Paris in Love: A Memoir

Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a delightful treat of a book! Author Eloisa James has turned a series of Facebook and Twitter posts from her year living cancer-free in Paris with her family into an engaging and funny memoir. She edited the posts into vignettes and short essays--snippets of life, love, and laughter abroad. It makes for perfect reading on lunches and breaks because it's easy to pick up and put back down without losing track of the "action." I now want to visit Paris if for no other reason than to visit all the chocolatiers!

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, setting and language are secondary.

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The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, let me clarify that actually I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars, and second, it's not strictly a graphic novel. It's a big, thick kid's book that reads really fast because probably 2/3 of the pages are pencil illustrations, and some of the pages of text have only a few lines on them. The result is a very fast-paced story about an orphaned boy living in secret in a train station in 1930s Paris, France. The illustrations move the story along and remind me of a filmmaker's storyboard...which makes sense, given how the story turns out. (I won't ruin the mystery for anyone who hasn't yet read it, though.)


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