Green Books Campaign: Paris Times Eight - Deirdre Kelly

Title: Paris Times Eight
Author: Deirdre Kelly
Published: 2009 Pages: 304
Genre: Memoir/Travel
Rating: 4.5/5

Before I begin, this review is part of the Green Books Campaign organized by Eco-Libris. Today 100 bloggers are posting reviews at the same time of books that were printed in an eco-friendly manner. It is a worthy cause, so be sure to check out and the other participating blogs. Paris Times Eight is printed on FSC-certified, acid-free paper.

Paris Times Eight is Deirdre Kelly's memoir of growing up as a Canadian with a deep love for Paris. Throughout her young adulthood and as an adult she traveled to Paris eight times and each time her experience was shaped by the events that were happening in her life: from the first time when Deirdre traveled to Paris as an au pair in her late teens and falling in love with the city for the first time but feeling like an outsider to later slowly feeling the embrace of the city in her other visits as a news correspondent or as an adult seeking refuge from the craziness of her life.

I really loved this book. I fell in love with Paris along side Deirdre and I loved seeing how her mindset at each point in her life gave her a different outlook to the city. For Deirdre Paris is a city of intrigue and mystery, comfort and connection, heartache and loneliness. Each time she visited she learned a little more about herself and her desires. Paralleled with her travels to Paris are the events in Deirdre's home life in Canada with a difficult mother and a career as a journalist that sometimes took her sky high and sometimes to rock bottom. Deirdre Kelly takes great care in writing about all of her experiences and made me feel like she was pulling me into an intimate embrace.

Two quotes. The first comes from the first chapter and the second from one of the later chapters. The quotes parallel one another and show how the city treats her on each visit. In the second she is with her fiance, Victor, who has never visited Paris before:

"In Paris it seemed I would always be on the outside looking in. No matter how much I wanted the city to embrace me, it would always keep me at arm's length while wagging a finger in my face. I had rarely fit in--at home, at school, among my peers. But in Paris that feeling of alienation intensified. I didn't belong there, either" (46).

"I thought of the times I had wandered there alone, feeling lost in thought if not in purpose. I remembered that Paris, on previous trips, had sometimes made me feel alienated, isolated, alone. I felt Victor's arm around my shoulders, holding me tight. There was a logic to Paris when seen from above, close to the clouds. The streets had an obvious order that made them easy, all of a sudden to navigate. I told Victor we should go back down into the city to explore it for ourselves" (231).

I really recommend this book, especially to those who love armchair travel or memoirs. Kelly's writing style is fairly straight forward but she writes with such a raw honesty that it was impossible not to feel a connection to her. Due to the span in years this book covers, the growth that Deirdre accomplishes is also easy to feel and recognize. She shows such passion for Paris as a city but also Paris as a feeling and a way of life and I love how varied the city is, like a living organism that is constantly changing and growing and evolving. Just as we all are.


Again, thanks to Eco-Libris for sharing this book with me and allowing me to be apart of their Green Books Campaign.




I am an Amazon Associate. If you purchase Paris Times Eightthrough this review I will receive a small portion of the purchase.

Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes

Title: Under the Tuscan Sun
Author: Frances Mayes
Published: 1996 Pages: 280
Genre: Memoir/Travel
Rating: 3.5/5

Lately I've come into a lot of timing issues with books--as in "I probably didn't like X book as much because of bad timing." For this book, though, the timing was absolutely perfect. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it. Let me see if I can explain. Lately my reading has been sporadic at best. I've found that it's hard for me to enjoy a book as much if I have to continually put it down after reading only a few pages. For this book, though, because of the richness in the writing, sporadic reading actually worked toward my reading pleasure. When I had ample time to read the last 100 pages in one sitting, I noticed my enjoyment went down. Basically, this is the type of book to enjoy in small snippets.

Under the Tuscan Sun is an intimate memoir of Frances Mayes' experience of buying and restoring a villa in Cortona, Italy with her partner Ed. Both university professors from San Francisco, they begin spending their summer and winter holidays pouring their hearts and souls into their house, Bramasole, and in the history drenched area of Tuscany. But Mayes does more than just share the struggles of buying a home in a foreign country and working with unfamiliar systems to renovate the centuries old villa; Mayes asks her readers to slow down, take in their surroundings, and really enjoy what life is all about.

This is not a book to devour quickly but rather to savor quite slowly. Instead of writing a simple chronological order of events (although that is there in a way), Mayes takes each chapter and explains a separate part of Tuscan life--the history, the food, the community, the customs, the surrounding towns, family, and so on. Because each chapter is mostly self-contained, with the exception of the continuing construction work, Under the Tuscan Sun lends itself well to picking up and putting down. And because of the richness of the language, I would recommend doing just that so as not to burn out on Mayes highly descriptive language:

"On my way out, I see a man in a sweater, despite the heat. The trunk of his minuscule Fiat is piled with black grapes that have warmed all morning in the sun. I'm stopped by the winy, musty, violet scents. He offers me one. The hot sweetness breaks open in my mouth. I have never tasted anything so essential in my life as this grape on this morning. They even smell purple. The flavor, older than the Etruscans and deeply fresh and pleasing, just leaves me stunned. Such richness, the big globes, he heap of dusty grapes cascading out of two baskets. I ask for un grappolo, a bunch, wanting the taste to stay with me all morning" (112).

The whole book is filled with descriptions such as the one above and I constantly felt I was transported to another time and another place. Under the Tuscan Sun made me yearn for a life where I could just stop and look around. My life is so go go go that I don't always sit back and enjoy the moment. And as I was reading this book I was racing around Europe trying to see as many things possible in a very limited amount of time--something that she scorns in the book. Is it better to see everything or to take one place and truly immerse yourself within the culture and community? I have a tendency to go for the first, but it's good to slow down every once in a while.

Under the Tuscan Sun is all about experience and Mayes' diary-like writing was perfect for me at the time. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have found myself frustrated or even bored by this book. Yes, the writing is sensuous and scrumptious, but I had to keep myself from asking "what is the point?" There doesn't always have to be a point. If you like travelogues, I'd certainly recommend this book. I definitely enjoyed it more than A Year in Provence, which tackles many of the same subjects but in France rather than Italy. Unlike with A Year in Provence, Mayes breathes life into this book. Oh, and watch for her mouthwatering recipes she includes!

A note on the movie adaptation. I LOVE this movie. Love it. Could watch it over and over (and have). The movie took a very huge departure from the book--while many of the little details from the book were put into the movie (like the quote above), the plotline itself is completely different. Kind of a disappointment to me while reading this book, but it also allowed me to experience the story with fresh eyes.

Do you have a favorite travelogue/travel memoir? A book that truly transported you to the places described?



For a balance of opinions:
Melissa at Book Nut
Mary at BookFan
(Let me know if I've missed yours)

Also shared on Cym's Book Review Party Wednesday--check it out!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt

Title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Author: John Berendt
Published: 1994 Pages: 388
Genre: Non-Fiction/True Crime
Rating: 4/5

The first time I read this book, I’m not entirely sure I realized it was non-fiction until after I finished. Half of me wants to believe that the characters in this book can’t possibly be real, but part of me hopes that they are as colorful as Berendt explains them to be. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is an exposé of Savannah, Georgia during the early 1980s. Reporter/writer John Berendt happened upon Savannah during a weekend trip and decided to split his time between New York City and Savannah. Over a period of eight years, Berendt got to know many of the Savannahian citizens as well as their habits, quirks, and deep dark secrets.

The book is divided into two parts—the first half focuses mostly on different people Berendt befriends during his stay in Savannah and the second half of the book turns into a true crime murder mystery as one of the lead characters, Jim Williams, is accused of murder and has a series of trials. Because this was a re-read for me and I've seen the movie several times (it is super boring by the way), I wasn't as interested in William's case this time around. Sure it is fascinating and I think you'll be pulled into the details, but what I got out of my second reading was just how dynamic the citizens of Savannah truly are.

Some of my favorites are Luther Driggers whose hobbies include carrying flies around on string and threatening to poison all of Savannah if he has a bad day; Joe Odem who everyone loves despite the fact that he probably owes everyone a little money here and there; Jim Williams who throws the most luxurious parties in his restored house filled with expensive antiques. And of course, Williams is the central character of the book who causes a stir in Savannah when it becomes known during his murder trial that he is a homosexual--something the refined upper class wasn't quite sure how to handle in the early 80s. My favorite character, is hands down The Lady Chablis. Chablis is a transsexual drag queen who meets Berendt after receiving her monthly shot of horomones. You never know what's going to come out of Chablis's mouth and she loves ruffling feathers everywhere she goes.

One thing I noticed in my reading this time was how much race and sexuality were at the forefront of the story. Everything is very black and white for the Savannahians and I'll admit that reading some of the passages made me a little squeamish because of the backwardness of their beliefs. From what Berendt notes, desegregation was actually a very smooth process for Savannahians during the 1960s. There were no major protests and the whites and blacks had gotten along fine for decades before desegregation. Berendt implies that even though there was no big protest or rebellion or outcry, it is understood that both will have their own societies and there is no need for real mixture between the two races. Now, this book was written 15 years ago and set almost 25 years ago, so I can only hope that things are a little more progressive now.

Do I recommend the book? Without very many reservations. I haven't met anyone who read this book and didn't like it. Simply put the characters are incredibly vibrant and memorable, and that alone makes this a worthwhile read. It's the perfect armchair traveler book and has me itching to make road trip plans out to Savannah. I loved the atmosphere--the southern gentility and charm, a little old world mixed with the new world, and the dark brooding tone of the second half of the novel. Berendt and Williams dabble in a little hoodoo with a woman named Minerva when Williams' murder trials don't seem to be going as planned. All of these things combined with Berendt's rich storytelling capabilities create an exciting and entertaining read. I didn't record my original thoughts on the book, but I think my initial rating probably would have been 4.5 out of 5.

Have you ever read a non-fiction book that felt like reading fiction? Was there a book you read that made you want to visit that locale immediately?



**For a balance of opinions:
CJ from My Year of Reading Seriously
Robin from A Fondness of Reading
Stacy’s Bookblog
Tim from Blogging the Bookshelf

And in case you're curious, yes, I've read The City of Fallen Angels as well.

A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle (and Lentil Soup Recipe)

Title: A Year in Provence
Author: Peter Mayle
Date Finished: March 16, 2009 #13
Published: 1989 Pages: 207
Rating: 3/5

The way that my f2f book club works is that each member is responsible for their own month--picking the book and setting up the meeting. This has worked great so far and we've had a really diverse selection of reads. After the initial horrible book club pick for March, the "hostess" quickly chose another book for us to read. I think this book was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, or in other words bland.

Peter Mayle and his wife (whose name isn't mentioned that I can remember!) pick up one day from deary England and move to Provence. A Year in Provence is just that--their first year in Provence. This travelogue, though, isn't as much about their experiences as expatriates, but rather a look at the Provincial culture. Lots and lots and lots about food. Lots about the work ethic of those who help renovate their house, work that takes the entire year. Lots about different events and festivals that occur in Provence. Lots about the tourists that travel to Provence and create headache for the natives.

I think I would have liked this book better if it contained more of a personal account. Very little is said about Peter and his wife such as why they moved to Provence, what they did in England before the move, how they adjusted to the new lifestyle. The book did make me very hungry, though! It is very light reading, but not very exciting either. Like I said before, bland. We did have lots of yummy bread and brie at the meeting, though! That definitely left me much more satisfied than the book did.

***************************************************************************
Lentil Soup (from Betty Crocker)
This book made me crave food so badly, that I decided to make homemade soup for the first time in years (with fresh bread of course).

3 slices bacon, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced (about ¾ cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 cups water
12 ounces dried lentils (about 2 cups)
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 Tbsp. snipped parsley
1 Tbsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ to ½ tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes
1 cup water

Fry bacon in dutch oven until crisp; drain on paper towel. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to bacon fat; cook and stir over medium heat until celery is tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in bacon, 4 cups water, the lentils, bouillon cube, parsley, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Heat to boiling; reduce heat.

Cover and simmer until soup thickens, about 1 hour. Stir in tomatoes (with liquid) and 1 cup water (may need more water if too thick). Simmer uncovered 15 minutes.

Serves 6 (1 ½ cup servings).

Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck: A Review

Title: Travels With Charley In Search of America
Author: John Steinbeck
Date Finished: September 22, 2007
Pages: 275
Rating: 4/5

In the 1960's, John Steinbeck felt as though he lost his connection with America, so he set out with is French Poodle, Charley, to rediscover it. He basically traveled in a great loop around the country - beginning with New York across to Washington, down the coast, and through the southern states. Since I have had a bad case of wanderlust recently, this book was great for me!

Along the way, Steinbeck tried to make friends with the locals to get a feel for their particular locale. He did not throw around his name, but he did use Charley shamelessly to get his foot in the door. Steinbeck's narrative was very endearing to me. I felt he was really honest in what he wanted to say. There were some places that he loved, but others that really irritated him. Overall, at the end of the trip, I'm not sure that he was able to reconnect with America because the country itself is so unconnected in many ways, and I think Steinbeck really mourned this.

In many ways this book is outdated, but I felt that this was some of the charm in the book. I loved how Steinbeck described trailer parks with utter astonishment, it was humorous to hear him talk about traffic in the metropolitan cities and the vastness of Texas (he apparently did not like the state), and he spoke about civil rights issues with passion and fury. I would recommend this book - it is light and other than his tendency at the beginning to skip around from subject to subject every paragraph it was a solid read.

Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert: A Review

Title: Eat, Pray, Love
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Pages: 331
Date Finished: September 16, 2007
Rating: 4.25/5

I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it like I keep hearing most people say they do. But I still really enjoyed it. At the beginning of the book, Liz explains her situation - a rather desperate situation. Her life seems to be falling apart all around her so she pleads with God to help her figure things out. What she decides is to travel for a year: first to Italy where she can learn the beautiful language and search for pleasure; second to India where she will live in an Ashram and devote her time to mediation; and finally to Indonesia (Bali, specifically where she will try to balance the pleasure and spiritual lives she lived in Italy and India.

What I really liked about this book was Liz's frank attitude. At times she reminded me of my old hero Bridget Jones - one starts to wonder, seriously? how could things get any worse but she also handles her situations with grace and humor. Her narrative was very personal and I found her humanness very easy to relate to. I found myself becoming Liz's personal cheerleader - wanting her to succeed in her searches and to find the happiness she so deserves. Honestly, I'm not sure what it is about the book that is keeping me from screaming I LOVE IT I LOVE IT, but there is just something...

I would recommend this book to a number of different people. I actually dropped it off at Mom's house last night for her to read when she has finished with the HP series - and usually I base my recommendations on whether or not I would pass the book on to Mom. There is just something about Liz that makes you want to really like her. But she isn't perfect--she has her really ugly moments, which to me makes her all that much more likable.