The Little Paris Bookshop

I picked up this book, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, last year when I was in an amazing bookshop in St Andrews called Topping & Co. They ply you with free coffee in there, so I always feel I have to buy something! But it had taken me ages to get round to starting reading this book.

The cover of the book is so beautifully designed, and this is what first attracted me to the book. I think book covers are what I really miss about doing most of my reading on the Kindle.

The beginning of the book, being set in a Paris apartment building, made me think of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery which actually gets a mention in this book. In fact, a lot of books get mentioned because the main character, Jean Perdu, runs a "literary apothecary"on a barge, and prescribes certain books to his customers depending on his perception of their moods and needs.

The book really gets going when Jean makes a split-second decision to head south in his barge, and another character jumps on and comes along for the ride. Then it becomes like a road movie, with many interesting characters and situations along the way.

I thought this book was really charming, and I loved the character Jean (and all the other characters). I raced through the book in a couple of days and I will be looking out for more by the same author.