Paperback Castles

Sincere simplicity. "A Moveable Feast" portrays Hemingway's writing philosophy of the importance of one true sentence perfectly. Every sentence in this book is true and brutally honest; stripped of every embellishment and artistic attempt. It is devastatingly beautiful.

In this collection Hemingway writes about writing; the simple act of putting a pen to paper and finding true inspiration. He introduces the reader to a literary world of notorious writers and their haunting demons. Reading the comparison of F. Scott Fitzgerald and a butterfly's wings feels like a deep glimpse into a complicated soul.
But this is also a memoir; a remembrance of times long past and people long gone. Hemingway's Paris is a simple place where happiness is found on various streetcorners, in Luxembourg Gardens or at dinner with a dear friend. The descriptions of the warmth in Shakespeare & Co, and the serenity in a glass of wine gave me an understanding of 'the lost generation', their beliefs and their core values.

"A Moveable Feast" is both made up of fiction and facts. It is hard to separate Hemingway's memories from his writing, and as a result the entire book has a mythical aura of something entirely undefinable; it is impossible to categorize and hard to completely understand. But it is mesmerizing, nevertheless.

“There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.”

(This edition also includes some of Hemingway's later drafts and corrections. I really found the extra material fascinating, as it allowed me to catch a glimpse of his writing process.)