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tobelaura's review against another edition
4.0
'That's Paris' is a great selection of well selected anecdotes, all written by people who love the city of Paris. Each tale is short, which makes the book easy to read on the go or when you have little time. I liked that with the originally French written stories they had the original and an English translation.
All the stories were fun, real, honest, well written, and I couldn't possibly pick a favourite.
Thanks to Vicki for supplying an advanced copy.
All the stories were fun, real, honest, well written, and I couldn't possibly pick a favourite.
Thanks to Vicki for supplying an advanced copy.
redheadstorm's review against another edition
4.0
That's Paris anthology is a book meant for all those who love Paris or the idea of it. Of course the best way to experience a city is to (physically) visit it (or ideally, live there) but the next best thing is experiencing it through reading about it. And That's Paris offers a full experience for all the senses from a variety of voices and across various writing genres. On the pages of this book you get a glimpse of tastes and sounds and and smells and colors that make this City of Love. As Anna Weeks so nicely puts it in her piece An Attempt to Explain the Paris Fandom "If Paris were a leading Hollywood actor, it would be Brad Pitt, Tom Hiddleston and Chris Evans all rolled into one. Beautiful, romantic, and somewhat unbelievable."
A particular source of joy for me as a reader was the fact that this collection has not one, not two but three stories by one of my favorite contemporary humorous voices, Vicki Lesage. Her storytelling and her ability to find humor even in such ordinary everyday things like a visit to a supermarket, never cease to hit the spot when I'm reading. Garden of Eden, her piece on strategically (mis)placed advertisement "inviting" people to cheat, had me laughing out loud on the subway. (that invited quite a few sideway glances from my fellow passengers but it was definitely worth it) This collection also contains a piece written by Vicki's mom Elle Marie titled 10 Things I Learned When My Daughter Moved to Paris, which I thought was a nice touch.
Cheryl McAlister's story A Scoop of Henry about one woman's trip to Paris in an attempt to dispose of her late husband's ashes also struck a cord, especially with its unexpected humorous moments. Adria J. Cimino's story Love Unlocked about Pont de l'Archevêché (the bridge with all the often spoken about love locks) was also quite memorable. Many stories will take you on a tour of specific (often famous) spots in the city, while the others are more focused on the mentality and habits of Parisians, trying to explain their mysterious allure and the allure of their beautiful city. Some of them are about the difficulties of connecting with things (and culture) that are foreign. Some of them are about comical situations that arise as a result of miscommunication. And of course many of them contain elements of "love being in the air".
Whatever your literary taste might be odds are you will find something to suit it within this collection. It was such a light, entertaining and satisfying read. And I mean subject matter alone makes it worth reading. In the spirit of disclosure I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. While the freebie aspect did not influence my opinion in any way, the fact that the collection includes a "Canadian point of view" did earn it a few brownie points in my eyes. On that note I'm including one of the quotes I enjoyed from Michael Attard's (he described Toronto as "the city where fun goes to die" and from that moment on I knew we are on the same wavelengths) Oh Canada:
"The French see Canada as an untamed wilderness where everyone has a backyard looking out on the Rocky Mountains, owns a pet grizzly bear and speaks in eighteen century version of their language. Canadians see France in various lights: as a country of class and sophistication, yet a place where people eat snails and frogs, and hate everything English."
A particular source of joy for me as a reader was the fact that this collection has not one, not two but three stories by one of my favorite contemporary humorous voices, Vicki Lesage. Her storytelling and her ability to find humor even in such ordinary everyday things like a visit to a supermarket, never cease to hit the spot when I'm reading. Garden of Eden, her piece on strategically (mis)placed advertisement "inviting" people to cheat, had me laughing out loud on the subway. (that invited quite a few sideway glances from my fellow passengers but it was definitely worth it) This collection also contains a piece written by Vicki's mom Elle Marie titled 10 Things I Learned When My Daughter Moved to Paris, which I thought was a nice touch.
Cheryl McAlister's story A Scoop of Henry about one woman's trip to Paris in an attempt to dispose of her late husband's ashes also struck a cord, especially with its unexpected humorous moments. Adria J. Cimino's story Love Unlocked about Pont de l'Archevêché (the bridge with all the often spoken about love locks) was also quite memorable. Many stories will take you on a tour of specific (often famous) spots in the city, while the others are more focused on the mentality and habits of Parisians, trying to explain their mysterious allure and the allure of their beautiful city. Some of them are about the difficulties of connecting with things (and culture) that are foreign. Some of them are about comical situations that arise as a result of miscommunication. And of course many of them contain elements of "love being in the air".
Whatever your literary taste might be odds are you will find something to suit it within this collection. It was such a light, entertaining and satisfying read. And I mean subject matter alone makes it worth reading. In the spirit of disclosure I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. While the freebie aspect did not influence my opinion in any way, the fact that the collection includes a "Canadian point of view" did earn it a few brownie points in my eyes. On that note I'm including one of the quotes I enjoyed from Michael Attard's (he described Toronto as "the city where fun goes to die" and from that moment on I knew we are on the same wavelengths) Oh Canada:
"The French see Canada as an untamed wilderness where everyone has a backyard looking out on the Rocky Mountains, owns a pet grizzly bear and speaks in eighteen century version of their language. Canadians see France in various lights: as a country of class and sophistication, yet a place where people eat snails and frogs, and hate everything English."
writerrhiannon's review
5.0
I love anything Paris-related and this book did not disappoint. I would recommend this for any night stand. This anthology is a perfect combination of fun, funny, romantic, and like any great book, contains some yummy food. I especially love that this anthology features the amazing author, Adria Cimino.
Read my full review here: http://ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-thats-paris-anthology-of-life.html
Read my full review here: http://ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-thats-paris-anthology-of-life.html
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