Paris, Paris

Like the guide who leads us through The Hermitage and its history in Sokurov's 'Russian Ark', David Downie is the master of educated curiosity. With him we discover Paris, a seemingly public city that is, in fact, full of secrets--great lives, lives wasted on the bizarre; forgotten artisans; lost graves (lost till now); the 'papillons nocturnes'; and the 'poinconneur des Lilas'. I have walked some of the city's streets with him, and reading this book is just as tactile an experience. --Michael Ondaatje <br>.. . beautifully written and refreshingly original...Curious and attentive to detail, Downie is appreciative yet unflinching in describing his adopted home... makes us see [Paris] in a different light.... --David Armstrong, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review <br> The delightful and insightful essays in Paris, Paris meld history, atmosphere and observations on Paris places, Paris people and Paris phenomena. --John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Chicago Tribune <br> Downie is a saunterer, wandering down the narrow ancient streets of the ile de la Cite, picnicking in storied graveyards like Pere-Lachaise, observing a seduction at Jardin du Luxembourg with a birder's patience.... captures the sort of people and places missed by those jetting from starred bistros to hotels with showers. --Dan Rubin, The Philadelphia Inquirer <br>.. .gives fresh poetic insight into the city... a voyage into 'the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors' [of Paris]. --Dory Kornfeld, Departures <br> David Downie's prose illuminates Paris with an unequaled poignancy and passion. He understands and evokes the soul and the substance of the city with a critic's intelligence and a lover's heart. He makes me want to live in Paris again. --Don George, Contributing Editor, National Geographic Traveler <br> Perhaps the most evocative American book about Paris since A Moveable Feast. -- Jan Morris <br> [A] quirky, personal, independent