I think this got a big writeup in the New Yorker - it looks good.

Jacqueline rose, one of my fave scholars did a lecture on it...and if she loves it then i must read!

oooh-you went to shakespeare and co.! i am green! what did you get?

I got 3 books by Florian Zeller, 1 by Benoit Duteutre and 1 by susan Daitch....french writers. And two canvass bags! How are you? Emsil me, we havent spoken in so long x

I was putting off reading this book because I didn't want to be "ruined by it. " I love Grossman as a person and know that he lost his son pretty much as described in this book. After seeing your one sentence review I have decided that I will read it.

Anne, I feel like any review I would attempt to write would be a betrayal. It is such a piercing novel, it will stay with you.

Im so glad youre going to read it.

Another friend of mine just read it and gave it 5 stars. I will read it when I'm in the mood for this kind of book. Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

Your review has me sold - did you visit the St. George's bookstore in Berlin? that's my favourite.

Yes I did it was amazing! I bought 3 books, a Lorca bio, H.D on her analysis with Freud, and some German contemporary writer.

There was another store in Prenzlauberg...it was equally as good...i must remember the name.

Sounds like you went to wonderful bookstores in wonderful cities. I hope you saw and did a bit more than bookish things.... D)

My vacation was amazing, met my relatives in Albania which was utterly mindblowing.

Berlin I stayed with my first and greatest love, and he broke my heart for the second time, and just as I was about to leave his apartment and escape to a hotel, I got robbed of all my money/cards: but the city and bookstores were amazing.

Then Barcelona and my favorite Paris were healing.

I certainly did more than bookish things, rest assured. I walked and ate and danced and saw art and magnificent architecture.

Great. Glad to hear it.

Paris is the place to take your broken heart, for sure. I love the San Francisco Book. co and Berkeley books by Jardin du Luxembourg. I used to live in Paris, I have many nostalgic memories of finding a book and taking it to read in Luxembourg on early springtime mornings. Those were the days!

Talking of contemporary German writers, have you read Jenny Erpenbeck, she's wonderful..

Hi Isadora, after reading your reviews, and seeing your taste in books I can see how you would utterly suit Paris. The scene which you just described to me is my wildest dream. Unfortunately, I must learn french in order to live there, and have just enrolled, but it will take me so many years. At least I have the EU passport to begin with...Each time i visit Paris I cry all the way home...which is 24 hours on the plane. Were you studying there? I have not read jenny Erpenbeck, i will look her up now...

I studied film there - I was in love with the French new wave films and determined to go to Paris when I was younger. I have such acute memories of that time - I've always thought that if I returned to Luxembourg, very early in the morning with some Rilke in tow, I'd be able to retrieve all the pieces of myself I've lost since then. I find Paris and London for me both are like barometers I measure myself against, as I always return to them.

If you have the EU passport you should take the leap - you can always pick up the language as you go along. My old Australian roommate spoke non-existent French when she got to Paris, was fluent in no time, is now married and perfectly French (although she has retained her Aussie humour!).

Berlin has become one of my favourite places, I find it the perfect antidote to New York, everyone appears to be simply living, I love it.

Berlin was amazing, I was staying with the 'love' in Prenzlauberg, and everywhere i went there was just such a vibe: everyone was just living, as you said. And, i couldnt agree more with your comment about it being the perfect antidote to New York.

That is encouraging, your tale of the Australian with non-existent French. I have considered this option, I am just trying to figure out a way to do it and be able to still do the PhD that I just started. At the same time, I am tired of Australia, while it has its own charm (mostly in nature), Australia has no culture, and is so small (not in scale, in terms of the cities and their inhabitants).

London has such grand energy, it too would be a place to just live and to vibrate creatively and intellectually.

Would you move?

I was staying beside the Luxembourg gardens, so I am picturing you reading Rilke there.

What a great achievement to have gone and studied new wave films there, i am getting The Dreamers in my minds eye.

I have never been to Australia, but my Aussie friends feel much the same as you - it is of course such a youthful country though, in comparison. I am attracted to the landscape, I love the films of Peter Weir - Hanging Rock and The Last Wave (this is my perception of Australia!).

I am English, so I grew up just outside of London, it's a city I've known my whole life. I miss the people there enormously, I miss the verbal shorthand, the general sense of the absurd that people have.

So really I am an outsider here in New York, which I enjoy, but really miss the European sensibility (If I can make such a generalization), the groundedness.

I would love to move to Berlin. I spent the summer before last there (the one when England lost to Germany in the world cup!) and I remember, after getting off the plane from NYC, having to almost re-train my body to walk around as if I wasn't being chased by the weight of the world.

Although the relaxed sense you get there of people sitting around and existing, does come from the fact of their being little jobs and economy there. I have recently been doing some freelance writing work, so if that gathers speed I am hoping Berlin might be a possibility for me.

Paris, on the other hand, always has opportunities for English speakers. I had odd jobs there (my French was awful).

I suppose you can complete the PhD fairly remotely, right? I don't know - Australia isn't exactly an easy commute, that 24 hour plane must be killer.

As for Bertolucci, the Conformist is one of my most favourite films. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

this sounds really good!

Emily, you will love it!

Isadora, I will reply properly tonight.