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...