Yvonne Chen Chen itibaren Giannouli, Greece itibaren Giannouli, Greece

A quick, enjoyable read. This is definitely like learning history from a gossipy old aunt and although she discusses the Seven Years War, there's much more about court life at Versailles in the time of Louis XV than political wrangling. Broader brush strokes than modern biographies typically use. In a few generalities, she gives us the Marquise's childhood—-what would probably be several chapters of annotated anecdotes in a modern work. Also, because she doesn't list her sources all the time, I had an uneasy feeling she was sometimes filling in the blanks creatively. Tough to know, when a novelist writes history. Still, I'll always remember Louis XV, his mistress, his wars, his alleged personality. That's something I never could keep straight after four years of college.

I liked the movie, but I liked this more. Michael Cera's take on Nick was different from the Nick in the book, and the story here was much more interesting, with the exception of the sub-plot in the movie involving Norah's trashy friend's adventures. The chapters alternated POVs between the two titular characters and I thought it worked very well. It was easy to root for the two of them to get together.