PARIS TO THE MOON

New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik moved with his wife and son to Paris in 1995 to live and write; they stayed almost five years, through the birth of their second child. Gopnik's essays on Parisian culture, design, food, and the experience of raising an American child in an old and beautiful foreign city are sparkling. This selection of essays (these are unabridged excerpts) ranges from the politics of finding an apartment to a battle to defend a cherished brasserie from an Alsatian restaurant chain and includes Gopnik's poignant reflection that to the ear of his 3-year-old, who speaks perfect French, his own French is that of an immigrant. The author's rushed reading and sometimes mushy diction do not enhance the experience of his prose, so elegant on the page, but the book itself is a delight. B.G. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]