Thursday, May 12, 2016

Book Review-Little Paris Bookshop



photoBooks about books, libraries, or  bookstores always interest me, so I just had to read The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George.
The story starts out in Paris.  Jean Perdu runs a bookstore on a converted barge on the Seine.  He calls himself a literary apothecary because he can tell, after asking a few questions, just the book that a person needs at that point in their life.  Unfortunately, he can not do the same for himself.  We learn that he had a great love, Manon, who suddenly left him one day.  She left a note, but fearing what it would say he never read it and then shut himself off from any other relationship.
One day, a new woman moves into his apartment building.  Her husband decided he needed a newer model, so she is bereft.  The landlady asks M. Perdu to loan Catherine some furniture.  In order to do so, he must open up the room he'd blocked off when Manon left.  He gives a table to Catherine, but has to leave it outside her door.  He eventually meets her and they hit it off.  Catherine finds the letter that Manon left (she doesn't read it) and gives it to M. Perdu.  He finally reads it and discovers it is not at all what he thought.
While on his boat/store shortly afterwards he decides to set sail to the south of France.  A moody first novelist, who is working on a second book after a huge hit with the first, joins him.  Together they take a journey of discovery.
I liked this book because they story was told slowly and gently.  The characters were very interesting and you get to care about them.  Sometimes the word choice was a bit odd, but it was translated from German, so it may be a translation issue.  I would recommend this to people who like character driven books, books set in France, or books about personal discovery.

Complimentary Reads


The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
By Patrick, Phaedra
2016-05 - Mira Books
9780778319337 Check Our Catalog
In this poignant and curiously charming debut, a lovable widower embarks on a life-changing adventure

Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.

But on
…More


The Atomic Weight of Love
The Atomic Weight of Love
By Church, Elizabeth J.
2016-05 - Algonquin Books
9781616204846 Check Our Catalog
In the spirit of "The Aviator's Wife" and "Loving Frank, " this resonant debut spans the years from World War II through the Vietnam War to tell the story of a woman whose scientific ambition is caught up in her relationships with two very different men. For Meridian Wallace--and many other smart, driven women of the 1940s--being ambitious meant being an outlier. Ever since she was a young girl, …More


Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
By Simonson, Helen
2010-07 - Thorndike Press
9781410427526 Check Our Catalog
Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside is filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and contains a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of readers' own families. Their interactions are both hilarious and heartbreaking. …More

No comments:

Post a Comment