I wonder what Elliot Paul would think if he could see today's incarnation of his beloved rue de la Huchette where the action of the book is centered. Before the second World War, when Elliot made it his home, it was a poor street of "mom and pop" businesses, small apartments, a laundry that doubled as a bordello, a third class hotel or two, a few small cafes and, most of all, a place where one sat out on the stoop and visited, or debated, with his neighbors until the wee hours. Not a very high class neighborhood and certainly not a place that had any attraction for tourists.

That portion of the Left Bank that includes the rue de la Huchette is called the Latin Quarter because of its proximity to the Sorbonne University. At one time it really was a place where the students hung out, but no more. Because it has become so touristy, the students have moved their extracurricular activities a few blocks away. I get the feeling that every tourist bus passing through Paris includes in its itinerary a walk down the two or three blocks that comprise the street. Every other door leads into a small restaurant and in front of each is a hustler enticing you to come in for dinner and to have a free "aperitif." If you know where to eat, or are lucky, you can get a good, reasonably priced, meal there. The street is always lively and crowded.,

Paul's rue de la Huchette, as I described it above, was a world, or at least a war, away from what one experiences today. He became such a part of the neighborhood that he was always called on to arbitrate neighborhood disputes. One young girl, Hyacinthe, fell in love with him while she was still a pre-teen, wrote him very adult sounding love letters, and even as an adult still adored him.

He describes a scene when, after a long absence, he returns, and, as soon as the word gets out that he's back, he finds himself the guest of honor at the party to end all parties. Everyone buys him drinks but no one allows him to reciprocate. Sometime during the celebration he passes out. The next morning, not knowing how he got there, he wakes up in one of the two front rooms in the hotel, rooms normally reserved for "couples in a hurry." Because the room was free and the gesture so generous, he doesn't complain about the bed bugs.

This wonderful street and these people that Paul loves and brings to life for us are destroyed by the Nazi occupation of Paris during WW II. The saddest moment of the book comes near the end of the war when Hyacinthe, now grown up and become a famous actress, dies as a result of asphyxiation caused by a charcoal burner that she and her mother were using to keep warm during the cold Paris winter. Her death which, like all the events in the book is a true event, is symbolic of the end of an era in Paul's life and of the life of a more innocent Paris.

I think that I might have liked Paul's rue de la Huchette better than the present one. If you read THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, I think that you might feel the same.

In addition to his work with the Go Ye Chapel Mission in New York City, Paul serves as an on-air host with The Worship Network. One of the trademarks of both his speaking and writing is his effective use of stories to make a point. In this new compilation, he demonstrates God's presence in the ordinary events of life.

One of my favorites is, "I Thought I Made My Grandad Die." These well-told stories are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression on your heart!

reviewed by The Christian Standard, May 13, 2001

It seemed to ring bells in me. Maybe I went to alien school too?

I am recommending it highly! Joan

I will be ordering several copies of this book to give as Christmas presents to my friends who are also looking for the path to understanding!!!

OUTSTANDING BOOK 5 stars ++++++++

Caution:The book may change the way you look at yourself, your life, your would and the Universe.

"A Life of Prayer" gives the reader a solid understanding of the necessity of prayer in the life of a leader. Cedar quotes several advocates of prayer providing the reader with some further roads to pursue. After establishing the benefits, necessity of prayer, he proceeds to lay out how to go about it. He mixes a fair number of illustrations from his life and the life of others which enhances this work. The book is very readable and provides a solid foundation for developing your own personal prayer life. As I read it I found myself challenged to embrace the prayer in such a meaningful way.

As Elie shows in this entertaining and informative book, these writers were all highly aware of each other, and would meet on their separate "pilgrimages" toward authentic spirituality in increasingly secular times. "The School of the Holy Ghost" (as this quartet was once called) was not a school at all, as the Imagists or the Beats were; however, Elie shows, they felt a profound kinship, and one of the most fascinating aspects of the book is Elie's depiction of how they reached out to each other, through fan letters, postcards, reviews, publishing each other's work, and not-always-successful meetings (Merton and Percy had little to say to one another as they sipped bourbon on the porch of Merton's hermitage in Kentucky.)

Above all, what brought these Catholic believers together was a love of literature, and Elie's book happily overflows with this same virtue. Whether discussing Day and Merton's dispute over Vietnam draft card burning, or the racism of O'Connor's letters, Elie writes elegant and opinionated prose. He shows how hard these people had to struggle to find a path for themselves, and how they came to see struggle as an inherent quality of faith. His readings of O'Connor and Percy's fiction are astute, and he productively contrasts Day's activism with Merton's withdrawal into solitude. Elie's use of letters--especially O'Connor's--brings out the voices of the principals, and at the end of the book, you feel that you know them personally. I would recommend this superb synthesis to anyone interested in the intersection of faith and literature.

I've been photographing informally, or at least without training, for about 30 years now. In that time I've done a lot of portrait work, and learned a thing or two about lighting. A friend gave me this book, and it's been EXTREMELY useful in pulling together all the things I knew and showing me how they relate to each other, and filling in the gaps.

I hadn't really thought about *textbooks* for photography before -- as I said, I haven't had any formal training in the field. The books I see in bookstores are too elementary and too unfocused for me; and I don't see tham as good for a beginner starting out, either. But finding some real textbooks that go into depth about particular parts of the field is an eye-opener for me.

My photos are better for it -- especially studio portraits and the still-lifes I did for a wine book last year (Terry Garey, _The Joy of Home Winemaking_, AVON). See other photos at http://www.ddb.com/photo.