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Paris In Love

by Eloisa James (Goodreads Author)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 4,050 ratings · 701 reviews

In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no law...more

Kindle Edition, 261 pages

Published (first published January 1st 2012)

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Dec 01, 2012 Greg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who want a light read about fantasy life in Paris

Nicely written, but kind of shallow. I'm not making a personal comment here (I ain't no troll!) I mean the writing is shallow. See, infinitely better.

The structure of the book is interesting, and I mean that in the most ambiguous way possible. Paris in Love began as a series of Facebook and twitter posts, and that is exactly how it reads. Each story is an abbreviated detail or an abbreviated moment. I wouldn't call them short stories, or essays, or vignettes; they're anecdotes. Here's something...more Nicely written, but kind of shallow. I'm not making a personal comment here (I ain't no troll!) I mean the writing is shallow. See, infinitely better.

The structure of the book is interesting, and I mean that in the most ambiguous way possible. Paris in Love began as a series of Facebook and twitter posts, and that is exactly how it reads. Each story is an abbreviated detail or an abbreviated moment. I wouldn't call them short stories, or essays, or vignettes; they're anecdotes. Here's something you could use to dismiss all my thoughts about the book: I tried very hard not to be the pretentious gasbag I am and to let my opinion of the book unfold of its own accord and not let its origins distract me, but sometimes you just can't help who you are. The origins of Paris can't help but come into play because I think writing for Facebook/twitter and writing for a book are different because the audiences are very different. With our Facebook and twitter accounts, we try to impress and appease our friends so we pull out the flashy stories with that one indelible image or that one shining moment. Books are different because they reward deeper thought, which the Internet does not always embrace. I understand what James was going for with the structure, and I think to some extent it works. It is not just a slice of life portrayal, but a preponderance of evidence. She piles on the lovely images and lol-worthy child-rearing moments of embarrassment and triumph, but for all the loveliness, one giant hole in the story exists, James herself.

James appears unwilling to get too personal. Yes she tells us about what happens in her life, but we have no idea about James' thoughts or feelings about it all. She very quickly deals with my prurient interest in her cancer diagnosis and how it affects her, but by keeping it light and cancer-free, she risks appearing shallow. That makes me sound like an asshole, which I usually don't have a huge problem with, but what I mean is that by keeping things so light it risks appearing like a feint, like a smokescreen. If her cancer is the reason for the sabbatical in Paris then why doesn't she explore it more. And it's not just her thoughts on cancer that I am interested in. How does she feel about how her family adjusts to life in Paris? She tells funny stories and occasionally wrings her hands in a very comely manner, but she just skirts the issue. Again, she appears unwilling to share her honest feelings with us. Her children clearly have a hard time adjusting and every time she moves from the, at-times palpable, teenage and pre-adolescent despair of her children to discuss chocolate and haute couture, I have a very hard time not characterizing her as callous. This is a shame, but I think she made a clear choice not to go too deep and it backfired.

James's Paris is a beautiful place. It is just sadly, an extremely romantic and fantasy picture. It feels like someone's idea of a city rather than an actual city. It just doesn't feel lived-in. Her Paris is the same as the Paris of someone who watched a movie. It's just very romantic and stereotypical. I could maybe write a less romantic version of the city just based on my obsessive summer watching of the Tour de France. Again, it's just a little shallow. God I'm such an asshole. I am so harsh on people. It's a serious affliction. I just edited the college essays for the daughter of a friend of a friend and I think she strongly implied that I made her cry. I don't mean to be mean.

James has great natural style. The language is beautiful with an enviable natural flow and pace. The tone of her pieces are, again, rather calculated because of all the reasons I sloppily laid out above. All my issues with Paris boil down to the origins of the book. The posts should have inspired rather than dictated content.(less)

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Oct 31, 2012 Sweetbearies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is like a journal of sorts, and I have always enjoyed reading stories like these. I am not sure when I will get to Paris, but at least now I can read about it via Mary Bly's perspective, or should I say Eloisa James since that is the name she writes under.

I enjoyed reading about her getting her son Luca to go to tennis camp, and to get off the computer so he could pass ninth grade. It was also touching reading about how her daughter Anna was enemies with a student, but how this changed...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I loved this! Not because I adore Paris (I do), but because it made me feel happy when reading it. I think it could have been a memoir about the author living just about anywhere, and I would have liked it just as well.

It's a great book to read when you only have little bits of time here and there. The one drawback I can think of was that there were times I wanted her to continue on with a certain part in the story, instead of the short paragraph we got. I was very sad when it came to an end, b...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved every single thing about Paris in Love by Eloisa James.

When Eloisa James's mother dies of cancer in 2007 and then two weeks she herself is diagnosed with the same cancer, she was sure she knew what would happen next:

"I immediately started anticipating the epiphany when I would be struck by the acute beauty of life. I would see joy in my children's eyes (rather than start rebellion), eschew caffeine, and simply be, preferably while doing yoga in front a sunset."

When all of that didn't hap...more I loved every single thing about Paris in Love by Eloisa James.

When Eloisa James's mother dies of cancer in 2007 and then two weeks she herself is diagnosed with the same cancer, she was sure she knew what would happen next:

"I immediately started anticipating the epiphany when I would be struck by the acute beauty of life. I would see joy in my children's eyes (rather than start rebellion), eschew caffeine, and simply be, preferably while doing yoga in front a sunset."

When all of that didn't happen, she decided that rather than living her life in the moment, she wanted to live someone else's life - the life of someone who lives in Paris.

Since she and her husband are both college professors, they were able to take a sabbatical and set off for Paris with their two children in tow. She is a writer, and had plans for writing 4 books, while in Paris…none of them being a book about her actually being in Paris. So, this book is actually written from small updates, almost journal entries, some even just Facebook status posts. Which makes it wonderfully entertaining and a quick read. It is a life in Paris given to us in humorous bite-size glimpses.

"I walked into a hair salon yesterday and asked for my customary red highlights; the coiffeur snapped: "Non! For you, gold. Red is not chic." It's a good thing that our apartment is fitted with low-wattage, environmentally friendly lightbulbs, because strong light turns me into a marigold."

"A row of elegantly narrow dormer windows sprouts from the building opposite my study. Sometimes a gaunt woman with beautiful cheekbones and sleek black hair pushes open her window and leans out. smoking and flicking the asked onto the slate. Today she wears a red dress and looks as if she belongs in an eighteenth-century novel, the kind in which heroines come to a bad end."

"Today we went to Sunday brunch at one of Gordon Ramsaay's restaurants in Versailles, La Veranda. The entrees were fine … but the desserts! I tried nine, determined to learn, through empirical research the very best one. The delicious, chewy passion fruit macaroni? The froufrou hot pink marshmallows, the four flavors of creme, the fig tart, the delicate clafoutis? The winner was a dainty cake with a crackling top and luscious mango cream inside, because it was like biting into one of Alice's Wonderland cakes: inside was a voluptuous surprise."
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Jan 27, 2013 Olga Godim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

A shortened version of this review was originally published at StoryCircleBookReviews:
http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org...

There are many memoirs of Paris, but this one is unusual. Written by a bestselling writer of romance novels, it’s simultaneously lyrical, cheeky, and utterly matter-of-fact. Although I don’t like the author’s Regency romances, I thought it was fitting that a romance writer should write a modern memoir about the most romantic of cities – Paris. I wasn’t disappointed: I fel...more A shortened version of this review was originally published at StoryCircleBookReviews:
http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org...

There are many memoirs of Paris, but this one is unusual. Written by a bestselling writer of romance novels, it’s simultaneously lyrical, cheeky, and utterly matter-of-fact. Although I don’t like the author’s Regency romances, I thought it was fitting that a romance writer should write a modern memoir about the most romantic of cities – Paris. I wasn’t disappointed: I fell in love with the book and its author.
I should probably mention that in real life, outside her romance-writing gig, the author bears another name – Mary Bly – and is a Shakespeare professor. In her introduction, she explains that her decision to relocate to Paris for a year crystallized after her bout with breast cancer. She took a sabbatical from both her careers – teaching university and writing romances – and moved with her husband and two children, ages 11 and 15, to Paris. During her year in Paris, she wrote multiple short posts on Facebook, an informal journal of sorts, and these entries, organized and cleaned up, formed the bulk of this memoir.
The main theme of the book is the joy of life. Whatever the brief entries are about – the children’s struggles with French or gastronomical delights, the rainy weather or Parisiennes’ flair for fashion, tiny museums off the tourist path or the homeless of Paris – they all brim with humor and sensitivity. Everything the author sees or hears makes her glad to be alive, and she shares her gladness with her friends.
As I read her vivid descriptions, I felt as if I was in Paris too. I followed the heroine on her everyday’s small adventures, savored the unfamiliar dishes alongside her, and admired the centuries-old architecture. I lived vicariously through the keen observations of a marvelous writer.
Here she lusted after someone’s stylish bag, and I recognized myself. There she selected a new lacy bra in a boutique or enjoyed a dessert whose French name sounded heavenly and whose description made me salivate. On the next page, she might include a heart-wrenching essay on the death of her friend or her musing about the French’s propensity for kissing.
Although the details and events of the book are often mundane, seemingly insignificant, it was hard for me to put the book down. I hankered for more. I wanted to know what happened next: the next day, the next street, the next encounter, the next escapade of her precocious daughter of her mother-in-law’s absurdly obese dog.
Laughter was a gift of this book. The author makes fun of everyone, but her prime target is invariably herself. Her irony is never offensive, always tasteful, intertwined with kindness, and her love for her family gleams off the pages.
The language, on the surface deceptively simple, is rich and expressive, and her metaphors are astoundingly graphic. She writes about the roofs and the sky:

The contrast was almost imperceptible, as if marble and air danced cheek to cheek.

Another entry – about her fifteen-year-old son, who for the first time in his life discarded ketchup for the local flavor:

He waved his unopened ketchup bottle in the air and announced: “Do you know what this means, Mom?” Yes, I do. It means that somewhere, in some remote part of the world, a pig just levitated gracefully and flew around his pen, that’s what.

One of her conversations with her husband. It would resonate with parents everywhere:

Paging Dr. Freud: Me, at breakfast, to Alessandro: “The catacombs sound so interesting! In 1741, a man wandered off, and his body wasn’t found for nine years. Let’s take the children this afternoon.” Moment of silence…then gales of laughter. We’re going.

Overall impression: a lovely book; charming, alluring, poignant, and extremely funny.
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Dec 12, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Terrific book, light-hearted, with moments of seriousness, and a real celebration of Paris, her family, food, and shopping. Highly recommended. Favorite quotes: "People kiss all the time here: romantically, sadly, sweetly, passionately; in greeting and farewell. They kiss on the banks of the Seine, under bridges, on street corners, in the Metro. I hadn't realized that Anna had noticed until yesterday, when I suggested perhaps a single-mother situation in her classroom could be explained by divor...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Sara by: Goodreads

Shelves: 2012, memoir

This is a book covering the author's sabbatical. After she and her husband sold their house in New Jersey, they headed for Paris with their two kids, ready to experience the life of someone else there. There, she wrote books she had under contract, ate more than her share of French food, and tried to enjoy every moment of life there instead of waiting to experience it all through the lens of a camera.

I began this book expecting the usual narration about her travels, but it was framed in quite a...more This is a book covering the author's sabbatical. After she and her husband sold their house in New Jersey, they headed for Paris with their two kids, ready to experience the life of someone else there. There, she wrote books she had under contract, ate more than her share of French food, and tried to enjoy every moment of life there instead of waiting to experience it all through the lens of a camera.

I began this book expecting the usual narration about her travels, but it was framed in quite a different way than I'd imagined. Instead of chapters filled with long narratives, the bulk of the book was comprised of short musings that were originally posted on - or inspired by - her Facebook page. It was slightly jarring at first, especially because her writing in the opening chapter was beautiful and I wasn't sure how short, stand-alone paragraphs would hold up to this stands, but the more I got into the book, the more I liked this format. The short snippets gave enough detail to draw you into the moment without over exposing details or dwelling on unimportant events. I felt as if I were almost reading someone's diary as events unfolded, giving the book a nice touch.

It was fun to see how much energy could be captured in short snippets about their day-to-day life. Her children (11 and 15) had personalities that leapt off the page, and the author and her husband both seemed very personable and relatable. I loved the descriptions of the food and all the short pieces of soap opera-like drama that seemed to seep out from both her daughter's school days and in the life of her husband's friend - all told about secondhand, of course, but it allowed the author to provide entertaining commentary about it all.

So many times books like this come across as pretentious because, really, how many people can afford to move to Paris for a year, as wonderful as that sounds? But nothing in here was extravagant or outside the realm of what could be possible for others with enough planning and saving. Instead, it was a very charming story overall and filled with snapshots of a memorable year in which nothing big happened but lots of wonderful small moments did. I also really liked the fact that it wasn't full of life lessons but simply took the reader on a journey throughout the year.(less)

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Aug 27, 2012 Nathalie S rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book in just a few days, the last one memorably while lounging on my bed for several hours, refreshing myself with homemade French-inspired little chocolate rolls feeling extremely decadent but wonderfully justified. After all, I haven't been on a vacation this year and is not likely to go either. So this was my intellectual farniente and blessed it was. Romance author Eloisa James (no, I've never read any of her books but I might read one just for kicks) spent a year in Paris with h...more I read this book in just a few days, the last one memorably while lounging on my bed for several hours, refreshing myself with homemade French-inspired little chocolate rolls feeling extremely decadent but wonderfully justified. After all, I haven't been on a vacation this year and is not likely to go either. So this was my intellectual farniente and blessed it was. Romance author Eloisa James (no, I've never read any of her books but I might read one just for kicks) spent a year in Paris with her Italian husband, Alessandro (I love his name, btw, presumably because I love actor Alessandro Nivola) and their son Lucca and daughter Anna. Eloisa had just survived a bout with the same breast cancer which had killed her mother just a couple years previous and she was ripe for some LIVING with a big L. Both she and her husband are professors with access to sabbaticals (and also selling home and cars) so they spent a year in Paris with their children attending italian/french schools (both are fluent in italian with a smattering of french). This is an unusual biography as it contains short vignettes of their year in Paris (with side trips to Alessandro's native Italy) gathered from Eloisa's Facebook musings. I just could hardly put this book down, even reading some of these out loud to my husband. Here is just a sample "Last night the air was so warm and beautiful that Alessandro and I walked much farther than usual-all the way past would-be aristocrats enjoying champagne on the lawns of the Louvre, down through the Tuileries, toward the Opera...at last collapsing into Cafe de la Paix, with its gaudy, gilded (but quite lovely) ceiling. My hot chocolate came in two silver pitchers. One held melted chocolate, as dark and thick as lava, the second steaming hot milk. Heaven!". Don't think though all memories were rosy (and chocolatey). Eloisa includes sometimes everyday, funny and unfunny, things that happened to their kids at school (including struggling with homework, finding friends, pranks,etc.) and to herself as she, for example, stalks French women to figure out while they look so good all the time (it isn't because they're all thin because they are not) or get acquainted with various museums, shops and even homeless people. (As an aside, I obviously have NOT inherited innate french fashion-sense, maybe due to the fact I'm really only 1/4 french--other 1/4 is french-belgian--all the difference apparently...)It's a wonderful hodge-podge of wonderful, funny, irrevent, sad, tug-at-your-heart strings snapshots of a italian-american family in Paris. (less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Krista rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think the book cover gives a very accurate description of what this book is about. The Introduction, which you can read on Amazon gives a much better description. Eloisa was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 weeks after losing her mother to cancer. This scare was the main motivator for the move to Paris. The book cover kinda implies that Eloisa and her family randomly decided to move to Paris just to write about their life there.

This is a collection of Facebook posts and tweets that Eloisa...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Stephanie Fischer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first stumbled upon Eloisa James' memoir, it was because of an excerpt in Good Housekeeping magazine (yes, I read my mother's magazines. I am not ashamed!). Anything concerning Paris always sparks my attention, so I curiously finished reading the excerpt. By the end of it, I knew I needed to buy the book and read it.

The experiences of Eloisa James in Paris were hilarious, heartwarming, and full of life. I adored the way that she wrote little scenarios down, like snippets of a wide and com...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Jenny Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Even though I chose this book, I knew going into it I wouldn't like it. It's written by a romance writer (I don't read romance), takes place after the writer has had cancer (another one of those books), is another smug memoir about an exotic year in Paris, and is compiled from Facebook and Twitter posts, punctuated with slightly longer essays at the beginning of each chapter.

So you can imagine my surprise when 1) I didn't want to book to end and 2) I decided I'd like Eloisa James to be my new be...more

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May 29, 2012 Nancy Narma rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“I’m Not in Love with “Paris in Love”

After Eloisa James had suffered the loss of her Mother to cancer, she was diagnosed with the horrific disease herself. Following a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, she came to the realization that she should live everyday to the fullest. It was with this awakening, that, among other gutsy undertakings, she starts planning and then executing a year of living in Paris, France with her family. This change of lifestyle included the sale of their home and, u...more “I’m Not in Love with “Paris in Love”

After Eloisa James had suffered the loss of her Mother to cancer, she was diagnosed with the horrific disease herself. Following a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, she came to the realization that she should live everyday to the fullest. It was with this awakening, that, among other gutsy undertakings, she starts planning and then executing a year of living in Paris, France with her family. This change of lifestyle included the sale of their home and, ultimately, the purchase of a new abode upon their return to the states. Eloisa and her Husband, Alessandro, each took a year of sabbatical leave from teaching—found an Italian School in Paris that their children; teen-aged Luca and elementary-school wild child; Anna could attend, and secured an older but elegant apartment in a neighborhood ripe with charming shops and interesting people. Among the new friends Alessandro met at the “Conversation Exchange” was a French gentleman named Florent, who wanted to learn Italian so he could woo a young waitress he had met in Tuscany. Alessandro was forever giving him hints on what to say to the lass to help his love life along. While I was reading this memoir,I felt like I was sneaking a peek into someone’s diary, as I would have preferred longer chapters encompassing the adventures and family life, rather than daily entries. I have learned a few things—I know I have had some “hinge moments”….I will NEVER order Calf’s head (with or without the Rooster’s cockscomb) …and I’m wondering why someone didn’t add a length of Velcro to poor Milo’s (the 27 lb. Chihuahua) raincoat?? ( The family would not have had to settle for the unimpressive clear raincoat! )…and chocolate, by any name is just as sweet. You will get some chuckles ( especially where Alessandro’s Mama; Marina, and the portly Milo are concerned) identify with some similar situations, no matter what country you’re in, and Ms. James has kindly included an unofficial guide to some of her unforgettable places in Paris. I have always enjoyed Ms. James’ romance novels and hope to again in the future—In the meantime, I applaud her courage and tenacity. Nancy Narma
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Apr 22, 2012 Kelly Knapp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone, but especially memoir lovers and Eloisa Jame's lover.

Recommended to Kelly by: Goodreads Firstreads giveaway

Living on the economy immerses a native of one country among the peoples of another. You eat where they eat, shop where they shop, and create friendships not otherwise able to be made.

I have read many memoirs and while I have learned a great deal about some interesting people, memoirs have not been on my favorite books lists until now. Eloisa James writes her memoir in a manner that leaves the reader feeling like they have peeked into her private diary. Everything feels real, even the admitted d...more

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Apr 19, 2012 Stephanie D. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Confession: I have a secret fantasy of running away to live in Paris. So is it any wonder that with spring unfolding, making me restless for an adventure, I devoured Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James as if it were a gorgeous box of Laduree pastries?

And yes, it is the same Eloisa James, the famous author of romances. If anyone could even imagine selling one's possessions and uprooting one's family to live in Paris for a year, not to mention having the guts to actually do it - I would think...more Confession: I have a secret fantasy of running away to live in Paris. So is it any wonder that with spring unfolding, making me restless for an adventure, I devoured Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James as if it were a gorgeous box of Laduree pastries?

And yes, it is the same Eloisa James, the famous author of romances. If anyone could even imagine selling one's possessions and uprooting one's family to live in Paris for a year, not to mention having the guts to actually do it - I would think it would be someone who earned a living creating romantic visions.

Another confession: I've never read any of James's (aka Mary Bly's) romance novels, but having read her witty, touching, and, above all, exuberant memoir, I am now eager to pick up her fictional works. She has won over a new fan!

Paris in Love begins not with a sunny prologue as one would expect, but an unsentimental and sobering chapter, all the more powerful in its brevity, which explains that James got hit with a double whammy of terrible events in rapid succession: her mother died of cancer and she herself got a diagnosis of breast cancer. Instantly the reader realizes that Paris in Love promises to be a travel memoir grounded in reality; that having survived such a harrowing period, James's and her family's year in Paris is truly a celebration of living life to the fullest.

"I am making only one New Year's resolution this year. I'm ignoring the obvious: my overly tight clothing. Instead I will take my Parisian Christmas with me back to New York City in the fall. My cocottes will remind me that food is meant to be served to others, to be beautiful, to be original (even violet-colored), to be dreamed over. They will remind me that indulgence is not a virtue we should keep for the holiday season alone, and that saving time---when it comes to food---is more sinful than virtuous.

"My Parisian December went a long way to mending a crack in my heart caused by the words 'the biopsy was positive.' To eat as the French do is to celebrate life, even to indulge in it."

Paris in Love reads just like a box of bonbons - bite-sized, one-paragraph snippets of delicious observations that develop into interweaving themes and stories over the course of the book: her husband's coaching of a lovelorn Frenchman, James's blossoming appreciation for food and cooking in this famed grastonomic city while lamenting her increasing weight, their children's misadventures in their Italian language school, and of course all the anecdotes about beautiful, enchanting Paris and Parisiennes. Interspered between the pastiche of their Parisian life are longer, intimate essays - memories of James's mother, her childhood, her marriage, her beloved friend who died of cancer.

I have to say that even more enchanting than Paris herself is Anna, James's Harry Potter-loving, trouble-making, hilarious, and utterly loveable ten-year-old. I laughed pretty much every time James wrote about her antics.

"The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles is gracious, elegant, and jaw-droppingly beautiful. I drifted down the center dreaming that I was a member of the nobless ancienne, my imaginary skirts extending three feet to each side. We all had audio tours; over the elegant sound of a British man informing me about architectural details, I heard Anna talking to her cousin Zoe: 'I dare you to pick your nose in front of that mirror...Go on, I dare you!'"

Upon reflection, Paris in Love is more than a melange of sweets - it is a complex and varied tasting course which ultimately satisfies. (less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Mme. marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Bonjour mes amis! J'aime Paris (I Love Paris)! Let's face it - I believe anyone who can appreciate culture, art, music and especially literature, can find something to love about Paris! D'accord (OK), maybe not everybody, lol. But one must admit, rather they desire to or not, there is something remotely and universally unique about "the city of lights", Paris. Oui...it is almost insane, lol! It does not matter where you live or where you have been or rather or not you have visited Paris...everyo...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cracked-me-the-s-up

This book is really funny in places and I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting the descriptions of food, of jaunts to tres Parisian parks and museums, of meditating on French style but not the humor. It's not deliberately funny - it's funny only in the way that a mother reflecting on her half-Italian ten-year-old's dramatic recounting of a playground spat or that her teacher mocked her (I laughed myself silly when "Papa Bear" when off to defend "Baby Bear" but come to find out Baby Bear might...more

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Apr 05, 2012 A.J. Hartley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Paris in Love: A Memoir, by Eloisa James

Memoirs are curious creatures. They blur the lines between public and private, staging the minute, personal, even intimate, against the familiar backdrop of larger historical moments, cultures and places. Striking a balance between the two is no small feat, but trickier still is taking the seemingly arbitrary minutiae of life, holding them up to the light so we see their worth, their beauty, while suggesting larger thematic continuities: purpose and meanin...more Paris in Love: A Memoir, by Eloisa James

Memoirs are curious creatures. They blur the lines between public and private, staging the minute, personal, even intimate, against the familiar backdrop of larger historical moments, cultures and places. Striking a balance between the two is no small feat, but trickier still is taking the seemingly arbitrary minutiae of life, holding them up to the light so we see their worth, their beauty, while suggesting larger thematic continuities: purpose and meaning beneath the enchanting daily flotsam. It is, perhaps, no surprise that a writer who can navigate both the form and content of popular romance fiction and Shakespearean academia can pull it off, but the seeming effortlessness with which Eloisa James’s latest book does so makes it a joy to read.
Paris in Love documents a year’s hiatus for the bestselling author and her quirkily endearing family in France’s capital. It’s a simple enough premise for a book that becomes about Americans abroad as well as the special appeal of one of the world’s most seductive cities, but the whole is rather more than the sum of its parts. The parts are captivating of themselves: the embattled children trying to stay socially and academically afloat in a strange culture, the morbidly obese pet Chihuahua, the agonizingly slow progress of a friend’s wistful romance, and—perhaps most of all—the beautifully observed reflections on all things Parisian, particularly food and fashion, delicious confections all. It is funny, poetic, and poignant. Behind it all is a powerful sense of personality, a wry, self-deprecating, sensitive soul who watches, reflects and observes, lyrically, thoughtfully and with disarming honesty.
But it’s that honesty that makes the whole more than a series of vignettes and bon mots. James begins the book with a confession that undergirds the whole book, that the year abroad was a complex response to being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. The book treats the subject lightly but with candor, and quickly moves beyond it into the details of the Parisian sojourn itself, but from time to time it reappears, a bass note which balances and makes sense of the book’s playfulness, its celebration of life in its tiny and fleeting details. As such the memoir becomes a meditation on mortality, however colorful, however gaily lit, the passage of time in micro and macro terms manifested by various insistent forms of temporality which tick like a clock in the background. Deadlines have to be met, children start to turn into adults, relationships shift, disease advances, the landscape shifts with the seasons and the stolen year moves inexorably to its end and the family’s return to New York. Life, says the book, has its glories, its moments of joy and affirmation which have to be caught and savored, need to be, because they go by so fast. That the book itself is one of those joys is only fitting.
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Apr 04, 2012 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was initially a little miffed that the book seemed to be re-purposed facebook posts. My miff vanished almost immediately. This was funny, entertaining, beautiful, and had many wonderful stories woven throughout. I read many passages aloud to my significant other because they were laugh-out-loud funny. I can't wait to re-read this book. Today in the after-glow of finishing it, I feel happier and more uplifted about my own life having read her wonderful experiences of the year in Paris.

I'd also...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Alla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Paris in love" by Eloisa James is basically a memoir of the author’s romantic year in Paris, along with her two children, Italian husband, and occasional cameo appearances made by the overweight family dog Milo, and her husband’s Italian mother-in-law Marina.

The author, a romance writer and Shakespeare professor, chooses an elegant year in Paris to shake things up after she becomes tired of their suburban New Jersey life. And so, in the nature of similar travels, she and her husband sell everyt...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Author: Eloisa James
Title: Paris in Love
Description (source): Romance writer and Shakespearean scholar Eloisa James and her husband and two children take a sabbatical year in Paris after her brush with breast cancer. Sometimes a travelogue and sometimes just musings on parenthood, marriage, and life in general.
Source: Library Thing Early Reviewers
Writing style: If there was anything that put me off a little about this book, it was the style, which was mainly short, disconnected paragraphs. In t...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Debbie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the aftermath of a successful battle against cancer Eloisa James aka Mary Bly and her family decided to sell everything and head to Paris for a year. It was a year of celebration, it was a year of reconnecting, it was a year of reflecting, it was a year of learning, it was a year of fun.
See how the family copes with language barriers, the culture shock of going from the suburbs of New Jersey to an apartment encased in a building built in the 1700’s. Join in family celebrations, friends visits...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Received as an ARC from Book Browser)

Paris in Love by Eloisa James is a memoir of sorts but not written in typical memoir fashion.

After her mother’s death and her own diagnosis of cancer, the author, now a cancer survivor, decides it’s time for a sabbatical so she, her Italian husband and two kids, pull up temporary stakes and head for Paris, France.

This is a light, easy read that made me want to find a nice meadow with a bubbling brook nearby, throw down a blanket and read the day away. Paris...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Laurie Gold rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

"I've watched Eloisa James' writing career since she first became a published romance author. While never particularly drawn to her fiction, when I saw this book available on Amazon Vine, I ordered it. Why? Because I enjoy this type of memoir. Going in readers should know that James doesn't present her year in Paris in a traditional sense. Instead, she's taken Tweets and Facebook entries and worked from there. Some are expanded into short essays--some are simply paragraphs of observations. Given...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Jaylia3 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After a bout with cancer, romance novelist Eloisa James took a sabbatical from her university job as a Shakespeare scholar and moved to Paris with her family, where she rightfully enjoyed a year of doing nothing much at all. While there she tweeted and posted Facebook updates on the quirks and joys of living in the City of Light, and this book is a collection of those posts. Most are no more than a few sentences long, and her Twitter followers and Facebook friends were probably delighted to read...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Carissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mass-market-historical-romance, memoirs-light-the-cornes-of-my-mind

She warns us: This memoir of James' year in Paris is an edited version of Facebook posts and Tweets, interspersed with some "longer" (2-6 page) essays. As a memoir, it is flimsy, organized mostly around the theme of "one year in Paris," although there are some recurring motifs of living with cancer and aging, living life to the fullest, my crazy relatives, raising teenagers is hell, etc. Truthfully, it often feels like a report on what she ate, where she shopped, and how her children are doing i...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Angela Risner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am fascinated by people who are lucky enough to go abroad for a length of time. I wish I had done so when I had the time in college or the time AND money a few years ago.

I have to admit, I have not read any of Ms. James' other books, but having heard that they're about the Regency period, I may pick one or two up.

The style of this book is just short observations about life in Paris. Ms. James, her husband and their two children packed up and moved to Paris for a year. The children are 11 and 1...more

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May 16, 2012 Tfrances rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I am sad to say that this was a DNF. I read almost halfway through this book before deciding to put to down and move on. Please don't take my DNF to say that it is a horrible book. It's just I could get behind it at all. Let me explain. The structure of the book is short vignettes. At least, that's what the introduction implies. I thought I would be reading short vignettes or essays from James' life in Paris. But no. These "vignettes" are based mostly off of Facebook posts James made throughout...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Cian O hAnnrachainn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher---

You're looking at the schedule for the summer hols and you envision yourself in your car, ferrying the kiddies to football and dance and swim lessons and what-all. It's not so much the travel as it is the wait time, and what do you do with yourself that can be managed in short bursts?

That's where "Paris in Love" comes in.

It's not so much a memoir as it is Ms. James' Facebook and Twitter postings, gathered together into a book. There's not a plot...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a delightful book! I picked it up because like many Americans, I have a fascination with Paris, and since I have never been, reading this book was like living vicariously through the author. The format of the book is a bit strange, but it works really well. Each chapter begins with a short essay, and then the rest of the chapter are bits and pieces of Mrs. James's musings. It's basically her expanded twitter entries. The book talks a lot about food (which I love to cook, read about, and...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books

This was an interesting memoir of Ms. James' year in Paris - although I am a bit unsure as to why she wrote her memoir under her nom de plume, maybe it was for marketing reasons because fewer readers would have known who she was if she used her real name.

Nonetheless, the book is charming - although perhaps a bit too lengthy. Reminiscent of A Year in Provence, the major difference here is that these seasonally-arranged personal essays are followed by numerous, sometimes only tangentially-related...more

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About Eloisa James

New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa's very first book that she "found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar"; later People Magazine raved that "romance writing does not get much better than this." Her novels have repeat...more

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“I never did learn how to live in the moment, but I did learn that moments could be wasted and the world would continue to spin on its axis.” — 11 people liked it

“It's so beautiful here. You must come before you die.” — 2 people liked it

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