@brittarnhild
I have read quite heavy books lately. I like that, but when they are both heavy and brick stone long, they take quite some time to finish, and after Wild Swans I needed something simple. A couple of weeks ago I was tempted by a book which I saw in a bookstore, tempted because of its title and because of its front cover - Nina George´s The Little Paris Bookshop.
Titles are interesting, Nina George is German and the original title of the book is Das Lavendelzimmer (the lavender room). I have the Norwegian translation and in Norwegian the book is called Det litterære apotek (the literary pharmacy). I love the Norwegian title and after reading the book I don´t hesitaty to say it is the best title to describe the plot.
The Little Paris Bookshop is an easy read. In between working and other things on my agenda, it took me less than two days to finish the 330 pages. I am left with a sweet story, though most of the time I found it boring. No food for the soul, if you see that I mean. 50 years old Jean Perdu owns a floating bookshop on Seine. For more than 20 years he has mourned the loss of his lover Manon, who left a letter when she suddenly left him. Perdu has kept the letter, but never read it......not until now, the summer he is never to forget, the summer which is to change his life.
It is written in a style which is meant to be funny, and I guess many readers find it so. For me it was only boring, and I felt something nice was taken away from me, as the setting is so promising.
Well, my German book, which is written by a German author but has nothing at all about Germany in it, is finished and I am ready to travel on.