Customer Reviews

We'll Always Have Paris: Sex And Love In The City Of Light

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The chapters on sex are much more interesting than the chapters on love. Even so, Baxtrer only traipses into the history of sex by dint of a buddy who keeps the topic alive between them. It's kind of a glancing blow off the topic. The only sex discussed are the eddies related to, and trailing off of specific conversations.

I don't understand why every guy who writes, who has working sex organs, and knocks someone up in Paris, writes about the event as if it were an event I need to know about. I really don't need to know where his daughter was conceived; and functioning sex organs are not as exceptional as they seem to the owner. Look around.

This is, apparently, another hazard of living in France; writing about your succesful reproduction as it it were of interest to others. He might have saved said daughter the humiliation of the event's inscription.

See also Adam Gopnik "Paris to the Moon" which is overall a more successful book.

I enjoyed We'll Always Have Paris, but I loved The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, and Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas Christmas is a delightful dessert to John Baxter's other titles. Keep writing John---and I'll buy them.

When it comes to the subject of Paris there are some travel writers (myself included) who play in the shallow end of the writing pool while a talented few take us into better depth. John Baxter is one of those rare few. This isn't a travel book as much as it is a wonderful, highly enjoyable book that offers some sound and sense to a city that tugs at our imaginations and hangovers. After reading it I added it to my reference shelf...okay, okay....sure for the knowledge of the city but maybe to steal some of his style as well.
Buy the book and buy one for anyone you know who is thinking about going to Paris. They'll thank you and if not, then you can always smack them with the book.

Aside from my loving the subject matter - and I've never even been to France - the splendid prose and constant humor in Baxter's book make it exceptional in style and enjoyment! Also, his quote from John Holmes' "Displaced Person" explains why most Americans would inevitably love France and especially Paris. It's a "keeper"!

There are so many memoirs of expatriats who move to Paris and feel the need to write about their experiences. I am sorry, but this--for me--did not work. While John Baxter may be a very nice man, he comes off as an insufferable name dropper that must reveal to the poor reader his sexual exploits with far too much personal detail. I found this book barely readable and empty. Two books that come to mind (and there are many others) that I can recommend for reading on the subject are Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik and The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. They are very different from each other: the former is told by a family man who is a respected editor (New Yorker) who does what many of us only dream of doing: moving to Paris for a year or two. His essays are very well done and enjoyable. David Lebovitz is a talented baker and ice cream maker who has several good cookbooks under his belt. His memoir is--given my experience in Paris--spot on and hilarious.

Paris has lured many a visitor, pilgrim, and seeker to its world with promises of the good life and culture: here to chart it all is WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: SEX AND LOVE IN THE CITY OF LIGHT. It offers a behind-the-scenes review of Paris, blending the author's own memoir of falling in love in the romantic city with a review of its many lures: literary cafes, music clubs, art gatherings and more. Add a healthy dose of humor and you have a fun, affectionate survey which should not be missed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This was a fun read. There are parts that were a bit dry and boring but overall I enjoyed it. I thought it was really interesting how the author weaved in historical events with his actual experiences in the City of Lights.