Paris, My Sweet - Amy Thomas

Paris, My Sweet

Amy Thomas

Amy Thomas is a blogger just like us! Okay, maybe not just like us. For one, her job got her a one way ticket to Paris! In Paris, My Sweet she recounts her many adventures with Parisian streets, customs and eateries, all while breaking things down into very sweet food based chapters. It's like your french lessons without all the unpronounceable words and snobby teacher! 

Paris, My Sweet has a lot going on. First there's Amy and her huge personality. While she excels at describing her expat adventures her stories usually come down to one thing - Paris or New York? That's really what sold this memoir for me. Don't get me wrong, chapters dedicated to breads , candies and cookies were what drew me in. At my heart I am a foodie! But what made Amy's story so easy to relate to what the duality of her life. Is she the chic Parisian or the sophisticated New Yorker? Can she fit in with her new coworkers and her old friends?  Granted I'm a ten years younger than Miss Thomas during her expat years, but she speaks volumes about the feelings of the single, adventurous girl. The lists of bakeries at the end of every chapter might have also appealed to my inner list maker. Seriously, food plus occasional talk of Louis Vuitton? I'm sold.

My love for all the mentions of cup cakes, fresh baked baguettes and Grench landmark's was able to distract me from the fact that while there were a lot of little adventures happening in Amy's life, there wasn't a whole lot of growth. That's my only real issue with Paris, My Sweet and it almost doesn't feel fair to bring it up. I'm not hear to judge (at least not on this personal of a level) and I'd never want a storybook ending made up just for the sense of closure. In the end things just felt a little anti climatic. Maybe at another time in my life I could appreciate that. There's definitely an art in living things in flux. It's entirely possible that my almost 25 year old self needed more closure than life can actually provide.

Do you all remember back to last month when I found a mason jar and stuffed it with book titles? Well this was my first TBR Jar read. I think it was a huge success. I definitely wouldn't have pulled this charming memoir off my shelf in the middle of January of my own accord.  Now if could just stop buying books I could be on a real roll!