Book review: LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP

"Little Paris bookshop" by Nina George is one of my best reads in 2018. I can't count how many shades of emotions came out of me.

This is story about a man named Jean Perdu. He lives in Rue de Montagnard and also owns Flemish flamboyant barge turned into floating bookstore on the Seine river in Paris (what a lifestyle!). His superpower, or special talent is - knowing which book best suits to his customers. According to his customer's current state - mental, financial, love,... he knows which book he should suggest as a cure. Or which one to avoid. "Pharmacie literaire" or "Book pharmacist" - he likes to call himself. But, he is not happy man. There is one letter, not opened for 21 years. His old love of his life has left him and wrote "Dear John..." letter, which he didn't wanted to open for 21 years. It caused very monotonous life full of anger and grief for his lost love (although he is running floating book store in center of Paris!)

Under some circumstances, he decided to open the letter and read it! Whoh, he knew immediately that he made a big mistake in his life with delaying the reading. In one very impulsive moment, he drives the knots and his barge is floating on the Seine river without compass and rudder. In the same time, his neighbor from Rue de Montagnard Max Jordan, a writer whose newest book became overnight success bestseller and made him famous jumps on the ship. So the duo starts unforgettable journey full of unforgettable adventures sailing to south via French rivers. Max wants to avoid the media attention and run away from it. Jean still has to deal with demons of his past and to find some answers on 20 years old questions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I find this book as something which is impossible to put in one or two genres. Some parts of the book are real life drama, encouraging reflection on the passage of life. How to find the strength in difficult time. How to let go your whole identity full of burdens to reborn yourself as a free entity. How friendships are important. Forgiving and forgetting. Not being vengeful person.

Some parts of the book reminded me on old school French humor which you can find in movies like "The Troops of St. Tropez" or "Pink Panther", (even some modern French comedies) and made me laughing out loud. I couldn't believe that Nina George is German, because the way she wrote some dialogues and described some situations, you think that only French screen players are able to write something like that.

The love part of the story is - well - not the classic one which I expected. But trough the love story part, I comprehend how hard it is to follow the heart and separate it with intellect. If I will write any more sentence - I will spoil which is not my intention. Let's just say that someone liberal will be able to understand it while someone more traditional will find it not so acceptable. But it is a life story after all. Love is not the main drive here, but has a big role.

One of the most important part of the book is that this is a book about - the books. Books are the essence of Jean's life and unlike me, he finds it very easy to make people around him to fall in love with literature. Which is not so easy, IRL, trust me! Even via bribe. Books are source of happiness and link to whole decadence.

To be honest, I expected more about the city of Paris, because of the name. Instead, I ended up on the French riviera but did not regret it at all. Trough the book, you can feel the passion for dance, see the scenic landscape of Provence, taste delicious French wines and dishes and feel the peace of the Mediterranean nights. I live in a country that has a big part of Mediterranean coast and almost every summer I spend there. I am still under huge impression that one German woman brought me back to the Mediterranean summertime and all of it's delights. I felt like I can slow down my hectic busy life tempo adjusting to the rhythm of small coastal town Sanary - sur - Mer. Taste the wine while eating apricots on the terrace. Get chills of the breeze in the courtains of your room while you are falling asleep during the hot summer nights.

In whole this mish - mash of the genres of this book, Nina George turned it also into - the cook book. Yeah - on the end of it, you can find some of delicious recipes of southern French cuisine, which is very similar to the one I know. Have you ever tried lavender ice cream? If not - you're missing a lot. So - join me. Anni's parlour will be opened in summertime. I will serve the ice cream and leave the recipe here on the blog.

Until then - stay tuned for more posts.

Xoxo

My rating: 10/10