This is not an official button for Paris in July; I just happened to like this black and white photo of a woman sitting peacefully by the river. “What is it,” I ask myself, “that she is absorbed in reading on such a quiet day?”
For there is a wealth of literature from which she could choose. As for me, I am currently absorbed in Annie Ernaux’ The Years, which won the 2016 Strega European Prize and the 2018 French-American Foundation Translation Prize. (It is truly spectacular.)
And within my stacks we find treasures to be devoured such as these:
The Madeleine Project by Clara Beaudoux, about a young woman who moved into an apartment in Paris and discovered a storage room of belongings left by the previous owner, all of which Clara documented on Twitter;
nyrb classics such as Like Death by Guy de Maupassant, or Act of Passion by Georges Simenon;
Or, My Heart Hemmed In by Marie Ndaiye.
Each choice holds promise of beautiful writing, stories revealed, and a French atmosphere to absorb. I am eager for July.
And you? What are you reading for Paris in July?
Dolce Bellezza 