A book about a bookshop, and a man who prescribes books for what ails his patrons? Yes, please! It’s set in Paris? Where’s the check out? 

It’s taken me forever to actually review this book. I read this on a Thanksgiving to my Fisch’s, which is a temple to reading. We all cuddle up in the same room, with sweets Mama Fisch has made, enjoy the quiet and read. If it’s warm enough we break up the reading sessions with periodic swims, and cool drinks. If it’s cool, a stroll down to the park, or the Solar Walk, and a nice pot of tea after. 

It didn’t take me so long (nearly a year) because I didn’t like the book, or struggled to get through it. I loved this book, but I hated it too. 

The Little Paris Bookshop is beautifully written. Nina George is a master at turning ink and paper into real people, that are all to happy to crack open your chest and toss in some lemon juice, and a heavy dusting of salt. That’s the crux of it, the book is filled with lyrical, descriptive language that transports you first to Paris, then on a journey up the Seine. It’s everything that makes me love a book, and it kept me turning the pages even after everyone else had gone to bed.

How could I hate any part of a book like that? The characters frustrated me, they were real, but shallow, and often cruel, to others and themselves. I wanted to reach into the pages and shake them, even as they were making me cry. For me The Little Paris Bookshop is a book that should be read at least once, because the characters are so real, because we can see parts of ourselves in them, because there is so much more to regret in not living. 

I have a list of books I’ve loved, and hated, but still think everyone should read. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and On Top of Everything, The Little Paris Bookshop is at home with them on the high shelf. Is there a book you’ve read that you loved, and hated at the same time?