Editorial Reviews:
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For centuries Paris was the destination of writers from the provinces and from across the ocean, and the city swiftly became an integral part of the lives and work of those who went there. Literary Paris profiles thirty writers and the apartments, cafes, bistros, theaters, museums, and other places central to their daily lives and featured in their work.
Literary Paris opens with Moliere, whose farces lampooning man’s vanity and hypocrisy delighted the royal courts. In the next century, we glimpse the destitute Zola, so hungry that he ate sparrows caught on his windowsill, and the perpetually bankrupt Balzac who, hoping to evade creditors, required friends to give a secret phrase–“Apple season has arrived” or “I come with lace from Belgium”–to gain admittance into his quarters.
Among the twentieth-century writers profiled are Georges Simenon, creator of wildly popular detective novels, who in Paris began an affair with the sensational Josephine Baker; F. Scott Fitzgerald, who, instead of finding the “new rhythm” he sought, burned through his money and talent in the City of Light; as well as Henry Miller, George Orwell, James Baldwin.
Women writers include the scandalous Colette; George Sand, friend of Lizst and lover of Chopin; and the sophisticated New Yorker correspondent Janet Flanner.
Great city landmarks are here, including Notre Dame Cathedral, where Quasimodo imprisoned Esmerelda in Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, and the Louvre, where in 1911 the Mona Lisa vanished in a scandal that ruined the poet Guillame Apollinaire. Also featured are the beloved cafes integral to the city’s culture, such as Café Flore, where Simone de Beauvoir claimed a spot by the stove each morning to write while her lover, Jean-Paul Sartre, was off at war.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Charming anecdotes
Comment: Wonderful book for bringing an additional literary and historical depth to the world's most beautiful city. The perfect book to carry along as you stroll from cafe to cafe.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I only wish this book was longer
Comment: I received this as a gift and loved it. I will review it again before my next trip to Paris (AFTER the US/Euro exchange rate moves in the US dollar direction,) and may take it with me. You can read a few pages at a time and this is great because I like to read a bit before bedtime. Since the entries are short you can finish one or two at a time. I got the feeling it would be great to travel to Paris with the author.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A delightful view of Paris
Comment: There are plenty of guide books to Paris, whatever your preference. Powell's attempt to provide a view of Paris through the lives of writers who have lived there is an inspired idea, as so many of these people have helped to shape Paris in our imaginations. It is delightful to think of walking through the streets of the city and thinking about the writers who have lived there. While the Cafe de Flore is happy to acknowledge that Sartre and de Beauvoir hung out there, it's more fun to think that one can find where Arthur Rimbaud invaded the life of Paul Verlaine, or where Janet Flanner liked to hang out to hold court. Beautifully designed and illustrated, I know I'll be using it on my next trip to Paris to enliven neighborhoods I thought I already knew.
Customer Rating:
Summary: More than a Guide
Comment: I picked up the book expecting the typical drivel so often encountered in this genre. Happily mistaken and captivated I was to discover the level of research and insight invested into this gem. Written with unbridled enthusiasm and discerning charm, Literary Paris is a must read. Bravo, Ms. Powell, bravo!
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