Sunday, March 19, 2017

Dreaming of France -- French Rhapsody


Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

I had some extra points on my Amazon account, so I ordered a paperback that I can take with me to France. I'm always looking for something good to read as I travel, and books set in France are
perfect.
I found this book, French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain and didn't even read the summary before I ordered it. I truly enjoyed his novel The Red Notebook, and his other novel The President's Hat was also a fun read.
Laurain is French and sets his books in France with real French people, unlike many of us who write novels about Americans or Brits reacting to travels in France.
This novel tells the story of Alain, who had a band in the 1980s but gave up his music dream and became a doctor. Then he receives a letter that went awry and should have reached him in 1983 that offers him and his band a music contract. Should he track down his band members and try at music again? What could have been if only the letter hadn't gotten lost?
I'll have to resist opening this book until we leave for France. Maybe I should stow it in my suitcase now.
I ordered this book on Friday and it appeared on my front porch today, Sunday. So weird. I have Amazon prime, but I didn't expect it on a Sunday.
How about you? Have you read a book set in France that you love? Please share.
And, if not, I encourage you to try Paris Runaway, It's fast-paced and will definitely put you smack dab in France, at least the way I experience it.
Here's a blurb to tempt you further:
When divorced mom Sadie Ford realizes her 17-year-old daughter Scarlett has run away to Paris, all she can imagine are terrorist bombings and sex slaves. After learning her daughter chased a French exchange student home, Sadie hops on the next plane in pursuit. She joins forces with the boy’s father, Auguste, and the two attempt to find the missing teens. The chase takes Sadie and Auguste to the seedier side of Marseille, where their own connection is ignited. Since the divorce, Sadie has devoted herself to raising kids and putting her dreams on hold, but when her daughter needs her most, Sadie finds that concrete barrier to life beginning to crack. In her journey, she learns the difference between watching the hours pass and living.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France.
I appreciate you sharing your love for France, along with food, books, movies, stories and pictures. Please visit the blogs of others who play along so we can share the love.  

6 comments:

Sim Carter said...

Like I said on your twitter, this sounds really good to me. I'm always intrigued by stories about the path not taken. It's intriguing to think how things might have turned out but for a chance encounter or a good or bad decision. But can we go back, and make those changes after the fact? Not so easy, I think. The book sounds like a fun way to look at the issue.

Anonymous said...

The cover makes me smile--how many people of a certain age even know what a cassette is?
BTW, in French, it's sometimes abbreviated as K7--the letter K is pronounced kah, and 7 is sept--which is how cassette is pronounced in French. You don't see it much anymore...

Paulita said...

Sim, Thanks for playing along. I'm off to see your latest French movie trailer.
Francetaste, Those cleve French. K7 -- ha ha. I know a young woman whose last name is Herbet. On her facebook account, she goes by RB -- which of course is Herbet when pronounced.

Jacqui Brown said...

I too love Antoine's books, always a great journey of discovery! Talking of abbreviations one of my French friend's initials are HC so on Facebook her name is Hache Cé!

Paulita said...

Jacqueline, Of course. So clever on the names.

Louise said...

Ah, I really like the Frenchified FB namings, maybe I'll change my name too?

I've read The President's Hat, and I have the other two books as ebooks but I don't read all that many of them, I'll have to remember to seek them out sometime (but you know the overwhelming stacks of real books crying out to be read- they can't be ignored).

Cockadoodle Doo or Cocorico?

 We stood in the middle of the road, having walked together 13 miles that day and Claudine grasped my forearm. "Mais non! It doesn'...