisioned Suzanne walking to the East River, or maybe the Hudson - even though I'm pretty sure he wrote it in Montreal...

Chris also did a set of his own beforehand, played guitar but also the ukulele, and did a sweet rendition of Moon River on it - such a classic New York song to me: 

***

Another day  we ventured to Central Park to make some attempts at shooting something. Here I go walking to the shoot:

I thought I'd wear this black dress with the white collar to sort of give it a more Halloween feel, and match the Fall theme provided by the changing trees. At times it made me look like a little girl:

...not so great. But the leaves truly were magnificent, and I think I managed an ok rendition of Orpheus on that one.

Thank you New York City... see you next time, you always amaze me!