Paris in the Dark Glows With Tension and Intrigue
Paris in the Dark struck me as the quintessential literary thriller. It has both fine prose and an intriguing plot, reminding me of Furst and Follett.
Bruno Schulz Imagines an Insane, Ecstatic World
Bruno Schulz was a writer, painter, and literary critic in early 20th-Century Poland. I’ve always admired his work. It’s surreal and strange but amazingly compelling. The other day I came across my copy of Street of Crocodiles, a collection of short fiction that’s his signature creation and couldn’t resist sharing my ideas about it here. Wild Words That Resonate When…
How Little Plant Shops Inspired a Big Paris Dream
I’ve always thought owning a plant shop would be a fun job. I wouldn’t want to manage a full-on nursery, that seems too complicated, but I wouldn’t mind owning a small store that specializes in rare and unusual plants. An Oasis of Greenery This is because I’m convinced plant shops are dreamy. I can think of one in particular in…
Murder on the Left Bank Left Me Breathless
Reading a Cara Black mystery is like a brisk jog. You trot alongside private investigator Aimée Leduc as she pieces together clues and sometimes runs for her life while solving a murder. Meanwhile, the sights and sounds of Paris go by: hot bread, honking horns, lovers in a park. It’s always a chic, action-filled journey and Black’s latest novel, Murder…
Five Fantastic Books to Help You Dream About Paris
One of my favorite things to do is hang out on the couch and flip through picture books about Paris. If I can’t be there in person, at least I can be there in spirit. My fascination with the city is about art, romance, architecture, food, history, plants, and leisure. I loved Paris before I lived there and I love…
The Tense Theatre in The Witch Elm
The Witch Elm is an impressive novel. It’s a riotous exercise in prose and character and suspense whose ending literally left me breathless. But it has one flaw that has disappointed hardcore Tana French fans: a suspect as the narrator. I myself didn’t particularly mind but apparently most longtime fans did. They yearned for her usual complex detective protagonist while…
