Peggy Recommends Two Upbeat Films; Romantics Anonymous and The Women on the Sixth Floor

No time or money to take in Paris this springtime? Pick one or both of these delightful  and feel-good DVDs and be in France instantly courtesy of your remote.

 In Romantics Anonymous, Jean-Rene and Angelique fall in love drawn together through a shared passion for chocolate but neither is able to express how they feel. Sadly, their crippling shyness is driving them apart. But eventually, they manage to overcome their lack of self-confidence, and risk baring their true feelings. The Huffington Post called this "one of France's best new films."

  In The Women on the Sixth Floor it's Paris, 1960. Jean-Louis lives a bourgeois existence with his neurotic socialite wife Suzanne while their children are away at boarding school. The couple's world is turned upside down when they hire Maria, a Spanish maid who introduces Jean-Louis to an alternative reality a few stories up on the sixth floor. Befriending a group of sassy Spanish maids, the women teach him there's more to life than stocks and bonds, and their influence on the house ultimately transforms everyone's life. PM

The Book Review that Ignited a Firestorm

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin and translated by Chi-Young Kim was a runaway best seller in Korea. It has been reprinted five times since published in the US and is due to be published in 20 countries. It's the story of a mother who becomes separated from her family in the bustle of the Seoul subway station and cannot be found when the family swiftly returns to the stop. In the subsequent efforts to find her, each member of the family must look at their relationship with this humble and self-sacrificing woman. A bruising, harsh, and some claimed racist review of this book by Maureen Corrigan which appeared on the NPR web site ignited an unprecented firestorm from readers. Read this sensitive and absorbing book and compare your thoughts with Corrigan's and those reponding to the review. You'll have a lot to think about. PM