Porta's Look!...French Milk

"Cool book alert"

In January 2007, cartoonist Lucy Knisley helped her mother celebrate her 50th birthday with a six-week trip to France. Armed with a sketchpad and pen, Knisley documented her trip in a series of illustrated journal entries, now collected by Touchstone Books as "French Milk." The title refers to the fresh whole milk in France, quite different from America's processed milk.

Right now, I'm loving the book French Milk by Lucy Knisley. The funny graphic memoir chronicles the author's six week stay in Paris with her mom, along with drawings of croissants, striped shirts and the Eiffel Tower.

Unfortunately, copies of French Milk were hard to come by, and it went out of print almost immediately after I wrote about it. Simon & Schuster has just published the title, and I'm happy to report it's now widely available.

Knisley mixes photographs, sketches and notes about Parisian life into her work. Below, I've hand-picked four pages from French Milk to help explain why I adore it so much.

One great thing about this book is Knisley spares no detail when it comes to food. This page illustrates her typical grocery list, but she also draws many delicious French meals.

Since Knisley is an art student, she takes in several museums and cultural attractions during her stay. And I couldn't resist including this cute portrait of the Arrested Development cast ...

Look, it's more food! Knisley includes plenty of book shopping and restaurant suggestions ... take notes, and it could double as a cool French guidebook.

French Milk is on sale now. Go here to see more pages from the book. Read a Q&A with Knisley on Comic Book Resources, and visit her website for more info and illustrations. It's a must-read for Francophiles and comic-book lovers alike.

because the cover was so cute (yes, I judged) and I wasn't disappointed. The book is a travelogue of Lucy's six-week stay in Paris with her mom. There are lovely drawings and photographs of Lucy's visits to museums and flea markets and a detailed account of all the food she ate.

So if you are looking for a page-turner, a sassy, poignant take on Paris or French culture, look elsewhere.
But if you want to see what Paris looked like to one 22-year-old girl - trying fancy food, taking shopping trips, and watching Arrested Development episodes on a laptop in bed with her mom - then you've found the single book in the world for you.

And, I don't know about you, but I enjoy reading about other people's hangnail examinations. :-)

Description

Through delightful drawings, photographs, and musings, twenty-three-year-old Lucy Knisley documents a six-week trip she and her mother took to Paris when each was facing a milestone birthday. With a quirky flat in the fifth arrondissement as their home base, they set out to explore all the city has to offer, watching fireworks over the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve, visiting Oscar Wilde's grave, loafing at cafes, and, of course, drinking delicious French milk. What results is not only a sweet and savory journey through the City of Light but a moving, personal look at a mother-daughter relationship.

Product Details
Publisher : Touchstone Books
Published : 10/01/2008
Format : Trade Paperback , pages 193
ISBN-10 : 1416575340
ISBN-13 : 9781416575344

About Lucy

Beginning with an love for Archie comics and Calvin and Hobbes, Lucy Knisley (pronounced "nigh-zlee") has always thought of cartooning as the only profession she is suited for. A New York City kid raised by a family of foodies, Lucy is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago currently pursuing an MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies While completing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute, she was comics editor for the award-winning student publication F News Magazine.

Lucy currently resides in Vermont where she's working on comics among the pines. She likes books, sewing, bicycles, food you can eat with a spoon, manatees, nice pens, costumes, baking and Oscar Wilde. She occasionally has been known to wear amazing hats.

She can be reached via e-mail at lucylou@gmail.com.