We'll Always Have Paris: Sex And Love In The City Of Light [Import] [Hardcover]

John Baxter (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 389 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385606400
• ISBN-13: 978-0385606400
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,429,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Story, Well Done, and Enormously Entertaining, April 18, 2006

By 

Bonjour Poetry Reviews - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light (Paperback)

My husband and I saw this author at our local bookstore, and after hearing him tell stories I had to get this book. I wasn't disappointed. He was a charming, magnificent storyteller, and hey - he lives in Paris so he gets the cool vote right there. So many books are written about Paris that I was hesitate to read another for fear of it being repititive and overdone. This book was neither.

We'll Always Have Paris is part auto-biography in telling the tale of how the author came from Australia and then LA to end up living in Paris. This part blends easily with telling tales of the history of Paris, the great places to hang out in Paris, and the way of life in Paris. Author John Baxter manages to do this all while being enormously entertaining. I read this at night before going to bed and at times had to stifile my laugh for fear of waking my husband. Yes, it's THAT funny sometimes. Readers, get a glass of good French wine and sit back while this storyteller lures you in with what most Americans always wonder - what it's really like to live in Paris.

From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The City of Light and Love- an Unusual Read, September 3, 2006

By 

L. Akers "Bibliophile" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light (Paperback)

John Baxter, an Aussie ex-pat whose tale of moving to Paris and conceiving a child with his French girlfriend is the backdrop for a foray into the attitudes toward sex in Paris, featuring sexual attitudes and locales of the 1920-40's to present. I learned that Georges Simenon, author of the famed Inspector Maigret novels, routinely interviewed his house staff for sexual partners and had an affair with Josephine Baker, the acclaimed black songstress appearing on stage nightly in only a skirt of phallic-symbol bananas. There are mentions of many literary figures and their viewpoints on sex, including Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and more. Not the typical Paris guidebook, but will lead you to places not found in Frommer's.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring it with you to Paris, July 1, 2006

By 

M. Gordon "syracook" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light (Paperback)

I happened to spot this book at B&N the day before leaving for France. Reading about Paris while walking around Paris enhances the experience no end, especially when the book is as equisitely well-written, insightful,charming, and amusing as this one.