The Little Village of Book Lovers by Nina George

The Little Village of Book Lovers

272 pages

Published July 2023 by Random House Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

In Nina George’s New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop, beloved literary apothecary Jean Perdu is inspired to create a floating bookstore after reading a seminal pseudonymous novel about a young woman with a remarkable gift. The Little Village of Book Lovers is that novel.

“Everyone knows me, but none can see me. I’m that thing you call love.”

In a little town in the south of France in the 1960s, a dazzling encounter with Love itself changes the life of infant orphan Marie-Jeanne forever.

As a girl, Marie-Jeanne realizes that she can see the marks Love has left on the people around her—tiny glowing lights on the faces and hands that shimmer more brightly when the one meant for them is near. Before long, Marie-Jeanne is playing matchmaker, bringing true loves together in her village.

As she grows up, Marie-Jeanne helps her foster father, Francis, begin a mobile library that travels throughout the many small mountain towns in the region of Nyons. She finds herself bringing soulmates together every place they go—and there are always books that play a pivotal role in that quest. However, the only person that Marie-Jeanne can’t seem to find a soulmate for is herself. She has no glow of her own, though she waits and waits for it to appear. Everyone must have a soulmate, surely—but will Marie-Jeanne be able to recognize hers when Love finally comes her way?

My Thoughts: 

Last fall my book club read Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop and it was a big hit. So when I was putting together this year's reading list and found that this book is meant to be the book referenced in that book, Southern Lights, I thought it would be a great follow up that we would surely enjoy. 

We did not. In fact, one member said she hated this book. I have never heard her say that about any book we've read; she is generally the one we count on to find the humorous bits and the highlights of books. She began with the book in print and finished with the audiobook version, which I think may have been the problem. On Goodreads, I noticed that a lot of the people who didn't like this book had listened to it and found it confusing. I can definitely see that; a lot of people who read it in print found it confusing as well. There is a lot of back and forth in the narration and Love as a narrator and a talking (although not literally) olive tree are tough for a lot of people to buy into. 

To be fair, having not that long ago read The Little Paris Bookshop and having been told throughout that book that Southern Lights was the perfect book, George set readers up with very high expectations that were all but impossible to live up to. Further, in that book we were promised that this book would explore all kinds of love but when it came down to it, this one is all about romantic love between men and women. Very traditional love, even if told through a magical voice. Then, too, the title tells us that this is a book about book lovers, which would seem to be a different book entirely than a book about all kinds of love. Honestly, books only brought these people together tangentially - Francis' book mobile was more of a way to introduce us to a big cast of characters instead of a way for the characters to come together organically. 

I think my book club agreed that a book that was primarily about Marie-Jeanne's gift and her being able to help people find each other would have made a better book. Or a book strictly about how the book mobile makes true book lovers out of all kinds of people and how they learn about each other would have been a good read. It just didn't work for us to pull the two stories together. 

For most of us the ending of a book can make or break a book and this one might well have been saved by a different ending. We spent the entire book waiting for the sainted Marie-Jeanne to be rewarded for all of the good she did with love of her own. And we waited. And we waited. It was not until there were only five pages left that George gave us the slightest hint that Marie-Jeanne might finally find love. The lesson from that? Love is cruel. Which seems a strange way to come to the end of a book all about love. 

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl 

288 pages

Published April 2024 by Random House Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

Stella reached for an oyster, tipped her head, and tossed it back. It was cool and slippery, the flavor so briny it was like diving into the ocean. Oysters, she thought. Where have they been all my life?

When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a traumatic childhood has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. But when her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.

Alone in a foreign city, Stella falls into old habits, living cautiously and frugally. Then she stumbles across a vintage store, where she tries on a fabulous Dior dress. The shopkeeper insists that this dress was meant for Stella and for the first time in her life Stella does something impulsive. She buys the dress—and embarks on an adventure.

Her first stop: the iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots, where Stella tastes her first oysters and then meets an octogenarian art collector who decides to take her under his wing. As Jules introduces Stella to a veritable who’s who of the Paris literary, art, and culinary worlds, she begins to understand what it might mean to live a larger life.

As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed” at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.

My Thoughts: 

I've thoroughly enjoyed Ruth Reichl's nonfiction work and was really looking forward to seeing what she would do with a work of fiction. Of course, it's not a surprise that she would choose Paris for a setting, nor is it a surprise that food plays a major role. I chose this one for my book club to read and it was, by and large, a hit. In fact, I think everyone else liked it much more than I did. 

I had a lot of issues with it, to be honest. There's a scene, very early on, that should have come with a trigger warning. Given that she chose to include it, I expected it to play a much bigger role later in the book, but when I finished the book, I felt it could have, very easily, been left out entirely or at least have been minimized. 

Then there's the fact that once Stella, who has never had any real interest in food and prefers a plain meal, can suddenly discern all the flavors in a dish once she's introduced to food by a real Parisian. I know that some people are born with the ability to taste many more flavors than others of us can, but for her to be able to name them without ever having had them was a stretch. In fact, a lot of the book required a lot of suspension of disbelief. Like Stella having a boss that was ok with her extending her stay by months. 

Despite all of that, the writing about food was, as you would expect, divine and Reichl's love of fashion also comes front and center. As someone who studied fashion merchandising in college, I was familiar with the designers, the fabrics, the styles and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And, I will admit, I did come to long for Stella to find happiness and the family she had never really had (which, of course, we know she will, eventually, even when we can't figure out how she'll get there). 

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

Read by Mark Bramhall

11 hours

Published October 2013 by Sourcebooks

Publisher's Summary: 

In 1942 Paris, architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him a great deal of money – and maybe get him killed. All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it while World War II rages on. He sorely needs the money, and outwitting the Nazis who have occupied his beloved city is a challenge he can't resist.

Soon Lucien is hiding more souls and saving lives. But when one of his hideouts fails horribly, and the problem of where to conceal a Jew becomes much more personal, and he can no longer ignore what's at stake.

My Thoughts: 

This book has been on my radar since shortly after it was published, but, as books do, it got pushed down the list until I couldn't remember what it was about. Not only that, but I was paying so little attention that, for some reason, I didn't really notice that picture on the cover, it was as if it were a blur to me. Now I can't imagine why I didn't see what it is and understand what the book was going to be about. As you know, though, I'm kind of a fan of going into a book unaware of what's coming. 

• Charles Belfoure is himself an architect which becomes clear because of the detail involved in explaining both the buildings Lucien designs for the Nazis and the hiding places he designs for the Jews. 
• Lucien is a man of questionable morals. He makes little effort to save his marriage, chases after his mistress like a school boy, justifies designing the buildings for the Nazis by convincing himself that the buildings will be used by the French after the war, and only creates the hiding places because it gets him the bigger projects and pays exceedingly well. Slowly, his eyes begin to open, his heart begins to open, and he risks himself for more than just prestige and money. 
• There are some interesting characters in the book: Manet, the industrialist who draws Lucien into both working with the Nazis and hiding the Jews; Herzog, the Wehrmacht officer in charge of the buildings Lucien is designing, who Lucien develops a bond with; and Pierre, a French Jewish boy who comes to live with Lucien after his entire family is killed. 
• I wish Belfoure would have spent more time developing these characters and less time writing about sexual exploits and torture for a particularly horrible Nazi soldier. You can imagine how unprepared I was for those, having had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up the book - I had to fast forward over them, they were so gruesome. 
• I found the ending very satisfying. That last hour of the book held some surprises, some people got what they deserved, some people turned out to be more than I expected. 

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris by Paul Gallico

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris by Paul Gallico

First published January 1958

157 pages

Publisher's Summary: 

Mrs Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant's wardrobe, she comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen in her life - a Dior dress. In all the years of her drab and humble existence, she's never seen anything as magical as the dress before her and she's never wanted anything as much before. Determined to make her dream come true, Mrs Harris scrimps, saves and slaves away until one day, after three long, uncomplaining years, she finally has enough money to go to Paris. When she arrives at the House of Dior, Mrs Harris has little idea of how her life is about to be turned upside down and how many other lives she will transform forever. Always kind, always cheery and always winsome, the indomitable Mrs Harris takes Paris by storm and learns one of life's greatest lessons along the way. This treasure from the 1950s introduces the irrepressible Mrs Harris, part charlady, part fairy-godmother, whose adventures take her from her humble London roots to the heights of glamour.

My Thoughts:

A couple of weeks ago I watched a movie adaptation of this book, starring Leslie Manville, and so thoroughly enjoyed it that when I found out it was based on a book, I decided to read it. 

You and I both well know that's not always the best idea - movie adaptations, no matter how good, are often so different that it's like you're reading a book that has no relationship to the movie. And I'll be honest, there are some big differences between the book and the movie. Mrs. Harris in book form is somewhat older than Manville, less warm, hasn't just recently discovered she's a war widow, has no potential romantic interests, and is certainly more London "salt-of-the-earth." A character that served as the antagonist in the movie almost immediately becomes an ally in the book, how Mrs. Harris raised the money for her Dior gown is different, and the ending is different. 

And yet the heart of the book remains. Here we have a woman who has lived a quiet life, content with her life, who one day has a dream and does everything in her power to make that dream come true. Along the way, through her own personality, she helps people and makes new friends. She doesn't help to save the House of Dior, as she does in the movie; but she saves herself. She will never again be the same person; she is now a woman who has had the courage to fulfill a dream and have a great adventure. 

The book I checked out actually has another Mrs. Harris story in it but I had to return it before I got a chance to read the second story. But I'm happy to know that there are other Mrs. Harris books waiting for me out there, for when I need a story about the kind of woman who changes people's lives just by being herself. 

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais

The One-Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Morris

272 pages

Published August 2011 by Scribner

Publisher's Summary: 

Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan Haji first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps. 

The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures. 

The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable.

My Thoughts: 

Whoops! I was going through some book club stuff when I realized that I'd never recorded nor reviewed this book in 2022. For 2022, my theme was a book somehow related to something to do with each month. Food for November, right? Having seen the movie adaptation of this book, I thought this would make a good choice. And it did; people seemed to enjoy it. More than I did, to be honest. Probably because I'd seen the movie first and was expecting something like that in the book.

In the book, though, the protaganist of the book is not Hassan. Oh, sure, he's the guy the plot circles around. But food...the smell, the taste, the process...is the protagonist of this book. It entirely drives everything that happens here from the Haji family restaurant's humble beginning as a tiffin delivery service to Hassan's world-class restaurant in Paris. As the book progresses, food and the restaurant industry begins to take center stage, leaving the Haji family behind and Lumiere far behind. Sure, those people come up again in the book, but this is a book about how Hassan learns to trust his judgement when it comes to food and launches his career into a whole new stratosphere that is the meat of the second half of this book. 

Certainly in the movie food played a big role, but the relationships played a central role as well and Hassan's ambition was tempered by his realization of the importance of family, relationships, and his roots. I liked that. 

Still, just two months after reading this book, I read this week about the closing of what has been described as the world's best restaurant because of the changing ways of the world. It was exactly as described in this book that was written more than a decade ago. Which just goes to show you that, even in a book you don't love, there is always something to take away from the book...a little gem of writing, a memorable character, or something new to learn. And that's always a good thing in a book. 

The London House by Katherine Reay

The London House by Katherine Reay

Published November 2021 by Harper Muse

368 pages

Publisher's Summary: 

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover.

Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London. She and Mat discover diaries and letters that reveal her grandmother and great-aunt were known as the “Waite sisters.” Popular and witty, they came of age during the interwar years, a time of peace and luxury filled with dances, jazz clubs, and romance. The buoyant tone of the correspondence soon yields to sadder revelations as the sisters grow apart, and one leaves home for the glittering fashion scene of Paris, despite rumblings of a coming world war.

Each letter brings more questions. Was Caroline’s great-aunt actually a traitor and Nazi collaborator, or is there a more complex truth buried in the past? Together, Caroline and Mat uncover stories of spies and secrets, love and heartbreak, and the events of one fateful evening in 1941 that changed everything.

In this rich historical novel from award-winning author Katherine Reay, a young woman is tasked with writing the next chapter of her family’s story. But Caroline must choose whether to embrace a love of her own and proceed with caution if her family’s decades-old wounds are to heal without tearing them even further apart.

My Thoughts: 

I don't remember where I heard about this book. I almost certainly would not have picked up a book with World War II as a piece of the story with having people recommend it to me. But I made an exception for this one because the piece I read mentioned a connection in the book to the designed Elsa Schiaparelli. I have a degree in fashion merchandising; I studied Elsa Schiaparelli so it was the perfect hook for me. 

Ms. Schiaparelli herself, I was disappointed to find, plays a small role in the book. There is too much going on in this book for her to pay a much larger role. There is, in fact, too much going on here. Reay tries to balance the story line of Caroline Waite's role in the war and her relationship with her family (particularly her twin sister, Caroline Payne's grandmother) with the story line of the tragedy that happened in Caroline Payne's life and its aftermath and the storyline of Caroline Payne's relationship with Mat. I found myself wishing that Reay would have found another way for Caroline Payne to wind up researching her great-aunt's past; we knew, after all, how the arc of Caroline's and Mat's storyline was going to go from the beginning. And all of it doesn't allow as much time for character development as Reay might have been able to do if she'd have had a tighter story. 

Putting all of that aside, I did like the storyline of the relationship between the Waite sisters and how their roles in life flipped over the course of one summer and how one omission changed their relationship for the rest of their lives. I enjoyed the way the pieces of what happened to Caroline Waite were discovered and came together and how they eventually led them to a satisfying conclusion. Some pieces were the happily ever after I expected, others were the ending I felt was more realistic than the happily ever after would have been. 

The Tear Dress, Elsa Schiaparelli,
Wallis Simpson wearing The Lobster Dress

House of Schiaparelli itself plays a bigger role, the place that first draws Caroline Waite to Paris, the place where she first becomes engaged in the politics leading up to the war and where she meets the woman who will drive her to become a spy. It was a good hook that taught me more about Shiaparelli's politics and her relationship with the artist Salvador Dali than what I had learned in college. You know how I love a book that teaches me new things!

Despite its flaws, I think this is a book that fans of historical fiction, particularly historical fiction that focuses on women's roles, will appreciate.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Read by Steve West and Emma Bering with Cassandra Campbell

Published June 2015 by Crown Publishing Group

Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. 

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

My Thoughts:

“Books are more than doctors, of course. Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are friends who wrap you in warm towels when you've got those autumn blues. And some...well, some are pink candy floss that tingles in your brain for three seconds and leaves a blissful voice. Like a short, torrid love affair.”

My bookclub read this one as our book about books; it's probably not something I would have picked up of my own accord. It's not the book I thought it was going to be and I'm thinking it's better for not having been that book but I'm still trying to decide if it's pink candy floss or something that will stay with me longer. There are some wonderful gems of writing here and some really wonderful characters. On the other hand, as one reviewer remarked George seems always to have used two words where one would do and there are a lot of places where you just have to suspend logic if you want to enjoy the book. And I did want to enjoy the book. I so wanted for Perdu to find peace and for Max (a young author who hitched a ride with Perdu) to find his muse. I enjoyed the many ways that George presented sensuality and passion from dance to food to books. There is a scene of tango dancing that's absolutely marvelous and the writing about food made my mouth water. The landscape comes alive and I certainly found myself thinking that a leisurely boat trip down the Seine might well be the perfect vacation. 

There are some diary pieces in the book that really pulled me out of the story and I felt could have been left out entirely without the book missing a beat. There are some cliches, a scene with a deer that felt really out of place even though George used it to move the characters to a new place. And there were, perhaps, a few too many quirky characters. On the other hand, it's one of those books that tackles tough subjects but mostly with a light touch and plenty of humor, the kind of book that's perfect for my mood right now. 

As a bookclub choice, I recommend The Little Paris Bookshop, even if very little time is spent in Paris and the bookshop is certainly not the focus of the book. I'm glad that I chose to listen to this book; Steve West, in particular, does a terrific job. 

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon
Published March 2020 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.

It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.

As LUCIENNE CARLIER Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border and earns a new nickname from the Gestapo for her remarkable ability to evade capture: THE WHITE MOUSE. With a five million franc bounty on her head, Nancy is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. When she enters training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, she is told to use the name HÉLÈNE with her comrades. And finally, with mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDRÉE, where she claims her place as one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, known for her ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and her ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces. But no one can protect Nancy if the enemy finds out these four women are one and the same, and the closer to liberation France gets, the more exposed she—and the people she loves—will become.

My Thoughts:
At the conclusion of this book, Lawhon's Author's Note alerts readers to the fact that Nancy Wake was a real person, that a great deal of this book is based on the facts of her life. But she opens that Note with this: "Readers, beware...If you begin this journey here, your reading experience here, your reading experience will be altered. It will be a bit like watching a magic act after you've learned how the rabbit is smuggled into the hat." I'd offer the same caution. DO NOT look up Nancy Wake before you finish this book. You do not want to know ahead of time what will happen, particularly given that Lawhon has hewed so closely to reality and you don't want to spend any part of the book trying to figure out where the facts have been altered. As Lawhon advises: "...start at the beginning and let the show proceed as planned."

And what a show it is.

Again and again I find myself picking up books about World War II. I keep saying that I'm over World War II books. What more could there be to say that I haven't read yet? And then I find a book about a part of that war that I haven't read about before. Well, I knew about the French Resistance, of course. But I didn't know about an Australian woman who was integral to a part of the Resistance, working with the British.

The book opens with Nancy (as Helene) parachuting into France and from there Lawhon blends Nancy's story as a resistance fighter in 1944 with the history of the events that brought her to that point from 1936. It's a dual narrative that works exceedingly well, as Nancy's past works its way to that night when she parachuted her way back into France. Lawhon does a marvelous job of building the tensions in both narratives, of creating characters that the reader cares about, and of engaging all of the reader's senses.

Nancy Wake is an amazing characters; it's even more amazing to realize that she was a real woman. Lawhon's incredible research has allowed her to bring the real Nancy's story come to life in all of its glamour, ugliness, terror, and passion. I was wrapped up in it almost from the beginning. The only fault that I found in the book was that the ending dragged a bit for me but that was a small complaint in a book that I very much enjoyed otherwise.My favorite part? That's a tie. I adored Nancy's and Henri's love story. But then I also loved Nancy putting on her lipstick and being the boss lady.

 I highly recommend it, although I would forewarn readers that there are some very graphic scenes, as you might expect in a book about war.

French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle

French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle
Published May 2001 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Source: checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:
Ranging far from his adopted Provence, Mayle now travels to every corner of the country, armed with knife, fork, and corkscrew. He takes us to tiny, out-of-the-way restaurants, starred Michelin wonders, local village markets, annual festivals, and blessed vineyards.

We visit the Foire aux Escargots at Martigny-les-Bains-a whole weekend devoted to the lowly but revered snail. We observe the Marathon du Médoc, where runners passing through the great vineyards of Bordeaux refresh themselves en route with tastings of red wine (including Château Lafite- Rothschild!). There is a memorable bouillabaisse in a beachside restaurant on the Côte d'Azur. And we go on a search for the perfect chicken that takes us to a fair in Bourg-en-Bresse.

There is a Catholic mass in the village of Ri-cherenches, a sacred event at which thanks are given for the aromatic, mysterious, and breathtakingly expensive black truffle. We learn which is the most pungent cheese in France (it's in Normandy), witness a debate on the secret of the perfect omelette, and pick up a few luscious recipes along the way. There is even an appreciation and celebration of an essential tool for any serious food-lover in France-the Michelin Guide.


My Thoughts:
I'm a little bit at a loss as to how to review this book, which is, essentially, a group of essays Mayle put together about food experiences in France. And by food, I mean food and wine. I'm not sure there's a single chapter in this book that doesn't mention wine and there are quite a lot that include drinking a lot of wine. To the point that even Mayle, a man who is accustomed to drinking wine with his meals on the regular, concedes that the French may have taken their wine drinking a step too far. More on that later. Instead of a real review, I'm just going to share some takeaways from this one.

• The French like their weekend food festivals and they will celebrate almost any food, including blood sausage, frog legs, and chickens with blue feet. These festivals are likely to include ridiculous rituals and costumes.
• There are, apparently, a lot of "right" ways to cook an omelet and the pan I cook mine in is absolutely not the right pan. 
• In Bordeaux they host the Marathon du Medoc - an actual marathon with serious runners but where the majority of the runners are in costume and the water tables are actually stocked with wine. I've never run a marathon (duh) but I've watched them and can't imagine how anyone could run 26 miles in drag and stop for wine several times along the route. 
• The French people aren't nearly as snobby as their reputation would have you believe. Maybe because Mayle, at least in this book, spends his time in small villages that appreciate a visit from someone who appreciates their food and festivals. 
• The Michelin guide was originally meant as an aid for people who were driving around in very unreliable vehicles and only included hotels. Their maps were so good that the Allies used them in World War II as they made their way across France. Also, working as a Michelin inspector is extremely secretive and wearying business.

I will admit to getting a little bored toward the end of the book. It began to feel a little repetitive - visit quirky little village, meet quirky people who like to argue amongst themselves, drink copious amounts of wine, eat lots of great food. On the other hand, Mayle has me convinced that you can hardly go wrong in visiting small French villages in search of great food and wine. He write with humor and respect for the country he's adopted as his home. 

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
Published May 2019 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:
Nothing bad can happen at the Ritz; inside its gilded walls every woman looks beautiful, every man appears witty. Favored guests like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walk through its famous doors to be welcomed and pampered by Blanche Auzello and her husband, Claude, the hotel’s director. The Auzellos are the mistress and master of the Ritz, allowing the glamour and glitz to take their minds off their troubled marriage, and off the secrets that they keep from their guests—and each other.

Until June 1940, when the German army sweeps into Paris, setting up headquarters at the Ritz. Suddenly, with the likes of Hermann Goëring moving into suites once occupied by royalty, Blanche and Claude must navigate a terrifying new reality. One that entails even more secrets and lies. One that may destroy the tempestuous marriage between this beautiful, reckless American and her very proper Frenchman. For in order to survive—and strike a blow against their Nazi “guests”—Blanche and Claude must spin a web of deceit that ensnares everything and everyone they cherish.

But one secret is shared between Blanche and Claude alone—the secret that, in the end, threatens to imperil both of their lives, and to bring down the legendary Ritz itself.

Blanche and Claude Auzello

My Thoughts:
The world is full of people who have interesting stories. Some of them are famous, some are well known in their own sphere, others are almost forgotten to time. Melanie Benjamin has a knack of finding the people at the edges of fame and bringing their stories to life: Vinnie Bump (Mrs. Tom Thumb), Alice Liddell (Alice In Wonderland), Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Blanche Auzello is remembered because of her connection to fame, the fame of Hotel Ritz in Paris, a hotel known for its glamour, famous clientele, and the curious mingling, during World War II, of the rich and the Nazis who had set up headquarters in the Ritz.

Only a skeleton of Blanche's history remains for historians and that's where Benjamin's ability to weave a story comes into play. Benjamin has created a story of a hasty marriage between two people who seemed drawn to each other but who were unwilling to compromise and unable to communicate with each other. The arrival of the Nazis turned the heat up on all of that.

I'm not entirely sure how a feel about Benajmin's light touch early in the book. I don't really need Benjamin to tell me what was happening to the people who were pulled out of their homes and disappeared. And I understand that, at the Ritz, things were not so desperate as they were in other parts of the city. Still, it seemed strange to read a book about occupied Paris without feeling overwhelmed by sadness about what was happening to the people of France.

Benjamin's focus, though, is on Blanche and Claude and the things they do to fight for the country they both love. The atrocities that the Nazis were committing are a part of the book but the real fear and horror doesn't come into play until late in the book, after Benjamin has built the tension around her central characters. And once she's built up the terror of the Nazi occupation, Benjamin doesn't shy away from the atrocities and the suffering nor the desperation those who remained safe felt. Nor does she shy away from the aftereffects of what happened once the Nazi's are driven out of Paris. There is no real "happily-ever-after." The citizens of France may have heeded Charles de Gaulle's advice and focused on moving forward after the war. But, as happy as the reunions were, the scars remained.

As with all of Benjamin's books, Mistress of the Ritz would make an excellent book club selection. There is a lot here to discuss including infidelity, secrets, collaboration with enemies, marriage, friendship, heroism, and anti-Semitism. I raced through this one and recommend it, particularly for fans of historical fiction.

Flashback Friday: A Paris In July Edition

I certainly wish I'd started Paris in July earlier - I've had a lot of fun looking back at the books I read that were set in Paris or France and I wish I had time to highlight more of them! This week I'm highlighting a book set in Paris that surprised me.

Ernest Hemingway has been an author who I can appreciate but whose books I haven't very much liked. Until I read A Moveable Feast.

Who'da thunk it - the only Hemingway book I've ever read and actually enjoyed would be a memoir? If you're a Hemingway fan or even a person who feels like you "should" read Hemingway, I'd definitely recommend A Moveable Feast. As a look into life in Paris in the 1920's. As a window into the lives of several literary greats. And, as a honest look into a few years of one young author's life. 

I put this book on my nightstand and read a chapter at a time, each an individual story about an event, person, or part of Hemingway's life in Paris. Reading it this way is probably one of the reasons I appreciated this book as much as I did; I'm not sure I would have had I tried to just read straight through. Then I might not have appreciated gems like this: 

"The blue-backed notebooks, the two pencils and the pencil sharpener (a pocket knife was too wasteful), the marble-topped tables, the smell of early morning, sweeping out and mopping, and luck were all you needed. For luck you carried a horse chestnut and a rabbit's foot in your right pocket. The fur had been worn off the rabbit's foot long ago and the ones and the sinews were polished by wear. The claws scratched in the lining of your pocket and you knew your luck was still there." 

The title, as the publisher's summary says, refers to a literary feast but I could easily have read it as part of Fall Feasting. Hemingway writes extensively about eating and drinking in the bistros and restaurants of Paris and other European cities he visited. I kept having the urge to go sit at a little table in a quiet cafe and while away the afternoon drinking wine and writing. 

While Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, were poor and he talks about going hungry and cold because of it, it's plainly clear that he knew it was the price to pay for living the life he wanted and never seemed to feel sorry for himself. It pained him more to be without books until he discovered the "library" in the legendary Paris bookstore "Shakespeare's." Hemingway was not just a writer, he was a voracious reader and I finally found at least one thing I could really like about him. That and his willingness to admit his flaws, including the infidelity that cost him his marriage to a woman whom he clearly adored.

Flashback Friday: A Paris In July Edition

In browsing lists of books set in Paris and France, I find that I've read quite a few already that fall into that category. I thought it might be fun to look back at those books this month.

I blame The Elegance of The Hedgehog for my inability to give up on books. At the half way point, I still wasn't loving this book and then something changed, it hooked me in some way. I became emotionally invested and by the end of the book, I was ugly crying. The copy I read was from the library so I don't have a copy. Right now. But I would really love to read this one again and see if I appreciate the beginning of the book more, knowing where it is going. Here's what I had to saw about it after I'd read it:

This felt like two books to me and it wasn't because the story alternates between narration by Renee and narration by Paloma. The first one-third plus of this book is Barbery introducing us to our two narrators by means of philosophical musings. It is very obvious that Barbery is a professor of philosophy. It is difficult going and, although it serves to give us a feel for Renee and Paloma, it is so slow moving I seriously considered giving up on this one before I hit the halfway mark.
That would have been a mistake because after that point, the story got going. I finally began to care for Renee and Paloma. Prior to that, I really didn't care for either of them--Renee goes to great pains to be the very person she feels the owners in the building will look down on then despises them for looking down on her.
Once Mr. Ozu arrives, things start happening and we really start to understand some of the things that Paloma and Renee have been discussing earlier in the book. I'm glad I stuck with this one. In the end, I really loved the book and got, let's be honest, a little emotional.

Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy In France by Thad Carhart

Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France by Thad Carhart
Published May 2016 by Viking
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
The adventures of Carhart and his family—his NATO officer father, his mother, four siblings, and their dog—in the provincial town of Fontainebleau, France, in the 1950s. Dominating life in the town is the beautiful Château of Fontainebleau. Begun in 1137, fifty years before the Louvre and more than five hundred before Versailles, the Château was a home for Marie-Antoinette, François I, and the two Napoleons, among others, all of whom added to its splendors without appreciably destroying the work of their predecessors.

Carhart takes readers along as he and his family experience the pleasures and particularities of French life: learning the codes and rules of a French classroom where wine bottles dispense ink, camping in Italy and Spain, tasting fresh baguettes. Readers see post-war life in France as never before, from the parks and museums of Paris (much less crowded in the 1950s, when you could walk through completely empty galleries in the Louvre) to the quieter joys of a town like Fontainebleau, where everyday citizens have lived on the edges of history since the 12th century and continue to care for their lieux de mémoire—places of memory.

Intertwined with stories of France’s post-war recovery are profiles of the monarchs who resided at Fontainebleau throughout the centuries and left their architectural stamp on the palace and its sizeable grounds. Carhart finds himself drawn back as an adult, eager to rediscover the town of his childhood. FINDING FONTAINEBLEAU imagines a bright future for this important site of French cultural heritage, as Carhart introduces us to the remarkable group of architects, restorers, and curators who care for and refashion the Château’s hundreds of rooms for a new generation of visitors. Guided by Patrick Ponsot, head of the Château’s restoration programs, the author takes us behind the scenes and shows us a side of the Château that tourists never see.

My Thoughts:
I gotta be honest with you on two scores.

Number one, I haven't finished the book. Too much going on on television the past couple of weeks for much reading. But I'm well on my way to done and feel like I've got a pretty good grasp on this sucker at this point. Unless, in the last fifty pages, Carhart suddenly resurrects one of the French kings or something, I doubt will be an ending that really knocks the book out of the park and makes me so angry I want to throw the book across the room.

Number two, I had some misgivings going into this book for a couple of reasons. I had mixed feelings about his last book, Across The Endless River, which was one of the first book I ever reviewed for review when I started blogging. And the description of this one both intrigued and worried me - all interesting ingredients, but would there be too much going on?

Not to worry. There is a lot going on in this book but I am really enjoying all angles from which Carhart comes at Fontainebleau. Seriously, a 1950's American family with five children end up living in a French manse right on the edge of the Chateau de Fontainebleau? It's like something out of a Doris Day movie without pratfalls and a laugh track. I can really picture Carhart and his family as they explore their little neck of the new woods and beyond, get used to new customs, and acclimate themselves to a whole new way of life.  But then, I am learning so much about French history, the region, and the way this unique Chateau evolved. I'm bound to find myself digging more into the kings and the times they lived in. And...you can't help but be impressed with France's devotion to the restoration and maintenance of this piece of their history, their devotion to caring for all of their heritage. Especially when you live in a town where it feels as though historically significant buildings are being torn down daily (albeit not nearly as historically significant!).

Thanks to the ladies at TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book! For other reviews, check out the full tour.


Twenty-six years ago THAD CARHART moved to Paris with his wife and two infant children. He lives there now, with frequent visits to New York and Northern California. His first book, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, appeared in 2000, published by Random House. Across the Endless River, a historical novel, came out in 2009 with Doubleday. Connect with Thad Website | Facebook | Twitter

The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown

The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown
Published July 2016 by Penguin Publishing Group
Source: through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
Madeleine is trapped—by her family's expectations, by her controlling husband, and by her own fears—in an unhappy marriage and a life she never wanted. From the outside, it looks like she has everything, but on the inside, she fears she has nothing that matters.

In Madeleine’s memories, her grandmother Margie is the kind of woman she should have been—elegant, reserved, perfect. But when Madeleine finds a diary detailing Margie’s bold, romantic trip to Jazz Age Paris, she meets the grandmother she never knew: a dreamer who defied her strict, staid family and spent an exhilarating summer writing in cafés, living on her own, and falling for a charismatic artist.

Despite her unhappiness, when Madeleine’s marriage is threatened, she panics, escaping to her hometown and staying with her critical, disapproving mother. In that unlikely place, shaken by the revelation of a long-hidden family secret and inspired by her grandmother’s bravery, Madeleine creates her own Parisian summer—reconnecting to her love of painting, cultivating a vibrant circle of creative friends, and finding a kindred spirit in a down-to-earth chef who reminds her to feed both her body and her heart.


My Thoughts*:
Brown's dual narratives are maybe the most closely tied dual narratives I've ever read. Both women are being raised as society girl, with all the expectations and the baggage that includes - cotillions/debutante balls, the right clothes, the right hair, and marriage to the right men with babies following closely behind. Neither Madeleine nor Margie feels comfortable in that milieu and their mothers'  disappoint weighs heavily on them. Both yearn to find the place where they fit in and to have the chance to express their creativity.

And that's where Brown takes the women down different paths.

Margie gets a reprieve, the chance to go to Europe where she becomes the butterfly who sheds her cocoon. She lives on her own, finds a job, hobnobs with the artistic community, writes prolifically, and falls in love.

Madeleine, on the other hand, so desperately wants to do the right thing that she marries a man far more in love with himself than he is with her, a man who quashes her dreams of being a painter and any self worth she had remaining. She is so miserable that she practically lives on antacids. So miserable that even time with her mother is preferable to time with her husband. Thanks to that time, she discovers her grandmother's journals and finds out the woman she knew growing hope once had hopes of a far different life.

I liked the historical narrative better (as I so often do). Paris comes alive as Margie becomes a part of it and I enjoyed "watching" Margie become a part of the city. Madeleine's narrative is the more predictable of the two. Brown tries to throw the reader off track periodically, but (and I don't think I'm giving anything away here), this is a happily ever after story and I never doubted the outcome. Still, I came to care about both of the women and enjoyed reading about how each of them came to terms with the societies they were raised in.

There were no real surprises in The Light of Paris but somehow that was exactly what I needed right now - a book about women struggling to find themselves against society's expectations that turns out exactly the way I expected it would. And that was just fine with me.

*I had some lovely passages to share with you but I forgot to get them copied before my license to view the book expired. -insert sad emoji here_

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton
352 pages
Published October 2010 by Headline Book Publishing, Limited
Source: the author

Catherine, divorced, mother of grown children, daughter of a woman whose dementia has taken her away already, is looking for new start on life when she sells her home in England and buys a home in the Cevennes mountains of France. She's chosen a place she loved visiting as a child, but life as an adult, trying to set up a business in a small town when you're definitely the outsider, is not nearly as idyllic as Catherine had imagined. The rains, the old buildings, the red tape - it all endeavors to wear a girl down. But Catherine's determined to make a go of it. Slowly she wins over the locals, begins to build herself a business and even meets an man (although he may be the biggest puzzle she has to solve). Her business begins to grow, her garden thrives and even the bees she's been given as a gift begin producing. But just when Catherine begins to feel that she's finally at home, bureaucracy flares its ugly head, her sister's visit exposes a new problem and a terrible loss makes Catherine rethink all of the plans she's made.

Much more than strictly a romance novel, The Tapestry of Love is a story that most woman of a certain age can relate to. Catherine is a loose ends. Her children and her mother no longer need her and she doesn't have a spouse to build a life around. The Tapestry of Love is a love story to finding yourself. If along the way, you happen to fall in love with a place and its people and even find someone who might want to spend the rest of your nights with, so much the better

Rosy Thornton teaches law at the University of Cambridge but this lady knows how to write a beautiful story. the tapestries that Catherine creates, the Cevennes mountain countryside, an intimate country life - Thornton makes them all as important to the story as the romantic love that can't seem to get off the ground between Catherine and Patrick Castagnol, one of her closest neighbors who remains a mystery. Thornton sent me this book for review a year ago; I'm sorry to have taken so long to read it. It was a lovely book to read the week of Valentine's Day!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
325 pages
Published September 2008 by Europa Editions

Synopsis:
Renee Michel is the 54-year-old concierge of a luxury Paris apartment building. Her exterior ("short, ugly, and plump") and demeanor ("poor, discreet, and insignificant") belie her keen, questing mind and profound erudition. Paloma Josse is a 12-year-old genius who behaves as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. She plans to kill herself on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday.

Both Renee and Paloma hide their true talents and finest qualities from the bourgeois families around them, until a wealthy Japanese gentleman named Ozu moves into building. Only he sees through them, perceiving the secret that haunts Renee, winning Paloma's trust, and helping the two discover their kindred souls.

My Thoughts:
This felt like two books to me and it wasn't because the story alternates between narration by Renee and narration by Paloma. The first one-third plus of this book is Barbery introducing us to our two narrators by means of philosophical musings. It is very obvious that Barbery is a professor of philosophy. It is difficult going and, although it serves to give us a feel for Renee and Paloma, it is so slow moving I seriously considered giving up on this one before I hit the halfway mark.

That would have been a mistake because after that point, the story got going. I finally began to care for Renee and Paloma. Prior to that, I really didn't care for either of them--Renee goes to great pains to be the very person she feels the owners in the building will look down on then despises them for looking down on her.

Once Mr. Ozu arrives, things start happening and we really start to understand some of the things that Paloma and Renee have been discussing earlier in the book. I'm glad I stuck with this one. In the end, I really loved the book and got, let's be honest, a little emotional.

Pictures At An Exhibition by Sarah Houghtelling

Pictures At An Exhibition by Sarah Houghteling
243 pages
Published February 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group

Synopsis:
Born to an art dealer and his pianist wife, Max Berenzon is forbidden from entering the family business for reasons he cannot understand. He reluctantly attends medical school, reserving his true passion for his father’s beautiful and brilliant gallery assistant, Rose Clément. When Paris falls to the Nazis, the Berenzons survive in hiding. They return in 1944 to find that their priceless collection has vanished: gone are the Matisses, the Picassos, and a singular Manet of mysterious importance. Madly driven to recover his father’s paintings, Max navigates a torn city of corrupt art dealers, black marketers, Résistants, and collaborators. His quest will reveal the tragic disappearance of his closest friend, the heroism of his lost love, and the truth behind a devastating family secret.

My Thoughts:
Meticulously researched, Houghteling wraps a fiction story in the history of the Paris art scene in the time period surrounding WWII. Houghteling has, in fact, done so much research that the book can get bogged down in the prcoess as she tries to fit it all in. There are so many stories going on in this book that Houghteling doesn't follow through on except Max's personal quest to earn his father's respect and try to learn why they've had the relationship they've had. The only way to solve this problem would have been to make the story longer, and, frankly, it was a slow read as it was. Max's quest did begin to feel a bit like something out of a movie--you know the ones, where everything that can go wrong, does. Houghteling has talent and this is a debut novel that will make people look forward to her sophomore effort.

I must say, I did agree with S. Krishna, at http://www.skrishnasbooks.com who wrote in her review of this book: "I have to say, my favorite part of the book was the Afterword. Houghteling takes the time to explain her sources and shows that most of the book comes from actual historical documentation. I found this fascinating, and wished all the more that the recovery of looted art had been more of a focus for the book."