IN OTHER WORDS

A collection of personal essays on the author’s (Singing the City: The Bonds of Home in an Industrial Landscape, 1998, etc.) love affair with the French language.

Graham’s lifelong affection for the French language led to her owning an apartment in Paris. While the French language transported her to the city, Paris transports her into the language. Being in a French city is for Graham simply a way to fulfill her dream of speaking the language around the clock. In these essays, the details of her life as a part-time Parisian lend immediacy to her descriptions, as readers follow her through the apartment-purchase process, adventures with the local utilities, explorations into her neighborhood and her gradual acclimatization to the routines of French life. Simple, direct language and charming illustrations draw readers in. The author’s experiences in the city–whether as a property owner, shopper or wife of a patient in a foreign hospital–are all fertile ground for further fluency. She observes and absorbs the words that surround her and each essay reveals a different perspective on her life within the language. Graham savors new expressions, learns to change the shape of her mouth to pronounce vowels and consonants and revels in the nuances of word placement and the softness, magic and music of the language. Her thoughts on French take the author from translating baseball terms, to a discussion of the effects of language on behavior, to a comparison of Pittsburgh and Paris. She even tries composing poetry, following the rules of French neoclassicism. Her life is not without tragic, heart-wrenching events, yet she continues to find joy in the refuge and haven of the French language.

A charming, thoughtful book for lovers of Paris, the French language or good writing.