Drink It Up

French Milk
Lucy Knisley

I wasn't really expecting anything when I got this. There were lots of copies of this book piled one of top of the other in BookSale months back and I figured I should check it out. I started flipping pages and gee, it's an illustrated journal! A part of me becomes envious once again. I can't draw, you see. Well, I can if I want to but believe me, it's not something worthy of publication (unless of course you consider a chapter like "Mistakes in Perspectives" or "What You Shouldn't Do When Drawing" in a book). But I digress. Methinks I'd enjoy reading this one so I bought it. But a part of me thought I heard of the title before. It was familiar. Like someone I know raved about this previously. But I'll get back to that later.

This delightful book is artist Lucy Knisley's journal of her stay in Paris with her mom for six weeks. Reading it feels like vicariously living her life out there. It's personal and yet engaging. Her capsule comments capture that sense of wonder in living in Paris and her observant eye translates well into a cartoony version of herself. Plus a handful of photos too! Both she and her mom starting a new year, so to speak, with birthdays that signal a new phase in their lives and Paris was their gift to their selves. And in those six weeks we witness the highs and lows of an artist struggling to make sense of her self not to mention enjoying hundreds of glasses of French milk. Or something to that effect.

I already said this is a delightful book, right? I could also add charming, adorable, enchanting (quick, get me a thesaurus) or well, choose your own fanciful description. I put fanciful because hey, she was in Paris and everytime I think of Paris I always think of a maitre'd for some reason, looking down at me in his most snobbish self with an eyebrow cocked as if saying "You expect to dine here with those clothes?" in French, obviously.

There are other things to love aside from being envious of the scrumptious meals they ate but what struck me was that most of the books she read during the trip were books I've previously read as well. And she loves some of the authors I adore: David Sedaris, Margaret Atwood, Oscar Wilde. Nothing to it, really. Just an observation. Though flipping through the pages you do get that feeling of traveling back in time and seeing events she writes about the same way, like seeing the death of Saddam Hussein on the internet or simply watching marathon episodes of tv shows.

Pictured here is my off-center shot of the page with the "How they make foie gras" cartoon. The artist loves foie gras and unfortunately she lives in Chicago where it is prohibited to sell the stuff. Her stay in Paris somehow made her enjoy this specialty almost everyday and it's actually heartwarming to read about people enjoying their favorite stuff in the world. She actually bought canned foie gras on their trip back home!

Remember that I mentioned earlier about someone who previously raved about this book? It's Andi, actually. Funny but when I reread that post just now, I see the comment I posted earlier this year about wanting to get the book and well, apparently I did after like five months. Hahaha! And you should go see her wonderful interview with Lucy Knisley too!

I remember going back to BookSale about a couple of weeks after I bought this book thinking that this is the perfect gift for a couple of my friends who traveled through Paris before. Unfortunately, all copies of this book were gone. Tsk tsk tsk.

Other interesting points of view:

Boston Bibliophile
Estella's Revenge
Ms. Bookish
Oops...Wrong Cookie
Paperback Reader
Pinot and Prose
Reviewsbylola's Blog
Try Harder