The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

I picked this book up at the same time that I bought Me Before You. I was intrigued by the title. As someone who loves books, I figured what could be better than reading a book about a book? I knew from the first page that I was going to have SO many favorite quotes for this novel and I was right.

Jean talks about books in the same way that I feel about them. As far as the story goes, it was pretty interesting. I personally enjoyed the bits about books more than the dilemmas that he faced. If you do really love novels, you must read this one and tell me if you felt the same way about it as I do. During the story, there were some parts, one could guess what was going to happen next. The extra bonus material at the end was amazing and very fitting for the novel. I also loved that George included bits of Manon's travel diary. The secondary characters in the novel were well-developed and I really appreciated the time George took to establish them in the story.

Favorite Quotes:

• "I see you in every ray of evening light and in every wave of every sea. You left in mid-sentence."

• "'With all due respect, what you read is more important in the long term than the man you marry, ma chère Madame.'"

• "The young man cannot understand how he can lose all self-control and start loving and then, just as mystifyingly, stop again."

• "'As long as she doesn't turn out too smart for men.' 'For the stupid ones, she will, Madame. But who wants them anyway? A stupid man is every woman's downfall.'"

• "'I've often wondered why people don't write more books about living. Anyone can die. But living?'"

• "'Kästner was the reason I called my book barge The Literature Apothecary,' said Perdu. 'I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors. All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible. The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognize that you haven't got your whole life to find out where you belong. Or the slight sense of grief when a friendship doesn't develop as you thought, and you have to continue you search for a lifelong companion. Or those birthday morning blues. Nostalgia for the air of your childhood. Things like that.'"

• "As the grandmother, mother and girl said their good-byes and went on their way, Perdu reflected that it was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They look after people."

• "'Often it's not we who shape words, but the words we use that shape us.'"

• "Perdu wanted Anna to feel that she was in a nest. He wanted her to sense the boundless possibilities offered by books. They would always be enough. They would never stop loving their readers. They were a fixed point in an otherwise unpredictable world. In life. In love. After death."

• "'I think I learned all my feelings from books. In them I loved and laughed and found out more than in my whole nonreading life.'"

• "I am the daughter of a tall, strong tree. My timber forms a ship, but it is anchorless, flagless. I set sail for the shade and the light; I drink the wind and forget all ports. To hell with freedom, gifted or seized; if in doubt, always endure alone."

• "I feel like kissing him to see whether he can do more than talk and know things; whether he can feel and believe as well."

• "'Who knows, Jean, you and I might be made of the dust from one and the same star, and maybe we recognized each other by its light. We were searching for each other. We are star seekers.'"

• "I haven't abandoned or forgotten you, but there are a few incomplete chapters I need to read first...and finish."

• "'Pasta makes women bellissima!' said Cuneo, enthusiastically tracing a voluptuous female figure in the air with his hands."

• "Perdu suspected that these small children, listening with eyes wide and in rapt concentration would one day grow up to need reading, with its accompanying sense of wonder and the feeling of having a film running inside your head, as much as they needed air to breathe."

• "'Defiance: I see a little girl in pretend armor, fighting of all the things she doesn't want to be. Well behaved and thin and quiet - no way! Lady Defiance, a lone knight against the dark forces of reason.'"

• "Books help me breathe better - it's that simple."

• "Memories are like wolves. You can't lock them away and hope they leave you alone."