Paris, Paris

“I loved his collection of essays, and anyone
who’s visited Paris in the past, or plans to visit in the future, will be
equally charmed.”

“Like the guide who leads us through the
Hermitage and its history in Sokurov’s Russian Ark, David Downie is
the master of educated curiosity. With him we discover Paris, a seemingly
public city that is, in fact, full of secrets—great lives, lives wasted on
the bizarre; forgotten artisans; lost graves (lost till now); the ‘papillons
nocturnes’; and the ‘poinçonneur des Lilas.’ I have walked some of the city’s
streets with him, and reading this book is just as tactile an experience.”

“Beautifully written and refreshingly
original…Curious and attentive to detail, Downie is appreciative yet
unflinching in describing his adopted home…Makes us see [Paris] in a different
light.”

“The delightful and insightful essays in Paris,
Paris meld history, atmosphere, and observations on Paris places,
Paris people, and Paris phenomena.”

“Downie is a saunterer, wandering down the
narrow ancient streets of the Île de la Cité, picnicking in storied graveyards
like Père Lachaise, observing a seduction at Jardin du Luxembourg with a birder’s
patience…Captures the sort of people and places missed by those jetting from
starred bistros to hotels with showers.”

“Compelling…A rapturous, history-rich love poem.”

“Suitable for serious Francophiles and curious
spectators alike, this book paints Paris from a delightful, fresh perspective.”

“David Downie’s prose illuminates Paris with an
unequaled poignancy and passion. He understands and evokes the soul and the
substance of the city with a critic’s intelligence and a lover’s heart. He
makes me want to live in Paris again.”

“Perhaps the most evocative American book about
Paris since A Moveable Feast.”

“Downie brilliantly upholds the American expat
tradition of portraying the City of Light with an original and endearing
touch.”

“All visitors to Paris who want their eyes
opened and their knowledge widened should buy David Downie’s irresistible
collection of Paris essays. Take the book with you on walks and be astonished
at his sense of detail and place; read it in bed or over a glass of wine in a
café and be introduced to a Paris few know.”

“Gives fresh poetic insight into the city…A
voyage into ‘the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors’
[of Paris].”

“‘When good Americans die,’ Oscar Wilde wrote,
‘they go to Paris.’ Don’t wait that long. David Downie’s new book reflects the
city and its light with such power that its title says it twice. Paris, Paris shimmers with wit and mesmerizes
with wisdom…It is as the French would say, un must.”

“[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the
city, its history, and its people. Residents will recognize a place they can
vouch for and not the clichés so frequently conjured up to match the legends.
Visitors and newcomers are bound to find Paris, Paris reliable company as
they discover the city’s beauties and pleasures and its problems too.”

“If there is one book I’d read before heading to
the City of Light, Paris, Paris is
it. Downie, a longtime Paris resident and roamer, writes with knowledge and
verve, pinning down the funny and the sublime as he captures on his canvas the
quirks, foibles, and follies, and the peculiar mystery of the people and
places, that make up this wonderful city.”