To Paris, the Orient, and Back

Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

Lisa Napoli traveled to Bhutan, a mysterious enclave of mountaintop monasteries, terraced hillsides of Himalayan proportions, and one of the most curious monarchies in the world.  Napoli, full of middle age discontent and a demon or two in her past, left her job in public radio in L.A. and moved to Bhutan to start the country's first public radio station.  The radio became a beacon for modernity in the Himalayan kingdom which had been frozen in time until the first traces of Western influence appeared during the 1990s. In a land where political metrics espouse "Gross National Happiness," Napoli's adventure is full of upbeat cultural anecdotes mixed with observations on what defines happiness within a culture and within oneself.  Viewing the world through the eyes of her eternally enthusiastic young staff who hopelessly romanticize Western culture, the author casts doubts on the influence of American values in the formerly pristine society of Bhutan. 

A short read, definitely worth it for those interested in the coming-of-age of Bhutan.  Those who liked "The Woman Who Fell From the Sky" by Jennifer Steil will also like this book.







The Paris Wife by Paula McLain


Of absinthe, notes of jazz and opalescent dresses...
...this historical fiction of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage gorgeously captures Hemingway's early years in Paris.  McLain spent years researching the letters exchanged between Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson, at a time when the boy, not long out of the WWI battlefields, had a head full of robust literary ideas and a briefcase full of publisher rejections.  The author crafts a joyful and heartbreaking, beautiful and raw portrait of their courtship, their impulsive decision to move to Paris with barely a penny in their pocket, and their carefree ebb and flow through the flapper streets of the city.  The prose seems authentic, but not forced or awkward, and the author's intensive research into the plethora of letters between the pair is smartly ingrained into her prose. 

Also revivified in dashing detail are Gertrude Stein and Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, with whom many gregarious (mis)adventures ensue.

*This was the first book I read on my new Kindle.  I had been resisting e-readers for a long time because I like the tactile satisfaction of a book, but the Kindle is slim and portable and will be great for traveling.




Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Split between modern day Paris and 1940s Paris, this drama/historical fiction/mystery brings to life the Velodrome d'Hiver round-up in Paris during WWII.  The round-up was instituted by the French police and condemned several thousand Jews to their demise in the German camps.  The French had distanced themselves from this distasteful bit of history until a monument was consecrated in the 1990s and special attention was brought to the remembrance of the tragedy by then-president Jacques Chirac.  The author illuminates a little girl at the beginning of the Vel d'Hiv tragedy, and follows her tenacious path forward into creating a beautiful life for herself and her son.  Chapters alternate with modern-day Julia, who, as a journalist, struggles to elucidate her husband's family's entanglements with the Vel d'Hiv tragedy.  Julia succeeds and the past and the present collide in a spectacular ending.  De Rosnay hooks her readers into a mystery much as Dan Brown does, but with considerable more panache and grace.