Last night I finished reading Adam Gopnik‘s Paris to the Moon, a collection of essays about this writer’s life with his family in Paris (France).

The author is from New York, but he moved to Paris for 5 years (1995 – 2000), to write there. He moved with his wife and young son, and they had another child in Paris.

Picture by Peter:

Overall the book is good. It’s fun to read, and it contains a lot of detailed, colorful descriptions of Parisian life. The writing is mostly tight and engaging, and there are a handful of passages that were so good I re-read them out loud to Alli on the spot.

At some places, especially when talking about French philosophy, the writing is a bit verbose and long-winded for my taste. But I supposed that’s almost a truism for that specific topic.

The descriptions of the differences between France and the US are spot-on, I think. So are the descriptions of the differences between French people and Americans. Those alone are worth reading the book.

Overall, a good read, especially if you like Paris or France, or travel essays.