Paris In Love : A Memoir
by Eloisa James

In 2009, Eloisa James, a Shakespeare professor at Fordham University, her husband, Alessandro, an Italian who also teaches, and their two children, Anna and Luca, went to Paris for one year. James who is from a family of writers (her father was poet Robert Bly) is actually known more as an author of romance novels. She definitely knows how to tweak words to make the text more appealing but this book is a disappointment. All it is are snippets of events that happened to the family: Anna and Luca's behavior problems in the French schools; having to go on a diet because chocolate keeps rearing its ugly head; Alessandro's weight loss; French culture; etc. James posted her observations on Facebook and then these thoughts and essays were combined to produce a book. After a while, who cares? It is not enough to keep one's interest and mine certainly lagged halfway through. There is no substance; only light fluff.
Not recommended.

Gypsy Boy : My Life In The Secret World Of The Romany Gypsies
by Mikey Walsh

I cannot understand the amount of glowing reviews for this absolutely horrible book. One of the professional journals said that Gypsy Boy is better written than Augusten Burrough's Running With Scissors. That reviewer needs to have his head examined.
Mikey Walsh taught himself to read and write and it shows. Just read the Acknowledgements before the book even begins and there's problems with incorrect usage of punctuation. The amount of physical abuse from his father and sexual abuse from his uncle was just too disturbing and I had to stop reading. Walsh barely gives much information about Gypsies so you don't really glean anything new. It's basically a diatribe of his miserable childhood.
Not recommended.