Ten top books about Paris

Whitney Scharer holds a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous journals including New Flash Fiction Review, Cimarron Review, and Bellevue Literary Review. Her first novel, The Age of Light, based on the life of pioneering photographer Lee Miller, was published by Little, Brown (US) and Picador (UK) in February, 2019, and is forthcoming from over a dozen other countries. She lives with her husband and daughter in Arlington, MA.

At O: The Oprah Magazine Scharer tagged ten of the best books about Paris. One title on the list:

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel

Millions of copies sold, multiple years on the New York Times bestseller list, and a Pulitzer Prize—Anthony Doerr probably doesn’t need another shout-out about his book, but I can’t help myself. The sections of the novel that take place in Paris, focalized through Marie-Laure, a blind girl whose father works at the Museum of Natural History, are some of the most sensually evocative descriptions of Paris I’ve ever read. I love the structure of the book, too—short chapters that read like prose poems.

Read about another entry on the list.

All the Light We Cannot See is among David Baldacci's six favorite books with an element of mystery, Jason Flemyng's six best books, Sandra Howard's six best books, Caitlin Kleinschmidt's twelve moving novels of the Second World War and Maureen Corrigan's 12 favorite books of 2014.

--Marshal Zeringue