Paris in Winter: An Illustrated Memoir - Hardcover

Coggins, David

4.19

138 ratings by Goodreads

9781576877777: Paris in Winter: An Illustrated Memoir

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1576877779 ISBN 13: 9781576877777

Publisher: powerHouse Books, 2015

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Paris in Winter combines fanciful ink and watercolor drawings by American artist and writer David Coggins with charming vignettes about his family's annual New Year's sojourns to Paris, which, because of their unending love for the city, they've been taking together for almost 20 years. This memoir of poetic, lighthearted stories highlights the family's passion for art and food, fashion and social life. Family rituals--from having lunch each January at the delightful Le Grand Vefour to haunting favorite antique shops and seeking out-of-the-ordinary spots, like a little known garden or a gypsy circus--are interspersed with serendipitous moments: hearing Bono sing "Happy Birthday" to a friend in a bistro, adopting an abandoned lap dog, and the simple pleasures of Parisian street life.

Coggins's delicate and intimate drawings capture classic Parisian scenes as well as family and friends against the backdrop of the elegant City of Light under the cloak of winter. Across caf�s and hotels, apartments and galleries, the family mixes with a lively group of Parisian and international actors, designers, writers, and students. Furthermore, Coggins weaves in fascinating bits of the city's history and artistic lore, from Victor Hugo's interior designs to the painting that legend has it started Impressionism, to delight Francophiles all over.

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About the Author:

David Coggins is the author and illustrator of the travel memoir, The Nostalgic Heart, recipient of an Independent Publisher Book Award. His eight-volume set of daybooks, published under the pseudonym Robert Carolina, is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. His artwork has been exhibited in Paris, London, and Santiago, Chile as well as in U.S. galleries and museums. Coggins has designed for a number of U.S. theaters including Th��tre de la Jeune Lune, Guthrie Theater, and La Jolla Theater. His set for "The Deception" was chosen for "From the Edge," a U.S. exhibition on performance design that toured New York, Prague, and Moscow. He lives in Minneapolis.

Review:

“An alluring delight to the eye, ear, mind, and palate. David Coggins, who clearly knows Paris inside-out, celebrates the world’s most beautiful city in all her beguiling facets. He wears his culture and his sophistication lightly – but you will learn a lot along the way.” -William Boyd, author of Solo and Sweet Caress

“Paris in Winter is an essential meditation for our fraught times, a primer on the absolute value of pleasure, the passion of and for art, the avidity of taste and perception. This is a book to read – of course – but also to see.” - Patricia Hampl, author of The Florist’s Daughter and Blue Arabesque

“David Coggins, a writer and illustrator of great soul and sensitivity, has created that loveliest and rarest of works: an illustrated, beautifully-written and observed memoir that will inspire anyone who reads it to think about his life and how he wants to live it. This is a book that is like the best afternoon you’ve ever passed in a Paris caf� with your best friend on a cold January afternoon: light-filled, comforting, enchanting and entertaining, and filled with beauty.” -Michael Hainey, author of After Visiting Friends

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