Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Name That Book!



Conquering the Champs Elysees

  I have been reading a boatload of Betty Neels this past week and came across this line:
 
…she walked as though she intended to conquer the world…  

This statement has become my motto for the year.  

I may have to embroider it on a pillow or something. 

Anywho...

I thought it might be fun for us to share some of our favorite Neels-isms - and let the other Bettys try and guess which book the quote/line/saying/whatever is from. 

Go! 

14 comments:

  1. "'Blot. Escutcheon or landscape?' 'Landscape. We haven't got an escutcheon.'"

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  2. Oooh, the one with the Blot--Blow Hot, Blow Cold! Love that one BvdB.

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    1. Shouldn't you be having a baby about now?

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    2. Not yet! I have 13 more weeks (which really means more as my pledges of affection have a shocking lack of concern for the conventions of punctuality). Stunningly, I have only recently stopped being constantly ill. So, like the Duchess of Cambridge, I am keeping a low profile. (Feel free to imagine me in well-tailored suit dresses with an interestingly wan countenance if this rounds out the mental image...)

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    3. I have a friend who was sick almost every morning (and some afternoons) for all nine months of her first pregnancy. Perhaps not coincidentally, that offspring is an only child...

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  3. Fortunes of Francesca.

    B von S

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    1. F of F for the "she walked as though she intended to conquer the world"? Hmm. Francesca does seem to have an outsize sense of entitlement at times (I think she's rude). But I suspect Betty Debbie's quote is from an Olivia-type in a MoC. I nominate Eulalia, or Dearest Eulalia.

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  4. I know which book it is but I won't tell.
    Betty Who Cheated Anonymous

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  5. B von S of Betty by the Numbers is always right -- Fortunes of Francesca. I liked this one a lot, and this was my very favorite line!

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    1. How can I read B von S and think Betty van den Betsy.......insomnia. About a 2-week run of 2-3 hours sleep/night. Thank you for correcting the errors of my my sleep-deprived and foggy foggy foggy brain!

      I am grateful for the Metro; no way would I passengers and other drivers by getting behind the wheel in this foggy state.

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  6. Betty Debbie Conquering the Champs Elysees reminded me of a song from my childhood. Last year I saw it performed by Joe Dassin in the "original French".

    Joe Dassin, Les Champs-Élysées

    A few other versions you might like to watch on YouTube:
    girl wearing a hat whose colouring reminded me of Betty Debbie in the picture – the girl’s colouring, not the hat‘s) LYandSO
    Alice Tarran Banks (who would have to play the other woman in a Neels on account of displaying ... see for yourself! The quality of this version allows full screen viewing. If you can decipher the text...)
    Darren Criss – Live
    Orohena Sons, (polynesian trio)
    Lucie Ait-Abbas – slower version
    PinguFrosted, because I like his name. Reminds me of one of our politicians.

    I always thought the song sounded so very French... Ha!
    And then, today, I read "(P. Delanoë • Wilsh • Deighan)" at the beginning of this 1979 version of Joe Dassin’s Les Champs-Élysées. "Wilsh? Deighan?", I thought and started investigating. The original version of the song was in English and the title Waterloo Road takes us back to The Great Betty. Ha!

    Hey, and while I was "hyperventilinking" this comment I saw somebetty from France online, from "Lambesc, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur".

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  7. Dear Betty Anonymous: The original version of "Aux Champs Elysées" was written by a friend of Joe Dassin, Pierre Delanoë. The tune he borrowed was English, but the words were French, written by a Frenchman (whew!). You can read more here: [url]http://www.localnomad.com/en/blog/2013/03/08/aux-champs-elysees-song-by-joe-dassin-a-french-success-story/[/url]

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    1. Thank you, Betty Janet. I did not know that Joe Dassin and Pierre Delanoë were friends. Thank you for the link. I probably should have clarified about the song sounding so very French to me. What I did mean was the melody. You see, when I was little I always heard the song in German, but I thought, quite erroneously as it turned out now, that the melody was French. Not that it makes a difference to the song, it was a huge success.

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