A Little Bit of Paris

Book excerpt: Renowned New Yorker cover illustrater Jean-Jacques Sempé illustrates the quirky charm of France's capital and it's residents with his signature style and gentle sense of humor and irony. His drawings are famed for their striking use of pen and ink, their inimitable style, and most of all for their satire and tragic-comic vision. The 128 drawings in this charming portfolio are sweet and sentimental. They somehow manage to be gentle even when the topic is difficult. They probe the quirkiness of life in Paris and wordlessly pinpoint the quintessential features of the City of Light, creating a world peopled by lovers strolling along the Seine, culture mavens preening in the Louvre, and characters who are ready to see the comic and the light-hearted beyond life's problems. Anyone who has fallen in love with Paris will be sure to cherish this charming keepsake.