Je Pars à Paris!

Paris, Paris, Paris. That's pretty much all I thought about this week, and all I will be thinking about for the next three weeks.

I bought some cold weather clothes based on recommendations many of you shared with me...layers...fleece...hats, gloves, scarves. Paris in winter will be a whole new world for me, a lifelong resident of the Texas Gulf Coast.

And I spontaneously decided to buy a Kindle to take with me to Paris. I want to be able to read wherever I am, without wifi, and a Kindle turned how to be a relatively inexpensive way to load up on books and read for up to twelve hours without recharging. I had a Kindle version 1 when they first came out, but I've missed the subsequent ten generations. I hope I like using it. I picked the Kindle Fire because I wanted to be able to download books from Hoopla at my library, too.

I finished The Truth Is last week. I live a couple of blocks from our local high school, and after reading this deeply realistic YA fiction book, I feel like someone needs to send in a team of counselors to work with the students there. Whew. Are high school students really this devastatingly mean to each other? Are the parents of high school students really this negligent? Please tell me that the characters in The Truth Is are on the far side of typical. My worries about the world have just soared.

The Truth Is will never be on a list of mood-boosting books.

I've loaded up my Kindle with books about Paris for my trip. You'd be surprised what you can find at your public library or as free Kindle books. Here's what I have on my Kindle:

(Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living (memoir)

Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude (memoir)

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (classic fiction; 1001 Children's Books)

Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Meals You Can Make at Home

The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola (classic fiction)

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong

Captain Fracasse by Theophile Gautier (classic fiction; 1001 Children's Books)

Champagne Baby: How One Parisian Learned to Love Wine-and Life-the American Way (memoir)

Charlotte in Paris (children's book)

Chez Moi: A Novel by Agnes Desarthe (fiction)

City Walks: Paris (travel)

Fairy Tales by Marie Catherine Baronne D'Aulnoy (classic children's fiction; 1001 Children's Books)

Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac (classic fiction)

Forever Paris: 25 Walks in the Footsteps of Chanel, Hemingway, Picasso, and More (travel)

French Visual Phrase Book (language)

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery (fiction)

In Foreign Fields: How Not to Move to France (memoir)

Introduction to French Poetry: A Dual Language Book (poetry)

L'appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making Paris Home by David Lebovitz (memoir)

L'art de la Liste: Simplify. Organize. Enrich Your Life. (self-help)

L'assommoir by Emile Zola (classic fiction)

Learn French with Paul Noble (language audio)

Literary Paris: A Photographic Tour (photos)

The Little Bookshop on the Seine (fiction audiobook)

Little French Bakery Cookbook (cookbook)

The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo (cookbook)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My Paris Kitchen by David Leibowitz (cookbook)

Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux (classic audiobook; 1001 Children's Books)

Ooh La La! French Women's Secrets to Feeling Beautiful Every Day (self-help)

Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David (foodie nonfiction)

Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies (nonfiction)

Nobody's Boy by Hector Malot (children's fiction; 1001 Children's Books)

P. S. from Paris by Marc Levy (fiction)

Paris City Trails (travel)

Paris in a Weekend with Two Kids (travel)

Paris: Lonely Planet (travel)

Paris Revealed: The Secret Life of a City by Stephen Clarke

Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City's Best Pastry Shops (cookbook)

Paris: The Novel by Edward Rutherford (historical fiction)

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik (memoir)

Pocket Paris (travel)

President's Hat by Antoine Laurain (fiction)

Pretty Minnie in Paris (children's picture book)

Reader on the 6.27 (fiction)

Seven Ages of Paris (history)

Sophie's Misfortunes by Sophie Rostopchine, Countess of Segur (classic children's fiction; 1001 Children's Books)

Sundays in Paris: An Insider's Guide to the Best Places to Eat, Drink, and Explore (travel)

Taste of Paris: A History of the Parisian Love Affair with Food (foodie nonfiction)

To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin (fiction)

Where is the Eiffel Tower? (children's nonfiction)

Who Was Claude Monet? (children's biography)

Writer's Paris: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul (writing)

Which of these should I read first?

Amazon was not my friend this week.

It was my great-niece's first birthday. I ordered three books for her from Amazon. I decided to mail them directly to her house. They were scheduled to arrive on Sunday. On Sunday morning, I got a notice that they could not be delivered; the driver could not find her house! What? My great-niece lives in a subdivision right off a main street in a Houston suburb. Her family has lived there for several years. And they can't find her house? 

I called Amazon and gave Amazon detailed instructions on how to find the house. We will definitely deliver the package on Monday, the Amazon staff person assured me. On Monday, I got a notice that the package would not be delivered that day. When I called Amazon, I was told that the package was apparently lost! Oh my goodness. The Amazon staff person offered to send another package, at no charge to me. I said I would like them to do that, but I'd rather they send the package to my house; I didn't want to chance it that Amazon might be unable to find the house or lose it again so I'd take the package over to my great-niece myself. 

The books arrived at my house in two days and I drove them over to my great-niece's house on Wednesday, and everything was good, though the books were very late. Then on Friday, I got a notice that the original package was delivered to my great-niece's house. My niece called and told me about the second package of books arriving, and she offered to return them. I told her the whole story, and I told her to give them to one of her friends. It didn't seem right that she should have to go to all the trouble to return the books or that I would have to drive all the way back over to her house to pick them up and then return them.

Three days later I got a notice from Amazon that I would be charged for the second set of books if I did not return them. Now I was really angry. I called Amazon and they agreed (I have an email in which the Amazon staff person assured me in writing that the second set of books would be sent at no expense to me) to take the books off my account. 

Frustrating! 

I leave for Paris on Monday. I will have wifi in the apartment in Paris, so I plan to blog while I am there, though I may appear to be blogging at very odd hours. Au revoir!

I'd love to hear about your week.

I'm very happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. There are no real requirements to linking up at Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is simply a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. Sunday Salon is a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.