I am the kind of person that when I find something I like, I really like it, and anything else is a disappointment. I might be headed that way with food memoirs. Last week it was Stanley Tucci's book, Taste. This week was My Life in France, by Julia Child with her niece, Alex Prud'Homme. I got there by watching the movie Julie & Julia with Tucci as Paul Child. It is a foodie, romantic film that I heartily recommend for Valentine's Day.
My Life in France is descriptive of French food and a compelling life. I would say that Paul and Julia Child were odd ducks, just the kind of people I love to read about. Julia's awakening to her grand passion late in life makes me want to risk (A little bit, let's not get crazy).
Comparatively, my other book of the week, a reread for book club, seemed bland. I would call A Gentleman in Moscow a kindly read with more plot than character development. Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest, but he lives in a hotel. He is there from 1922 into the late '50s. Rostov is changed and shaped by his confinement, but it surprises me that he retains his equanimity. Perhaps the book's lesson is that your lock-down buddies make all the difference; I think I would have gotten murderous or crazy, but he becomes an even lovelier person.
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