France has such wealthy literature and a lot historical past that no record might ever do it justice, to not point out the innumerable up to date novels and memoirs that immortalize this or that nook of my nation.
Placing collectively an inventory of the very best books about France is as unattainable as (at the very least for me) as climbing Mont Blanc in sandals in winter.
However that does not imply I can not attempt!
So I made an inventory…
Subsequent factor I knew I had notes on greater than 100 books, from books on France historical past to French literature classics to books on dwelling in France.
At this charge, the record can be revealed someday round 2056, so as an alternative, I made a decision to place this up as a piece in progress. Every week, I will add books to it, till I (otherwise you) really feel we’ve got sufficient.
This record is aimed toward non-Francophones who’re obsessed with France and wish to study every part they’ll about us. And…
- Every part is in whimsical order. I’ve tried alphabetical, however… it is difficult.
- I’ve learn SOME of the books. Associates of mine have advisable others.
- Simply because a e book is filed below a sure interval heading does not imply that is when it was written. So if somebody writes a e book on World Struggle II this yr, I will file it below World Struggle II.
Up to date fiction books about France
Chocolat
by Joanne Harris
“Even earlier than it was tailored into the Oscar-nominated movie starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris’ New York Occasions bestselling novel Chocolat entranced readers with its mixture of hedonism, whimsy, and, after all, chocolate.” —Amazon
The Cleaner of Chartres
by Salley Vickers
“If you happen to benefit from the work of Marilynne Robinson, Penelope Fitzgerald, James Salter…you need to be studying Vickers.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Submit Guide World.
A cleansing lady with a previous works on the Chartres Cathedral (you will love the descriptions). Quickly she should confront her previous.
The Magnificence of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery and Alison Anderson
The outstanding New York Occasions bestseller that “explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a fancy Parisian condominium constructing” (Publishers Weekly).
“In a sublime hôtel particulier in Paris, Renée, the concierge, is all however invisible―brief, plump, middle-aged, with bunions on her toes and an habit to tv soaps. Her solely real attachment is to her cat, Leo.”
Searching and Gathering
by Anna Gavalda
This heartfelt and award-winning novel follows 4 Parisians of various ages and backgrounds who randomly occurred to turn into roommates. Every is burdened with their very own set of worries and sorrows, discovering themselves united of their loneliness and battle to search out their place on this world.
The creator manages to create one thing significant: a reference to the 4 protagonists and with it a deeper understanding of the Parisians and their day-to-day life. Whereas that is a kind of books set in Paris, it isn’t about Paris, however in regards to the Parisians who inhabit it. (Advisable by Lena of Salut from Paris)
Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
by Faïza Guène
This can be a coming of age story a couple of Muslim teenager from a suburban Paris housing mission, part of Paris no customer ever sees. It paints an image of immigrant life, which will be troublesome, however is stuffed with hope. Highlights the conflict of cultures, the problem of illiteracy and the place of ladies on this tradition.
Labyrinth
by Kate Mosse
Guide 1 of the Languedoc Trilogy, the place an archeologist makes a shocking discovery about an occasion and a secret that happened 800 years in the past – the key should be stored. For lovers of the Carcassonne area and Twelfth-century France.
The Little Paris Bookshop
by Nina George
The Little Paris Bookshop is the fantastic story of a Parisian bookseller nursing a damaged coronary heart. The protagonist, Jean-Perdu, runs a e book barge on the Seine, aka The Little Paris Bookshop, which he refers to as his literary apothecary. Passersby will step upon his barge, clarify what’s troubling them and Jean-Perdu will discover the proper e book to “remedy” them.
It is solely when he opens a long-lost letter from a former lover that he units out on his personal journey of therapeutic and self-discovery. He travels in his barge from Paris to Provence, assembly many characters on the best way who supply each leisure and enlightenment.
Translated from French, this e book provides an perception into French tradition, French attitudes and the totally different areas of France between Paris and Provence. Cities you will uncover alongside the best way embrace Saint-Mammès, Cepoy, Briare-le-Canal, the Loire Valley, Chalon-sur-Saône, Cuisery, Lyon, Avignon and extra. A must-read for Francophiles and bibliophiles. (Advisable by Laura at What’s Scorching?)
Homicide on the Quai
by Cara Black
If you happen to like French detective sequence books with a robust no-nonsense heroine, you will like Aimée Leduc… and that is how a Paris medical pupil inherits a detective company and launches a profession. The Berlin Wall, a dishonest boyfriend and Nazi gold are all by some means concerned.
Bruno, Chief of Police (first of the sequence)
by Martin Black
On this sequence of thriller novels set in France, soldier-turned-policeman Benoît Courrèges, the eponymous Bruno, solves mysteries whereas serving the group of Saint-Denis (in actual life, Le Bugue, the place Walker lives), wooing girls and ingesting wine, a gradual jaunt by means of the French countryside.
Maybe not surprisingly, Walker, a former bureau chief for the Guardian in Moscow and Washington, DC, weaves in worldwide intrigue, native historical past, French politics and — after all — French paperwork. He has a method however an excellent one and really entertaining. (Advisable by Brad)
Paris
by Edward Rutherford
This can be a heavy tome, a kind of bricks you eye twice earlier than beginning, but it surely’s value each web page. It isn’t the best literature however as a sweeping historical past of Paris from 1261 to 1968, it’s good, an enormous amongst French historic novels that brings a number of historic durations of Paris alive.
It does so by means of characters which might be intertwined, kinfolk and descendants dancing by means of time collectively, weaving their tales by means of each other and thru time.
Undoubtedly top-of-the-line books set in Paris if what you are on the lookout for is the sweep of historical past. I totally loved the learn.
The Piano Store on the Left Financial institution
by Thad Carhart
A secret piano store a narrative of musical friendship and the reawakening of a childhood ardour, all disposed in a particular Paris.
Here is how the writer describes it: “Intertwined with the story of a musical friendship are reflections on how pianos work, their wonderful historical past, and tales of the individuals who take care of them, from novice pianists to the craftsmen who make the mechanism sing.”
Sarah’s Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay
That is up to date historic fiction with two storylines: one follows a younger Jewish lady arrested throughout the Nazi Occupation of Paris Vel’d’Hiv roundup, a shameful web page of Parisian historical past, whereas the opposite follows a journalist analysis that raid on its sixtieth anniversary. The e book supplies a robust image of the Occupation and of the complicity of Vichy bureaucrats, which France remains to be making an attempt to come back to phrases with.
A Sport and A Pastime
by James Salter
A fairly express affair between a younger American faculty dropout and a French lady in provincial France throughout the Sixties, with loads of room for rural France to color photos in our minds.
Three Robust Girls
by Marie NDiaye
This e book about France appears on the nation otherwise: it traces the lives of three West African immigrants in France – a instructor in Senegal who follows her boyfriend again to France; a French-born lawyer summoned again to Senegal by her father; and an deserted widow with little hope past a obscure contact in France.
The creator is the primary black lady to ever win the distinguished Prix Goncourt, so it is vitally French in strategy and a difficult, clever learn.
Zazie within the Metro
by Raymond Queneau
A cult basic a couple of provincial pre-teen who involves Paris to experience the Métro and when she finds it (in true French style) on strike, proceeds to tumble right into a sequence of adventures that can enable her – and us – to find Paris. Stuffed with wit and humour, quirkiness and attraction. Fascinating and endearing.
French fiction books earlier than, throughout and after World Struggle II
All of the Gentle We Can’t See
by Anthony Doerr
All The Gentle We Can’t See is a gorgeous e book, accurately, written as it’s by a Pulitzer Prize winner.
The story is a couple of blind lady hiding in Saint-Malo and a German boy, pressured to battle within the battle, whose destinies meet. It offers with the battle, with the depth of the characters’ ideas and emotions, but in addition supplies a charming take a look at Saint-Malo throughout World Struggle II. (Reviewed by Cláudia Bastos of Journey Drafts)
Bonjour Tristesse
by Françoise Sagan
The creator was a stunning 18 years previous when she wrote what turned a cult novel of rising up, love and the Riviera: a younger rich lady spends the summer season along with her partying father and his mistresses. New love pursuits are concerned, with advanced relationships of an surprising maturity. A really French novel.
Nightingale
by Kristin Hannah
A New York Occasions bestseller about love and resilience and battle. Amazon: “With braveness, grace, and highly effective perception, bestselling creator Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World Struggle II and illuminates an intimate a part of historical past seldom seen: the ladies’s battle.”
Homosexual Paree and the Twenties: Between the wars
A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
I am not going to say a lot about this basic imaginative and prescient of Paris within the Twenties by an excellent American author. It isn’t a lot in regards to the plot and story however in regards to the extraordinary writing. What’s attention-grabbing about this specific version is that it incorporates some sketches we’ve not seen earlier than – together with some occasions we did not learn about, and portraits of different expat writers. It was a heady time in Paris between the wars, a time of excessive power and even better creativity, particularly among the many throngs of People who found how inspiring (and extremely cheap) Paris then was.
Jean de Florette
by Marcel Pagnol
Jean de Florette (and its companion e book Manon of the Springs, Manon des Sources) is a deep and epic tour into small-town Provence, its landscapes and its characters. Each had been made into distinctive movies. These are classics of recent French literature and should you occur to learn French fluently, learn the originals but when not, go for the translations. You might by no means wish to half along with your copy. Among the best novels about France.
Lovers on the Chameleon Membership
by Francine Prose
A uniquely fashionable novel of Paris between the wars, with a nightclub, vibrant characters, a little bit of decadence, homosexuality, artists, politics, tragedy, collaboration – fiction, however based mostly on somebody who existed.
From French Revolution to First World Struggle
Bel-Ami
by Man de Maupassant
Man de Maupassant was an astute observer of late Nineteenth-century Paris and this second novel, all about human foibles − intercourse and energy − takes place in opposition to a backdrop of France’s North African colonies. In it, he traces the ascension of a corrupt journalist, and his observations about betrayal and manipulation would work simply as properly right now. Add to this his sharp and significant gaze on the emergence of town’s bourgeoisie and you’ve got a basic.
The Discovery of France
by Graham Robb
Billed as an historic geography, The Discovery of France covers the historical past of France from simply earlier than the Revolution to the First World Struggle, the interval the place France strikes from a set of “pays” with fairly totally different languages and methods of life to a (roughly) unified nation throughout the Belle Epoque. You may study in regards to the first tour de France — not a bicycle race! — the cagots, and the homicide of Cassini’s geometer. (Advisable by Brad.)
La Bête Humaine
by Émile Zola
That is the seventeenth novel of Zola’s 20-volume Rougon Macquart epic (I am on Quantity 2 proper now) however it’s apparently probably the most highly effective, and express. As with the remainder of the books within the sequence (all of them stand alone, by the best way), Zola takes aside each element of the time and place and describes people as if he had been utilizing tracing paper on their each characteristic. Ardour, jealousy, homicide − and the railway all characteristic prominently on this late Nineteenth-century story of violence and corruption.
The Horseman on the Roof
by Jean Giono
Set within the mid-1800s, a romantic Piedmontese nobleman flees Italy and travels by means of Provence on his manner again dwelling – however a cholera epidemic is raging, together with distrust and imprisonment of foreigners. A gradual learn of magnificence. “Maybe no different of his novels higher reveals Giono’s good steadiness between lyricism and narrative, description and characterization, the epic and the actual.”
The Girls’ Paradise
by Émile Zola
The Girls’ Paradise is a love story, after all, but in addition a snapshot of French Nineteenth-century historical past. It’s the eleventh of the 20 books in Zola’s Rougon-Macquart sequence (to which we have already been launched) and there is little higher if you wish to get a really feel for the Second Empire below Napoleon III. To say that it’s the story of a division retailer will not do it justice, however that’s on the coronary heart of this story, together with the numerous relationships between store employees and clients.
Letters from my Windmill
by Alphonse Daudet
I do know it as ‘Lettres de mon Moulin’, which my mom used to make me follow dictation as a toddler. The creator tells us tales of Nineteenth-century Provence in a light-hearted and folksy voice, bringing an already vivid panorama much more alive by means of its on a regular basis folks.
Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo
First revealed in 1862, this well-known story focuses on the Parisian underworld and the fascinating historical past of the revolutions and social reform that occurred throughout that point. It’s a timeless basic, and I dare you to not cry.
The model I had rising up had 12 volumes. I began it after which spent the following week devouring each phrase.
“Introducing probably the most well-known characters in literature, Jean Valjean − the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread − Les Misérables ranks among the many biggest novels of all time.”-Amazon
L’Schooling Sentimentale
by Gustave Flaubert
Ardour and romance and revolution are the backdrops of this different basic by Flaubert, at a time when the world as he is aware of it’s in full turmoil. Within the phrases of the creator, that is “the ethical historical past of the lads of my era”. One of many nice French novels of the Nineteenth century.
Homicide on the Eiffel Tower (Victor Legris Mysteries)
by Claude Izner
It’s the 1889 World Exposition and a lady drops useless of what appears an unintentional trigger. However is it? Maybe there was one thing extra nefarious at play? Victor Legris, a bookseller, plans to search out out, casting gentle not solely on the thriller however on Nineteenth-century Paris. Difficult plot however nice portrayal of town. The primary of six books within the sequence.
The Purple and the Black
by Stendhal
This historic novel is ready throughout the Second Restoration, that point between the tip of Napoleon’s empire and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy with Louis XVIII. It’s the story of Julien Sorel, a younger French provincial man, who rises in French society by means of each expertise and crafty. That is really a basic of French literature, which exposes the social construction of Nineteenth-century France, its manners and lessons and behavior.
Literature and Historical past in Earlier France
Le Misanthrope
by Molière
This was the start of satire in royal France, the place one might take a couple of pot-shots on the aristocracy with out dropping one’s head – however when Molière’s performs first appeared they had been banned by the federal government. Ultimately, his performs had been accepted, at a time when France was positioning itself as a temple of tradition below Louis XIV.
Fragrance: The Story of a Assassin
by Patrick Suskind
A wonderful story of homicide and aroma in 18th-century Paris. A person with a singular ability, his sense of scent, tries to seize the one odour that’s out of his attain. I do not wish to inform you extra. (I learn this and was riveted by the clever element and the bizarre story line. A scary bit or two.)
Different non-fiction books about France
France
by Emile Chabal
This e book is sort of a feat: at 224 pages, it covers the interval from World Struggle II to the current, and supplies the inspiration for understanding France. It is the e book you must learn if you wish to “get” what France is like right now, rapidly, in a well-written type.
A Chunk-Sized Historical past of France
by Stéphane Hénaut and Jeni Mitchell
This husband and spouse workforce do one thing very cool and really French, illustrating the historical past of France by means of meals and foodways. In a single chapter, Hénaut and Mitchell hyperlink the French skepticism (till lately) of vegetarianism — see the uproar in Lyon over a vegetarian day at school cafeterias — to the Cathar heresy. Or their chapter on the “Socialist Baguette”. (Advisable by Brad)
A Thought of France: The Lifetime of Charles de Gaulle
by Julian Jackson
De Gaulle was such a central determine in fashionable French historical past that this award-winning e book will shed fairly an in-depth take a look at the final and his period.
The e book is stuffed with element, maybe an excessive amount of so, but it surely does present an enlightening take a look at a personality who remains to be a reference level in right now’s France.
I lately visited his dwelling and memorial museum within the Haute-Marne, an absolute should if you wish to deepen your understanding of this big of a person.
60 Million Frenchmen Can’t be Flawed
by Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Printed in 2003, this e book is a bit outdated, as a result of even in France, issues change. We are actually 67 million, 10% greater than we had been again then, our Presidents rule for 5, not seven years, our areas have been consolidated from 22 to 13 and some new departments created and so forth.
However that is potential probably the most useful France books I’ve ever examine how issues work right here, and who’s liable for what. Even when issues have modified considerably, you will nonetheless get a lot from it. It manages to simplify a paperwork that often feels impenetrable. I solely want the authors would come again to France and replace it!
Revolution Française
by Sophie Pedder
This e book just isn’t about what it’s possible you’ll assume it’s, the French Revolution. Its subtitle is “Emmanuel Macron and the search to reinvent a nation”, and that is what it is about.
The creator, a journalist (The Economist), traces an unknown Macron’s rise to energy and the preliminary a part of his first mandate (there have since been new French elections which introduced him again to energy in a minority authorities).
Sadly the e book stops early in Macron’s time period, which makes it troublesome to make use of as a basis to know right now’s French politics. That stated, it does say quite a bit about how a rustic so anchored in centralization and paperwork managed to elect a relative unknown to the best job within the land.
Residents: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
by Simon Schama
At 848 pages this isn’t a brief learn, however it’s a comparatively breezy one, shifting rapidly alongside. That stated, it’s full of particulars however you possibly can skip by means of these you do not want the primary time round – that is the type of e book you possibly can return to time and again.
It’s the good introduction to the French Revolution, with out which it’s obscure the France of right now.
Up to date memoir books about France
A Yr in Provence
by Peter Mayle
Has anybody NOT learn this?
A Yr in Provence is a journey memoir in regards to the yr the creator and his spouse spent within the Luberon village of Ménerbes in Provence within the early Eighties (there has since been a sequel, My 25 Years in Provence). He supplies nice perception into their day by day life in France, together with the challenges they face and the brand new issues they study.
The e book is split into months, starting with the acquisition of the home in January and the choice to remain in December. The creator shares his ardour for French delicacies and explains their growing immersion into French tradition: they study to play conventional boules, and are launched to the world of truffles. This can be a basic, translated worldwide, and put Ménerbes on the map, some would say making it too well-known. (Advisable by Locations of Juma)
Grime
by Invoice Buford
Invoice Buford, the creator of Warmth, makes use of his humour and fervour within the kitchen to inform us about his tumultuous transfer to Lyon and his new life there with spouse and twin toddlers. He would not communicate French however would not let that stand in his manner. He has a couple of names on his record whom he hopes will assist him discover work in order that he can study the culinary secrets and techniques of Lyon, and he throws himself into studying the secrets and techniques of French delicacies. If you happen to love meals and love France, this might be an actual deal with, deep, detailed and private.
One Extra Croissant for the Highway
by Felicity Cloake
Felicity Cloake, finest generally known as a meals columnist for the Guardian within the UK, takes on the basic meals of France – however not within the luxurious you’d anticipate: she takes to the streets, biking along with her trusty steed Eddy, over hills and vales, to search out the very best dishes in France.
She stops for a croissant every single day, conserving a operating ranking system to catalogue her journey.
This e book uncovers two very totally different sides of France: conventional French delicacies and the grittier aspect of biking and tenting by means of backroads. Felicity blends five-star eating with crushed pastries in her panniers at a moist campsite to current France in a manner you’ve by no means seen it earlier than.
As a bonus, this skilled meals taster gives basic French recipes we will all get pleasure from, wherever we’re on the earth. (Reviewed by Nina of Nina Out and About)
Books about France that do not match into some other class
Astérix le Gaulois
by Goscinny and Uderzo
The Astérix sequence are graphic novels, Tintin type, fairly than narrative books, however no self-respecting francophile can afford to disregard this feisty little Gaul and his village’s battle in opposition to Caesar’s legionnaires throughout the Roman occupation of Gaul. Astérix and his companion in crime, Obélix, efficiently preserve their tiny village out of Rome’s attain, the one Gallic village to flee Caesar’s troops.
There’s loads of historical past, laughter and caricature, and naturally the Gauls at all times win in opposition to the hapless Romans due to the magic potion their druid feeds them earlier than they go into battle.
Rendez-Vous in Cannes
by Jennifer Bonhet
Rendez-vous in Cannes tells the story of two girls. The primary one, Anna Carson, is a well-known film producer attending the Cannes Movie Competition for the primary time in years. The opposite is journalist Daisy Harris, invited to cowl the competition.
Because the story unfolds, the paths of those two totally different girls will cross in probably the most surprising methods, and the Cannes Movie competition will change their lives. The e book supplies an intense feeling of the approach to life and environment of Cannes town and its movie competition, in addition to the Riviera extra typically. (Reviewed by Cami Neves of Journey Cami).
Have a e book to recommend? (No extra memoirs written by non-French writers, please.) Then ship me the title, the creator, and 2-5 sentences about why it needs to be included as one of many Finest Books on France (and let me know whether or not you need me to make use of your identify as the advice).
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-Header Picture credit score Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 3.0, by way of Wikimedia Commons
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