Paris: a love story

Mardi 23 janvier Kati Marton Paris - A Love Story

I went to the American Library's Wednesday book nights to hear Kati Marton. But catching author Marton's vivacity and mercurial charm isn't easy with brush or camera still she communicates vibrantly with words on the page. My sister lent me Kati's book, Paris: A Love Story my first night in Paris with the proviso I must read it quickly so she could finish. I stayed up all night enthralled.

Marton's book is a memoire of her early days in Paris first as student from Hungary and then as wife of ABC Peter Jennings and later Richard Holbrooke. She lived on rue des Ecoles. Not being familiar with the 5th arrondissement I decided to walk in her footsteps the next day...

The 5th has a villagie feel like any other university town...

Discovering the bargain bins on the rue St.-Placide, I gradually transformed myself into the facsimile of a chic Parisian girl. Well-cut pants (instead of baggy jeans) and a trench oat became my uniform. And, of course, I learned to tie scarves.

Later Kati talks of her quiet dinners with Holebrooke at this tiny bistro, Le Coupe Chou when he'd return from various missions sorting out nations. I'd eaten there on my second trip to Paris so I had to have a look...

It's on a little pedestrian rue that's a delight to wander...

Kati talks of discovering the cinema, La Desperado in her student days.

This crowd is here for a serious movie experience. It is a world away from my noisy Broadway Cineplex, where we jostle each other with giant tubs of popcorn and industrial-sized cups of soda. There is no food at the Desperado. (The French regard food as much too important to waste on snacks.)

Each morning I line up for bread at the Eric Kayser boulangerie on the rue Monge and exchange. A round of "Bonjours" with the bakers and my neighbors. As I leave with my baguette, the clochard, the homeless man, who has chosen this prime spot in the warm and aromatic entrance of the bakery, recognizes me from my last visit. "Vous etes de returnee Madame!"

This shop was not specifically mentioned yet so many moments of happiness by chance are a part of Paris: a love story..

....you cannot step out of your front door without makeup, well-coiffed hair, jewelry, nice shoes and the required scarf tied just so. There is a performance aspect to every foray onto the Parisian stage. People check each other out, frankly and without embarrassment ... This is part of the city's pleasure. No carelessness, no sloppiness-focus on the task at hand. This soigné air gives the city it's festive quality, an acknowledged net that we are in Paris.

Hemingway said it best...

Kati Marton is the author of Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other books include The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History, Wallenberg, The Polk Conspiracy, and A Death in Jerusalem. She is an award-winning former NPR and ABC News correspondent. She lives in New York City.

Another favorite quote:
Peter could not have been more supportive. To encourage me, he had the ABC art department make up a framed sign that said,
"One page at a time, One day at a time. You are a great talent." He hung it on the wall over my desk, where it stayed.

I was touched by Marton's poignant memoire. It made an undiscovered part of Paris even richer for me. I think you'll enjoy Paris:A Love Story too.