If you have ever lived in Paris, been to Paris, thought about traveling to Paris, or just in need of a good laugh, get your hands on a copy of David Lebovitz‘s delightful new book, The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World’s Most Glorious – and Perplexing – City. Cookbook author and former Chez Panisse pastry chef, David Lebovitz has been amusing fans for years on his blog DavidLebovitz.com with his stories of the absurdities he encounters in daily life as an American expat living in Paris. Now he’s gathered some of his best stories of his travails and given them a home in this hilarious book.

We’ve all heard (or experienced) stories of soul-leaching French bureaucracy or how rude the people can be in Paris. David shares in exquisite detail how this plays out when you try actually living there, versus just hitting the tourist spots. Need to make a payment at a bank? Make sure you have exact change, because the bank doesn’t have change. Did someone just cut you off in line? Next time don’t leave more than an inch in front of you, or better yet, learn the Parisian way and proactively cut some else off who isn’t paying attention. If you are a regular reader of David’s blog, a few of the tales will be familiar, but even with those David brings more color to the canvas, making them worth the retelling. Most of the material is new, and positively guffaw inducing.

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