10 Beautiful holiday gift books ready for wrapping

Ah shucks. So USA Today made A PARIS YEAR one of their top 10 books ready for wrapping. The best news ever. If you haven't purchased a gift for your favourite Francophile (or favourite person for that matter), then might I suggest A PARIS YEAR. I'd sell you one in my shop but the book is so robust that neither of us can afford the shipping. At least from where I write to you now in the middle of the snowy Rocky Mountains. Though if you buy it and want my autograph, you can get a signed bookplate in my shopw with free shipping. Just sayin'.And here is said Rodney from the book plate... and Scott...And here is David S. Lee, who will kill me over this... Because he prefers this look of his from LOST...But I prefer this look as it's truly us in our natural environment... the coffee shop.Anyway, A PARIS YEAR is getting out there and I couldn't be more pleased because your humble author has her shop to run, sending out letters and notecards and can't be off in outer Mongolia asking bookstores to prominently display my books. Speaking of...Dark moment the other day.I'm in my local big bookstore. They've rearranged and I couldn't find the beloved Travel section. Finally, I found it in the far far back corner (the outer Mongolia of this particular store). The Travel section was so far in the back that nobody but me and Amélie were back there. How disappointing. However, there were a bunch of copies of PARIS LETTERS and A PARIS YEAR on display. They looked lovely, even though no one in the store could find them. I sighed. I looked at my book neighbours. Ewan McGregor was there with his LONG WAY AROUND, as was Peter Mayle and A YEAR IN PROVENCE... and I'm happy to report that some authors who have become friends were there, too. And if it were a contest, my books were winning the whole section. However, it was a section no one could find.Just then, Amélie gave me that look. The look that says she's tired, thirsty, hungry and bored. There was an empty chair so we sat down. I nursed my baby while sitting next to my books. I thought, you know, that's not so bad. There was a time I was browsing in this section of the bookstore and I would have never believed that I would be here again a few years later with two beautiful books and an even more beautiful baby. So what if the Travel Section was LOST in the back of the store. It was an intimate moment with my babies, and that was just swell.