What is Nicolas Barreau reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Nicolas Barreau, author of One Evening in Paris.

His entry begins:

Well ... first of all I have to tell you that I should do more writing than reading at this very special moment as there is a deadline for my next novel, Paris Is Always a Good Idea, which will come out in September. Nevertheless I stumbled over a fantastic novel when reading the advance reading copy of Thomas Montasser’s A Very Special Year where a novel by Italo Calvino is mentioned. The narrator, a young lady in a little book-store, reads the first few lines of Calvino’s If on a winter's night a traveler and is intrigued.

And so was I. I had often heard about this famous novel but never read it. This time I couldn’t resist and bought the book. I was...[read on]

About One Evening in Paris, from the publisher:

Alain Bonnard, the owner of a small art cinema in Paris, is a dyed-in-the-wool nostalgic. In his Cinéma Paradis there are no buckets of popcorn, no XXL coca-colas, no Hollywood blockbusters. Not a good business plan if you want to survive, but Alain holds firm to his principles of quality. He wants to show films that create dreams, and he likes most of the people that come to his cinema. Particularly the enchanting, shy woman in the red coat who turns up every Wednesday in row 17. What could her story be? One evening, Alain plucks up courage and invites the unknown beauty to dinner. The most tender of love stories is just getting under way when something incredible happens: The Cinéma Paradis is going to be the location of Allan Woods’ new film Tender Memories of Paris. Solène Avril, the famous American director’s favourite actress, has known the cinema since childhood and has got it into her head that she wants the film to be shot there. Alain is totally overwhelmed when he meets her in person. Suddenly, the little cinema and its owner are the focus of public attention, and the red-plush seats are sold out every evening.

But the mystery woman Alain has just fallen in love with seems suddenly to have vanished. Is this just coincidence? In One Evening in Paris by Nicolas Barreau, Alain sets off in search of her and becomes part of a story more delightful than anything the cinema has to offer.

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--Marshal Zeringue