Just got back from five days in Paris; this is the guidebook we referred to again and again. The walking tour approach to getting to know neighborhoods is great to read in advance, and great for choosing a hotel (Cheap Sleeps in Paris for that task). The book is small in size so easy to carry. The best of the lot.

Elizabeth Morris's Travel Guide to Paris, written under the auspices of Thomas Cook, is a wonderful and clear guide to the neighborhoods, museums, churches and monuments of Paris. It includes several day excursions out of the city as well. I would like to see it restocked because I don't believe I have seen a clearer depiction of what Paris has to offer anywhere else. Ms. Morris's walking tours are superb and informative. It's just a really good resource.

I've taken this book with me twice to Paris, in spite of its weight (three-and-a-half pounds) and the fact that it's not really a guidebook. It is an elegant, erudite tour of the City of Light, through its streets and through its history.

I first read "Paris" in a small garret under the eaves of a grand Parisian hotel. It had been one of the hottest days on record and my room had no air-conditioning. Nor does Paris shut down for the night. However, I had an imposing view of a street, lined with facades of a "huge blank pompous featureless sameness" that was deplored by Henry James. And I had this book, which turned that airless Parisian night into magic. Its author has a knack for spotting the most telling detail--from the "heavy, gun-metaled print of a mid-nineteenth-century thumb" where he starts his tour in the Louvre, to the very borders of Ile de France where he ultimately bids his readers farewell under the "immensities of the upper air" that were a painter's dream. "Light, then, first: and air."

In many aspects of their lives, John Russell finds Parisians to be "a secretive, devious, ungiving people." Buildings are there to hide things, not expose them to every passing tourist. However, this book puts all of the charming (and not so charming) details of interior life on view. There are the velvet-lined elevators of the original Galeries Lafayette, whose builder's passion "was to conquer the female race"--in the shopping sense of 'conquer.' There are Anglophile pubs, and expensive 'bars-à-filles,' where "the lights glow rose-to-amber, the windows are curtained with carpet, ...a sad bargain can be driven at any hour of the day, and the atmosphere is inexpugnably 'triste'."

One of my favorite descriptions is of Balzac's house on the street that now bears his name. Like so many other Parisians, the nineteenth-century author succumbed to the contagion of High Victorian style. Hardly a surface in the house was left unsculpted or unencrusted with bronze, tortoiseshell, and buttercup damask. The bathroom was built of yellow stone and covered with bas-reliefs in stucco. Once shut inside Balzac's library, a stranger might never find her way out again, because even the door was lined with bookshelves.

The author is equally at home in every Parisian milieu, from palace to 'bar-à-fille.' As Rosamond Bernier says in her introduction to this book, "No one else could combine the feel and the look, the heart and the mind, the stones and the trees, the past and the present, the wits, the eccentrics, and the geniuses of my favorite city with such easy grace."

"Paris" is adorned with 310 illustrations (many of them charming old photographs), including 85 colored plates, all personally chosen by John Russell.

If a trip to Paris is even the merest glimmer on your event horizon, read this book. You can lug it to Paris like I did, or snuggle up to it in the comfort of your own room. And dream.

I bought this book many years ago, before my first visit to Paris. It was both more than I anticipated and less than I expected. By this I mean that it was a very impractical book to use, by itself, as a guide to Paris, but was a wonderful book to use to learn about the Paris of the Parisians and the Parisians, themselves. Strange, you may say, but by reading PARIS, one comes to the realization that the Parisian has a relationship with his city that is unlike any other.

As one example of this, Russell talks of the fact that Parisians are not particularly impressed by their famous authors, artists, statesmen, etc. To wit: When a great man dies, Parisians give themselves over to grief that seems almost inconsolable, but on the way home from the miles long funeral procession, "they remind themselves that for every great Parisian who lies in a vault there is another great Parisian ....."

Russell says that Paris is a city of impulse, a city in which to act on impulse is one of the secrets of happiness. This, to me, is why the typical three day whirlwind tour of Paris is so unsatisfactory. My first visit to Paris was on just such a tour (my last one, by the way) and I left feeling that I'd really missed something. Following Russell's excellent advice, I came back a few years later and spent a month taking life on a day by day basis. This visit was much more fulfilling and I have PARIS to thank for helping me understand the importance of taking time out from sightseeing to absorb a little of the ambience that is the true Paris.

This book is much more than an occasional bit of advice to the would be tourist. It is a history. It is a discussion of the art and architecture of Paris. It is a discussion of key areas within the city and of the Ile de France surrounding the city. It is also a discussion of the Parisian of today and yesterday and what makes him unique. To boot, it contains countless photographs and art reproductions going back hundreds of years. There is a wonderful discussion of the old railroad station hotels with detailed descriptions of several of them. I have a feeling that "progress" has wiped out most of them.

No book on Paris would be complete without a discussion of the Metro. PARIS gives the history of this transportation backbone of Paris from its beginnings to the present. It's nice to know that you're never more than about 5 minutes from a Metro station and never more than about 45 minutes, by Metro, from anywhere in Paris. My wife and I purchased Carte Orange's (Orange Cards - 30 day Metro Passes) for about $42.00 American each, and had our month's transportation needs provided for. The Metro and good walking shoes, that's all one needs in Paris.

I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to visit Paris. I know that if I hadn't been there I'd want to go after reading it. As it is, rereading sections of this book, in preparation for this review, has made me want to do just that. Je suis pret.

This is the best guide for people who want to know where to go before they get there. I love the guide for its listings of the best young and hip places to go. The guide covers every area of information needed for travel.

I picked up this Virgin guide for a recent trip to Paris, along with about 4 others. Had I known how excellent this guide was, I would've saved my money and purchased this one alone. I have been a long time fan of Fodor's CityPack guides, but the Virgin guides blow those out of the water. The Virgin guides (I have the London one as well) break the cities down by district and include ALL the hot-spots and must-see attractions. The map was indispensible to me; it has all the higglety-pigglety streets and landmarks noted for day on one side and night on the other. I didn't get lost once, and used the Metro line map all the time. The size is simple to carry with you, and the reccomended shops, restaurants, and insider tips won't fail you. Honestly, there is no need to buy all those other guides, because this one is all you need.

The beautiful photographs of the belle epoque buildings of Cairo fairly jump off the pages at you. This lovely, understated book should be a guide for architecture and restoration students and buffs. This is a great gift book for the right people.

From the Egyptian Press: "[Myntti's] photographs...overflow with her love of Cairo, so the photos have become more beautiful than professional photos, because it was the heart that recorded not the fixed lens that cannot feel the pulse." (Hussam Abd Rabbu, Akhir Saat.) "The French architecture of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries makes up one of the most charming of Cairo's harlequin faces.... This era has left a strikingly beautiful imprint on the citscape. Myntti's zoom lens offers a graceful catalogue." (Francis Bickmore, Egypt's Insight.) "In its global significance and cosmopolitan sophistication, Cairo was not merely a copy of Paris, it was more than Paris. The book inivtes one to 'promenade' and also to protect these neglected treasures." (Bruno Ronfard, Al-Ahram Hebdo.)

Rupert Christiansen has written an historical account that is also a "great read"; hard to put down and very enlightening. I had just finished reading a novel that was set (partially) in Paris around the time of the Franco-Prussian war and wanted to find out more. Surprisingly, this is the only book I could find that dealt with this utterly fascinating time and place. The title of the book says it's "the story of the Paris Commune". This is incorrect; only a relatively small part of the book deals with the Commune, while the major part describes life in the Second Empire of Louis Napoleon and the Siege of Paris during the war. I couldn't help but draw parallels to current Western culture while reading about Paris in the 1860s: creation of incredible wealth and its ostentatious display, pioneering techniques of entrepreneurship, rapid developments in transportation and communication, rampant cynicism among the intellectuals, popular fascination by the news media with private lives and notorious murders, and a very public decline in sexual morality. The author covers the sociology, the history, and the politics in a very smooth combination of original sources and his own narrative. It never gets bogged down on detail, but still presents a very complete description. This is a book that could be enjoyed by anyone, even those who have little knowlege of the 19th century and little interest in history.

Rupert Christiansen really brings the Commune alive through a combination of research, archived interview, old news clips, and photos. The commune's ascendancy and collapse is related as a compelling chronology. His fine writing brings out the french pompousness that lead to the franco- prussian war; the siege of Paris; the state of denial that held to the last days among the upper class; the state of terror and famine of the lower class; and the ultimate collapse of the commune and eventual slaughter of the communards. As one who has lived in Paris, I highly recommend it even if you don't traditionally read history books.

Paris Bistros and Wine Bars has been a dining guide for us and friends who have taken it to Paris. Every place noted in the book was terrific, and it's recommendations have ended up being some of our favorite dining-related French memories. We've taken it to France 3 times. We only wish a new, updated edition would be published.

This is my "bible" when I'm choosing a bistro to dine in in Paris. It contains a wealth of information on each bistro it reviews. I am the author of "Best Bistros & Brasseries in Manhattan" and the inspiration for my work came directly from this book. While "Paris Bistros" is five years old, the turnover in Paris is slow enough that it is still about 90% accurate. If you love bistros, you'll love this book.

just got back from a hot summer in Paris and read this every night - a bit lush for my taste sometimes, but I really got into the layers of architecture, food, urban design, political satire, word-play and sex...it's a really original book, violent and brilliant, if a bit immature in places ( understandable for a writer still in his 20's I guess ). Some of my friends agreed, some disagreed. The chapters on courtesans and Turkish baths rock!

This is the most brilliant book on Paris ever written in English - quirky, infuriating, uneven, but definately original and fierce and permeated with amazing erudition. Osborne has written for the Voice here, the New Republic and Lingua Franca - he's a superb essayist all round

Let's just say, I don't even like to think what would have happened if I hadn't had this book when I moved to Paris. The format and writing makes it a pleasure to read. People ask me about living in France and I just tell them to read this book. I wish there were one like it for Strasbourg!

This book is clearly written by someone who knows! Appelfield speaks to the American with a firsthand account of the French experience, and with humor to boot. Many references to websites and other materials make this book a must have, especially for the potential expat.

Flanner (nom de plume: Genêt), a former New Yorker essayist and who lived in Paris for many years, describes the cultural and social life of Paris in the 50s and 60s. She pens wonderful glimpses into what Parisians were thinking, feeling, and doing -Paris' life, wine, art, literary insights, and ways of thinking. C'est magnifique.

Janet Flanner was amazing in her insights in her own words as well as quoting others. I think one would be hard pressed to find someone with greater perception of the France of that era. This work also is a great help in understanding the France of today.
For example, Flanner quotes Maurice Duverger, a professor at the Sorbonne in an interview in the magazine L'Express on pp. 281-282: "Nothing is stupider than stylish anti-Americanism. But at the base of it all there is, just the same, a real question. America is a very different society from ours. It was built by pioneers who for their cultural baggage had the bible and a sense of adventure." Duverger goes on to compare the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. as two evolving societies and concludes that in the long run the U.S.A. will be the greater threat to the French way of life.
Flanner concludes: "Painful as many of Professor Duverger's conclusions are for many Americans, he has academically touched on basic, alarming truths for many of the French, who, even in their awareness, seem unable to do anything about them except complain--while continuing their American way of life "à la française."
I find that to be true in Paris of 2001. I cannot recommend this book enough. Janet Flanner was truly remarkable.

Often considered one of the definitive surrealist novels (along with Andre Breton's NADJA), Paris Peasant is an exhilarating read. Aragon takes us through a special guided tour of Paris--not the Paris as we know it with its Eiffel Tower and other famous landmarks, but a Paris of crumbling arcades, dilapidated shopfronts and suburban parks. Aragon imbues the detritus of the city with poetry and magic, and shows us how the surrealist spirit lives in the outmoded structures of civilization. His ode to the Passage de l'Opera, at that time threatened by Baron Haussmann's plans for the redevelopment of the city, is a tacit challenge to the rapaciousness of capitalism and modernization, with its quest for the ever-new and its destruction of the past. Every urbanite will find something to identify with in this marvellous portrait of Paris in the 1920s.

This new edition of a scare work is welcome not only for the exposure it provides to Aragon and his work (if it can be called that), but for the loving manner in which it is produced. From the covers to the typeface to the translation of newspaper column margins, editor Damon Krukowski and designer Naomi Yang, known more for their musical than literary endevours, have brought attention to the smallest detail, the kind of attention that is the substance of the text itself. The translation, from a 1971 edition, flows perfectly; just alien enough from standard English to draw attention to Aragon's linguistic differences, but not a characature of French style. It would be hard to imagine a better English edition of this work. James L. Wolf