July 12, 2011

Paris Times Eight - Deirdre Kelly

 Paris Times Eight is my first completed read for Paris in July 2011. As I said in my post yesterday I had started out reading Consolation by Anna Gavalda but I just found it way too depressing - it wasn't helping me enjoy the Paris in July ride at all! So, rather than push on I decided to change tracks.
Paris Times Eight is Deirdre Kelly's story of her connections with Paris through the eight very different visits she has made there from a young woman just leaving school to a mother with two children of her own. This book was definitely a lovely trip through the main tourist areas of Paris told from the viewpoint of the author but it didn't really seem to go too far beyond that for me. The author clearly had another agenda in writing the book - to explore and review the complex relationship she had/has with her mother but it was hard to see how this fitted into the author's experiences and love of Paris.
The writing was solid and the parts of the book that looked directly at Paris were enjoyable but the rest for me felt like a poor mother/daughter memoir. Nevertheless, good to be back in Paris!
My next read, Therese Raquin, is looking at a different time and aspect of Paris - and so far I am loving it...

Please leave your links to your posts for this week in the comments section of this post - looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you are indulging in...

10 comments:

ds said...

Oh, I'm sorry. How much more interesting the book might have been if the author had made some connection between her different selves and her so very different visits. Guess introspection wasn't her strong suit.

I've never read any Zola. Looking forward to your thoughts on that one!

Caroline said...

Sounds like a mixed bag although I like mother/daughter memoirs. But maybe not in a book about Paris. I have read Thérèse Raquin and it is very, very good.
I reviewed Colette's The Cat/La Chatte. She is one of the most wonderful writers I know and I loved it.
http://beautyisasleepingcat.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/colette-la-chatte-the-cat-1933/
I'm not sure where we should leave our links. Here or in the opening post?

Joan Hunter Dunn said...

Not really a Paris in July comment but a blogger one. I can only fit links in if I go to edit HTML mode not compose. Alas it means that I can't centre pictures or text. It is all very frustrating. Hoping it gets resolved somehow.

Audrey said...

If you wanted to try Anna G., I just read French Leave. It's very short (only 106 pages) and very cheery and funny.

On Blogger, do you have 'Make Blogger in Draft your default homepage' checked off on your dashboard page? That seems to be their experimental version of the editor, and it's gotten very buggy. If you uncheck it, you can go back to a 'normal' version and some of the new bugs are gone. Drove me nuts! (Not an expert but this worked for me...)

Karen said...

Hi ds - Yes, her style just didn't work for me unfortunately but Iam loving Zola!

Hi Caroline - Colette is so wonderful isn't she? I read one of her books for last years Paris in July but I definitely want to read more. Leaving your links on this post is great.

Hi Joan - thanks for your tip - blogger can be very frustrating can't it??!!

Hi Audrey - thank you so much for your tip - I think I have fixed it now!! Hopefully!!

Brenda G. Spalding said...

Sometimes we do have to change tracks when we start a book and it just isn't working out! This book sounds like a good one to choose! I am enjoying the books that I am reading this month. I know I have way too many to read within a month. I'll have to save some for next year!

Ellie said...

I featured a French photographer today: http://curiositykilledthebookworm.blogspot.com/2011/07/photography-of-stephane-giner.html

I probably won't get back to the French books and films til the weekend though.

Cat said...

A disappointing start for you but glad to see you enjoyed Therese Raquin - I did too.

I've posted a review for The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas - loved it!

http://cat-bookmagic.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-three-evangelists-by-fred-vargas.html

Jesse said...

I read and reviewed The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn about studying at Le Cordon Bleu! Here is the link:

http://elle-lit.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-review-sharper-your-knife-less-you.html

Karen said...

Hi Brenda - I've got quite a stockpile of French themed reading now too!

Hi Ellie - I'm looking forward to checking out your post of the photographer - thanks for mising things up a bit!

Hi Cat - I think I might have read that Vargas book for a bookclub read a while ago...

Hi JP - thanks for your link!