13 rue Thérèse

"La vie est la fleur dont l'amour est le miel."
~Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr

I had high hopes for 13 rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro. This eye-catching, antique-looking book arrived gift wrapped in matching checkered paper, along with a small tin of candy and a personal note. While I did enjoy it, I can't say that I was wowed by it. I found it clever, but I didn't truly love it.

13 rue Thérèse is mostly narrated by a character who's a scholar of French literature, Trevor Stratton. In letters addressed to "Sir", he tells a story within the story about Louise Brunet, a Frenchwoman who lived through both World Wars, based on a box full of artifacts, which his secretary, Josianne Noireau, has placed in a cabinet for him to surreptitiously find, open, and examine.

Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned or "old school", but overall it felt too much like traditional male fantasy to me, because it includes a bold sexual proposition from Louise to someone she has just met, adultery, lying "inappropriately" in confession, and a bit of lesbianism. I'm sure Louise was supposed to seem ahead of her time, especially sexually, but it just didn't seem all that believable to me. In this Parisian story, passions don't simmer but ignite instantly, without much thought about repercussions. But, I guess the story is male fantasy after all, given that Trevor is the one telling the story.

For me, the most successful aspect of the book is the design, the imaginative and unique layout. Many of the chapters have French titles, and sprinkled throughout the book are lovely, old style photos, letters, postcards, and miscellaneous illustrations--contents of the box Trevor has discovered--along with vibrant prose, and copious footnotes. Visually it's quite nice, although some of the footnotes were long and it was a strain for me to read the tiny print. I didn't love love love 13 rue Therese, but if you are looking for a light, amusing book, saturated with sex, then this might be the book for you. It will be available to the public in February of 2011.

Special thanks to Reagan Arthur for sending me this book, my first (and hopefully not last) one for The Reagan Arthur Books Challenge.

Mailbox Sunday

  Mailbox Monday, one of my favorite memes, just happens to be hosted in September by one of my favorite bloggers, Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog. Created by Marcia of The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday is currently on tour. During October, Avis from She Reads and Reads will be hosting this meme. This week, I'm following Kathy's lead and posting a day early. Pictured are the books that recently graced my mailbox.

13 rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro arrived from Reagan Arthur books, gift wrapped and with a small tin of candy! This will be the first book I review for The Reagan Arthur Books Challenge.


Have you ever ordered used books from Amazon? I often do, and have been quite happy with my purchases. (I also sell a few used books on Amazon, as I've mentioned previously.) Three of the books in the photo are used books that I bought from Amazon. I'm planning on reading the millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson, and I've read the first book and a bit of the second, but I needed to get the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, to complete the set. I'm also determined to read all of the books in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, so I ordered the latest book, The Double Comfort Safari Club. (I did not expect to love this series as much as I do. Take me to Botswana!) Lastly, I ordered Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan, a short story collection that sounds absolutely extraordinary.

What new (or used) books have you gotten recently in the mail or from elsewhere?