Occupied France: Suite Francaise

“Némirovsky is able to stand apart and describe not just the people who rise to the situation, but those who petulantly insist on retaining their privileges, or find ways to cheat and steal from others for their own benefit.”

Provence: The Grocer’s Son

“The director, interviewed in the film’s press kit, claims that he removed the most beautiful scenes because they would have distracted from the story. Imagine that. Provençe is even more beautiful than portrayed.”

Paris: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

“An American writer finds he has to rein in his American tendency to blurt out questions and rush acquaintanceship.“

Normandy: Madame Bovary

“At the time he published it, critics were shocked at his(Flaubert’s) portrayal of s-e-x. They missed the descriptions of the land and people–an aphrodisiac to the traveler.”

Cévennes: Travels With a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson

“..this area was wracked by wars between the dominant Catholics and the Protestants in the late 18th century.”

Bonus read:

I must admit that my favorite of my jottings about France did not appear here, instead I talked about a dinner conversation in Normandy over a Your Life Is a Trip. This article stirred up quite a bit of comment and controversy in the comment section, so if you go, read that, too.

“When I travel, I prefer to observe and learn, not proclaim political beliefs. Above all, I don’t want to be the know-it-all American, assuming the right to lecture.”

Do any of these articles appeal to you? Which one would you choose to pass on to friends?

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Running on the Map

The Great American Road Trip: A directory

Are you planning a Road Trip? Here’s a state-by-state directory of the travel literature and travel movies we have recommended in the past 14 months, as we crossed the country on the Great American Road Trip. Find each one by plugging info into the search box on the far right.

Road Trip Across America from West to East

Hawaii: Shark Dialogues (novel) by Kiana Davenport, guest post by Kris Bordessa

♥Southern California: Farewell My Lovely (classic mystery) by Raymond Chandler

Northern California: Cannery Row (classic novel) by John Steinbeck

Nevada: Charlie Varrick (Movie) (bank heist movie)

Oregon: The Heart of the Beast (novel) by Joyce Weatherford

Alaska: Insomnia (movie thriller)

Washington: The Baker Brothers (comedy movie)Guest post by Beth Whitman

Idaho: Five Skies (novel) by Ron Carlson

Montana: The Way West (classic historic novel) by A. B. (Bud) Guthrie

Wyoming: Come Again No More (novel) by Jack Todd

Colorado: Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid (western movie)

Utah: The Mountain Between Us (novel) by Charles Martin

Arizona: Going Back to Bisbee (memoir) by Robert Shelton

New Mexico: The Guardians (novel) by Ana Castillo, My Town (novel) by Margaret Randall and Po’pay (history) ed. by Joe S. Sando and Herman Agoyo

Texas: The Last Picture Show (novel), Lonesome Dove (western novel, TV series)by Larry McMurtry. Guest post by Ruth Pennebaker

Oklahoma: Mountain Windsong (mystery novel) by Robert J. Conley

Kansas: In Cold Blood (classic non-fiction crime novel and movie) by Truman Capote

♥Nebraska: My Antonia (classic historic fiction)by Willa Cather

South Dakota: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (children’s book) by L. Frank Baum , a guest post by Kristen Gough

*North Dakota: Movie: Fargo (detective movie ), a guest post by Sam Lowe

Iowa: Movie: Field of Dreams (movie)

Minnesota: Vermillion Drift (mystery novel) by William Kent Krueger

Wisconsin: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (novel) by David Wroblewski

Michigan: Thank You, Mr. Falker (children’s book) by Patricia Polacco and Weird Michigan (humor, guidebook) by Linda S. Godfrey, a guest post by Kristen Gough

♥Ohio: The Thurber Carnival (classic humor collection) by James Thurber

The Great Lakes region: The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the GREAT LAKES (non-fiction travelogue) by Ted McClelland

Indiana: Movie – Hoosiers (Movie drama)

Illinois: The Book of Ruth (novel) by Jane Hamilton

Missouri: Puddin’head Wilson (clasic novel) by Mark Twain

Arkansas: Farther Along (novel)by Donald Harington

Louisiana: A Free Man of Color (historic mystery novel) by Barbara Hambly

Mississippi: The author William Faulkner (classic American novelist), guest post by Paul Kaser

Alabama: Gods in Alabama (humor, novel) by Joshilyn Jackson

*Florida: Nature Girl (mystery novel) by Carl Hiaasen

Georgia: A Man in Full (novel) by Tom Wolfe

South Carolina: Bull’s Island (mystery novel) by Dorothea  Benton Frank, a guest post by Margo Millure

*North Carolina: The Last Child (thriller novel)by John Hart

Tennessee: Movie – Nashville (classic movie)

Kentucky: No Heroes (novel) by Chris Offutt

*West Virginia: Movie – October Sky (drama)

Virginia: Sister Jane’s Foxhunting Books by Rita Mae Brown and Mrs. Murphy Mysteries by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown, (all mystery novels) a guest post by Paula Price

Maryland: Chesapeake Blue (romance novel) by Nora Roberts

Delaware: The Du Ponts: Houses and Gardens in the Brandywine 1900-1951 (non-fiction) by Maggie Lidz

♥New Jersey: Independence Day (novel, also movie) by Richard Ford

♥Pennsylvania: An American Childhood (memoir) by Annie Dillard

*Northern New York (Buffalo): City on the Edge (non fiction)by Mark Goldman

New York City: Charming Billy (novel) by Alice McDermott

Rhode Island: We’re There Rhode Island (children’s book) by Elizabeth S. Grumbach

New Hampshire: The Good, Good Pig (memoir)by Sy Montgomery

*Maine: The Lobster Chronicles (memoir)by Linda Greenlaw

Vermont: South of the N.E. Kingdom (memoir) by David Mamet

Connecticut: Ice Storm (Movie drama)

♥Massachusetts: Dogtown (non-fiction) by Elyssa East

♥*Kickoff of Road Trip: Blue Highways (road trip memoir) by William Least Heat-Moon

*The asterisk indicates the most popular posts from the Great American Road Trip. (An imperfect measure, since the ones at the bottom of the list have been around longer and have therefore had more opportunity to gain readers.)

♥Indicates my personal favorites

Don’t forget that for each stop on our road trip, Music Road supplied musical background. Take a jaunt over there and check out some of her great suggestions. Kerry has a beautifully written and useful blog, and I encourage you to check it out.

If you have a friend who could use this list, please let them know about it with the easy share buttons below. THANKS!

What was your favorite Road Trip post? Your own state or someone else’s? Where should A Traveler’s Library go next? I’m always open to suggestions.

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The Geography of November? Vienna, Texas, Arizona, France, Egypt, New Mexico, Utah, Ireland, Oklahoma, Scotland, Iran, Oklahoma.

Ten Most Popular Posts

Two about movies, three about my personal travel, three by guests, five about books, one about Passports With Purpose.

1. A Mystery Book and a Taste of Vienna a guest post by Kristen J. Gough. She talks about a mystery book set in Vienna, her experience living in Vienna, and gives us a link to a Vienna torte recipe.  THANK YOU, Kristen for writing the post that got more than two times the visits as the 2nd post on this list!

2. Being a Cowboy in Wickenburg, Arizona This travel post described our weekend stay at the luxurious guest ranch, Rancho de los Caballeros. Those wonderful folks also donate a 3 night stay worth $1500 to Passports With Purpose. You can have a chance to win it for a $10 donation. Yippee! for los Caballeros!

3. Ten Perfect Gifts for Travelers Who Read. Among the other gifts, three new books were mentioned in this post: Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust to Go, Lonely Planet’s Moveable Feast, edited by Don George and the Museyon Film + Travel  Guides. Not to mention suggesting you check out Interlink Publishing.

4. My post on Passports With Purpose gets traffic as people visit to check out the prizes I’m hosting–Rancho de los Caballeros in Arizona and the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. Are YOU in??

5. Remembering the Veterans of Normandy. Ken’s and my visit to Normandy and the book he was reading as we traveled.

6. Agatha Christie’s Egypt. A wonderful guest post by Benedict Davies, an Egyptologist who reads more than scholarly papers. Don’t miss this one. He contributed some lovely photos, too.

7. Movies that Travel. A peek at two coming movies that travel, and some websites for travel/movie fans.

8. Books for the Road Trip to New Mexico. Three authors, three cultures of New Mexico

9. Movie Review: Secret of Kells. This review by movie guru, Jane Boursaw of the Film Gecko, sold me on going to the gorgeous film. (The clip helped, too!)

10. Osiyo. Another post about travel rather than books or movies–this tells about my visit to Oklahoma with the Cherokee Nation and the invention of their alphabet.

TOP COMMENTERS

Bloggers are catching on to the fact that in coming links are a very good thing. And everybody who manages to comment frequently at A Traveler’s Library, will be rewarded with a link to his/her blog. Not only that ALL bloggers who comment are rewarded by being able to highlight a post from their site when they comment, thanks to Comment Luv. And as for the rest of us–we just love to hear the conversation.

Among visitors who commented five or more times in November, we have three ties.

First place with 8 comments:

• Kerry Dexter of Music Road
• Richard Mussler-Wright, of no blog at all.

Second place with 7 comments:

• Kristen J. Gough, of My Kids Eat Squid
• Jessie Voigt of Wandering Educators.

Third place with 5 comments:

• Casey Barber of Good. Food. Stories.
• Sheryl Kraft of Mid Life Matters.

REFERRALS

And now for the beloved people who send readers over to A Traveler’s Library. As usual, search engines and Stumble and Twitter and Facebook get lots of credit, but there are other folks being helpful as well.  These are the ones who sent the MOST traffic in November.

• Passports with a Purpose (Have you checked out the prizes yet??)
• Lonely Planet Because I’m a L.P. BlogSherpa and my posts go on their site.
• My Itchy Travel Feet I wrote a guest post for this NUMBER ONE RATED Baby Boomer Blog about visiting Bayeux
• Practical Travel Gear I wrote a fun guest post for this very useful web site about 5 Things to Pack
• Paperback Traveler Although this site is on hiatus, there are some good traveler literature reviews to be seen.
• Midwest Guest Dominique lists articles she likes, and she’s referred to ATL .
• Mother of All Trips One of my very favorite family travel sites.

December will be a short month, as we’re taking a break after December 17, so read fast!!

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Larry McMurtry's Book Store

Destination: Texas

Writer: Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show)

A GUEST POST by Ruth Pennebaker

I feel so fortunate to have Ruth Pennebaker, a Texan through and through, as our guest today.

Also check out Music Road for the musical sound track to accompany the road trip. Kerry Dexter says,” From the Gulf Coast at Galveston to border at El Paso, from windswept landscapes of the Permian Basin to the Riverwalk in San Antonio, from the hill country of Austin to the cattle country of Amarillo, Texas is a state filled with music and with the names and lives of towns, cities, musicians, and places that resonate through music’s past and present.”

Enjoy Ruth’s words about a Texas writer, and then read about her own latest accomplishment in the bio at the end. VMB

Years ago, my husband and I prowled around the acres of books housed in tiny Archer City, Texas.  Archer City is close to Wichita Falls, which might not tell you much, a dot on the plains where the wind blows hard and the sun scorches the earth.  You wouldn’t expect to find tens of thousands of books in a place like this, unless you knew this is the hometown of Texas writer Larry McMurtry, the town immortalized in the classic movie The Last Picture Show.

McMurtry's Booked Up

We browsed through the aisles of Booked Up, along with the other curious tourists, walking through room after room of books collected over the decades by McMurtry, who’s a rare book collector and dealer, as well as author.  Then we saw McMurtry himself.  I drew in my breath, hoping my husband recalled the stories I’d told him about McMurtry’s legendary scorn for any fan foolish enough to compliment him or profess admiration.  In the years he’d owned a rare bookstore in Washington, D.C., the writer had been notorious for pitching any gushing admirers out of his store.  He didn’t want to talk about his novels, he didn’t care that you’d liked them, that they’d meant something to you, that you felt some kind of connection to him he didn’t feel to you.  He wanted you gone, if you couldn’t keep your fawning mouth shut.

Both my husband and I would have been guilty as charged.  We’d loved Lonesome Dove: A Novel, McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a cattle drive – a sprawling, wonderfully engrossing epic of the American West.  And I’d particularly loved Terms of Endearment, a sharply observed novel full of the complicated, restless, searching female characters McMurtry is famous for.  But we stayed silent as McMurtry passed by us, grizzled and brooding.

It’s been a long mystery to Texans who love to read (and wipe that smirk off your face, pilgrim: we do exist) why McMurtry is so contemptuous of the people who love his work.

Reading reviews of his latest volumes of memoirs, I’ve come across repeated mentions of how little pleasure or pride he takes from his lifetime of work.  Most of his books, he feels, are second-rate or worse, hardly worthy of any acclaim they’ve gotten; little wonder he can’t bear to be around readers who have enjoyed them.

Maybe that sentiment makes you think of Groucho Marx and the club he wouldn’t want to join.  But it makes me think of Woody Allen, instead: another man and artist who’s given such enjoyment to wide audiences, but lacks the capacity to find pleasure in what he’s done.  (As you may remember, Allen’s original title for Annie Hall was Anhedonia, or the absence of pleasure.)

So, my husband and I left Archer City and headed north into Oklahoma.  So what if McMurtry doesn’t like me or the rest of his reverent fans?  Maybe, in a part of the world where the sky and land and weather are harsh and unforgiving, you get the kind of writer with a similarly unyielding temperament.

My advice is to enjoy his body of work nevertheless.  Sink into the sprawling, wonderful, real-West saga of Lonesome Dove or watch the acclaimed TV mini-series of the same name.  Look at the lonely landscape of a desolate small town in The Last Picture Show in either print or in the aching, black-and-white melancholy and sly humor of the movie.

But seek shelter if you’re around the author himself or the fierce Texas elements.

Ruth Pennebaker (Photo by Marsha Miller)

Ruth Pennebaker’s new novel, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough, comes out in January.  She’s a columnist at the Texas Observer and blogs at The Geezer Sisters.

Even though the new book isn’t about travel, I recommend it heartily because of Ruth’s incredible way of drilling into human feelings and coming up with a Texas bonanza of truth. (You can pre-order at Amazon, by following the title link). Thanks so much for sharing Texas, for the road trip, Ruth.

You might also want to read: Steinbeck and McMurtry Hit the Road; and Who Writes Texas?, which talks about McMurtry and others.  And thanks to the photographers who allow us to use their work through a Creative Commons License. Click on the pictures to learn more about them.

Do you have a McMurtry favorite? Or is there another Texas writer you prefer? Let’s talk.

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Hollywood Stories

Book: Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies! by Stephen Schochet

I’m breaking some new ground here. First, I haven’t posted on a Saturday for a long time. But when I returned from France, I realized that I would never be able to cover all the very good books that are being published in September and October within my usual four days a week. So I invented the Saturday Matinee.

That happens to be an appropriate name today because I  will talk about Hollywood Stories.

But what am I doing talking about a collection of short anecdotes?  Here at A Traveler’s Library, we generally prefer beautifully written narrative–fiction or non, focused on a single place–not a random collection of tidbits.

And third–did you notice the exclamation mark at the end of the sub-title? Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies! Now there’s a sign that I would turn up my nose at this book for sure.  If  writers should limit themselves to three exclamation marks a year, they should limit themselves to ZERO in titles and subtitles, for Heavens Sake. But it does certainly have the authentic over-the-top publicity seeking aura of Hollywood, doesn’t it?

However, all that said, I dipped into Hollywood Stories and found that Stephen Schochet managed to make me shove aside my literary snobbishness and get replaced by  my oh-so-common curiosity about the gods and goddesses of the silver screen. The book was fun. And intriguing. A guilty pleasure like a box of chocolates hidden in the desk drawer (do you watch The Closer?), and I just kept snacking and snacking.

So much for pretensions of elitism. I’m enjoying tales of old movie makers like Groucho Marx and Clark Gable and John Wayne and Mae West and newer ones like Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep and Quentin Tarantino. Have a favorite? Look in the index. Gene Hackman–6 mentions; Julie Andrews– 3; Clark Gable--11.

Stephen Schockhet

And where do all these stories come from?  Well, Schockhet is a Hollywood tour guide and these come from the material he gathered for his spiels to tourists, or things he observed as he drove the tour bus. He also hosts a one-minute radio feature called Hollywood Stories, and has written two audio books: Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales of Hollywod.

Would you like a real tour instead of just a book tour? Contact Schockhet for a personalized tour of Hollywood. Now I have become just another Hollywood flack, I think I’ll go out to the snack stand and get a bag of popcorn.

West Hollywood Vacations

This book was furnished by the publisher for review purposes. For more about movies, see Paris Movie Walks, Perfect French Movie, and for more about California see On the Road to California, Rushed Road Trip Parts I and II.

Have you ever taken one of those “Homes of the Hollywood Stars” tours? How about a tour of the Hollywood Cemetery or Forest Lawn?  Or have you done the studio tours?

All this talk about Hollywood has me itching to spend some time in L.A. How about you?

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Match up Australian choices with Go Backpacking’s list of travel movies that was featured here last Monday.

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THE Oscar

Well another year of Oscars are history, and as usual, I had not seen enough of the Acadamy Award nominees to judge, and those that I DID want to win did not.  I still think Meryl Streep was incredible in Julie and Julia, but then, maybe the Academy is just weary of honoring her year after year. Maybe they should just create a Meryl Streep award and give her that each year for her superior work, and then get on to giving out the also-ran awards to all the other folks in Hollywood.

Perhaps I’ll try harder to see the new movies next year, and we’ll give the Traveler’s Library Best Movie Destination award. What do you think?

Meanwhile, here are two very thought-provoking lists of movies that make you want to go there from one of my favorite sites, Go BackPacking.  I know these lists have exteneded MY Netflix list a bunch. Enjoy!

Oh, and before you go, please note that my favorite movie site, Film Gecko has moved to this location. Jane Boursaw stays right on top of things, and by golly she even  picked Hurt Locker (filmed in Jordan)as best picture when everyone else was betting on Avatar (filmed in the imagination of creator James Cameron)!!.

Now, heeeeeeeere’s Go Back Packing:

From Go Backpacking–Top Ten travel movies with a bonus ten

Follow up to the original post: Go Backpacking

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Heidi and Peter at Heidiland

Destination: Switzerland

Book: Heidi by Johanna Spyri

My friend Donna L. Hull reminded me that September 13 is Grandparent’s Day. At her Baby Boomer adventure travel site,  My Itchy Travel Feet, Donna is celebrating by telling Baby Boomers about trips they can take with their grandchildren.

My mind, of course, went straight to books that grandparents might use to introduce their grandchildren (or parents there children) to foreign lands…and what better book for grandchildren than Heidi, the classic children’s book about a girl and her grandfather, set in Switzerland.

Parts of this children’s book might be  rough sledding for young readers, (it is rated for 9 to 12 year olds) but once the storyline sets Heidi free high in the Alps with grouchy old grandfather, playmate Peter and all those goats, imagination soars. As a child, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to be able to take a crust of bread and a piece of cheese and wander out on mountainsides of green grass and meadow flowers all day along with friendly goats.  I could hear the sound of the bells, and almost taste the cheese. Although, it did rather stretch credulity that grandfather made that cheese right there in his mountain hut!

I learned from Heidi’s Grandfather that grouchy people sometimes are actually sad, and that if you give them enough time and try not to be annoying, they will eventually come around. Later I read something called Heidi Grows Up and that was okay, but growing up and getting married was not something I could relate to. Grouchy old grandparents, I could. And I learned from Heidi’s care of Clara, her crippled cousin, that compassion can conquer all.

When I finally traveled to Switzerland as an adult, I heard the bells echoing across the mountain meadows, bouncing off the cliff sides, and felt that I had been transformed into a little girl with braids and dirndl skirt in my beloved children’s book.

My parents gave me the lushly illustrated  Illustrated Junior Library edition of Heidi when I was young, and I still treasure that book.  These are beautiful books, hard cover, with gorgeous full page color illlustrations supplemented by black and white drawings, and the best news: You can still find them.*

And I think movies must have been made nearly every year of Heidi, including an early one starring Shirley Temple, that doesn’t seem to go near the mountains. If you believe Amazon.com reviews, the [amazonify]B000FFL2H0::text::::2005 movie starring Max Van Sydow[/amazonify] stays closest to the book, which would be a good thing, but you’ll have to report back to me, since I have not tested out any of the modern movies.

Switzerland‘s savvy tourism department aims to please tourists with images of Heidi-land, and you can follow the Heidi trail in the village of Maienfeld in the Graubündun,  the home of Heidi.

I was shocked, while doing this research, to learn that the book, Heidi‘s Years of Wandering and Learning, (the full title) is 129 years old. (Let’s just keep that between ourselves, okay?  Today’s children would never forgive us for foisting something that old on them.)

*Amazon.com‘s used book sellers have copies of the Illustrated Junior Classics edition. I also found it at Powell’s and Exodus, a Christian, home-schooling book seller. You can buy many other editions, including a paperback version of Illustrated Junior Classics, but for real book lovers, the hardback excels.

See other children’s books:  One about Japan, here. Africa here, Costa Rica, here,France, Michigan, and Rhode Island.

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Running on the Map

Put Your Place on the Map

Have you read a book or movie that really nailed your state, your region, your country?  The place where you live?  What reading or viewing do you recommend to people who want to see what your territory is like? Add your choices to A Traveler’s Library.

TAKE TWO MINUTES–TAKE A SURVEY

Please click here to take this brief  survey and make suggestions of books and movies that best represent your state, region, or country.

Of course, you can leave comments as usual, but it is much easier for me to keep track of your replies to this question if you actually fill in the very short survey. Let me know in the comments section if you have any problems with the poll.

THANKS for your help.

Photograph by Archibald Jude

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Paris Movie Walks by Michael Schurmann

Destination: Paris

Book: Paris Movie Walks: Ten Guided Tours Through The City of Lights! Camera! Action!, by Michael Schurmann

I was going to say “You don’t have to be a movie fan to enjoy this book.”  But who among us is NOT a movie fan? And who has seen a movie set in Paris and NOT wanted to glide right over the Seine?

It might have been the breathtaking chases of the Bourne Identity. Or perhaps you swayed to Gene Kelly’s dancing in American in Paris.  Or romance, ahh, romance, with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in Somethings Got to Give (2004) or Keven Kline and Meg Ryan in French Kiss (1995) And the camera made love to Audrey Hepburn in many Paris films and I not only wanted to BE Audrey Hepburn, but I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn IN PARIS.

I can not list all of the movies made in Paris, and even Michael Schurmann, himself an American in Paris, does not try to list every movie ever made in this popular location. There are too many.  But Schurmann’s book Paris Movie Walks give you ten ambles through neighborhoods, and each route crosses paths with several movies.

The tours cover much more than just ‘this chase scene took place on this street,’ or ‘this kiss on this bridge.’  Schurmann packs the book with value added.  Although he promises “there will be no endless lists of French monarchs and their annoying mistresses, no stories about poets and painters about whom you know little and care even less” the book does include some references to history and the usual ‘Hemingway slept here’ kind of information. Inclusion of plenty of information beyond movie sets makes the book useful to more people and makes it more useful to all readers.

The book includes

• Tips on dining in Paris without going bankrupt. (Maxims charges €35 for a mousse au chocolat.)
• How to adapt to French culture
• A list of movies with Eiffel Tower shots. (Every apartment in a movie set in Paris has a view of the Eiffel Tower, he says.)
• The evolution of the use of locations rather than studio sets, with an aside on American in Paris. (Did they or didn’t they?)
• The student riots of the 1960s.
• Movies with scenes in or outside the Louvre.
• The best view (and most photographed view in movies) in Paris.

I love this book.

1. I love the useful index that shows which of the walks show scenes from which movies.
2. I love that each walk starts and ends at a metro stop and a metro map is included.
3. I love the list of movies to see before you go.
4. I love the depth of research that went in to the book.

I would love it even more if the maps of each walk showed where the stops are, if the photographs had captions, and if there were not quite so many French language movies included which are unfamiliar to me. Sigh! I guess I’d better spend more time at the Loft Theater, Tucson’s foreign and indie film house.

But on balance, this is a valuable book for the movie lover traveling to Paris, or even the person who just wants to find interesting walks in the city of Lights! without the camera!action!

So I am off to put Amelie on my Netflix queue. I did see it when it came out, but have forgotten much about the Paris background.  And how about you?  Do you have a favorite Paris film? Please recommend it here.  And if you think others would like this book, please share with the share buttons below.

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