The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, John Baxter
The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, John Baxter
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The Most Beautiful Walk in the World
A Pedestrian in Paris

Author: John Baxter

Narrator: Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 5 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/07/2017


Synopsis

Thrust into the unlikely role of professional "literary walking tour" guide, an expat writer provides the most irresistibly witty and revealing tour of Paris in years.

In this enchanting memoir, acclaimed author and long-time Paris resident John Baxter remembers his yearlong experience of giving "literary walking tours" through the city. Baxter sets off with unsuspecting tourists in tow on the trail of Paris's legendary artists and writers of the past. Along the way, he tells the history of Paris through a brilliant cast of characters: the favorite cafés of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce; Pablo Picasso's underground Montmartre haunts; the bustling boulevards of the late-nineteenth-century flâneurs; the secluded "Little Luxembourg" gardens beloved by Gertrude Stein; the alleys where revolutionaries plotted; and finally Baxter's own favorite walk near his home in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Paris, by custom and design, is a pedestrian's city—each block a revelation, every neighborhood a new feast for the senses, a place rich with history and romance at every turn. The Most Beautiful Walk in the World is your guide, par excellence, to the true, off-the-beaten-path heart of the City of Lights.

About John Baxter

John Baxter has lived in Paris for more than twenty years. He is the author of four acclaimed memoirs about his life in France: The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France; The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris; Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas; and We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light. John, who gives literary walking tours through Paris, is also a film critic and biographer whose subjects have included the directors Fellini, Kubrick, Woody Allen, and most recently, Josef von Sternberg. Born in Australia, he lives with his wife and daughter in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood, in the same building Sylvia Beach called home.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chocolate & Croissants on October 13, 2011

I am having some difficulty reviewing The Most Beautiful Walk in the World; A Pedestrian in Paris. I wanted to like the book, I should have liked the book. I love everything about Paris. I would be in Paris every weekend if I could. And the title is so appropriate; Paris belongs to pedestrians. It i......more

Goodreads review by Beth on February 20, 2020

This the second of Baxter's books on Paris that I have read, and I enjoyed this one much more than the first. It's a breezy travelogue on Paris and its streets, about the very culture of walking neighborhood by neighborhood. Baxter has lived there for decades and brings a long-time resident's insigh......more

Goodreads review by Mark on June 09, 2013

A nice little book. Inoffensive and lighthearted. Lots of anecdotes about Hemingway and Fitzgerald's time there. This is an easy, fast read particularly if you've been to Paris before. The next we go, we'll definitely try one of the walking tours.......more

Goodreads review by Dvora on October 20, 2014

If you can get past the author's arrogance, you find that about half of the book isn't about Paris or people in Paris at all. The first bit was devoted to deriding those poor souls who, wearing their beige raincoat and comfortable shoes, consult a map during their walk in Paris. What the hell does B......more

Goodreads review by Laura on October 10, 2022

When we travel, we love to do small group walking tours - we’ve found that the mix of history, sightseeing, and personal anecdotes of the guide can make an area come alive in a way you don’t get from reading a guide book or website. The Most Beautiful Walk in the World felt like a blend between the......more