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Hello Hello! How are you today?
I actually can’t remember if I have done many hauls on my blog before. I seem to remember that I did one for my Christmas/Birthday haul but I think that’s the only one! 😂
Since my fiancé and I are tightening our belts on our spending for the months to come, I don’t know if I’ll be buying many books for a while. So this might be the last book haul for some time, but I’ve got some really interesting books to show you!
Books from Monet’s House and Gardens at Giverny
Monet à Giverny by Adrien Goetz and Eric Sander
This book has some absolutely beautiful photographs of the house and gardens and paintings by Monet. We got this one in French so we could both read it since my fiancé, while he speaks very good English, doesn’t read much in English yet. I have a feeling this will be really interesting and quick read about the artist’s life and accomplishments and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Nymphéas noirs by Michel Bussi
This is the only fiction I bought while on my trip. Michel Bussi is a well-known author in France. I’ve got a few of his other books on my shelves but haven’t actually read anything by him yet, but I think my fiancé has and quite liked it/them. This book is about a series of mysteries that happen at Giverny, and it is centred around 3 women, which I really liked. I think this will be a nice sort of cosy mystery to read snuggled on the sofa with the pets and a nice cup of tea. This is the cover of the book I have, but my version is obviously in French. It might be a “Giverny only” cover that also happens to be published in Italian 😂🤷🏽♀️
Books from the Juno Beach Centre
The Juno Beach Centre is the place where our emotions just hit us the most. It’s where the Canadian troops landed on D-Day and the memorial and museum they have created there are just amazing. The 12-minute film at the end called “They Walk With You” had all 40-odd of us sobbing by the end. If you are ever in Normandy and are interested in WWII history, this is not a place to miss out on, it was just so fascinating and a really good way to remember the Canadian troops and what they did to change the tide of the war raging in France.
D-Day: Histoires mémorables du débarquement et de la Bataille de Normandie by Jean-Baptiste Pattier and Chaunu
This is the last French book we got ad it’s just a big volume about all of the D-Day landings and memorable moments of the war. I thought this would be a really interesting book to get an overview of the period and the different events of the D-Day landings, all troops and nationalities combined. There are also lots of witness statements from the time, and the drawings are kind of caricatures, so they seem really in tune with the propaganda and art put out during the war.
Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917-1918 by Tim Cook
This book is actually the second volume of a series and I would have bought the first one if I had seen it, but there was only this one. I know this is about WWI, but I was really drawn to this book for some reason. It’s a chunker, nearly 800 pages, but it sounds like it will be a very informative, interesting and emotional read. I’ll have a go at it in small chunks and just let it sink in, but I definitely want to learn more, so I think this was a great find.
Normandy Ghosts by Nigel Stwart and Sean Claxton
This was such an eerie, haunting book my fiancé picked. It has a lot of photos of different towns that were invaded in Normandy in WWII, with soldiers kind of blurred/turned transparent. These photos kind of make your blood run cold, but my fiancé was really interested and said it was important to remember, which is completely right. It’s kind of an introduction to WWII knowledge so also a good one to lend to people wanting to know more.
Books from the Overlord Museum (Omaha)
The Daily Telegraph: The D-Day Landings by Philip Warner
This was the last book we bought and I think the one I’m most excited about. It makes me feel really weird saying that about this subject but I am fascinated by history and especially by WWII, I don’t really know why, but there you go 😂 This one is about all of the D-Day Landings and all of the troops with witness statements from a lot of survivors. I think it’s going to be another really hard book to read and will have to be read slowly, but I am really glad we got it because I’m sure it will teach me a lot of new things.
We also went to Versailles and I was going to buy a book there about the castle and its history but:
A. We couldn’t find one we both agreed on or were both interested in and
B. I feel like Versailles put the cost of books up really high compared to other places… So we will keep looking for an interesting book about the Château de Versailles from Blackwells most likely haha!
So that’s my little Normandy trip haul that made me happy. I’m so glad I got a few books about WWII because it’s a period that fascinates me and being able to go see 4 different WWII monuments/museums made it, even more, real/poignant. I really want to learn more now, so I will keep my eyes open for other nonfiction about WWII. If you have any good recommendations please let me know in the comments!
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
See you soon, stay safe,
Ellie xx