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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
funny
reflective
medium-paced
When I was a younger man, I had the privilege of living in Paris. It really does stay with you. Cities that stay with you are my favourite ones but you don’t know whether the feast is moveable until it’s over. I think that’s why this memoir is so good. It’s effectively a novelization of memories that are 40 years old. I didn’t write a book about my time in Paris because I have no talent and my friends who I lived in Paris with and spent time with while I was there were mostly law students and not artists who are to this day more interesting people to write about. We enjoyed the bars there. The ones on rue Moufftard were especially memorable and I agree with Hemingway that it’s a magical street. My best friends in Paris lived on rue Monge next to the Place du Contrescarpe near Hemingways first apartment so many of the place names were very familiar to me but also the overall vibe of the Quartier Latin was similar at least from our vantage point as 20-somethings. Paris sera toujours Paris. I also liked this book because of the way Hemingway writes which still reads as honest and also because it’s a great celebration of walking through Paris as an outsider and being especially attentive to the smells and the constant flicker of life all around. That’s one of my favourite things to do.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Superb. Elegantly minimalist prose and a beautiful flowing story across a beautifully described city.
One question I had as I listened to the audio version of this book read by James Naughton -- which I thought was a great interpretation, and sounded as I would imagine Hemingway would like it to, no frills, direct, firm -- anyhow, the question I had was, how can a 25 year old be so mature and already have such a deliberate clear voice? I found two answers to this question: 1. The observations and reflections recorded here do not come from any 25 year old. They come from an exceptional young writer who is dedicating everything to his craft. At the time of the events, Hemingway was already a published author of stories and journalistic content. At one point in the book he is in the process of revising the manuscript for The Sun Also Rises, so he was already a mature writer in a sense. 2.Even though the text is based on the notes from a young writer living in Paris in the 20s, the actual book was written and revised by the old version of that young writer, Papa Hemingway in the 1950s, already living in Cuba at the time -- a memoir.
The story of how this book came about is a gem in its own. Old Hemingway was eating with Charles Ritz at the Paris Ritz when the hotelier mentioned a trunk stored in the hotel's basement. It turns out that the trunk had been made by Louis Vuitton for Hemmingway in the 1920s and had been stored since then. The trunk was filled with personal items, including skiing equipment, horse racing forms, clothes and...the notebooks containing the writings of the young 25 year old living in Paris. That's what makes this book so special. It carries the youthful vigor of young Hemingway and in a way his innocence at the time, but also the sure editorial hand of the old Hemingway. I listened and read the official Mary Hemingway version, edited by Ernest's fourth wife after his death. Some criticize her for removing his apology to his first wife Hadley, which is reinserted in the restored 2009 version published by his grandson, who, in turn, is criticized for removing negative remarks about his grandmother, Hemingway's second wife. I guess one can't win here.
In any case, Ernest's tenderness towards his first wife Hadley, the one before riches and fame, is clear, even in the Mary Hemingway version. "I wished I had died before I loved anyone but her," sounds pretty strong to me. The book is a beautiful window into post WWI Paris with Hemingway's vivid descriptions of legendary characters such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, James Joyce and many others. Woody Allen used it as a reference for his Midnight in Paris movie. The book's title is mentioned twice in the film.
Great stuff, a must for writers and literature lovers, and for anyone who enjoys the arts, reading memoirs and such.
The story of how this book came about is a gem in its own. Old Hemingway was eating with Charles Ritz at the Paris Ritz when the hotelier mentioned a trunk stored in the hotel's basement. It turns out that the trunk had been made by Louis Vuitton for Hemmingway in the 1920s and had been stored since then. The trunk was filled with personal items, including skiing equipment, horse racing forms, clothes and...the notebooks containing the writings of the young 25 year old living in Paris. That's what makes this book so special. It carries the youthful vigor of young Hemingway and in a way his innocence at the time, but also the sure editorial hand of the old Hemingway. I listened and read the official Mary Hemingway version, edited by Ernest's fourth wife after his death. Some criticize her for removing his apology to his first wife Hadley, which is reinserted in the restored 2009 version published by his grandson, who, in turn, is criticized for removing negative remarks about his grandmother, Hemingway's second wife. I guess one can't win here.
In any case, Ernest's tenderness towards his first wife Hadley, the one before riches and fame, is clear, even in the Mary Hemingway version. "I wished I had died before I loved anyone but her," sounds pretty strong to me. The book is a beautiful window into post WWI Paris with Hemingway's vivid descriptions of legendary characters such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, James Joyce and many others. Woody Allen used it as a reference for his Midnight in Paris movie. The book's title is mentioned twice in the film.
Great stuff, a must for writers and literature lovers, and for anyone who enjoys the arts, reading memoirs and such.
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
came for the writing advice, stayed for the gossip
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Uno spassosissimo resoconto degli anni di Hemingway e della prima moglie a Parigi, negli anni '20 del '900. Il capitolo su Hemingway e F. S. Fitzgerald che vanno a recuperare l'auto del secondo a Lione è esilarante, come pure l'incontro con Alesteir Crowley.
Una frase dal libro:
Mai fare viaggi con le persone che non ti piacciono.
Per GdL B
Una frase dal libro:
Mai fare viaggi con le persone che non ti piacciono.
Per GdL B