Candy Palmater shares her 3 favourite books set in and about Paris

"We'll always have Paris," Rick says to Ilsa in Casablanca — and those are words Candy Palmater wishes that she could say right now.

Palmater longs to visit Paris. She and her wife, Denise, were going to go there until COVID-19 put the kibosh on their trip. Palmater still has Paris high on her bucket list. But in the meantime, she says, at least she can read about it. 

The comedian, broadcaster and columnist spoke with Shelagh Rogers about three books set in the City of Light: The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane, The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury and Dear Paris by Janice MacLeod.

The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane, translated by Alison Anderson

"This novel by Leïla Marouane was translated from French by Alison Anderson. It came out in 2010. The author was born and raised in Algeria, but moved to Paris in 1990. 

"It's an interesting book because when you look at that title, you think this is going to be some big sexual romp, but it's not. It's this incredibly well-crafted story about how the demands of how family, religion, culture collide into your personal desires — and how that push and pull can be so interesting. The main character, Mohammed, is a 40-year-old virgin. He's living with his mom, and he's a lapsed Islamist. 

It's this incredibly well-crafted story about how the demands of family, religion, culture collide into your personal desires — and how that push and pull can be so interesting.

"He's doing everything to not be who he is. He's got a goal that he does not want to be a virgin anymore. He wants to move out of mom's house and have this exciting Paris life.

"I think it doesn't matter what your religion is and it doesn't matter like what your own personal situation is, you can relate to the struggles that this guy is having. I don't want to give too much away, but it's an incredibly timely book for right now, where religion is playing such a big part in public discourse."

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury

"It's about this young woman who lives in Paris who has a really boring life. She goes to an everyday office job that she is in no way attached to. She lives alone in an apartment. She doesn't really have any friends or any romantic relationship.

It's a coming-of-age story and a fantastic, surreal experience.

"The most exciting part of her day is when she gets on the train in the morning to go to that boring office. She always has a book with her, and she looks at what everybody else is reading on the metro. She imagines whole lives associated with these people based on the books they read. 

"One day, she stumbles by this building, one that has a door being propped open by a beautiful book. It insults the very soul of her that somebody would use a book as a doorstop. 

"She engages in a conversation with this little girl, and the little girl invites her in. I's actually a clandestine bookstore run by the little girl's father. The woman ends up moving into the bookstore and running the bookstore. 

"I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone, but in these 200 short pages, you get the experience of the metro. You get to know the people on the metro. It's a coming-of-age story and a fantastic, surreal experience."

Dear Paris by Janice MacLeod

"If you are a romantic like me, this book is going to send you into another world. I finished this book and the first thing I did is I jumped online and I ordered everything else she ever wrote. Janice is a Canadian who moved to Paris by herself in real life.

If you are a romantic like me, this book is going to send you into another world.

"She's single and quickly, she falls in love. She starts a business. She gets married. She writes books. She has a baby. She survived cancer. And all this happens in a seven- or eight-year period. But when she went there, she had this idea for a business and a way to remember her time in Paris. She started a thing on Etsy, where you could subscribe to her and she would send you letters from Paris with her little illustrations.

"I feel like I have been there now and to these Paris cafés. She takes you there in this book."

Candy Palmater's comments have been edited for length and clarity.