Paris Passions: Watching the French Being Brilliant and Bizarre [Paperback]

Keith Spicer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2008

Paris and France as observed wryly and up-close by a long-term North American Paris resident. Seventy-two witty, sharply observed vignettes of daily life, personalities, women, society, culture, history, esthetics, economics and politics, with connecting mini-essays as context and introduction to each topic. A book full of color and humor that skewers French foibles and hypocrisies, while offering clear-eyed praise for France's values and lifestyle. Not a museum-by-museum guidebook, but a book that gives you an intimate "feel" for Paris and France today -- including their ever-present history and the ways French think, react, and look at the world. The author's passion for his "borrowed homeland" suggests that you too might be in danger of falling head-over-heels in love with all things French.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Spicer, a kind of cultural James Bond, slides in and out of the bistros and salons of French society as easily as 007 quaffs a martini ... a delightful book." -- Jim Bittermann, CNN's Senior European Correspondent

Canadian and ex-pat journalist provides a whimsical guide to his many passions in Paris. Both thoroughly accessible and exhaustively thorough, the book places Spicer's journey through Paris and its surrounding suburbs within a global and historical context. With a reporter's wry eye for viewing life sans rose-colored glasses, he seamlessly segues between newspaper column-like sections on gastronomy, parks, architecture, seasonal festivals, historical figures, socialism, taxes, health care, sports, fashion, art, music, film, flirting, ghetto riots, the European Union, "Omnipresident" Sarkozy's love life and various other little-known people and places equally fascinating for being drawn in such exquisite detail. Though photos are included, they pale in comparison to Spicer's enthusiastic, visceral descriptions. However, several typos and printing errors prove distracting, and the last chapters concerning politics and the EU are so jam-packed that they could be the beginnings of another book. But these are minor quibbles, for the work is well-infused with a mind-grabbing celebration of its subject. Even the poetic flourishes fall into humor before cliché. At the Marais, "Parallel ghettos of the mind get along just fine here," while Le Salon "is the setting for France's enduring self-image as a nation of peasants, indeed a people that thinks it invented eating." Even as the author lightly ribs on French narcissism, coming down a bit harder on the country's knee-jerk reactionary leftist politics, his enduring romance with France shines through when discussing such things as the "hazards" of Paris, which include cholesterol and sunburn, and the fact that you may fall in love with "somebody, or anybody, or everybody." Though Spicer discovered the City of Lights over half a century ago, he doesn't fail to recapture why he fell in love in the first place. Contagious exuberance will make you want to give this beloved city a first glance or a second, or even third, chance. --Kirkus Discoveries

“Parisian aperitifs: a lively, quirky celebration of the City of Light... vintage Spicer: torrential, urbane, self-absorbed, smart, scattered and completely mesmerizing... you'll never get bored... a lively and clever celebration of Paris that uses humor and wry observation rather than cliché...” — Doug Fischer, Ottawa Citizen

Review

"Spicer, a kind of cultural James Bond, slides in and out of the bistros and salons of French society as easily as 007 quaffs a Martini...a delightful book."

"To Keith Spicer's loving and amused eye, Paris is still a moveable feast. We should be thankful to his acute and witty pen for reminding us of the unique charms and idiosyncracies of this most unusual and exotic city."

Canadian and ex-pat journalist provides a whimsical guide to his many passions in Paris. Both thoroughly accessible and exhaustively thorough, the book places Spicer's journey through Paris and its surrounding suburbs within a global and historical context. With a reporter's wry eye for viewing life sans rose-colored glasses, he seamlessly segues between newspaper column-like sections on gastronomy, parks, architecture, seasonal festivals, historical figures, socialism, taxes, health care, sports, fashion, art, music, film, flirting, ghetto riots, the European Union, "Omnipresident" Sarkozy's love life and various other little-known people and places equally fascinating for being drawn in such exquisite detail. Though photos are included, they pale in comparison to Spicer's enthusiastic, visceral descriptions. However, several typos and printing errors prove distracting, and the last chapters concerning politics and the EU are so jam-packed that they could be the beginnings of another book. But these are minor quibbles, for the work is well-infused with a mind-grabbing celebration of its subject. Even the poetic flourishes fall into humor before cliché. At the Marais, "Parallel ghettos of the mind get along just fine here," while Le Salon "is the setting for France's enduring self-image as a nation of peasants, indeed a people that thinks it invented eating." Even as the author lightly ribs on French narcissism, coming down a bit harder on the country's knee-jerk reactionary leftist politics, his enduring romance with France shines through when discussing such things as the "hazards" of Paris, which include cholesterol and sunburn, and the fact that you may fall in love with "somebody, or anybody, or everybody." Though Spicer discovered the City of Lights over half a century ago, he doesn't fail to recapture why he fell in love in the first place. Contagious exuberance will make you want to give this beloved city a first glance or a second, or even third, chance.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (December 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439213925
• ISBN-13: 978-1439213926
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,621,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paris-based writer and journalist, former professor at University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Dartmouth College, UCLA, Sorbonne, University for Peace (founder and 8-year director of Program for Media, Peace & Security).
Former journalist (print and TV) in Canada, senior official in Canada (Commissioner of Official Languages, Chairman of broadcasting and telecom regulatory agency, CRTC). Seven books -- aid to Third World, corporate communications, Quebec separatism, children's stories, memoir of public life.
Most recent book: SITTING ON BAYONETS: America's Endless War on Terror and the Paths to Peace (What's Going On, What's Going Wrong, and What Could Go Much Better) - June 2011.
Enthusiastic but incompetent pianist (classical, standard pop). Inspired by children, grandchildren and a brilliant cat called Mendès (after 1950s statesman Pierre Mendès-France). Will stay in France for the long haul, which may not be as long as before.
Websites:
www.parispassions.com (includes blog, reviews & video)
www.keithspicer.com (memoirs)
www.sittingonbayonets.com (War on Terror)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COMMENTS FROM FRANCE, February 27, 2009

By 

K. Spicer (FRANCE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paris Passions: Watching the French Being Brilliant and Bizarre (Paperback)

"Spicer, a kind of cultural James Bond, slides in and out of the bistros and salons of French society as easily as 007 quaffs a martini ... a delightful book."

-- Jim Bittermann, CNN's Senior European Correspondent

"How to love Paris: the handbook."

-- Jacques Rigaud, longtime President of Radio-Television Luxembourg (France)

"Keith Spicer is a master painter who reveals deep truths behind misleading appearances. He describes the strange customs of Paris natives -- sometimes with impertinence, always with humor, and above all with a constant tenderness."

-- Henri Pigeat, former CEO of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency

"What a surprise, and how in every way delightful! I'm enchanted by everything about Paris Passions -- its appearance no less than its contents."

-- James Eayrs, professor emeritus, Dalhousie University

"Parisian aperitifs: a lively, quirky celebration of the City of Light... vintage Spicer: torrential, urbane, self-absorbed, smart, scattered and completely mesmerizing... you'll never get bored... a lively and clever celebration of Paris that uses humor and wry observation rather than cliché..."

-- Doug Fischer, Ottawa Citizen

"...a rollicking and fascinating look at all things French mined from a lifetime of interest."

-- Nelson Wyatt, Canadian Press

"I must confess that (being unfamiliar with [Spicer or his] work, and a skeptic by nature), I didn't expect such an intelligent, yet accessible and amusing, and finely written book. There is depth and breadth and poetry - and truth."

-- Susan Rosenberg, buyer, Brentano's bookstore, Paris

"I devoured this book with great joy, and with many reflections and questions sparked by the author's style and formidable knowledge of people and things. Coming from a friend of our country, his sometimes cruel but always lucid diagnosis forces us [French] to ask if we correspond to his descriptions"

-- Pierre Braillard, senior executive, International Institute of Communications (Paris)

"Canadian and ex-pat journalist provides a whimsical guide to his many passions in Paris. Both thoroughly accessible and exhaustively thorough, the book places Spicer's journey through Paris and its surrounding suburbs within a global and historical context. With a reporter's wry eye for viewing life sans rose-colored glasses, he seamlessly segues between newspaper column-like sections on gastronomy, parks, architecture, seasonal festivals, historical figures, socialism, taxes, health care, sports, fashion, art, music, film, flirting, ghetto riots, the European Union, "Omnipresident" Sarkozy's love life and various other little-known people and places equally fascinating for being drawn in such exquisite detail. Though photos are included, they pale in comparison to Spicer's enthusiastic, visceral descriptions. However, several typos and printing errors prove distracting, and the last chapters concerning politics and the EU are so jam-packed that they could be the beginnings of another book. But these are minor quibbles, for the work is well-infused with a mind-grabbing celebration of its subject. Even the poetic flourishes fall into humor before cliché. At the Marais, "Parallel ghettos of the mind get along just fine here," while Le Salon "is the setting for France's enduring self-image as a nation of peasants, indeed a people that thinks it invented eating." Even as the author lightly ribs on French narcissism, coming down a bit harder on the country's knee-jerk reactionary leftist politics, his enduring romance with France shines through when discussing such things as the "hazards" of Paris, which include cholesterol and sunburn, and the fact that you may fall in love with "somebody, or anybody, or everybody." Though Spicer discovered the City of Lights over half a century ago, he doesn't fail to recapture why he fell in love in the first place. Contagious exuberance will make you want to give this beloved city a first glance or a second, or even third, chance."

-- Kirkus Discoveries

5.0 out of 5 stars A Canadian Loves Paris With Passion, September 4, 2009

By 

Georges Tsai (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paris Passions: Watching the French Being Brilliant and Bizarre (Paperback)

Discover, or rediscover, Paris through Keith Spicer's elegant and seducive prose. He loves Paris - and the French - but he remains true to the French say: "qui aime bien châtie bien". A must-read book before your next trip to the Ville Lumière. All 72 vignettes are entertaining but I particularly enjoyed the vignettes on the Place des Vosges, the relationship between coffee, philosophy and flirting, and the effect rugby has on France's women.

2.0 out of 5 stars C'est la vie, July 30, 2009

By 

Madame Escargot (Franklin, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paris Passions: Watching the French Being Brilliant and Bizarre (Paperback)

A francophile for over 30 years, I looked forward to reading this book. I found it to be a disappointment. For a book that has the words "watching" and "bizarre" in the title, I expected far more pictures of the fun and everyday activities one can observe in Paris. There were very few of those, they were in black and white and not one that couldn't have been your or my vacation picture. Some of the anecdotes were amusing but none were standout. Overall, this was not worth the price. This is the first time I have ever returned a book to Amazon.