Gotham Gal: Au Revoir, Paris....but I will be back, again and again

I have been attempting to put together the top things I loved about Paris but the truth is, it is much more complicated than that. I have always loved Europe, the major cities, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam...and I would put London in that category too. Why? I guess one could say, how could you not. But, I wanted to put it on paper ( or a blog ). What is it?

So, I am going to attempt to put it into words. I love how the sun doesn't set until 1030 at night in the summer, the open air cafes where people are always out and about. Perhaps because the living spaces are so small there is a need to be public. I love the bread, the boulangeries and the patisseries. I love the cheese and of course the chocolate and foie gras. I love the coffee. I love Soldes which only happens twice a year. I love Cuisine de Bar for lunch, any day. I love the food market at Bon Marche. I love the dressing rooms at YSL. I love the small intimate museums where you feel like you are the only person who has discovered how special it is. I love the attitude and the fashion on the streets. I love that we are living in 2008 and the town reads like it is 400 years old it not older. I love the architecture. I love the intimacy. At the end of the day, I truly love the culture. I love living in a very high tech world but walking the streets where there is so much history. I love the rambling streets and the discoveries you make daily. I love that every block has some type of landmark or statue or something of importance. I love the laissez faire attitude but in some ways hate it too but embrace it while I am in Paris. I love that everything shuts down on Sunday and forces you to take a back seat to the world. I love the parks. I love how the Seine weaves through the city. I just love the old world elegance.

Living in Paris for a month was wonderful for everyone. That our kids can go back to Paris, at any time of their lives and know the streets and feel the city is something that they own. That is special. To connect to another world particularly as the world gets flatter and to embrace a culture for its history and substance is big.

New York City is still my favorite place in the entire world but spending a month in Paris, makes me look at the world just a little differently and at the end of the day, that is a good thing for the entire family.

books of the moment

Cristina Alger: The Darlings: A Novel
i LOVED this book. First time novelist. Well written. She does a great job of describing each character. The story is loosely based on a Madoff type character. Total NY story. Page turner. She knows her town and these people. Really LOVED this book.
Stephen King: 11/22/63: A Novel
This is my first King book. He is an incredible story teller. Quite a book, very creative, interesting idea and story. It is so long. 850 pages. I get why he is one of the best selling authors
Whitney L. Johnson: Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream
I was so graciously asked to write a blurb for this book. It doesn't come out until May when I will write a post but for the time being you can pre-order. Here is my blurb; Every woman, regardless of age or profession, should read this book. Through stories of real women, their dreams and their struggles, Johnson's book has created an instant community. What's more, she has opened the door for women to empower themselves to dare, dream and do.
Russell Banks: Lost Memory of Skin: A Novel
An interesting novel about the underground topic of child molesters. Banks takes on a disturbing topic as he weaves a variety of strange characters into the fold. Maybe I wanted some kind of closure from the book. The book is a big idea which really navigates a slice of America. Really well written but not so sure I'd recommend it. I stuck with the book but I didn't love it.
Susan Weissman: Feeding Eden: The Trials and Triumphs of a Food Allergy Family
The name of the book says it all. Every parent and every teacher should read this book.
Tom Perrotta: The Leftovers
I have read a few of Perrotta's books. He is an incredible writer but I always feel so unfulfilled when his books end. This concept of this book is that one day random people disappear and the world changes. The book focuses on one particular community and a few families. At the beginning I was wowed by the premise of the book but as always his books begin to ramble and the end was so bad it was if he couldn't figure out how to finish it. Literally the last paragraph made me say to myself, "seriously"?
Alice Hoffman: The Dovekeepers: A Novel
I wanted to finish it, I really did. But half way in I moved on. Really beautiful book. A story of four women who lived on Masada who are thrown together through fate as they tend to the doves. Wonderful history and interesting paths of each character. Just super dense. I hope to return to finishing it. After all...it is on my kindle.
Deborah Copaken Kogan: Between Here and April
This book tracks a terrible tragedy of a mother who took her life and her childrens in the 70s. I was interested in it because it happened where I grew up. Unfortunately the book bounces all over the place and only focuses on the authors own issues that she believes to be connected to this but in essence it is a serious reach and rambling.
W. Bruce Cameron: A Dog's Purpose
It took me a while to get into this but a very clever book. Life through a dogs eyes. Really well done.
Kyung-Sook Shin: Please Look After Mom
International best seller. Not only a peak into a past generation of Korean life but a disturbing look at alzheimers. Sticks with you.
Kathleen Flinn: The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
Flinn writes about how she transformed 9 people to love cooking, understand food and what they are eating and basically changed their lives. Good book.
Julie Salamon: Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
What a fascinating life. I actually liked the last 25% of the book the best. A woman of the generation that was told she could have it all and with all her success she still felt unaccomplished. A worthy read.
Michael Ondaatje: The Cat's Table
A beautiful memoir of Ondaatjes solo journey from Sri Lanka to London as a young boy of 11 to return to his mother who had been residing there for 3/4 years. Those 3 weeks made quite an impact on his life as he threads those stories back to his life as an adult.
Jeffrey Eugenides: The Marriage Plot: A Novel
loved this book. brilliantly written, great character development, literature references abound, questioning of religion, depression issues, post college angst. loved loved.
Julie Otsuka: The Buddha in the Attic
I read Otsuka's first book, When the Emperor Was Divine and really enjoyed it. Her writing is very distinct and her prose is written in a way that is different, imaginative and interesting. The book is a bit of an extension of the first book. The topic is on America's stained past during the war, in our own country, when we locked up all the Japanese people living here because of pure fear of nothing. Otsuka's book gives the read insight into how the Japanese lived prior to that time and really what wonderful immigrants they were and are. Opens up a chapter of American history that we should all be very disturbed by.

Gotham Gal

Au Revoir, Paris....but I will be back, again and again

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