Autumn is in the air when it comes to the clothing finds this week – from scarves, sweaters and coats, and books galore on all sorts of topics – women living their own lives their own way to the focus on financial security, embracing the realities of life and raising the quality of our everydays in the process, searching for (and finding) delicious food while helping the planet, Jane Austen and what real happiness is, Paris’s Terrible Year and the birth of Impressionism, three wonderfully different and each worthwhile films to watch and still so much more.

Books

—The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security by Scott Galloway

I had the opportunity to peruse through Scott Galloway’s new book The Algebra of Wealth last week, and I immediately found it to be a book full of concrete and thorough tips and advice that provide components for financial security which is why I am now reading it and wanted to share it with you. Don’t be surprised if it inspired a podcast episode in the future. ☺️

Released in April of this year from NYU professor and cohost of the Pivot podcast Galloway “explains what you need to know in order to better your chances for economic security no matter what. You’ll learn:

• How stoicism can help you minimize spending and develop better financial habits
• How to find and follow your talent, not your passion, when making career decisions
• How to ride and optimize big economic waves (hard truth: market dynamics always trump individual achievement)
• What small steps you can take that pay big returns later, including diversification and tax planning”

Sharing an approachable, yet surefire framework, financial security, when we choose to prioritize it, is plausible with the advice found in The Algebra of Wealth.

—Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman

Back in 2021, Oliver Burkeman’s first book Four Thousand Weeks inspired episode #311 of the podcast, and his daring to tackle often uncomfortable topics, yet topics that are inevitable for mortals, is his approach of helpful advice and insight that has made me appreciate his writing. His new book Meditations for Mortals will be released this coming Tuesday, and I look forward to reading it.

“A map for a liberating journey toward a more meaningful life―a journey that begins where we actually find ourselves, not with a fantasy of where we’d like to be” . . . Meditations for Mortals “offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls ‘imperfectionism’ [helping] us tackle challenges as they crop up in our daily lives: our finite time, the lure of distraction, the impossibility of doing anything perfectly.

“How can we embrace our nonnegotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? How do we shed the illusion that life will really begin as soon as we can ‘get on top of everything’? Reflecting on quotations drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores a combination of practical tools and daily shifts in perspective. The result is a life-enhancing and surprising challenge to much familiar advice―and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully.”

—The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella by Nita Prose

Did you also read Nita Prose’s first novel in The Maid series and fly through it? Yep, I did too. The main character, Molly Gray, has appeared now in three novels, and just last week, the first novella which is holiday themed. With only 128 pages, in The Mistletoe Mystery, Molly Gray’s favorite time of year not only will be different, as her Gran is no longer around to celebrate, but this go-round, there is a mystery to solve.

“When a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?”

~Catch up on all of The Maid mysteries here.

—In Search of the Perfect Peach: Why Flavour Holds the Answer to Fixing Our Food System by Franco Fubini

This year at my garden here at Le Papillon, I may have only had seven peaches from my peach tree (as opposed to buckets upon buckets as I did last year), but oh my goodness were those peaches magnificent in flavor! Holding that flavor in my recent taste memory, when I learned of Franco Fubini’s, founder and CEO of Natoora, new book (released September 19th) In Search of the Perfect Peach, I took note because his premise of what is possible regarding flavor would be a dream, and hopefully a dream come true. Following a similar memorable encounter of a summer-ripened fresh peach, he discovered that “that flavour is not simply a fleeting, visceral experience but a window into the farmer, a connection to our natural environment and a taste test for our food system.

“In Search of the Perfect Peach follows Franco as he navigates the food system in pursuit of this elusive element. As he takes us from Sicily’s citrus groves to the streets of Mexico City, he shows how we have allowed the wider industry to compromise on more than just flavour.

“Franco’s search for the Greta peach culminates in his own clarity and conviction: by looking to flavour, we can unpick the industrialisation of our food production, restore nutrition and seasonal diversity to our plates and the craft of growing back to our landscapes. And, above all, we can find that perfect peach every summer.”

—Women Living Deliciously by Florence Given

Now this book looks not only like a wonderful read, but a fun and inspiring read at that. Florence Given who gave us Women Don’t Owe You Pretty, in her new book Women Living Deliciously “wants us to fall in love with our lives. Helping women uncover the sense of awe and wonder that has been buried by the layers of shame, perfectionism and self-objectification that get piled on us by the patriarchy, [she writes that] we have internalized the belief that our bodies are things to be looked at—instead of lived in. That it’s embarrassing to fully express ourselves. That we cannot trust the parts of ourselves that are so full of desire”.

“This book will unpack the many barriers women face when trying to access joy so that they can discover the delicious life that’s theirs for the taking.”

British Finds

—England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel

For all of my fellow nature lovers out there, and especially Anglophile nature lovers, a new book for your library. Released this past Tuesday in the UK, England: A Natural History “concentrates on twelve habitats, leading us from estuary to park, chalk downland to woodland, river to field, village to moor, lake to heath, fen to coastal cliffs.

“Referencing beloved great writers in whose footsteps he treads – Gilbert White, John Clare, W. H. Hudson, Richard Jefferies, Edward Thomas – and combining breathtakingly beautiful prose with detailed wildlife observation, botanical fact and ancient folklore, Lewis-Stempel immerses himself in each place, discovering their singular atmosphere, the play of the seasons; the feel of the wind in midwinter; the sounds of daybreak; how twilight settles. Each one – whether managed park or wild moor, plunging cliff or man-made Broads – has also shaped human life, forming our idea of ourselves and our sense of what ‘England’ means.”

Travel vicariously to the natural beauty of England and be transported by John Lewis-Stempel’s beautiful prose.

—Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness by Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey 

Released this past June,  Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness brings to our attention the many contradictions between the beloved novels and all that we respect and admire Jane Austen for due to her own life journey. “Through a careful exploration of Austen’s own writings and those of the authors she read during her lifetime―as well as recent cultural reception and adaptations of her novels―argues that Austen’s surprising choices in her endings are an essential aspect of the writer’s own sense of the novel and its purpose”.

“Austen’s fiercely independent and deeply humanistic ideals led her to develop a style of ending all her own. Writing in a culture that set a monetary value on success in marriage and equated matrimony with happiness, Austen questions these cultural norms and makes her readers work for their comic conclusions, carefully anticipating and shaping her readers’ emotional involvement in her novels.” 

—New English Interiors: A Home with Today’s Creatives by Elizabeth Metcalfe and Dean Hearne

Just released this past Tuesday, New English Interiors explores over 20 homes – a handful of which have not been published before – belonging to some of England’s most exciting creatives, from interior designers and illustrators to artists and antique dealers. With original photography by Dean Hearne and illuminating insights into how these interiors came together, it promises to be an inspiring visual feast. From fashion stylist and designer Lucinda Chambers’ colourful kaleidoscope of a home in west London to illustrator Fee Greening’s earthy toned cottage in Dorset, this is a celebration of colour and pattern in its infinite variety”.  

“Other interiors featured belong to the likes of designer Cath Kidston, artists Annie Morris and Idris Khan and designers Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell. While they range aesthetically from the bold and theatrical to the more earthy and homespun, there is one thing that unites them all: they are deeply personal visual moodboards for their owners. None of them are static either: these interiors are ever-evolving and that is part of their joy.” 

Cookbooks

—Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi Helen Goh

I have been patiently waiting for this cookbook to become available here in the states, and this Tuesday, it will be. Ottolenghi Comfort presents creative dishes that are comfortable to both cook and eat. In more than 100 recipes, Ottolenghi—and co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller, and Tara Wigley—bring together childhood memories and travels around the world, celebrating food and friends and the connections they build together, ones to pass on from generation to generation”.

“For Ottolenghi, a bowl of pasta becomes Caramelized Onion Orecchiette with Hazelnuts & Crispy Sage, a warming soup is Cheesy Bread Soup with Savoy Cabbage & Cavolo Nero, and potatoes are transformed into Garlicky Aligot Potato with Leeks & Thyme. In Comfort, he tackles everything from crepes to hummus; lamb meatloaf to quick ramen; savory rugelah to chocolate mousse.”

Film

—The Outrun

Already Oscar-buzz is swirling for Saoirse Ronan’s portrayal of author Amy Liprot’s story as originally told in her memoir of the same name, The Outrun. The lead character’s name Rona (Ronan) returns to Scotland’s Orkney Islands from “living life on the edge in London and attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. Hoping to heal”, she returns to this uniquely breathtaking small town where she grew up. Read a review of praise for Saoirse Ronan’s performance, have a look at the trailer below and look for the film in theaters beginning today.

—The Problem with People

If you are looking for hilarity, look no further than Paul Reiser and Colm Meaney in The Problem with People. The two men portray estranged cousins who are reunited when “Irishman Cíaran (Meaney)’s father dies and he chooses to honour his father’s last wish to reunite with the American side of his family. Enter Barry (Reiser) who accepts the invitation and visits his homeland. Barry, keen to escape from the daily grind of his New York real estate firm, agrees to make the long trip over”.

“However, after an initially warm welcome, tensions soon boil over when it’s discovered that Barry has unexpectedly been left half the money in Ciáran’s father’s will. With the two men now torn apart by greed and jealousy, resulting in a feud that spirals into a series of pretty squabbles and disastrous hijinks, will they ever be able to give peace a chance again?” Have a look at the trailer below and find the film in theaters beginning today.

—Rez Ball

Whether you are a sports fan or not, but especially so if you are, Rez Ball is a film to watch. From the co-creator of Reservation Dogs, Rez Ball is based on true events and provides an insight into perhaps something many of us did not know about – the power of the sport of basketball on many reservations around the country as well as, well, I will let you watch the trailer, and I also encourage you to listen to the NPR interview with the director Sydney Freeland. Also, something of note, Lebron James was one of the producers of the film. I look forward to watching this one.

Francophile Finds

—Daaaaaaaali

On an entirely different topic as it pertains to films, Dalí is a film full of absurdity and brilliant acting, and critics have been loving it ever since it debuted in Europe last year. A comedic French film, it has been described as a ‘real fake bio-pic’. 🙃 Centered around the actual attempt to make a documentary project around the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, a French journalist meets him. And while attempts are made to make the film, it never comes to be (after you watch the trailer, you may understand why ;)). Have a look below to see if it is to your humor and taste (I think it would be a fun watch), and get ready to scratch your head,while laughing at the same time. (Released to theaters in the states beginning today.)

—Eric Bompard Maxi Tartan Stole, caramel (more colors)

Wool and cashmere scarf season is just about to begin, and a light-weight cashmere stole or scarf is perfect for this transitional time of year. If you are looking for scarves that will be with you for a lifetime, look no further than French designer Eric Bompard’s. I came across this new tartan stole (available in four colors) and immediately was smitten. So neutral, classic, and timeless.

—Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee

The book I am currently reading each evening and thoroughly enjoying is a new release (September ’24) by Washington Post art critic and Pulitzer Prize winner writer Sebastian Smee, Paris in Ruins. Follow the lives of two prominent Impressionist artists – Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot – prior to, during and after the Terrible Year (1870-71) – the book details through their life journey how this pivotal moment in France’s history influenced, arguably brought to life, the Impressionist movement.

Shopping

—Alex Mill Sophia Wool Coat (two colors available)

A hybrid of a style, Alex Mill’s Sophie wool coat provides a shorter length (but not too short), a class looser fit similar to a wool trench, but also a streamlined structure and a high neck for warmth. Loving the versatility this coat offers for the fall and winter season.

—&Daughter Cable-knit wool sweater

A cable knit sweater with a subtle V-neck. Not too long and not too oversized, but not tight or cropped either. A wonderful middle-ground for mixing and matching.

—GreenPan w/Stanley Tucci Germain Nonstick essential pan, 4 1/2 Qt. (multiple colors)

Stanley Tucci is coming back for another round of food both in the kitchen, in book form and soon on television! Tucci continues to partner with GreenPan and offers an essential pan to use for all sorts of kitchen needs – sautéeing or placing in the oven – you name it, this style and design really does offer numerous options for having fun in the kitchen.

Television

—Abbott Elementary, season 4, ABC/Hulu

They’re back! And with Jeanine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) back in the classroom this season (after working at the administrative office in season three), no doubt, even more laughs will ensue in the classrooms. The trailer alone had me laughing outloud. Look for season four to premiere on October 9th.

The autumnal beauty just keeps on bringing its gifts, and this week at the farmers’ market many stands presented their gourds of all shapes and sizes. Such a gorgeous sight to see, and so I was snapping as many photos, if not more, than I was buying produce.

This week was an extra full one and began last weekend with the DIY work in the primary bedroom closet where I demo-ed the existing structure, painted the ceiling and wallpapered (nearly finished, bur ran out). Just yesterday the new carpet was installed and immediately spruced up the bedroom and closet, and in between now and the end of October, the rest of the wallpaper will be put up and then the closet will be installed. Tour here on the blog to follow shortly thereafter!

Along with that, a full week on the blog with a new podcast episode and a petit plaisir sharing my new favorite tea, a Petites Pensées Lundi to kick off the week and last Saturday, I almost forgot! the third episode of the cooking show – a classic French main dish that looks far fancier than it actually is to make (so simple!). Oh! And as we began October, a new A Cuppa Moments was shared for TOP Tier Members where news about TSLL and the first in-person gathering was shared.

In tomorrow’s cooking episode, we’ll be making a zhushing up of a classic fall dessert that will knock your socks off when it comes to the flavor (in fact your home will be filled with the lovely aroma 😌). And while you will no doubt notice, the presentation is a bit messy, there is a valuable point to be made about how perfection in appearance need not be the goal, but rather delicious flavors which this dessert definitely has in spades. I do hope you will stop by tomorrow and watch as you begin or are enjoying your weekend.

Below I have gathered up a few articles you might enjoy and one delightfully lovely video collage in honor of Dame Maggie Smith who we sadly said goodbye to last Friday🙂‍↕️. Wishing you a lovely weekend full of moments to tickle your funny bone, magical encounters and of course oodles of everyday moments to savor. Until tomorrow, bonne journée.

~Get ready to relax, and what better way to remind you to slow down than to begin the weekend by taking this tour of a cozy 900 sq ft cottage located in the Cotswolds, complete with a slipper soaking tub. [Domino]

~Oprah on aging well [subscription may be required – Oprah Daily]

~Fashion trends seen on the streets of Paris during fashion week that are worth incorporating into your winter wardrobe. [Who What Wear UK]

~Robert Kime’s interior design endures ten years on in this Kensington home. [House & Garden UK]

~October in Provence, the ups and downs [Perfectly Provence]

~These parmesan chicken meatballs with creamy spinach just look delectable and are easier than expected to make. [The Kitchn]

~How to add character to a new build that has no period features [House & Garden UK]

~An exploration of the history of the well-loved and known Les Deux Magots café in Paris and how it stands apart from many others after 140 years in business [NYTimes, gift link]

~Last Friday, we learned of the passing of Dame Maggie Smith at the age of 89. And it seems unfathomable that we will no longer be able to hear or see her again on screen or stage after more than six decades of acting, but we will always have her many appearances delivered with absolute aplomb on Downton (and many other films, two of which won her an Academy Award). Below is a wonderfully long video collage of all of the smart quips, and expertly delivered retorts and deadpan statements that perhaps prompted immediately laughs and giggles while you watched the show as shared by Downton Abbey via BritBox. Enjoy and thank you Dame Maggie. You will forever be remembered and are missed tremendously already.

~Explore last week’s This & That: September 27, 2024

Yet another wonderfully full and bountiful week of finds which includes two new French art exhibits now open here in the states, cookbooks galore, two brand new television series that are definitely worth sitting down to enjoy, a new documentary if you love fashion and communicating with your wardrobe selections, a sale at a favorite everyday brand, beautiful handbags from Sweden, the queen of everyday, simple (and delicious!) cooking’s new memoir, a look into the lead up to King Charles III’s coronation, plus gorgeous sweaters at varying price points. And still, there is so much more!

~Please note: TSLL is supported by you, readers who take the time to stop by (merci!), peruse and sometimes welcome into your life mentioned and recommended finds. Affiliate links are present in today’s post and may earn commissions for TSLL when you purchase. View TSLL’s full Privacy Policy here.