French Cafe
If you love Paris, you love caf{‚}es. Journalist Boyer loves caf{‚}es, and with the practiced lens of photographer Eric Morin accompanying her, she ushers the privileged reader-viewer of their delightful collaboration on a spin around Paris, to other urban areas of France, and out to places in the French countryside, seeking caf{‚}es of particular distinction or charm. "For the price of a cup of coffee you can stay as long as you want" is the philosophy of caf{‚}es; and all the caf{‚}es Boyer and Morin feature simply beg to be patronized for hours on end. Her prose imparts a good history of French caf{‚}es and their sociological and cultural place; his photos of exteriors and interiors are beautifully evocative. A helpful directory for travelers is appended, listing "a hundred caf{‚}es of character in and around Paris and in the provinces of France, chosen for their decor, location or ambience." Not an essential library purchase, but a perfectly pleasurable one.Brad Hooper