PARIS TO THE MOON

While I am almost finished with The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression I interspersed my reading with Paris to the Moon written by Adam Gopnik. Paris to the Moon is Gopnik's compilation of essays written for the New Yorker. Based in New York, Gopnik was given the assignment to move to Paris and write about his life there. Can you imagine? What a dream! So, in 1995 he moved with his wife and infant son and stayed for five years.

Travel essays are enjoyable, giving a sneak peek into life lived elsewhere. And Parisians seem so different than most of my little circle--more relaxed, a bit hedonistic (which is great fun to read about). I did not read all 23 essays--not all of his topics interested me. I enjoyed the book but not as much as Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence (which is laugh-out-loud funny) or Susan Hermann Loomis' On Rue Tatin: Cooking and Living in a French Town. But Adam Gopnik is a good writer and if you are a serious Francophile you will enjoy.