Paris: An Inspiring Tour of the City's Creative Heart

This book is worth buying just for the photographs and design alone. Anyone can see for themselves the beauty of Paris, but McCulloch sees Paris with an eye for color and the memorable details that are quite personal, while capturing the feelings we all want to recall about the place. Eschewing postcard photos, she captures pink and green macarons lined up in a display case, flower close-ups at a market, or a line of cane chairs on a sidewalk, the dying light of evening over Notre Dame. Beautifully designed with attention to every detail, from ribbon borders to tinted pages, something you won't find in any other guide. Maybe it comes off a little feminine for some tastes, and I for one am not as interested in some listings of haute couture and fabric stores, indispensable though they may be for some. However, I've never seen a better listing of bookstores in any guide. It might be a little large to carry with you on a tour, but it will definitely give you some ideas and have you pining for your next trip to the City of Light.

This book is absolutely gorgeous. It describes the neighborhoods in detail and breaks them down by what you should expect to find there. The best part of the book is not the information though it's the photography. It's all these pink and champagne hues, with golden lighting, lush backdrops of flowers, and breathtaking Parisian architecture. It's a great book for anyone planning to go soon to help plan parts of their trip. It transports you.

This book is so well designed and curated, it is a joy to leaf through. After years of owning it, I often go back to it when I need to get inspired or miss Paris and it is still a wonderful trip ! Each chapter opens with a door representative of the arrondissement (and you know how great the doors can be in Paris!) It goes on to explain the history and spirit of each arrondissement with great places to visit, eat or shop at, by an author who obviously knows and love the city very well. It is Full of good addresses and discoveries. Then the sides are decorated with old fashioned ribbons designs stacked mercerie-style (spread the side of the book to see what I mean) it features some really iconic and authentic places in that wonderful city that is Paris. It is like a gift that keeps giving. I Never get tired of it. One of the best recent book about Paris.

Even with Paris, a city examined in innumerable guidebooks, memoirs, and histories, Janelle McCullough has produced here a book that is fresh in focus and beautiful in execution. "Paris: An Inspiring Tour of the City's Creative Heart" is divided into two main parts, with the first providing 103 pages that --one by one--limn the histories and personalities of the 18 arrondoissements. The next 105 pages identify key establishments that fall into three categories: design, style, and flavor. "Paris: An Inspiring Tour" was designed first and foremost for the reader who intends to walk the streets of the city and seek out the very best of what it offers in terms of architecture, boutiques, haute couture, food, and cultural institutions. But it is as well a tempting amuse bouche for armchair tourists who seek a beautifully-presented basic understanding of Paris, a good first course before moving ahead with main course, more rigorously-prepared histories.

I have various books on Paris and have been fortunate enough to visit Paris on seminal occasions from my first trip overseas with my beloved father when I was 10 to celebrating a birthday with my husband on our last visit 6 years ago. What makes Ms. McCulloch's book sublime is in how it activates the senses with her beautiful pictures, bringing back beautiful memories of places one has lingered and a longing for those places yet to be visited. Her purposeful meandering through out various arrondissements makes her book a necessary accessory for any one's next visit. Thank you for allowing me to relish Paris once more through your eyes and with your words!

PARIS HAS MY HEART! i HAVE MANY TOUR BOOKS, NOVELS, ETCETERA ABOUT PARIS, BUT THIS BOOK IS WONDERFUL IN THAT SHE DETAILS THE CITY ARRONDISSMENT BY ARRONDISSMENT, AND EACH SECTION HAS WONDERFUL TIPS. I ENJOY THE 2ND SECTION THAT SCOUTS OUT THE BEST TEA ROOMS, CAFES, ANTIQUE SHOPS, ETCETERA--I HAVE RECOMMENDED TO MANY OTHER LOVERS OF PARIS. MY 20TH TRIP TO THIS FABULOUS CITY WILL BE MAY 2014, AND I PLAN TO DISCOVER "NEW" TO ME MANY EXCITING LITTLE ADVENTURES, BASED ON THIS BOOK. PARIS IS ALWAS FRESH AND WONDERFUL TO ME.

I go to Paris every year...and different people ususally join me. I like to give this book to my travel companion of the year and let them create the itinerary since I have been many times and am not interested in the "touristy" side. This year my daughter in law read this book and marked page after page... and we explored Paris through this book! We traded it back and forth each night as we discussed what adventures to have next! I highlight was an old button store in the 2nd... and the owner confirmed that John Paul Gaultier does indeed buy his buttons there, just like the book says! We spent an hour with the shop owner in this beautiful old shop...we will take this book every year because we would never had had the experiences we had without this gorgeous book!

A nice book for reading at home. Not something you'd take along on a trip to Paris. I'd buy it again.

Love!

Saw this book in Canada and regretted not buying it so hunted for it online. A really good inspirational and informative read for those considering visiting Paris.

a few more photos would be great

I bought this as a gift for a friend who is obsessed with Paris and her eyes were as big as Christmas baubles as she flicked through it. Its a really gorgeous book you'd be proud to have on your coffee table, packed to the brim with stylish pictures and good descriptions of each area in Paris and its respective personalities. A lovely gift for the women in your life who need to feel a bit of 'jujjiness' and romance!

this was a present