I really, really loved this book. I was surprised to discover there seems to be a large contingency of Adam Gopnik haters out there - a quick Google search will reveal a scathing 4500 word review in The New Republic of one of his books, for starters - but I find him to be witty, insightful, gentle, and on point. I admire how he is able to seize on a very small thing and to use it to illustrate something far broader and more universal about marriage, parenting, life as an American, and life in general (a "machine to draw the world," indeed). Some of these essays felt a tiny bit dated (so much has happened since 1995 when he first moved to Paris, how could it not feel dated?), and some were a bit too specifically about current events to be applicable now, but for the most part I enjoyed this cover to cover. "Angels at the Ritz" is an essay I know I'll be reading again - and again - along with "Lessons from Things," "The Rookie," and "A Machine to Draw the World." It was the perfect book to read during our own "expatriate" year here in New Orleans.

If you haven't read this book about the New Yorker writer, Adam Gopnik, living in Paris with his wife and son, you MUST! Not to be missed.

دو تا از روایتها خیلیییی زیبا بودند ولی بقیه‌ی روایتها کمی خسته‌م میکردند. نمره ۳.۵ براش بهتره.

A fun book that gives you a sense of living in Paris as an expat and what to appreciate about French culture. Narrated by the author so definitely recommend listening. Great read while on vacation in France. I loved many of the annecdotes were hilarious - eg the one about how the gym had no plan for visiting every day they only had a once a week plan. Or the one comparing the French fax error codes to French culture.

3.5 - 3 me parece poco y 4 tal vez mucho, pero por tratarse de memorias supongo. El punto es que me gustó. :-)

Un periodista neoyorquino cuenta cómo es Paris, la ciudad que adora desde niño por un detalle que no voy a contar y luego con su mujer eligen para vivir con su hijo de un año. Lo cuenta a través de las vivencias, experiencias y situaciones cotidianas que atraviesa la familia. Cómo él mismo dice al principio, va a comparar ambas ciudades, pero lo bueno es que no se trata de cuál es mejor o de cuál gana, simplemente habla de las diferencias o similitudes desde su punto de vista, claro. Es entretenido y está escrito de forma amena.

I read this book while living in France, exalting in its truths every time I cracked its spine. I embarrassed myself by laughing aloud and shaking my head behind its pages on trains and metros. I wanted to run from arrondissement to arrondissement shouting, "I'M NOT CRAZY! France really is like this!" and point to select passages as proof.

At last, validation. My bewilderment towards this country is not due to ignorance, but merely the condition of being an American in Paris. The condition of someone frustrated and perplexed by all the shrugs, the "erreurs distantes," the French combo of formality and indifference, of luxe indulgence and curt rudeness. An American that loves French cuisine but that is tired of its richness, that misses soups that are not puréed into oblivion!

This book provided solace and comic relief at a time when I need it most, sitting in France thinking, "Is it just me?" At last, I have the answer.

After three weeks of slogging through this book, my first thought upon finishing it was I'm free.

The writing is pretentious and the sentences go on for forever. Sometimes a carousel is just a carousel and there is no need to wax poetically about what it symbolizes for all of mankind.

This book had its moments. Having been in Paris recently, it was nice to read a little more about the city I'd just visited. I liked reading about the author's experience joining a gym, about the restaurant rebellion he took part in, about their experience having a baby in Paris. There were also some genuinely funny moments. It just wasn't enough--nothing will be enough--to make up for the endless, pretentious, philosophical ramblings. Never again!

How much I love this book! Gopnik posesses an unsurpassable wit as he describes the quirks of the French. I love the scene where he describes the Parisian version of a gym. Women "saunter," they don't run. I my experiences in France followed a similar vein.

This book would be a smart gift for someone living in France. Also if you like the New Yorker, staff-writer Gopnik will knock your socks off with his stellar writing.

2017 Reading Challenge category: 22. A book by an author you haven't read before

I read this in proximity to my own trip to Paris.

In nearly equal measure, this was a collection of essays that was a) witty and charming observations and anecdotes and b) trite masturbatory navel gazing. Often in the same essay. So three stars overall.

I really enjoyed this collection of meditations and feel I've been altered by them, which is why I gave it such a high rating. Gopnik is a reliable observer and is able to tease out the underlying logic which condition cultural patterns (American and French) as well as a French structuralist. His writings made me think, in the way that I have to put the book down at times. His chapter on Paris gyms was especially entertaining.

While in Paris, he does live the life I would be unlikely to have, so I felt somewhat wistful reading it. He moves in very intellectual circles and lives in the center of Paris. So the fantasy of running away to live in Paris is somewhat tempered by the knowledge that I would not live in his fabulous apartment in the 7th Arrondissement or ever cook dinner for Alice Waters. I wonder what conclusions he would draw had he to live in one of the outer suburbs, and had to commute into the city like most people do.

But I expect this book will be one I pick up again and again, to reread certain passages that beautifully crystallized his observations.

شاید مهم‌ترین دلیلی که برای انتخاب این کتاب داشتم اسمش بود. «دیدار اتفاقی با دوست خیالی» حس خوبی بهم می‌داد. چطور میشه دوست خیالی رو اتفاقی دید؟!
اولین جستار کتاب که عنوان کتاب رو هم داره برام به شدت جذاب بود، من محو کلمات نویسنده شدم که درمورد این دوست خیالی و اتفاق‌های پیرامونش بود. جستارهای بعدی هم اگه در بعضی جاها از اولی بهتر نبودن کمتر نبودن...
آدام گاپنیک به زیبایی از چیزهایی صحبت می‌کنه که شاید ما بهشون فکر کرده باشیم یا نه و حالا بهشون فکر می‌کنیم، چیزهای که شاید توی زندگی روزمره‌مون ساده‌ترین اتفاقات ممکن باشن و ما بهشون توجهی نمی‍‌‌کنیم
تجربۀ خیلی خوبی بود خوندن این کتاب، از خوندنش خیلی لذت بردم.
و شاید مهم‌ترین چیزی که به دست آوردم این بود که نوشتن چقدر می‌تونه ارزشمند باشه... نوشتن فکرهای توی سرمون و به کلمه درآوردن چیزهایی که حس می‌کنیم و می‌بینیم...


نسترن
فروردینِ هزار و چهارصد و یک

Absolutely loved this book. Gopnik is a talented story teller and is truly skilled at turning the micro into the macro. The book is full of beautiful written personal stories that are often used to make a broader point about cultural or political issues. I happened to be reading this while in Paris so I was particularly taken with his detailed descriptions of specific street corners, cafes and idiosyncrasies of Parisians. But much of his description about cultural assimilation is also applicable to the universal immigrant experience.
-He tells us about his funny experience trying to join a Paris gym and the gym's shock and disbelief that any one would want to work out more than once a week.
-He describes his revelation one day after a parent teacher conference, that to his son he must sound like his own Yiddish father when speaking in French "Zo, how the boy does?" "He is good boy, no?"
-We hear about his family's antics trying to "invent" Chinese take out while in Paris, but ultimately, to their dismay are presented with meal on China that they must stack and walk out with.

Gopnik is a masterful story teller and this is an engaging read for those that generally enjoy reading about Americans abroad.