David Coggins

"Paris in Winter" combines fanciful ink and watercolor drawings by American artist and writer David Coggins with charming vignettes about his family's annual New Year's sojourns to Paris, which, because of their unending love for the city, they've been taking together for almost 20 years. This memoir of poetic, lighthearted stories highlights the family's passion for art and food, fashion and social life. Family rituals--from having lunch each January at the delightful Le Grand Vefour to haunting favorite antique shops and seeking out-of-the-ordinary spots, like a little known garden or a gypsy circus--are interspersed with serendipitous moments: hearing Bono sing "Happy Birthday" to a friend in a bistro, adopting an abandoned lap dog, and the simple pleasures of Parisian street life. Coggins's delicate and intimate drawings capture classic Parisian scenes as well as family and friends against the backdrop of the elegant City of Light under the cloak of winter. Across cafes and hotels, apartments and galleries, the family mixes with a lively group of Parisian and international actors, designers, writers, and students. Furthermore, Coggins weaves in fascinating bits of the city's history and artistic lore, from Victor Hugo's interior designs to the painting that legend has it started Impressionism, to delight Francophiles all over."

Today's man may know how to dress with style, but does he know how to behave? Though the rules of civility have changed along with the world, Men and Manners: Essays, Advice and Considerations believes in manners. This book doesn't tell you which fork to use or how to write a thank you note. But it is going to remind you of basic, respectful rules you may have forgotten or have chosen to ignore. Comprised of short essays, shorter interviews, and lists of guidelines for men of all ages, this provides an honest, playful, and humorous look at the conflicted state of manners today. Interviews with fashionable men reveal their hard and fast rules, pet peeves and grievances, personal fiascos, and lingering doubts about etiquette. Subjects that may fluster today's man-such as tipping, toasting, texting, grooming, dating, dressing for air travel, office behavior, and home decor-are explored with the trademark combination of dry wit and self-deprecating attitude that has made David Coggins one of the most well-respected men's style writers today. With humorous illustrations and contributions from modern male style icons, Men and Manners makes the case for being the man who offers the best seat to his companion, who knows when to pick up the tab, and who remembers to do what's right even if it isn't always rewarded.