Thrust into the unlikely role of professional "literary walking tour" guide, an expat writer provides the most irresistibly witty and revealing tour of Paris in years.
In this enchanting memoir, acclaimed author and long- time Paris resident John Baxter remembers his yearlong experience of giving "literary walking tours" through the city. Baxter sets off with unsuspecting tourists in tow on the trail of Paris's legendary artists and writers of the past. Along the way, he tells the history of Paris through a brilliant cast of characters: the favorite cafÉs of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce; Pablo Picasso's underground Montmartre haunts; the bustling boulevards of the late-nineteenth-century flÂneurs; the secluded "Little Luxembourg" gardens beloved by Gertrude Stein; the alleys where revolutionaries plotted; and finally Baxter's own favorite walk near his home in Saint-Germain-des-PrÉs.
Paris, by custom and design, is a pedestrian's city—each block a revelation, every neighborhood a new feast for the senses, a place rich with history and romance at every turn. The Most Beautiful Walk in the World is your guide, par excellence, to the true, off-the-beaten-path heart of the City of Lights.
“We are the beneficiaries of John Baxter’s considerable, vivid love for the expatriate life in Paris. ... The Most Beautiful Walk in the World is as close as a reader can get to the feel of a languid spring walk along Baron Haussmann’s boulevards.” (Los Angeles Times )
“A splendid memoir ... Reading The Most Beautiful Walk in the World is the next best thing to a Paris vacation.” (Boston Globe )
“Anyone who loves Paris and loves to walk will feel this book was written just for them. ... Charming.” (USA Today )
“Fabulous . . . the perfect companion for anyone inspired to hop over to France after seeing Midnight in Paris” (NPR.org )
“One of the smartest nonfiction titles for summer reading ... Baxter tracks both the city’s history and the many celebrated figures who have savored the art of walking in one of the world’s most beautiful capitals.” (Christian Science Monitor )
“A lovely book ... Full of unexpected pleasures ...Parisians claim that walking walking around Paris is an art form in itself, and Baxter proves them right. (Chicago Tribune )
“A man with a great appreciation of what makes Paris tick.” (Newsday )
About the Author
John Baxter is an acclaimed film critic and biographer. His subjects have included Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, and Robert De Niro. The co-director of the Paris Writers' Workshop, he is the translator of Harper Perennial's Naughty French Novels series, and is the author of Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas, We'll Always Have Paris, and A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict. He lives in Paris.
Product Details
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition (May 24, 2011)
John Baxter was born in Sydney, Australia, but raised in a small country town called Junee. With little else to do, he went to the movies three times a week for most of his adolescence, which provided an instant education in Hollywood movies with which he was often able to embarrass film celebrities ("You SAW that thing?") His second interest, however, was science fiction, which he began writing in his late teens. He sold stories to the same British and American magazines as J.G. Ballard and Thomas M. Disch, and in 1966 his first sf novel, THE GOD KILLERS, was published in both the US and Britain. He also edited the first-ever anthologies of Australian science fiction, and wrote the first history of the Australian cinema. In 1969, he came to Europe, settled in London, and began writing books on the cinema, including a biography of the director Ken Russell, and studies of John Ford, Josef von Sternberg and the gangster and science fiction film genres, and working as an arts journalist for various magazines, and for BBC radio. He also served on the juries of European film festivals. In 1974 he was invited to become visiting professor at Hollins College in Virginia, USA, where he remained for two years. While in America, he collaborated with Thomas Atkins on THE FIRE CAME BY; THE GREAT SIBERIAN EXPLOSION OF 1908,and wrote a study of director King Vidor, as well as completing two novels, THE HERMES FALL and BIDDING. Returning to London, he published the technological thriller THE BLACK YACHT. In 1979 he moved to Ireland, and the following year returned to Australia, where he co-scripted the 1988 science fiction film THE TIME GUARDIANS, starring Carrie Fisher and Dean Stockwell. He also wrote and presented three TV series on the cinema, and produced and presented the ABC radio programme BOOKS AND WRITING. In 1989 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a screenwriter and film journalist. The following year, he met his present wife, Marie-Dominique Montel, and re-located in Paris. After moving to France, John published biographies of Federico Fellini, Luis Bunuel, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas and Robert De Niro, as well as three books of autobiography, A POUND OF PAPER: CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK ADDICT, dealing with his fascination for collecting books, WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: SEX AND LOVE IN THE CITY OF LIGHT, of which the SUNDAY TIMES of London wrote "it towers above most recent memoirs of life abroad," and IMMOVEABLE FEAST: A PARIS CHRISTMAS. His most recent book is CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, a guide to erotica in the 20th and 21st centuries. His translations of MORPHINE by Dubut de la Forest and FUMEE D'OPIUM of Claude Farrere will be published shortly by HarperCollins. John is co-director of the annual Paris Writers Workshop and a frequent lecturer and public speaker. His hobbies are cooking and book collecting. He has a major collection of modern first editions. When not writing, he can be found prowling the bouquinistes along the Seine or cruising the Internet in search of new acquisitions.
This review is from: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris (Paperback)
I've been to Paris a number of times and I love the city. I also like reading Paris books. This is not a book for first timers nor is it a book that will provide you with much practical tour information, if that is what you are seeking. The walking described is not the "begin at Point A and finish at Point B" type.
This book is primarily (but not exclusively)about the Latin Quarter, where the author lives, and concentrates on the more "colorful" side of the Quarter, particularly as pertains to the American expat literary figures who haunted the area.
This is definitely an entertaining read. The author is a long time resident, married to a French woman and apparently fluent in French. He also works part time as a guide. So it is clear that M. Baxter is very much a part of the city he loves. I learned quite a few tidbits about places I've been to and not been to. If you are a lover of Paris, you will enjoy this book.
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This review is from: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris (Paperback)
I've just read several of the other comments and was a little puzzled, did we read the same book? Mr. Baxter
delivered just what the book title and jacket describes: a pedestrian in Paris, a memoir of the author who gave 'literary
walking tours," and his version of 'the most beautiful walk in the world." And indeed it lives up to those descriptions and is very well written, interesting, and often funny.
Yes, it's not a travel book of Paris, but it didn't purport to be one. And yes, I certainly agree that if you put a map in the book, ensure that it is correct. But don't let those things detract from reading a pleasurable and satisfying memoir.
I've visited Paris twice, so I'm not an expert by any means, however Mr. Baxter's 'walks' have given me loads of information for a literary walking tour when I visit again.
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This review is from: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris (Paperback)
Although I agree to some extent with the other reviewers, I enjoyed this book. I have read other John Baxter books and this one is similar to the others - especially "An Immovable Feast." His books give me many "ah-ha" moments - because Baxter is married to a French native as am I. We often spend a month in Paris in a rented apartment and try to experience the City rather than being tourists. This book gave me insights - although I would agree it is not a guide to Paris especially for first time visitors. This is really more of a memoir or a book about "traveling through life." I would put this in the same category as Adam Gopnik's "Paris to the Moon," although I have to admit that I preferred Gopnik's book.
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