Paris – Peaceful Reader

My friend Tina and I strolled through the library one afternoon on lunch break and I came home with an arm full of books. Anna and the French Kiss was one of them. Tina always reads the newest stuff and often picks up brand new books that the library has ordered for her. She’s on the cutting edge of book-newness!
I, on the other hand, am always a little behind! It is a good thing I have her to lead me a long like a blind person.

Synopsis:

Anna’s wealthy writer dad decides she needs to experience a year abroad her senior year. Anna is happy with the life she’s already living in Atlanta with a great mom, a little brother, a wonderful best friend and her job at the movie theater with Toph, her might-be crush. Her divorced parents get her set up at The School of America where she meets her next door dorm neighbor, Meredith who in turn introduces her to the rest of her friends. `Etienne is one of them and he makes Anna a blushing and bumbling idiot for most of the book. They get all their signals mixed and confusion occurs.

My thoughts:

I loved all the characters and the Parisian setting was beautiful. I did so want to shake both `Etienne and Anna at different times. Good golly: `Etienne has a girlfriend for more than half the book-obviously it’s not working out-but really you can tell he is totally smitten with Anna. She, on the other hand, keeps throwing this almost crush with Toph in `Etienne’s face every chance she gets. Once they finally begin to connect it is a bit of magic though.

Stephanie Perkins has a gift for a teen chatter, which makes it easy to read. I’m very interested in her follow-up books, Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After. I understand these are companion books but I would really like to know what happens to Anna and `Etienne once they are ever so close to each other in California. Of course, Anna and the California Kiss lacks a bit of romance! If your behind the times like me don’t leave this book behind.

It begins:

Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge. The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, although I have no idea what the function of either actually is. Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, and a lot of kings named Louis. I’m not sure what they did either, but I think it has something to do with the French Revolution, which has something to do with Bastille Day. (3)

I know a little bit more about France than this but an interesting starting point for Anna…

You know how when you are working on something intently but then you get distracted…

That happened to me yesterday while working on my last homework project. I stopped and checked my
emails (this is not the distraction, I do this all the time) but an email from Any New Books? for YA/children’s books and I clicked on it (first mistake) and scrolled down where Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly caught my eye and I clicked on it (second mistake) and it took me right to an Amazon page that told me to click (YES!) one more time to read the first chapter. Of course, I hesitated for a second, okay, maybe half a second and then clicked to read (third mistake)!

But then I was swept away. I was able to read five chapters in and am hooked!
Got to find the book so I can keep reading…
Need to know more about Andi.

Also I love it when a book takes me to music which it did by mentioning David Gilmour. I had to stop and google him (distracted from a distraction!?) to see if he was real and yes, yes he is real and happens to be the guitarist for Pink Floyd (my husband would be a bit embarrased that I had to google this fact…) but the song is good maybe even great. I listened to it while I read the fifth chapter, which I must now, well you know, find because it wouldn’t give me anymore chapters. Just checked on-line and my local library says it’s available-I’m in luck. Never mind that I already have four books checked out-this is how distractions work.

I’m off to the library after I proofread my paper and electronically submit it!
Click here for the synopsis from GoodReads of Revolution, NOT my paper…

P.S. Groovy Girl just looked over at me as I was typing and said “Mommy, I thought you were supposed to be finishing your homework NOT a blog post…hmmm”
She even said it a little snarky with emphasis~ and she raised her eyebrows at me!

Which led to a little discussion about distractions…
and the cycle continues.

What’s distracting you today?

Tag: Paris

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and Pink Floyd