15.52 - French Failures, Book Hoards, and Baby Naps: This Week in France
FREE le Bulletin: Three brilliant voices this week exploring France beyond the postcard—failure, books, motherhood. And in your inbox already? A love letter to our community as we head into year 16.
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Bonjour mes amis !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today! Bienvenue !
BookClub announcement - January online EVENT: Mona’s eyes
A Bonus Holiday period BONUS article
Also, wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché,
Watch out for and don’t miss the PAID subscriber edition of le Bulletin on Saturday this weekend: “15.52.a - What 2025 Taught Me About Us“ - It’s not too late to subscribe or upgrade←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 28.12.2025
1. MyFrenchLife™ BookClub EVENT
Mona’s eyes: IMPORTANT #bookclub EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT / online meeting
RSVP essential HERE: French BookClub event: Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser — Friday & Saturday 16 & 17 January, 2026. CHECK timezones below for event timing.
Bonjour, MyFrenchLife™ French BookClub members
We are pleased to announce our first online Book Club event for 2026.
This will be a free event where we can all chat and share our views about this intriguing book. Some of you will have read in English, others in French - all are very welcome.
Discussion will be in English.
We’ll discuss this book on Friday, January 16th & Saturday 17 January, 2026- depending on your location.
SELECT and NOTE Your timezone - perhaps set a reminder :)
UK - 7pm Friday 16 January.
France - 8pm Friday 16 January
US Eastern - 2pm Friday 16 January
US Central - 1pm Friday 16 January
US Mountain - 12 noon 16 January
US Pacific - 11am Friday 16 January
Australia/Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane - 6am Saturday 17 January
New Zealand - 8am Saturday 17 January
RSVP ESSENTIAL→ in Comments here ONLY
Mona’s Eyes participates in the tradition of interaction between Art and Literature:
As a preamble to this discussion, you may want to think about the favorite artwork or artist you read about!
We look forward to your RSVP HERE.
Jacqueline Dubois and Judy MacMahon
2. Bonus Holiday Article
I wish you all a wonderful holiday as you celebrate, whether that be Christmas, the end of the calendar year, or whatever happens in your family.
When I saw this article, I thought of you and decided to share it immediately:
a) The *other* French gift-giving tradition you didn’t know about
by Jenn Bragg
This week, I asked myself, “What would be a good topic around the holidays for a Substack?” And the answer came: toys!
In doing my research on holiday toys in France, I encountered an old tradition that I hadn’t previously known about. If you look at the poster below from 1920, there’s the word jouets, which means ‘toys’ in French. But what is étrennes? At first, I thought it was the name of a toy store, but it’s much more interesting than that…” writes Jenn Bragg
3. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine new articles
“There are many talented contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes. We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
a) Are the French Too Conservative?
by Keith Van Sickle
“It’s ok to fail.”
I was struck when my French friend told me this over coffee in Palo Alto. We had been talking about her husband’s startup company—he was trying to raise new capital, and if he didn’t succeed, his company would run out of money soon.”
“It must be stressful,” I said, “not knowing if he’ll be able to keep his company alive.”
“Yes,” she said, “but we’ll be ok if it doesn’t work out. One of the things I’ve learned from living in the United States is that it’s ok to fail. That’s not true in France. There, if you fail you have a black mark that follows you forever.” writes Keith Van Sickle.
b) Books, Books, Books: Feeling Overwhelmed
by Caroline McCormick-Clarke
Books, books, books – I adore them: touching them, smelling them, buying them, and reading them. Invariably, when a close friend or family member has a newborn child, one of the first gifts I will offer is a book. I feel strongly that it is so important to encourage any child to get used to the feel of a book in their hands, as young as possible. You can’t put a price on the gift of being able to read.”
But I digress. I find it difficult to part with books. Unfortunately, I am married to an even more avid reader and hoarder than myself… “ writes Caroline McCormick-Clarke
c) What No One Tells You About Maternity Leave in France
by Pamela Clapp
I want to preface this by stating: motherhood is a gift.
I have the privilege of raising three healthy children in a country that offers support for parents, which I know is far from true for many families in the unfair world we live in.
There’s a kind of baby nap that feels like a breath and a sprint all at once. Just long enough to open your laptop, respond to one email, maybe two. That’s when I write at the moment—between feeds, school pick-ups, and moments of stillness that are as fragile as they are precious…” writes Pamela Clapp.
4. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Chers amis (dear friends)
I’m sitting here with my coffee, absolutely loving this week’s contributors. Keith making me rethink French conservatism, Caroline surrounded by towers of books (same, Caroline, same!), Pamela capturing those precious-fragile moments of motherhood. This is what it’s all about—real voices, real France, real connection.
Saturday’s PAID le Bulletin edition is going to be special, mes amis. I’m talking about light and dark, laundry and community, and why you all matter so much as we head into our 16th year.
And here’s the thing: my 15:12 gift expires December 31st—that’s just days away. What’s 15:12? When you upgrade to an annual paid subscription before this year ends, you get 15 months for the price of 12. Three bonus months! That means exclusive weekend editions of le Bulletin newsletter, my fortnightly French culture deep-dive articles, French Book Club, and early access to everything—all for 25% more time at no extra cost.
Hope you’ll join us as we launch into year sixteen together?
With love
Judy x
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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This is an excellent anniversary issue, and it's perfect timing as I'm ending my one-week Substack slowdown today! So comments will be going up on all of these great articles!