A
while back my Washington State sister and her husband recommended this book to
me, by author, Nina George. I read it and enjoyed it so much I chose it for
both of my book clubs to read. One of the cool things about the book was a map
in the front showing Monsieur Perdu’s trip down the Seine and his further
travels after he left the river.
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| Only six of our members were there at Roby Lee's that day. |
The
Third Thursday Book Club meets at a December Christmas party at a member’s
home, and picks out the books we’ll read in the following year. It’s kind of
nice knowing what book we’ll be reading so we can get it ahead of time. At my
suggestion we chose The Little Paris
Bookshop, for our May meeting at Roby Lee’s restaurant, where we discussed
the book for that month and as usual many of us stayed for lunch after we were
done.
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| Almost everyone is in this picture at another member's home. |
I
also chose it for the August meeting of the Red Read Robin book club at my
house. In that book club, each month we meet in the evening. Someone is the
hostess and picks the book for the month. Some have it in their home and serve
dinner, and others choose a restaurant where we eat and then discuss the book.
This is the club that usually has wine at our meetings, too.
Book
blurb on the inside cover: “Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary.
From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for
the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader
needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can’t seem to
heal through literature is himself; he’s still haunted by heartbreak after his
great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter that he has never
opened.” (One of my fellow bloggers told me perdu means lost. I thought that
quite interesting and appropriate for this character.)
“After
Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a
mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover
the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn
Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom
and his books and showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a
journey to heal itself.”
“Internationally
bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for
anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people’s lives.”
The
author, Nina George works as a journalist, writer, and storytelling teacher.
She writes science thrillers, novels, feature articles, short stories and
columns. The Little Paris Bookshop spent
more than a year on bestseller lists in Germany, and was a best seller in
Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. George is married to the writer Jens J.
Kramer and lives in Hamburg, Germany and Brittany, France.” The American
version was translated by Simon Pare, and published by Crown Publishers, New
York, in 2015.
This
book had one of our liveliest discussions. We used some of the questions for
discussion from Lit Lovers (http://www.litlovers.com).
“Memories
are like wolves. You can’t lock them away and hope they leave you alone.”
Towards the beginning of this book, Monsieur Perdu opens a door to a room, he
has sealed for two decades. We discussed why he would do this and not open a
letter he’d received. Most of us thought he’d been foolish and how much his
life would have been different if he’d opened the letter when he’d received it.
Perdu
was an unusual bookseller because he felt that contrary to belief that booksellers
only cared about books, but they looked after people. He helped people find
books that would heal them. We discussed this concept, and thought it was
interesting that he would refuse to sell books to some people because he didn’t
think it was right for them. It also was fascinating, that he seemed to be able
to read people well enough to know what was right for them. I asked if they’d ever had a book that made
changes in their life. Answers varied in both book clubs.
In
one chapter, Perdu refuses to sell a copy of Max Jordan’s Night to a customer even though Mas was right there. Purdu felt it
would upset the woman who wanted it. Whether or not there is such a thing as a dangerous book, we
had to laugh at what happened in that scene with Max open mouthed.
“Time
to mourn, or “hurting time,” was a time for almost every character in the book
to some extent. We discussed this in both book clubs, and many of us could
relate to that because we had lost someone important in our lives – two of us
had lost sons.
We
discussed different aspects and questions in both book clubs. One was it
possible to love two people at the same time. There were a lot of opinions of that. Some really loved the book. Some liked it but found certain parts dragged for
them. Only one member said she hated it, but then that’s not too unusual from
her. Some were annoyed with Perdu over some of the things he did, but most
weren’t, and overall the book created good discussions and those who finished
it liked the ending. Those who hadn’t gotten there yet, planned on reading the
rest of it. As for me, I liked it. I must have liked it since I read it three
times although I mostly skimmed it the third time.
This
month I’ve been in The Third Thursday book club for ten years. Next February
I’ll have been with the Red Read Robin book club ten years, too. I was with
both book clubs since the beginning, and it’s been a wonderful time with them. Sharing
books creates friendships, I’ve found. I’ve read books I’d never heard of
before, and found most of them good, although there were a few I didn’t care
for, but still reading books I normally wouldn’t read expands my knowledge and
way of looking at things. And I enjoy being introduced to new authors, too.
Do
you belong to a book club?
If
there was a literary apothecary near you, would you visit it?
Has
there been a book that made a big difference in your life?
What
was it if there has been such a book?
