Review // Paris I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways - Ruth Yunker

Published - 10th November 2012
Publisher - Outskirts Press
Format - Hardback
Synopsis - Metro Cowboys, Tiny Elevators, Trusting The New Patisserie..."Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways" continues the saga begun in Me, Myself and Paris, humorist and writer Ruth Yunker's account of her forays into life in Paris, part time tourist, part time resident. In Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways the training wheels have come off. Ms. Yunker negotiates the exquisitely charming, but impossibly exacting, City of Light with a new sense of ease, and an increasing sense of feeling right at home. She revels in the amber warmth of Angelina's chocolate Eden on a cold November day. She zeroes in on, after six visits, her favorite arrondissement in which to rent her apartment...the fifteenth, just so you know! She shops in Montmartre with aplomb, and still does not climb up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. She sees passionate love in unexpected places out on the streets of Paris. She watches cowboys riding the metros, and considers the sweet life of a lemon as it rolls out of her apartment door. A little boy in St. Suplice wins her heart. The concierge at the apartment on rue Vaneau does not. She discovers there are rules for finishing one's plate in restaurants. But there are no rules for which pain rustique will make the very best toast every morning. In Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways, Ruth Yunker delves deeply to discover what makes the heart of Paris sing, and emerges more in love than ever.

I was sent this book just before Christmas by Ruth Yunker and have been patiently waiting to finally get around to reading it! The day came and I read the whole thing in one sitting. I haven't read many travel books and so I was anticipating something vibrant and fresh and Paris I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways was definitely that. It was so much FUN! One thing I didn't expect from the book was to laugh so much.

Yunker's writing just sparkles off the page. There is a chapter dedicated to a little chocolate cafe that she attends in Paris and the description was just perfect. My mouth was watering as I read and I just had to read it aloud to my flatmate. Needless to say we both immediately started inhaling chocolate! At times, it was just so easy to imagine myself walking to streets of Paris, smelling all of the breads and taking in the views. Honestly, it was just so wonderful. I kind of wish i'd have saved this one for the beach as it was definitely a feel good, easy to read kind of book. Yunker has pointed me in the direction of travel writing and I hope to come across something new and exciting in time for summer (recommendations?)

I also just want to mention that the cover of the book is really cute! There's so much going on and it's really colourful which perfectly mirrors what's going on inside the book too. If you get a chance to read it, then do!