Paris

I was almost too young to understand my sister's early death. But I was not too young to understand this book and how it helped me. It is about the same situation I was in. A small boy's sibling dies and he notices she is gone. The parents tell him what death is about and how it is alright to remember and talk about Jess. I was only four and could not quite read, but my mom read me Where's Jess almost every night. This is a helpful book for children and parents.

My three children all enjoyed this fun ABC book. I'm ordering a new copy for a nephew. Each page has a fun question pertaining to a particular alphabet letter. The child lifts a flap and the answer to the question is given in words beginning with the particular letter. For instance, for "V" the question is, "Who's in the Van, Vera?" The child opens the door to the van and the answer is "It's a vampire visiting with a vulture". It's been years now since we've read the book, but we can all still recall some of the pages. This is a fun book for parents and kids to enjoy together. The pages are of heavy paper and durable. Our book survived all three kids with only one repair. The kids are now entering their teens and the book has been laid to rest in my cedar chest. I hope to enjoy it again with grandchildren someday.

Notes and commentary by Darlene Gay Levy, Harriet Branson Applewhite, Mary Durham Johnson. Almost 200 years ago, the women of revolutionary Paris were demanding legal equality in marriage; educational opportunities for girls, including vocational training; public instruction, licensing, and support for midwives; guarantees for women's rights to employment; and an end to the exclusion of women from certain professions. The editors have uncovered, translated, and annotated sixty documents which shed light on these and other socioeconomic struggles by women and the impact on the French Revolutionary era. This work makes a significant contribution to the growing appreciation of the role of women in history, politics, ideology, and social change. "This unique collection of documents will be a boon to teachers in history and his scholars of the French Revolution... Recommended." - Library Journal. "For anyone studying the fight by women for equality, this is a most important work, not least because it adds to the increasing emerging evidence that women have been fighting for a fair position since well before the 19th century." - The Book Exchange. "Three women scholars... provide some profound and interesting commentary. The documents are fascinating and often quite touching." - Newark star ledger.

This book of interviews with women writers, originally done for the Paris Review, is the finest book I have ever encountered on women writing or doing any committed creative work. There's really nothing like it out there. It is a prize in itself.

This is the best book I have read that is clear and to the point. It deals with Axis II disorders in a way that I have not seen any other author do it before! Clear and to the point! Realistic expectations and great treatment modalities. The research and background info is phenomenal.

I am so impressed at how detailed and well researched W.Scott Haine's book is on the cafe. You will find all the information you are looking for on this subject, whether its historical details or the social aspect of this French institution. Great for research projects or just for an increased knowledge on Parisian life and culture. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in the social life of the people of France.

It's a damn shame that this eight-part series published by Penguin and edited by George Plimpton and Malcolm Cowley is no long available. This series is truely one-of-a-kind, and the quality of the writers who participated will likely never be duplicated. These remarkable interviews by the Paris Review explore the motivations, habits, and techniques employed by some of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

This second work in the series includes interviews with Ezra Pound, Hemingway, Huxley, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Henry Miller, Boris Pasternak, and Katherin Anne Porter, just to name a few. The intelligence and imagination of both the interviewee and interviewers comes shining through, and the reader is kept continually entertained. If you can get your hands on a used copy, I heartily urge you to do so.

A collection in which each article contains at least one essential guide for life. Though diverse in experience and outlook' all these writers truly know the reasonong behind their work. They pass on the reason to live.

This is an excellent first book by Malaurie Barber. It tells the story of Chloe Jones, a young American who signs on to be an au pair for a family in Paris for a year. She's greeted at the airport by tall, dark, enigmatic Laurence Glairon, the oldest daughter in the family, who appears to be as happy to see Chloe as a toothache. Though Chloe is immediately captivated by young Clement, she will learn that this family contains some dark secrets. She will also learn about herself as she and Laurence begin to slowly trust each other, form a friendship, and then discover that they both want more. This book has a number of surprising plot twists that keep it interesting. One little irritation is that, of course, many of the characters speak French and no translation is provided, but it doesn't detract from the flow of the story very much. You'll find yourself drawn into this book and wanting to know the two central characters. The author has a web site where she has provided the follow up story if you want to find out what eventually happens to these two. It's full of twists also and hopefully is headed towards publication.

No one has a way with words quite like Victor Hugo. He has a completely unique way of setting up a situation and an exceptional knack for coming up with complex, yet enjoyable plots. Les Miserables, his most ambitious work, is arguably one of the greatest literary accomplishments ever and I truly loved it.

This, however, would be lost to any of the readers to this edition, b/c they are not truly reading Hugo's great work, they are reading a version that has been nipped and tucked to fit into the publishers' idea of a good book; that is, one short enough to keep today's average, short-attention-spanned readers from becoming bored. In reading this book, you are admitting to the publisher that you are too lazy and dumb to grasp real literature or appreciate beautiful use of language when you see it. If you want to read a great book, read the original, don't read this censored rubbish.

For months I procrastinated in reading Les Miserables. I would pick it up only to put it right back down again, its sheer size, 1400+ pages, crushing my more literary instincts and enveloping me in a fear of "the book that never ends". I had seen the musical and the movie, so why read the book? I could use it as a doorstop. Finally, my insatiable curiosity got the better of me. I had to know the whole story, all the fine details that Hollywood and Broadway left out. Les Miserables as Hugo intended it to be. I was well rewarded for the effort. The book is ten times better than any reproduction on screen or stage. Hugo has woven so many threads into this story, so many characters of such vivid depth, they brought tears and laughter, fear and anger as I traveled back in time to 19th century Paris. It is the characters that make this story so beautiful, though the plot is gripping enough. Jean Valjean, an ex-convict and the central character in the story, is surrounded by myriad characters who, for better or worse, help shape his struggle for redemption. There is Fantine, the virtuous woman turned prostitute aided by Valjean in her final hours; Cosette, Fantine's daughter, the sole source of light in Valjean's life; Javert, the fanatical representative of the law who keeps Valjean on the run for 20 years; Marius, the idealistic youth who finds true love; and finally Thenardier, the sly innkeeper turned criminal whose grasping deviltry creates havoc for Valjean. Add to this a string of secondary characters who engage our hearts no less firmly than the others. I suppose I am a true romantic. I cried when Eponine, Thenardier's daughter and sometime accomplice, gave her life for unrequited love. I laughed as her brother, Gavroche, tripped through the streets of Paris like a miniature Gallic Robin Hood, simultaneously thieving and helping those in need and possessing an uncommon wit for an uneducated street urchin; then, cried again when he died along with the revolutionaries, Enjolras and his gang, whose fanaticism somehow did no damage to their appeal and made their inevitable demise heart-rending. I could go on and on, but there are too many extraordinary characters in this book so, in short, don't use the book as a doorstop. Read it. It is a masterpiece.

This 1400+ page book follows the life of Jean Valjean, a man sentenced to nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. The story begins in 1815, shortly after Jean Valjean is released from prison. He seeks lodging for the night with a bishop, but steals away the next morning with a set of valuable silver. Caught, he is brought back to the bishop, who proceeds to make him a gift of the silver, and tells him to use it to start a new life for himself. Due to constraints on review length, I will not go into a full synopsis here - I'm sure you can find a good overview of the story in one of the other numerous reviews here, but rather I will discuss some key aspects of the text.

I really loved this book. Hugo's writing is excellent, and he does a superb job of tying all ends of the story together. Nothing in the book is irrelevant to the central plot, even if the connection cannot be seen immediately. Hugo captures the intricacies of human interaction, and how one event can set off a chain reaction. For example, if Monsieur Myriel, the Bishop of Digne, had not forgiven Jean Valjean for his theft and given the silver to him under the condition that Jean Valjean use it to make a better life for himself, then Jean Valjean would never have reformed. He would not have settled down, become Monsieur Madeleine, and built a fortune and good reputation. If this had not happened, then Jean Valjean would not have become connected with Fantine. He would not have become Cosette's benefactor. Cosette would have grown up with the abusive family to whose care she was entrusted, and would have lived a miserable life. She certainly would never have met Marius.

This book, set in the decades following the reign of Napoleon, provides tons of information on the time period. Reading the reactions of different characters to historical events helped me better understand the differing mentalities of the era. Marius, raised by his grandfather, adopts anti-revolutionary ideas and disapproves of the Napoleon. But when Marius finally discovers the truth of his father, he switches viewpoints. His father served under Napoleon, and had beliefs in direct opposition to Marius's grandfather's. When his father dies, Marius is gripped with guilt at having shunned him. He takes it upon himself to learn all he can about Napoleon and his time, and ultimately adopts his father's philosophy, estranging himself from his grandfather. This highlights the societal rifts created by differing political viewpoints, even between family members.

Hugo had two main points to make in this book. One, that every action has consequences, often surpassing expectation; and two, that life is not black and white - there are shades of grey. I have addressed the first of these with the example of the kindness shown to Jean Valjean by the Bishop of Digne. The second point is well-made via the character of Javert. The police inspector is driven by duty. For him, something is either right or wrong, with no middle ground. Jean Valjean has broken the law and must be punished. Motives and circumstances make no difference - a crime is a crime. Because of his inflexible viewpoint, Javert is shaken when Jean Valjean later spares his life. He would rather have been shot than saved by a criminal. His upheaval is compounded when he discovers Jean Valjean, carrying Marius, at the exit of the sewer. A criminal that saves not one, but two peoples' lives is incomprehensible to him. Javert fails to reach a conclusion that satisfies his strict philosophy. He cannot bring himself to condemn the man that has saved his life and asked nothing in return, but not to do so would go against what he sees as his duty. Caught between these two ideas, and unable to justify either, he throws himself into the Seine and drowns. Had Javert been able to see the world in shades of grey, he would have realized that Jean Valjean was a victim of circumstance - a good man, forced by events beyond his control to break the law.

Some books are difficult to understand due to a lack of supplied background information. Les Miserables is just the opposite. For the most part I really enjoyed the book, but there are several point at which Hugo goes overboard in his description, to the point where the information isn't necessary. These sequences become tedious at times, like slogging through a deep mire. My motivation to go on was the interest I had in the central story, knowing that eventually the book would return there. Examples of such overly long tangents include the Battle of Waterloo sequence, the description of Paris street life, the history of the convent where Jean Valjean and Cosette hide, and the history of the Paris sewers. At these points it seemed almost as if Hugo were attempting to make the book into a history text, rather than a novel.

On the whole, however, I was very satisfied with the book. As I have said, Hugo's writing is excellent. His detailed descriptions of everything in the story makes it come alive. Referencing specific street names in Paris gives it realism. Minute details of human interrelations are captured vividly, and one feels as if the characters are real. There were points where I felt great compassion for Jean Valjean in his nobleness despite hardship, and places where I detested Marius for his insensitivity. There were places at which I was greatly annoyed with Cosette for her naivete and submissiveness, and toward the end I even pitied Javert for his inability to resolve his internal turmoil. The invocation of such emotions in the reader are signs of a good writer. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It will remain one of my favorites for a long time to come.