There seems to be a trend of fiction authors writing books about famous people’s wives. I just finished reading Madame Picasso by Anne Girard and I checked the facts by reading The World of Picasso published by Time-Life Books. By reading the two books together it put me there in early 20th century Paris. I could watch Picasso paint his canvas and see him and Braque invent papier collé. Experience and savor Paris. Join with the glamorous, talented, poets, artists, writers, thinkers of that time as they meet each Saturday night in Gertrude Stein’s salon. Fiction puts you right there listening in to the jealousy, competition and shared ideas that shaped and changed our culture.

Another book of the 1920’s Paris The Paris Wife by Paula McLain has the same vibrant setting swirling around Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley. After reading The Paris Wife you will want to hear Hemingway’s side of the story by reading A Moveable Feast.

When facts and fiction converge reality is the result. Yes, you can Google for fact checking but Wikipedia can’t give you the meat of the story because it is one dimensional at best. Perhaps you should even pick up a non-fiction book or two to make sure the “facts” are all in agreement. To get the full meal we need good fiction authors to flesh out the facts. For desert I’m watching the DVD by PBS titled Paris the Luminous Years.

My Menu:
Madame Picasso – Anne Girard
The Paris Wife – Paula McLain
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
The World of Picasso 1881 – 1973
Paris the Luminous Years – DVD