But, I'm giving two book talks next week at a women's conference and thought I'd toss in a fun nonfiction book about food and Paris--a win win for most women.
Paris, My Sweet is Amy Thomas' book about living in Paris for 2 years and working as a writer for the Louis Vuitton empire. Amy relocates from New York for a short 6 month stint that becomes a bit longer as she falls in and out of love with her job and Paris.
One thing you must know about Amy: she loves sweets. She wrote a blog in New York about fabulous desserts around town, and went on a one week self-guided chocolate tour of Paris a few years before getting her golden opportunity and moving there for her job. This book is chock full of places to go in the wonderful city of Paris for sweets of any kind: croissants, chocolate cakes, bonbons, and so many other bits of heaven that I feel like I've sampled them all. She also talks about the wonderful breads, cheeses, and pretty much any food she comes across in Paris--and is amused at the number of "Frenchies" that flock to American fast food restaurants.
What I liked about this book was Amy's attitude. She's 36 and has had a lifetime of fun, friends, and a typical single New York life. But she realizes that she needs to take this opportunity and make the most of it. Her friends have begun to find partners and have babies, until she's the only single one around. It gives her lots to think about--where does she want to go with her life? Does she want to have kids? What kind of career choices should she make? Should she stay in Paris or go back to New York?
All the kind of stuff that makes a woman run to the nearest sweet place and buy a little gift of love for herself. Amy's time in Paris, while filled with moments of absolute happiness and bliss, are also peppered with loneliness, a feeling of not fitting in both with the language and as a single woman (apparently Parisians do not like to hang around single men and women--everything is built around couples), and feeling isolated from a true Paris experience. Amy manages to write about all of these conflicting feelings without sounding like a whiney baby.
This was a cute biography that made me really think about what I put in my mouth. How much stuff do we eat that has no flavor, no love or care put into it? I want to make a baguette all by myself, in my teeny kitchen. I want to taste what I'm eating! So really, it was a great book to read for me at this time. It's helped me focus on eating good food that is prepared with care and is bursting with flavor. And--pay attention to what I'm eating slowly .
And if you're ever in Paris, she's listed all her favorites in the back of the book.
Enjoy!
Oh I would love to read that book, but I am still too early into this no sugar thing, no cheese thing, no delicious food thing, that i think the mere mention of anything good in her book would send me on a mad quest to gobble down as much calories as my already overly bloated stomach would allow!
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