Book talk

I'm reading two books right now and they are both good.  I'm glad since I didn't enjoy the last book I read at all.  The first one is called Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.  It's one in a series of books with a private investigator called Jackson Brodie.  This is the first in the series and I have already read the third one.  It's called When Will There be Good News.  I actually read it last year and really liked it.  When I bought Case Histories I thought the Jackson Brodie character sounded familiar but I didn't make the connection until someone at Goodreads mentioned that it was one of a series.  One Good Turn is the second book in the series and I plan to read it as well.  Anyway, Case Histories is set in Cambridge and there are three mystery cases from the past that Jackson Brodie is hired to investigate.  I'm about halfway through the book and it's very well written.

The other book I'm reading is called Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes written by Elizabeth Bard.  It's a memoir of her experiences living in Paris.  She had gone to Paris for a weekend visit and met a Frenchman who she ended up marrying and then moved to Paris to live with him.  There are recipes at the end of each chapter as she falls in love with French cuisine.  It reminds me of all the good food we had during our visit to Paris.  The croissants there are so delicious and much flakier and better than any you can find here.  I usually enjoy memoirs and this one is no exception.

When I started to read Lunch in Paris I used the bookmark I bought in the famous Paris bookstore called Shakespeare and Company.  This was a place on my list of must-visit attractions while in Paris.  Shakespeare and Company was opened in 1951 and is located on the Left Bank opposite Notre-Dame Cathedral in the Latin Quarter.  It's not a big store but is crowded with books and has hardwood floors and lots of charm.  On the bookmark it says they have a reading every week, a festival every two years and the bookshop is open all year round.  It has a neat website - http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/index.php where you can sign up for a newsletter and see which authors will be appearing for book signings.  On the website it says "Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest they be Angels in Disguise."

I spent quite a lot of time browsing in the store (they have new and used books) but I didn't buy anything.  I was looking for a copy of the classic book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path but they told me they were out of it at the time.  It's a book that's been on my list for a long time.  I'm sure I can get it from the library.