“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust

New eyes: this is what we need to redsicover the world in fresh and exciting ways in our writing. And though it’s been said that there is nothing new under the sun, with new eyes we can make the world anew. I was reminded of this when I read about a wonderful memoir called, Paris in Love.

One would think that it would be hard to say something that hasn’t already been said about Paris. Think about all the books that have been written celebrating the City of Lights: Everything from A Moveable Feast by Hemingway and Marley & Me to French Women Don’t Get Fat and Bringing Up Bebe. And yet, despite the odds, Eloisa James managed to revisit the city’s charms in ways that garnered a glowing review in USA Today,
entitled, “Let Eloisa James be your guide through Paris.”

Who can resist a headline like that? According to the reviewer, Eloisa’s “enchanting memoir” has it all: an adorable
dog, chunks of delectable chocolate, elegant French women, and cultural clashes that add spice and wit to the story.

Paris In Love grew out of Eloisa’s tweets and Facebook jottings broadcast over a year’s stay in France. They must have been juicy because Eloisa is both a Shakespeare scholar and a best-selling romance writer. Now there’s a hot combo!

Eloisa surely must have a way with words. “Written like a spool of lovely prose haiku,” says the reviewer, Paris in Love gives the reader a sense of being immersed along with James in Paris for the year, rather than reading her memories. As if in real time, you see the rain, taste the food, observe the people.” Now that’s writing dangerously!