Walking into a small store in Paris changes Thad Carhart's life. Find out how in The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. This is a charming book about reconnecting with a past love and the quirky people that helped. There are chapters on the history of the piano, restoring and tuning them, along with the unusual finds the store owner finds. This book inspired a new trail, but would it be books about the piano? France? We'll see!

One about France actually popped up first: French Toast: Celebrating the Maddening Mysteries of Parisians. This is a memoir by Harriet Welty Rochefort who was born in Iowa but went to Paris during college. She married a Frenchman and settled there to raise their family. Here she discusses the perplexities, complexities, and puzzlement of the French. An amusing and informative read!

Then came The Piano Maker, by Kurt Palka. From her earliest days Helene Giroux was taught not only how to play a piano, but how to build and tune them as well. Her family has done so for generations. Sadly, times change, and she ends up taking refuge in a small town in Nova Scotia. She is a woman with a secret. Nicely written.

A woman with a secret is also part of the story line in Piano Tide, by Kathleen Dean Moore. I was caught up in the first chapter because in order to deliver an upright piano to a small town in Alaska, the tide must be in. Small towns often struggle for survival, and here it is no different. How far do you go? Clear cut a forest? Ruin salmon runs for a fancy bottled water? Watch out for this one, I was reading and doing other things at first, then I was just reading, stopping just long enough to feed the dog! The people will really catch your interest. Thanks go to County Reader for this recommendation. (Sorry it took so long for me to get to it). :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog