Welcome to Season 2 of The Ritual of Reading. In this episode, Alexandra explores the "Gentle January" philosophy. We discuss:

• The serendipity of Marguerite Yourcenar and Emmanuelle Favier.

• Travel memoirs and Russian mysteries with Lesley Blanch.

• Winter nourishment through Ayurvedic beetroot soup (get the recipe here)

• The ritual of the Gratitude Journal.

Featured Books:

'Petit éloge du feu de cheminée' by Emmanuelle Favier

'Journey into the Mind's Eye' by Lesley Blanch

• Buy your copy here : https://tidd.ly/45tcrvL

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Have you ever hesitated to go somewhere alone? This episode is about reclaiming solitude as something precious rather than something to apologize for. I take you through my favorite Paris destinations for being deliberately, deliciously alone—a hidden museum, an ice cream parlour, and a tennis stadium—while sharing what French writers have taught me about the courage it takes to disappoint expectations and embrace your own company. A love letter to solitude, Paris, and the freedom of being alone.

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Website: ⁠https://theritualofreading.com⁠

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Welcome to The Ritual of Reading podcast.
This episode is an invitation to walk through Paris in the company of five remarkable women who refused to wait for permission to write. From George Sand’s countryside tenderness to Simone de Beauvoir’s fierce intellect, from Françoise Sagan’s smoky Parisian nights to Muriel Barbery’s lyrical prose and Clara Dupont-Monod’s historical vision—each of these authors claimed her voice in a culture that didn’t always make space for her.

We’ll explore how they lived, what they wrote, and why their words still matter. These are the women who shaped French literature not as muses or footnotes, but as creators in their own right—writing Paris into being, one page at a time.

Pour yourself a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s meet the women who wrote Paris.

Connect with me:

Website: ⁠https://theritualofreading.com⁠

Substack: ⁠https://theritualofreading.substack.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Pinterest: ⁠https://fr.pinterest.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Support me on Ko-Fi : https://ko-fi.com/theritualofreading