Written in the first person from the viewpoint of teenage American schoolgirl Anna, this is a beguiling account of first love. Anna's father is a successful novelist who has sent her to boarding school in Paris to acquire a little polish and international élan. Although she appreciates that Paris is the City of Light, and obviously dead romantic, she really isn't that impressed to be torn away from her familiar friends and surroundings. Not to mention a fledgling flirtation with a nice boy.
Almost as soon as she arrives, however, she starts to see the redeeming features - in the shape of a handsome French boy called Etienne St. Clair. There's only one teeny tiny problem – he already has a girlfriend. But Anna knows that dreams come true, and that over the course of a whole year in Paris miracles could happen.
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Stephanie Perkins is a New York Times best-selling author and has also worked as an editor on a wide range of books. Her love of books has even led her to work as a librarian and a bookseller. This is obvious in her writing, which is precise and clear. She knows her characters and effortlessly writes in their voices. She moves the plot along without weighing it down with too much back story, making this delightful novel easy to read.
A perfect light read, full of budding romance and those first heady moments when that longed-for first kiss seems as if it is about to happen.
The French Art of Living WellSt Martin's Press
The French Art of Living Well
Cathy Yandell
St Martin's Press, €17.09
ISBN: 978-1250777980
The French Art of Living Well is subtitled 'Finding Joie de Vivre in the everyday World' and it deals with exactly that topic. A slightly dewy-eyed view of the French to be sure, but nonetheless very amusing and witty. The author is an academic so has taken detours through literature, history and culture to try and answer the question, 'why is joie-de-vivre' such a very French concept?
Along the way she investigates questions such as 'Why is cuisine such a central part of French existence?' and 'Why are the French more physical than other cultures?'. Part memoir, part travelogue, part personal journal, this is a very personal view of France and the French. You may not agree with all her conclusions, but you will enjoy reading them and working out why you are (or are not) in agreement.
Cathy Yandell has spent a lot of time in France although she currently lives in Minnesota where she teaches at Carleton College. Her previous books have all been academic, including Time and Gender in Early Modern France, Vieillir à la Renaissance (Aging in the Renaissance), and Memory and Community in 16th Century France. This comes over just a tad in the early sections of the book, but once she relaxes and gets into her stride her style is much more chatty.
A great book to spark conversations and deepen your knowledge of France, the French and life in France.
Almost FrenchJohn Murray
Almost French
Sarah Turnbull
John Murray, €13.28
ISBN: 1857883705
Almost French: A New Life in Paris is a glorious romp of a memoir written by an Australian who originally was only going to spend a year back-packing around Europe. Needless to say, in Romania she met a beguiling French lawyer who invited her to spend a week in Paris. Eight years later, still in Paris, she is married to Frédéric and working as a freelance journalist covering fashion shows.
Having already spent a year in the UK, and having visited France and Paris several times, it didn't really occur to her that there would be any sort of culture clash. This is her account of how it dawned on her that you don't help yourself to wine at bourgeois Parisian dinner parties, you don't dash out for a baguette in your joggers, and you certainly don't talk too loudly anywhere at all in the city.
Since the book was published in 2011, Parisian life has undoubtedly moved on. It is probably no longer the case that a hapless Australian would be reduced to spending the cheese course quietly muffling her sobs in the toilettes. Or maybe they would - who knows?
