The Little Paris Bookshop: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how--and why--he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America. "Meacham has given us the Lincoln for our time."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize - Longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award - One of the Best Books of the Year: The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents--a remote icon--or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln--an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln's story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events.
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Community Reviews
A bit overwrought but still an enjoyable read
The story of Jean Perdu, who runs a bookshop out of a barge in Paris. One day he decides to just unmoor and take off to find his lost love. His young neighbor and current "it" author Max Jordan decides to jump on board at the last minute.
Some of the writing is a bit overwrought for me, but I loved following along as they sailed the waters of France... Makes me want to get a boat of my own and take off!
Bonus recipes and book recommendations at the end of the book.
The story of Jean Perdu, who runs a bookshop out of a barge in Paris. One day he decides to just unmoor and take off to find his lost love. His young neighbor and current "it" author Max Jordan decides to jump on board at the last minute.
Some of the writing is a bit overwrought for me, but I loved following along as they sailed the waters of France... Makes me want to get a boat of my own and take off!
Bonus recipes and book recommendations at the end of the book.
Loved the detail in the food and the streets of Pais I felt I was right back there. Loved how her story evolved from lonely to loved.
A remedy for the malaise of Gaza, Ukraine and the Great American Cluster Fuck. Charming, picturesque, cozy and delicious. Everything the world needs right now. If you haven’t yet, you must.
Such beautiful, descriptive writing! I loved it so much!
Nina George painted the French countryside with her words! I...I was so enthralled while reading this book. I kept waiting for the "slow part" other reviewers mentioned, but I never found it.
Jean Perdu, our Parisian bookseller, is a man who stopped living because of heartbreak. His pain is palpable. He prescribes medicine, or books, to those who come to his shop. He can fix anything with the right book...
...except himself. He's hurting and he's lonely, and that's what sets him off on his journey to the south of France. This is a love story about books. People too, but the relationship we have with books and the words within seems to come first. I ached to be in France, to be aboard Lulu, the Literary Apothecary. No, I was there. That is the power of words. They can transport to us to anyplace in the world. And this book took me to France!
I'm working on a reading challenge, and my prompt was "A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit." I picked this because it was set in Paris, or so I thought. I've been to Paris, I liked it there, but I wanted to see more of France than just one city. And now I have.
âReadingâan endless journey; a long, indeed never-ending journey that made one more temperate as well as more loving and kind.â
Nina George painted the French countryside with her words! I...I was so enthralled while reading this book. I kept waiting for the "slow part" other reviewers mentioned, but I never found it.
Jean Perdu, our Parisian bookseller, is a man who stopped living because of heartbreak. His pain is palpable. He prescribes medicine, or books, to those who come to his shop. He can fix anything with the right book...
âThere are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remediesâI mean booksâthat were written for one person only⦠A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: thatâs how I sell books.â
...except himself. He's hurting and he's lonely, and that's what sets him off on his journey to the south of France. This is a love story about books. People too, but the relationship we have with books and the words within seems to come first. I ached to be in France, to be aboard Lulu, the Literary Apothecary. No, I was there. That is the power of words. They can transport to us to anyplace in the world. And this book took me to France!
I'm working on a reading challenge, and my prompt was "A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit." I picked this because it was set in Paris, or so I thought. I've been to Paris, I liked it there, but I wanted to see more of France than just one city. And now I have.
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