Wow, thanks for all the suggestions and comic relief! Looks like I'll be busy.

No, I do not read French. I'm trying to learn to speak it though. For some reason, not quite taking to it like other languages. A little more effort might do the trick : )

Thanks for the link on the thread. I couldn't think of the phrase to put in for the search.

I'd suggest one I recently read before our trip to Paris last month <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i> by Charles Dickens. It's about London and France shortly before and during the French Revolution. It'll make some of the older sights very interesting.

Jules

&quot;The Lost King of France&quot; by Deborah Cadbury,
&quot;A Ladies'Paradice&quot;and&quot;The Belly of Paris,&quot; by Zola,
Anthing by MarcelPagnol. Peter Mayle.&quot;The Boss Dog&quot; &quot;Two Towns in Provence&quot;and &quot;Long ago in France&quot;
By MFK Fisher,
Anythinf by Colette,
&quot;Window on Provence&quot;by Bo Niles,
&quot;The Fly Truffler&quot;and &quot;Luminous Debris&quot;
by th late Gustaf Sobin,
&quot;Clochmerle&quot; (hard to find) a funny Burgundy tale.

Perfume from Provence, by lady Fortescue is delightful.

Susan Loomis has a follow up- who doesn't these days- called Tarte Tatin.

There's another of the same sort of genre called &quot;Life in a Postcard&quot;, and a very good book based in the Bearn by Celia Brayfield called Deep France.

For fiction look for Fred Vargas, and Sebastien Japhisot, and Simenon... No-one has mentioned Joanne Harris and her set of very fine books.

I've just finished &quot;The Man who Married a Mountain&quot; which is all about the Pyrenees.

masses to pick from

Hi cigale :-) try ClochEmerle, it should be easier to find! ;-)
coco

Hi coco, I have, and read Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevallier. It's spelled with the E.

If you read The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier, it is interesting to see the real tapestries in Paris at the Musee National du Moyen-Age. It is interesting, even if you don't read the book!!

I loved the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy by Sandra Gulland. I think the first wone is called Tales of PAssion, Tales of Woe. I was hooked.

Le Grand Meaulnes, by Alain Fournier, is a very moving, coming-of-age novel; you have to be in the right mood for this &quot;atmospheric&quot; work.