The Little Paris Bookshop

by Nina George

published by Crown Publishing

June 23, 2015

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

My Review

When I received this book, I was excited because I really enjoy reading about booksellers.  It turns out this book was quite different then I expected it to be.  This isn’t just about a person who loved books, and is lucky enough to spend his day matching them to the right person from a barge on the Seine.

Monsieur Perdu considers himself a “literary apothecary” or a book healer.  He feels that he can talk to a person, and then choose a book that will heal what pains them in their lives.  But Perdu has a secret- he is the one who needs healing.  He is living an empty life, haven given up on everything for the past 20 years while mourning the loss of his great love.  All he has the letter she wrote when she left him- which he has never opened.  When circumstances force him to read it, he pulls anchor on his barge/bookstore, and sails towards the South of France.  This novel is a love song to books and the magic they can bring.  It is all about how boos can affect your life.  But it is also an emotional, mystical trek through grief and the fear of living.  It reads almost like a song, the rhythm and lilt of the prose is beautiful.  Do not let the title fool you- this is not just about a little bookshop in Paris.

Quotes-

“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.”

“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”

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.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people’s lives. 

Hello all!  Sorry I have been absent.  I was taking a blog holiday.  I am semi back to work, so hopefully I will be able to post 2-3 times a week.

I am currently reading It by Stephen King.  Let me start by saying I love King and I am sure I will wind up loving this book too- I am bout 25% done.  BUT- it is SO creepy.  I thought The Shining was super scary, but the whole “it” and the town of Derry has me so unsettled.

It doesn’t help that I am pathologically afraid of clowns.

Have you read It?

What did you think?

The Fifth Gospel

by Ian Caldwell

published by Simon & Schuster

March 2015

Review

This is the new book from the author of The Rule of Four, which I know I read, and know I really liked, but I cannot for the life of me remember anything about it.  The Fifth Gospel is the second novel by the author and it was ten years in the making.  It has been compared to The Name of the Rose and The DaVinci Code, which I think puts a lot of pressure on it and the author.  That being said, it is a good book that doesn’t exactly live up to the crazy hype.  I enjoyed it and would recommend it, but nothing much beyond that.  If you look at other reviews though, most either absolutely love it or loathe it.

What I found really interesting was learning that there is a sect of Catholics that I didn’t not know existed- Eastern Catholics.  This is a little know group of Greek Catholics that follow the Roman Catholic Church rather than the Eastern Orthodox Church.  I also loved the in depth description of life inside Vatican City, and the division between both Catholic Churches.

The story centers on two brothers- the Roman Catholic priest Simon and Eastern Catholic priest Alex.   Eastern priests are allowed to marry, as long as they do so before they are ordained.  Alex did, though his wife has left him alone with his young sone for some years now.  Alex becomes embroiled in a mystery  that revolves around the Shroud of Turin and the Diatessaron, an ancient text, and unveils the secrets and intrigues of the history of the church and its four Gospels.

I loved the glimpse in life in the vatican, and the study of the gospels, but I think it became a little too overwhelming.

Summary

In 2004, as Pope John Paul’s reign enters its twilight, a mysterious exhibit is under construction at the Vatican Museums. A week before it is scheduled to open, its curator is murdered at a clandestine meeting on the outskirts of Rome. The same night, a violent break-in rocks the home of the curator’s research partner, Father Alex Andreou, a married Greek Catholic priest who lives inside the Vatican with his five-year-old son. 

When the papal police fail to identify a suspect in the robbery, Father Alex, desperate to keep his family safe, undertakes his own investigation into both crimes. His only hope of finding the killer is to reconstruct the dead curator’s final secret: what the four Christian gospels—and a little-known, true-to-life fifth gospel named the Diatessaron—reveal about the Church’s most controversial holy relic. But just as he begins to understand the truth about his friend’s death, a secretive tribunal is convened to try the murder—and when Father Alex learns the identity of the accused, he is devastated. Now he must navigate the ancient and perilous legal system of the Catholic Church, which offers no presumption of innocence, no jury, and no right to face one’s accuser. As evidence vanishes and witnesses refuse to testify, Father Alex realizes the system is controlled by someone with vested stakes in the exhibit—someone he must outwit to survive.

The Bookseller

by Cynthia Swanson

published by Harper

March 2015

Review

I was excited to read this book because it had so many things that I love in a story.  I am a sucker for books about people who love books and reading.  I loved how Kitty was living a quiet, but mostly satisfying life- working in the bookshop she owned with her best friend, and enjoying the company of her mom and dad.  When she starts to have dreams of an alternate life- where she met and fell in love with a wonderful man and has a beautiful home and children, we realize that Kitty definitely feels there is something missing in her life.  As the dreams continue, we see that neither life is really perfect.  Kitty sees how lonely she really is, and understands that in her dreams, Katharyn’s life has problems too.

I loved the way this story unraveled.  It kept me engaged to the very end.  I was torn as to which life I wanted to be real.  Poor Kitty/Katharyn.  Nothing is perfect.

Summary

Nothing is as permanent as it appears . . . 

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped.

Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It’s everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes. Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

published by Riverhead Books

January 2015

I know most of you have heard of- or probably read- this book, so I decided to not write a whole review, but rather just share some thoughts and quotes.

-I love books with unreliable narrators- and this one has 3!!  All three female narrators are hiding something.

– I was taken back by the brutal description of Rachel’s repeated downward spirals into alcoholism.  To see someone that young and alone continue to destroy themselves was harsh.

– I found it hard to feel bad for Rachel, and it made me wonder about how we feel pity, or empathy for certain people but not for others.

– So many twists- but I felt like the hype surrounding the book sort of made it less thrilling than if I had just found it on the shelf in the library and decided to read it because it sounded cool.  Sometimes you enjoy the books you stumble upon the most.

Quotes

“There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home.”

“I have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts.” 

“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”

“I can’t do this, I can’t just be a wife. I don’t understand how anyone does it—there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that or look around for something to distract you.”

Summary

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.

Bookish & Not So Bookish Thoughts

is a weekly meme hosted by Christine over at Bookishly Boisterous, where we post things that are on our minds.  Head over there and check it out!

Hello!

1.  I have been away from my blog for a while now, though I did manage to schedule a handful of posts while I was away.

2.  My kids had two weeks of spring break- and it was awesome.  I think I might be suffering what my daughter called PDSD-Post Disney Sadness Disorder.  If I am totally honest, I wasn’t looking forward to our 5 day Disney trip, especially since we were skiing before it, which doesn’t put you in the 90 degree frame of mind.  I had to dig through all of my clothes to find summer things.

But we had such an amazing time!

3.  My favorite ride was the Rock n Roller Coaster.  Least favorite- It’s a Small World.  My daughter wanted to go on since she had never been.  Now she knows why she has never been.  I though the boat wasn’t going to stop, and I seriously considered jumping in the water.

4.  Favorite non park activity- reading The Stand by the pool while drinking a pina colada.  Don’t be jealous- I am home again and I have to live in New Jersey.  Spring here sucks.

5. Best meal- at Monsieur Paul in France/Epcot.  And Vincent the waiter was awesome (and very handsome).

6.  We usually like to go during Food and Wine fest in October-can you guess why?, but the kids can’t get out of school, so we went in March.  They have the Flower Show in March, and we were like- meh.  WRONG!  There are all these amazing topiaries throughout Epcot, AND they have these great outdoor kitchen stands that sell all food, beer, and wine from different places.  The Florida stand had an amazing ceviche.

And now onto Non Disney things-

7.   I was rereading The Stand the entire spring break.  It’s a long book, but I wasn’t that motivated.  But I LOVE being able to talk to my husband about a book!

8.  Since I finished that, I have been whipping though new books!  I read The Bookseller and Inside the O’Briens in a day each.  They were both amazing!

9.  I have been enjoying being away from the blog, and am dragging my feet on writing any reviews- I have about 4 that I still need to crank out, but I might wait till next week.  There is enough in life to stress about, I won’t stress about this.

10.  We have two dogs- Katie is a 12 year old yellow Lab and Jack is a 6 year old chocolate Lab.  We have been going back and forth for about a month whether we want to add another puppy.  My cousin just informed me that she will be fostering a 7 week old black lab next week.  Is this Karma?  Or am I entirely crazy??

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is

Top Ten Books on my Spring TBR List

Looking it over, it seems a little eclectic-or bipolar.  There’s a little of everything!

1.  Dead Wake by Erik Larson

2.  Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

3.  Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum

4.  World Gone By by Dennis Lehane

5.  Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova

6.  The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

7.  The Sound of Glass by Karen White

8.  The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

9.  A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

10.  It by Stephen King

Not too sure on this last one- might be too scary for me.  I hate clowns.

What books are you looking forward to this spring?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is-

Top Ten books for people who like X

I chose to list the top ten books about books- here it is in no particular order

1.  The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

2.  The Book Thief

3.  The Shadow of the Wind

4.  The Historian

5.  The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

6.  Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

7.  Northanger Abbey

8.  Little Women

9.  The Reader

10.  The People of the Book

Friday Wrap Up

As I head off for a very long weekend to start the kids’ Spring Break, here is a wrap up of what went on for me this week-

Reading

This has been a slow week for me, which was okay after all the reading I did last week!  I started my reread of The Stand for King’s March, and it has been a little slow.

As I said in my last post, it has been a crazy week and it has kept me from really settling in to read.  I never realized what a pain it is to have your wallet stolen.  I really need to have this week be over!

Posts

I did much better in the posting category this week.

 I had my initial King’s March post, a Top Ten of my recent faves, a review of A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, and my Friday link up to King’s March where I rehash my slow going.

Cooking

Well, the cooking wasn’t too elaborate this week, but here it is

Potato & Cheddar Soup with BLTs

Mahi Mahi with a tomato chutney and asparagus

Chicken and Beef Tacos

How was your week?