NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "The finest book on France in recent
years."--Alain de Botton, The New York Times Book Review
In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar
comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of Paris.
In the grand tradition of Stein, Hemingway, Baldwin, and Liebling,
Gopnik set out to enjoy the storied existence of an American in
Paris--walks down the paths of the Tuileries, philosophical discussions
in cafés, and afternoon jaunts to the Musée d'Orsay.
But as readers of Gopnik's beloved and award-winning "Paris Journal" in
The New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and
carrying on with la vie quotidienne--the daily, slightly less fabled
life. As Gopnik discovers in this tender account, the dual processes of
navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely
dissimilar--both promise new routines, new languages, and a new set of
rules by which each day is to be lived. With singular wit and insight,
Gopnik manages to weave the magical with the mundane in this wholly
delightful book that Entertainment Weekly deemed "magisterial."