The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

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Barging Back to the Past

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is about bookseller extraordinaire, Monsieur Perdu, whose shop is a barge on the river Seine in Paris.  There, Perdu dispenses books like medicine to his patrons.  He knows just what they need to gain confidence, courage, or combat pessimism. Yet this book doctor can’t cure himself.  For twenty years his heart has been broken by a lost love and yet no book can get him to move past it and carry on with his life.  Then, one day something happens to jolt his senses and he does something wild and unexpected.  He takes off in his barge leaving his old world behind.  Perdu travels south on canals and rivers through beautiful French countryside in a quest to face the truth of his past.  Along the way he picks up some quirky companions who join his journey for reasons of their own.

This book was sad, heart-warming, yet life affirming and amusing and I enjoyed every moment of it.
 
As a side note; this book jolted my own senses.  It revived and strengthened my love of travel, just as A Year in Provence and French Dirt had me dreaming of a trip to France.   

It sparked a few new bucket list items for me.

1.    Find and buy a book from a barge bookshop. (Probably not easy)

2.    Vacation on a traveling barge.

3.    Visit some of the wonderful French towns Perdu stopped at.  

What got me even more excited was an awesome book review by Suzi at Packabook.com/blog in which she not only described some of the destinations in the book she also provided links to restaurants, bakeries, hotels, and barge tours!    Mon Dieu! I’m ready to go!



This book met a several of my 2015 Book Challenges: Read a set in a foreign country;  read a book from your local bookstore; and read a novel that has a recipe in it.


Happy Reading,

Annette





Comments

Anonymous said…
Another book to put on my ever growing list to read. Thank you.
December 9, 2015 at 6:37 PM
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