Tuesday, July 17, 2012

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Paris, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down


Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This is like a meme within a meme, because I'm taking part in Diane's First Chapter First Paragraph, but my emphasis this month is on France with the Paris in July meme sponsored byThyme for Tea and Bookbath.
I'm focusing on books set in France and it's getting harder and harder to find a book that lots of other people aren't blogging about. I found Paris, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin, figuring even a book that complains about Paris might be better than a book not set in Paris. Here's the first paragraph:

The sun above Paris was a mid-July clementine. I bought copies of Le Monde and the Herald Tribune at a kiosk and climbed the stairs to my new office on the Champs-Elysees. For three hours, I mugged at a laptop, trying to figure out how the e-mail system worked. My fingers were chattering. I spent long, spacey minutes trying to find the @ key. They'd given me a keyboard mapped for French speakers, with the letters switched around.


Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.
Here's a teaser from page 64:

Rachel said, with a kind of sadness I hadn't hear in her voice since we'd moved, "I miss knowing what people are saying. Being part of what's going on around me."

 I think I like this author's voice, even if he does whine about living in Paris.

12 comments:

JoAnn said...

It does seem like everyone is reading the same books for Paris in July, lol! I'm not quite sold after reading the intro... would need a little more before deciding whether to continue.

Anonymous said...

I have 124 books related to France in my Goodreads list. Maybe there are some unknown to yuo: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5215426-emma?format=html&shelf=france

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I can relate to figuring out keyboards...lol

Although mine is not in French, it's just a teeny-tiny one on a laptop.

I wouldn't mind being in Paris, despite the challenges!

Here's MY TUESDAY MEMES POST

Nise' said...

I can't imagine trying to figure out a foreign keyboard!

Lisa-Marie Jordan said...

I like her voice, too! Great teaser!

Book Savvy Babe said...

I love your France theme, that's a great idea! I think anyone can find something to complain about where they live... I would just like reading the French books though, love paris... *sigh* Book Savvy Babe

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

So many books set in Paris that I've been clueless on. I think I'd read on to see how this poor gal makes out....LOL

Bea said...

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Thank you for visiting The Bea's Knees. If you liked the blog, please do follow!

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Thank you!!!

Arti said...

Interesting first paragraph. I can never imagine what it's like to work in a country which language I don't know. Here in this little tidbit, it has shown us so vividly. Yeah... try typing on a French keyboard. I'd like to know what happens next.

carol said...

I found the intro kind of amusing, but I like to think of Paris as magical, special, romantic.

Linda said...

I was thinking of reading this book because I think it shows Paris in a negative light. Paris isn't always easy.

Karen K. said...

I'd be really messed up if they switched around my keyboard. I have a hard enough with the qwerty model I've been using since high school.

However, I cannot imagine whining about living in France.

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