Join me for....The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter

Hi there!

So…today’s post. Hmm. Hard time focusing on it with how busy work was today and a certain midnight movie release that I’ll be attending tonight/tomorrow morning. (I wonder if you can guess which one THAT is? ^_^)

…but I did manage to wrangle some time and my thoughts to bring you something new, something refreshing, something from gay olde Pariee…I mean, Paris. It’s a literary walk through the city of lights with a good helping of bookish goodness. Shall I reveal today’s title? Here goes. Today’s book of choice is….

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World

By

John Baxter

This is a case of how one is captured by a book; for me, it was the title and the cover more so than the actual content. Allow me to explain. First, the title….who WOULDN’T want to experience that and when you find out it’s set in Paris, it’s almost a guarantee. They are known as the city of lights for a reason and their beautiful architecture speaks for itself. Second, let’s look at that cover. Every time I look at it I get lost in the waterways of the top image or imagine myself strolling down the lamp lit street below. The subtle use of color in both give them a warm glow, inviting the reader to take that first step on the pathway to greater things. Now about those “greater things”…I’d like to share a quick quote from the book if you please as it’s from the late great Mark Twain….

“Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

There’s a certain charm in it’s descriptive truth and certainly a state of being that is worthy of the effort. Beyond the beautiful cover and promise of a remarkable time though, the story within isn’t entirely disappointing…it’s just not quite what my imagination thought it might be. You see I was prepared for a sweeping narrative with bookishness to spare and while there were literary references along with the discovery that others (as in visitors to the city) could appreciate them as well, there was a lot more real life that seeped in between the lines.

In all my reading excitement, I think it slipped my mind that this was in fact a MEMOIR, a travel one nonetheless. I’m not opposed to the genre, as I’ve read and shared my experience with them before, but unfortunately this one didn’t quite meet my expectations. Will it meet yours? Hard to say…but if you do decide that French is the language of reading love for you, grab your beret, a glass of wine and settle down for a journey through life from a residents point of view.

Review copy courtesy of the great folks at Harper Perennial. (THANKS!) For more information on this title as well as their complete catalog, feel free to visit them online at the Olive Blog or follow along on Twitter. This book is already released to the reading world and should be available at a bookstore near you.

Until next time…BREAKING DAWN IS ALMOST HERE - WOO-HOO! …and happy reading!  ^_^