Jennifer Lee (2)

This book on Paris includes many essays, book excerpts, letters, and journal entries from authors, presidents, founding fathers, and many more. I would have to say my personal favorite was the excerpt from Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain and Sylvia Beach as she reminisces about the opening of Shakespeare & Company. Not all of the contributions held my attention so I merely skipped over those. But there were several that I truly found riveting. For anyone who LOVES Paris, this is a book you may want to pick up.… (más)

When I first picked up this collection I was so overcome with jealousy that I couldn't finish a single essay; it seemed to be full of successful writers living (albeit many are long dead) in Paris and all they seemed to be writing about was rue-de-this, Luxembourg-gardens-de-that, lunch-with-Dior-de-other - so many worlds away from my tram ride to South Melbourne that I had to put it down.
Luckily I made the executive decision to skip any essays that made me genuinely envious and flip towards the back of the book - Dave Barry's observations of 'An Aesthetically Challenged American in Paris' drew me back in and as I read Sylvia Beach's memories of setting up Shakespeare & Company I was so excited for her I could barely get off the tram when I got to my stop.
So I'm still working my way through the essays and eventually I'll get back around to finding out who's having tea with Joyce or wandering off to their other house on the Riviera or hanging out with Hemingway - and I'll try to put aside my covetous inclinations and accept, graciously, the gift of their Paris flavoured words.… (más)