Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik

Webster bought this book for me a few years back when we last went to Paris.  Since I didn't read it then, I thought last week's trip to Paris (part work part play) would be a good time.

The memoir is by Adam Gopnik, an occasional writer for The New Yorker, and chronicles his family's move to Paris when his son was a toddler.  He and his wife and son live there for a few years and this book is a collection of essays he wrote during that time.

I enjoyed reading this book but it wasn't what I expected.  I thought it would be a lightweight memoir about his time there.  While there was some of that (anecdotes about finding an apartment, taking his son to the park), the book was much more a set of reflections on society and what it means to be Parisian - including politics, labor relations, medicine, and the pure quintessence of living in Paris.

I’d recommend the book; just don’t expect a lighthearted memoir.