This slim volume offers up simple wisdoms of life. Translated from the French, there are very few things that do not universallly carry over into my American sensibilities. Each brief essay presents one of the small and simple pleasures of life....driving at night, autumn sweaters, picking blackberries, the first sip of beer, and hearing a loved one's voice over the phone, among others. The essays on ordering and eating a banana split and paperweights are priceless. The insight offered..that we perch on the brim of possibility, the "make-believe world pitted against the real world" awaiting our decisions While this book points out the obvious, it is never too sweet or cloying. The use of language and phrasing is beautiful, the imagery it conjures up is a joy to read. I marked many of the pages, so I could find the wonderful phrases which caught my attention and imagination. This is a writer of rare talent. This is a book I will read over and often.

If you are looking for a light but meaningful book you can read over and over, this is the right book you're looking for. Delerm's writing helps his readers explore the trivial but tender details in life, from a banana-split to reading on the beach; from a pullover in autumn to highway at night... he uses condensed language to depict some trinket but magical moments in ordinary living. You won't regret it.

Un merveilleux voyage dans la peinture de la fin du 19ème siècle au travers de la vie des peintres. Un style délicat, riche en images.