Fendi Palazzo

Palazzo (Eau de Parfum) de Fendi est apparu en Septembre 2007, mis au point de Karl Lagerfeld et François Demachy. Floral et boisé, il demande l'attention de tous autour de vous, ce parfum.
Note de tête: Mandarine Jaune, bergamote, citron, poivre rose
Note de coeur: Fleur d’Oranger, jasmin, rose bulgare
Note de fond: Bois de Gaïac, patchouli

Le Flacon de Fendi Palazzo est superbe! Il évoque l'architecture du Palazzo Fendi, boutique emblématique de la marque, située en plein cœur de Rome.

Goncourt revisited

Right, I never got back to the final Goncourt laureate. Usually the short lists are most interesting to me, that way you have a list of recommendations to select from yourself according to mood, availability etc. Anyway, Gilles Leroy has been awarded the Goncourt Prize for his «Alabama Song» (Mercure de France), which has 8-folded the number of books available in the bookstores. It doesn't seem to have been an evident choice, however, I learnt it took the jury 14 rounds of voting - yet another reason to pay more attention to the short list than the unique award-winning title.

Armani Code for women

Today's perfume Armani Code for women (Eau de Parfum), by Carlos Benaïm, Dominique Ropion and Olivier Polge (2006).

Notes de tête: Orange bigarade, Orange d'Italie
Notes de coeur: Absolu de Fleur d’Oranger, Jasmin Sambac
Notes de fond: Vanille, Miel

Orange Blossom is the Muse of this creation: a miracle of the nature, the quintessence of femininity. A unique creation reveals this flower's full magic and operates its metamorphosis by the incredibly soft embrace of Madagascar vanilla and a touch of honey. Sambac jasmine, from India, amplifies the radiance and elegance of this celebration of noble materials. An unforgettable fragrance that exudes a mysterious charm.

It's like one of those restaurants where it feels like you have eaten already after reading through the menu! The scent is rather heavy, dense. For seductive and glamorous women, hey, it's almost weekend!

Parfum du jour: Rumeur

Aujourd'hui j'ai porté Rumeur de Lanvin (crée de Francis Kurkdjian 2006).

Notes de tête: Magnolia, Roses blanches
Notes de coeur: Jasmin Sambac, Seringat, Fleur d'Oranger, Muguet
Notes de fond: Patchouli, Musc, Ambrox

Premièrement il m'a beaucoup plû - pour une journée d'automne crispée - frais, sophistiqué.
Après quelques heures le muguet domine, un peu trop je trouve, afin sur moi. Encore plus tard le patchouli plutôt agréable.

J'ai aussi testé Eau d'Iparie chez l'Occitane. Originale, assez masculin avec sa fond de myrrhe et encens.
Notes de Tête : Baie Rose, Rose.
Notes de Coeur :Patchouli, Ciste Labdanum.
Notes de Fond : Myrrhe, Encens, Vanille, Mousse.
C'est peut être bizarre mais je pense que l'occasion pour le porter est un enterrement, c'est un parfum solennel.

L'illustration s'appelle Magnolia Swan Lake.

Ahh, Perfume!

Lately I have so much to read and write in my work, so in my spare time there was need for using other senses and since a visit at the Perfume museum of Fragonard in Paris earlier this season I am addicted to testing and learning about Perfumes. My newly awakened track of interest is supported by this Swedish blog - Parfumistans blogg - on perfume. I also found this French Perfume Portal very inspiring. And of course, the perfume shops where I can try on all the new discoveries! Two interesting English speaking sites are News parfums and the blog Now smell this. The wish list for Christmas is taking shape...

Le Prix August

Chaque année depuis 1989 l'Association des Editeurs en Suède distribue le prix littéraire, Augustpriset, en trois catégories: Littéraire, Non-romanesque et Enfance/Jeunesse. Bokus, la librairie sur internet, présente bien les nominés ici. Le 3 décembre les lauréats seront annoncés.

Liste de Ventes - France

Puis je regarde la liste de meilleures ventes de romans en France fin septembre: Muriel Barbery, Amélie Nothomb, Harlan Coben, Yasmina Reza, Philippe Claudel, Stephen King, John Le Carré, Daniel Mendelsohn, Guillaume Musso et Franck Thilliez - la moitié non-francais.

Liste de ventes - Suède

Avec une population de 9 millions habitants, un niveau d'éducation plutôt haut ainsi que la connaissance des langues et d'autres cultures, on pourrait croire que cela se montrera dans la lecture en Suède, mais non. Je regarde la liste de meilleures ventes de romans en Suède octobre 2007 et parmi les 10 premiers il n'y a qu'un seul écrivain étranger: Khaled Hosseini. Les autres: Liza Marklund, Stieg Larsson, Jan Guillou, Karin Wahlberg, Kajsa Ingemarsson, Leif GW Persson, Mari Jungstedt, Arne Dahl, Camilla Läckberg - la plupart des livres sont des romans policiers.

Goncourt short list

More awards!...the short list of October 2nd for Prix Goncourt 2007 is:
Olivier Adam «A l'abri de rien» (L'Olivier)
Philippe Claudel «Le rapport de Brodeck» (Stock)
Marie Darrieussecq «Tom est mort» (P.O.L.)
Michèle Lesbre «Le canapé rouge» (S. Wespieser)
Clara Dupont-Monod «La passion selon Juette» (Grasset)
Gilles Leroy «Alabama Song» (Mercure de France)
Amélie Nothomb «Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam» (Albin Michel)
Lydie Salvayre «Portrait de l'écrivain en animal domestique» (Seuil)

I'd say that there is the most buzz around Amélie Nothomb, however that says nothing about the decisions of the jury.
To be continued...the 25th of October...

Lire en fête!

Ce weekend, le 19-21 octobre, sera Lire en fête à Paris, et ailleurs.

Anticipation et marketing dans l'édition

J'ai regardé quelques blogs suédois sur la littérature et j'ai noté qu'ils touchent tous sur un roman pas encore paru: Amberville. Apparement, les bloggeurs ont recus des spécimen gratuits en avance, ce qui n'est qu'un petit pas dans un plus grand plan de marketing. Car ce roman est écrit pour porter du succès, pour plaire, se vendre et être filmatisé. L'auteur secret - sous le pseudonyme Tim Davys - est suédois mais tous les noms propres dans l'histoire sont anglo-saxons, ainsi que le titre. D'ailleurs, même avant paraître sur le marché suédois il est traduit en anglais. Les personnages sont des ours en peluche, néanmoins, Amberville a été presenté à la Foire du Livre en Francfort et la maison d'édition Harper Collins a payé 350 000 USD pour les droits globals du roman.

Laureates II

...and the Man Booker Prize 2007 went to the Irish author Anne Enright, for The Gathering.
I quote the site: "The Gathering is a family epic. It is also a sexual history: tracing the line of hurt and redemption through three generations – starting with the grandmother, Ada Merriman – showing how memories warp and family secrets fester. This is a novel about love and disappointment, about thwarted lust and limitless desire, and how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars."
This makes me think of Joyce Carol Oates and her Rape: a Love Story. Must read. The Gathering.

Laureates I

By now, everyone knows that Doris Lessing will be the one to receive the Nobel Prize in literature in Stockholm December 10th. People ask why the academy and the nobel committees wait so many years before rewarding the potential laureates. One reason is that they want to see sustainable success and not " one hit wonders". Often times the Nobel Prize in literature rewards the work of a lifetime and not one single piece of work. However, the work of Lessing is heterogenus and contains many categories, even science fiction, which is not so common in this context.

Doris Lessing will be the oldest laureate ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and Leonid Hurwicz that will receive the Prize in Economic Sciences will be the very oldest (90 yrs) in all categories.

Coup de coeur

Au musée du Quai Branly j'ai fait la connaissance de ce pygmée minuscule et adorable Boubou.

Stieg Larsson

Le roman La reine dans le palais des courants d'air (Luftslottet som sprängdes) de l'écrivain suédois Stieg Larsson (1954-2004) a apparu sur la liste de meilleures ventes de livres en France, no 12 dans la semaine de 10-16 septembre 2007 (la semaine même de parution). C'est le troisième volet dans la triologie Millenium, qui est aussi extremement populaire en Suède, no 1 sur la liste de ventes en septembre sur le marché suédois selon le journal des éditeurs et librairies Svensk Bokhandel.

Nobel Prize week

We are in the week of Nobel Prize announcements, it always catches my interest. Thursday is the day for literature. The betting odds rank Philip Roth, Claudio Magris, Haruki Murakami, Thomas Tranströmer, Amos Oz, Joyce Carol Oates as the more likely. Among these, the Swedish poet Thomas Tranströmer and Joyce Carol Oates are personal favourites.

Man Booker Short List 2007

I'm in an intense work period since after summer holiday but it's time for an update. The short list for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2007 was released a month ago and in a week the laureate will be announced. The six finalists are:
Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Best reads 2006

Back on track. I kept on reading but didn't blog the past months. However, during holidays I summarized the year and read a lovely novel: Berlinerpopplarna (The Berlin Poplars) by Anne B Ragde, Norwegian author. The novel has been a great success in Norway and it's not difficult to understand why. Best read in Swedish was Hakan Nesser's Kim Nowak badade aldrig i Genesarets sjö. Of course I did not read exclusively Scandinavian literature...another favourite is Joyce Carol Oates, Rape A Love Story. So what makes literature that I enjoy? Good language. I am not so fund of endless dialogues, common in chick lit etc. Intriguing story, preferably woven in more than one layer. That also goes for the characters that should be made up with psycological insights, in a way that makes me want to get to know them better. And reflect upon human nature.

Making Change

While working I took a class in change management during spring. Haven't had time to dedicate on the blog, but starting from the end: Aspects that we considered to be utterly important in an organisational change are communication, having a vision, setting well defined goals aligned with this vision, goals that can be achieved also in short term in order to keep motivation and pace in the change work. In a modern, knowledge-based organisation it is vital to establish a learning organisation. Change is dynamic, it's not about deciding on a 5-yearplan and send it to empolyees to fulfil it. Therefore, I drew a model that serves as a map during change, something to gather around in the organisation and also should be used for follow-ups and a double loup learning.




The green squares are supposed to be filled in with whatever the co-workers decide on. After some time, at the end of the year, the grey area is filled in with achievements. A gap-analysis provides input for the next year's green squares - after other relevant business intelligence has been considered.

Oops

Oh, what happened during the month of May? I lead workshops - for process analysis and for inventory of competences, and future needs. I held a seminar on customer focus. And I finished a university course in change management to get an up date. Then I took a week off, in Corfu, Greece, just lovely.