A recent family trip to Paris got me thinking about how travel affects reading habits. Can one read at all when everything around you is in a state of flux?
Traveling can be difficult at times, so reading can be an escape from the demands of being on vacation. After hours of walking and looking and trying not to trip on cobblestones, it’s something to look forward to, to relax and unwind, especially if you’ve been taxing your brain trying to speak another language all day. I don’t mean a guide book; as beautiful and important as they are, they can feel like work, too.
I like to check out the airport bookstores, but when publishers go back with mass market paperbacks, the selection of hardcovers and trade paperbacks at the gate is very expensive. Of course there is a Kindle to read if you can’t find the perfect book, but remember to bring an adapter to charge it. My husband loves his Kindle, and even though he doesn’t read mysteries often, he tried it “The Definition of Life and Life” by Sally Smith (Raven Books). He found the second in the Cases of Gabriel Ward books set in early Edwardian London’s Inner Temple entertaining and loved learning about the legal systems at play while puzzling out the whodunit. I have Aimée Leduc’s Investigations series with Cara Black (Soho Crime), all set in Paris. (The first thing is “Assassination of Presidents.”) Aimée is fierce, smart and old like the real person in all the books as she solves crimes in an often unromantic city.
Once you’ve arrived, find a bookstore or magazine store that has English-language publications. It is the basis for recognizing all the words after being amazed by the cafe menu. I bought the international edition of the New York Times, and everyone in the family read something in it. Then when you go back to struggling to buy tea in French with whole milk, no sugar, you won’t feel like your brain is broken.
If you need inspiration that it is possible to speak fluent French to any American, try watching Jodie Foster in her latest movie, “Vie Privée” or “A Private Life.” It’s a fun psychological mystery, set in charming and slightly creepy Paris.
I read a little French before the rusting trip; an old trick is to read a children’s book that you know so well that when you read it again in another language, you will understand what you are reading. This time I chose “Little Women” or, in french, “The Four Daughters of Dr. March.” It was surprisingly comforting that the character’s personality and his actions came through as strongly as before, as I had to look up the words for the hats and the food. What a wonderful voice that Louisa May Alcott had with this book, which is forever unchanged by time.
While I was in Paris I passed many rows of books on the cobblestone bank that were meant to be picked up. I took it “Letters to Theo” by Vincent Van Gogh (Gallimard), his mistakes to his supportive brother who believed in Vincent’s genius, until he opened a gallery in Paris to show Vincent’s work. Did I mention I’m French?
I found a good culinary history can help to understand not only the important food culture, but also the spirit of the place. I took it “Moving Feasts: The Story of Paris in Twenty Meals” by Chris Newens (Pegasus Books). Although I did not visit the mentioned restaurants, I also learned how the people of the Parish appreciate every mouthful as a way of living history. At a local bookstore, I learned “Paris Patisserie: 70 Recipes at the Heart of Parisian History” by Arnaud Delmontel (Rizzoli), an account of the most famous dishes of the French capital for their signature cakes. I was strictly instructed not to bring a heavy book in our bags, but one day I will try my hand at Paris Savoy, a sponge cake that I suspect contains more eggs and butter than any pound cake I’ve ever made.
I thought of re-reading Ernest Hemingway’s Immortality “A Rocking Party” (Scribner), her memoir of living in 1920s Paris with no money but life’s many burdens, or Janet Flanner’s. “Paris was yesterday” (Harper), his never-ending piece of madness on all things French, which ran at the New Yorker for fifty years. I chose to read Mavis Gallant’s “Tales of Paris” (NYRB), short stories that take an outsider’s perspective on trying to understand a French stranger.
I asked a local bookseller for a similar reading and was told to give it a try “The Girl in the Box” by Jean Gordon Kociendo (Sybilline Press), which he gave me in the English translation. It is a fictionalized account of the life of Yosano Akiko, a Japanese rebel and poet who fled to pursue art and independence, settled in Belle Époque Paris with her lover and translated the first English translation of “The Tale of Genji.”
I listened “Another Way of the Road” by Felicity Cloake (HarperCollins), narrated by the author. It was a very funny read as he traveled through France indulging in good food and beauty. Cloake is funny, but what makes this book stand out are the misadventures he gets into while having too much fun, a reminder of the importance of humor when on the road.
It’s true that you’ll feel sad when you leave a place like Paris, even if you’re ready to go home. I will read more books about Paris long after my trip. If I’m looking for a paperback, maybe even in French, I can find a lot at the Concord Free Public Library’s Main Library Bookstore, or at the Friends of CFPL’s June Book Sale on Saturday, June 6. Time to dream about your next vacation — or next summer.
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