Tuesday Paris Reading Rec: THE ONLY STREET IN PARIS
[In anticipation of the publication of my novel, Paris by the Book, next April, I'm recommending a different Paris book each Tuesday. Yes, I missed last Tuesday -- but it was July 4!]
I loved Elaine's book because it does something that most Parisians do but most outside Paris do not, which is to consider the city on a tiny scale. While this is true of many city dwellers -- New York friends of mine in Brooklyn often shake their head at how hard it is to get Manhattan friends to visit them and vice versa -- it seems to me particularly true in Paris. It's not just a city of neighborhoods, but streets, and people have a fierce loyalty to their local shopkeepers. Calvin Trillin has a line somewhere that says his definition of a wimp is someone who doesn't think his hometown makes the best hamburger in America. Change the terms a bit -- baguette for hamburger, hometown for street -- and I think you could apply this to Paris as well. (Where I've never had a good hamburger, though unfortunately my daughters have, over the years, insisted I try several.)
I loved Elaine's book because it does something that most Parisians do but most outside Paris do not, which is to consider the city on a tiny scale. While this is true of many city dwellers -- New York friends of mine in Brooklyn often shake their head at how hard it is to get Manhattan friends to visit them and vice versa -- it seems to me particularly true in Paris. It's not just a city of neighborhoods, but streets, and people have a fierce loyalty to their local shopkeepers. Calvin Trillin has a line somewhere that says his definition of a wimp is someone who doesn't think his hometown makes the best hamburger in America. Change the terms a bit -- baguette for hamburger, hometown for street -- and I think you could apply this to Paris as well. (Where I've never had a good hamburger, though unfortunately my daughters have, over the years, insisted I try several.)
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