The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City

Very humourous read, love it a lot! I am going to finish all of David's books!

The Sweet Life in Paris is the moving-and-starting-over story of Lebovitz's venture into Parisian life. It's a story we have heard many times before, of the trials of dealing with French bureaucracy, of figuring out how to get service in French stores, and of trying to fit into a world that secretly scorns everything that is not French. Yes, we have heard this story many times before, but it is a story we will never tire of, a story we want to read again and again, until maybe, one day, we tell the story of our own move to this magical place.I loved how Lebovitz tells how he realized he was finally un vrai parisien. It was not a big day, but a simple day, the day he dressed up to take out his garbage. How we all want to live in a world where everyone dresses up to take out the garbage!The best part, of course, is David's take on Paris treats. David is, of course, an expert on pastries, so who better to take us around Paris and share pastry gossip?An absolutely delicious book, filled with stories about those amazing sweets of Paris. With recipes.

This book is perfection. It contains the 3 elements that I consider to be integral to any good book: laughter, tears, and good, old fashioned relate-ability.I purchased this book a few months before I went to Paris for the first time. I admit, I wasn't sure what to expect of it, having never read the author's blog. My, was I in for a pleasant surprise.From the first page, he had me smiling, then chuckling, then throwing back my head and laughing, imagining his adventures through the city of lights. What I loved about this book was that it wasn't touristy-- it was genuinely the experience of someone who has lived there and discovered both the unexpected good and bad of a city that has become legend.His descriptions are so lovely, vibrant, and colorful. I learned that "real butter" croissants are straight across, while butter substitutes are curved (and tried the real thing when I went to Paris-- thanks David!). His descriptions of the food, and the care and pride with which Parisians prepare and present their craft, are mesmerizing. Thanks to David I knew to say "Bonjour, Madame!" when I entered the famous Pierre Herme macaron Patisserie in Paris, as well as to say "Merci, Monsieur," when I left the bus. I found that just these little bits of Paris etiquette helped me enormously when I visited.The recipes are amazingly delicious, and his commentary throughout makes it feel like you are sitting at the kitchen table with a trusted friend, rather than listening to a chef rattle off a recipe. I loved his observations about what you can do to troubleshoot, or even what to do to cover mistakes.Overall, just a treasure. Rarely does a "celebrity" book live up to the hype. This one is going to live to be 100 ;) Thanks David for an inspiring book through which I intend to reread whenever I get homesick for my Paris vacation.

I truly has no idea what to expect with this book when I purchased it. I just knew we love France, French food, and dream of one day returning and living there (at least for awhile). So the description seemed to set up an interesting read. It was. It filled my hopes and gave us the ideas that we can use on our next visit. The recipes only added to the charming read.I am not a baker nor chef and I’m only a “foodie” in the loosest sense of the term. I enjoy good food and travel, so this seemed a good read. But I’d never heard of David Lebovitz. Turns out he’s an American ex-pat pastry chef who loves Paris even more than we do. He offers up tails of his move to and subsequent life in Paris, along with many recipes of French foods to try. We haven’t as of yet, but we plan to.His tales are interesting and offer great insights for someone wishing to prolong their visit into living; topics include his experiences with visas, choosing an apartment, and everyday life. I will say there are some elements that feel repetitious and could be covered in less time, but it doesn’t take away from the overall story. Lebovitz is a pretty good storyteller overall and brings us through the good and bad of Paris life.His passion for baking is obvious and his stories revolve around that element. It can become a bit of a distraction in that the average American moving to France isn’t going to be able to buy their way into interesting situations like working in a specialty food store or get special treatment for the baked goods they can offer. But it’s a unique take on things and certainly it’s fun to read about the foodie side of a country known for it’s food.The take away for me is that it was an enjoyable read, kept and excelled my interest in France and living there for awhile, and made it feel like most anyone can cook or bake French delights. I would recommend the read for anyone interested in at least one of these things.

I have recommended this to my mother and husband, and can definitely recommend it to you! Enjoy the flavours of Paris!

I found the book surprisingly funny and didn't expect to laugh as much as I have with this book. I couldn't put it away and finished it in under a week. Can't say a lot about the recipes yet because I haven't had the chance to try that many but the chocolate financiers were a great hit at the party I brought them along for.Really I can only recommend getting this book. Since it's just such an entertaining and easy read it would probably also be lovely to take on vacation or as an entertaining read if you've been to Paris yourself.

Great read

This book kept me entertained for the three days that I read it whenever I had the time. Lebovitz does an excellent job of relating his adventures in Paris without making it sound too self absorbed and hence boring for the reader.The book tells you of myths and truths that you'd probably heard of Parisians and by the end of it, your ill-informed, romanticist picture of Paris shatters and you might feel content living in Muradabad, dipping Parle-G in cutting chai.Lebovitz throws in a generous amount of recipes in there and educates the reader of the Parisian way of life in a funny way, often anecdotally, laughing at himself. A nice, light read. Do try the recipes- they're really good! You could have a mug of super thick hot chocolate as Lebovitz suggests somewhere in there with a recipe.

Are you a foreigner in Paris? Do you love cooking? In that case, I strongly recommend this book. David Lebovitz describes his life in Paris with excellent franco- american recipes. I adore his sense of humor and I totally agree with him, as a foreigner living in Pairs, how difficult / wonderful it is to survive in the city of light. I also recommend his blog.