The Pleasure Lists Q&A: Lauren Collins

Pleasures, Curated by writer Lauren Collins

We’re back with another installment of

The Pleasure Lists

: Pleasures, Curated.

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy getting to know members of the Pleasure Lists community and what makes their Pleasures tick.

Pleasures, Curated by

Lauren Collins

of

Lettre Recommandée

Lauren Collins is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Since 2015, she has been based in Paris, covering stories mainly from France. She is the author of “When in French: Love in a Second Language,” which the Times named as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2016. Next year, she will publish a second book, about the long-term consequences of the 1898 white supremacist massacre and coup d'état in Wilmington, North Carolina, her hometown. She writes Lettré Recommandée on Substack.

Social: @laurenzcollins

Location: Paris, France

Pleasures

Fleur d'Oranger Anything

I wake up excited in the morning because I know I'm about to have a cup of Oolong Fleur d'Oranger tea from the Sébastien Gaudard patisserie. I live for the stuff. I push it on everyone. Please trust me when I say it is the best souvenir you can bring home from Paris. Basically anything fleur d'oranger will do the trick for me. Bath gel. Babka. A couple of drops of arôme de fleur d'oranger in a crêpe. There's a fleur d'oranger-heavy perfume I've recently detected on a few people walking down the street, and next time that happens I will run up and beg to know what it is. One of my biggest dreams is to have a garden one day, and, the day I do, climate willing, Citrus sinensis will be the first thing I plant.

Movie Popcorn

I've been known occasionally to reverse-engineer my cinema visits: as in, I want some movie popcorn right now, what can we see? This happened the other day, when I went to see "I'm Still Here," which turned out to be full for the next two showings. I had my heart set on movie popcorn, so I was obliged to watch "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy," which was the next film playing. Confused by the costumes: why is this putatively successful fiftysomething woman with a tasteful house and sophisticated friends still wearing Topshop florals and a tiny jean jacket over everything? Her clothes don't go with the rest of her life! That bugged me! But it was worth it for the snack.

Nominative Determinism

A banker named Rich Ricci. An article on incontinence by the urologists J.W. Splatt and D. Weedon. I've been trying to decide whether Bianca Censori is an example of nominative determinism, or its exact opposite.

Mallwalking

I live in the 9th arrondissement of Paris—the grands magasins district—and, in bad weather, often find myself at Galeries Lafayette or Printemps, buzzing through Makeup and Ladies' Contemporary and Lingerie at a brisk clip. The point is to get out, look around, rack up some steps. The gym, but make it people-watching! Shopping, but make it free!