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Often laugh-out-loud funny, occasionally boring, but always insightful, Paris to the Moon is a book I randomly decided to read on vacation, because I like reading travel stories. This collection of essays is most intriguing when examining the day-to-day life of an American in Paris, especially when Gopnik writes about the experiences of his very young son. Reading about the differences between French and American attitudes was very insightful, giving me a deeper understanding of the love/hate relationship between our two countries. For instance: the French generally derive value from their work, where Americans derive value from what we buy; in the ideal French world, workers would exist without having to deal with customers, whereas in the ideal American world, we could buy goods and services without ever having to interact with employees (which, at least from my American point of view, seemed fairly accurate). Another interesting example being the absence of a sporting culture in France; whereas in the USA, I can strike up a conversation with practically anyone by saying "How about that home team?"; whereas in France that conversational bridge is made by talking about politics. According to Gopnik, Anti-Americanism in Paris is generally something that is present in conversation--it's easy to beat up on McDonalds and the arrogant American imperialist--and yet this sentiment does not seem to go much deeper than words, as there is a deep love of American music and culture in Paris.

The best essays, as I mentioned before, have to do with simple, day-to-day family life, such as Gopnik's Christmas journals (apparently it's impossible to find a string of Christmas lights in Paris, they only come in "garlands"), and his account of trying to steer his son away from Barney the dinosaur. The weakest essays are the ones that go the least personal; for example, there are a couple of essays about restaurants and cooking and fresh produce in Paris, and I got to a point of boredom where I just skimmed.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you like French culture, Paris, travel, and other cultures's viewpoint of Americans. It's quite interesting and very entertaining through most of the essays.