vms03

Wow! What a list. Some of them very familiar, others not. Must make a list, and keep adding to it. I enjoy the classics, but often like a'series' type of books for easy, contemporary reading. Not sure which one to take on the trip...will have to consult itinerary and make an appropriate choice. 3 weeks and counting.

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

mcgeezer

For pure silliness I love P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves series. IMHO, there is nothing better then a great book on tape for a long drive. Anything will do as long as it's fast paced, interesting and unabridged. For a plane trip I prefer light reading or a game of Scrabble.

sheila

I find it hard to read a list like this and think it provides value. Everyone's tastes are different. I've lost count of the number of times someone here has praised the Diana Gabaladon books "about Scotland" when I wouldn't, personally, give them house room. Not that I'm any more right than the other person

I thought, however, you might be amused by a list that was put together by the particpants in a French Forum I waste my time on. These are all non-fiction about France:-

A Bull by the Back Door by Anne Loader (Renovating a house in the Limousin)

A Dog's Life by Peter Mayle

A Fool and his Money by Ann Wroe (Based on the story of a merchant who forgot where he had buried his gold in Rodez)

A Home in France by Anne Barry

A House in the sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre

A Normandy Tapestry by Alan Biggins

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (revolution)

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot (set in WW 1)

A white house in Gascony by Rex Grizell

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

Acquired Tastes by Peter Mayle

Almost French by Sarah Turnball

Anything Considered by Peter Mayle

Assignment in Brittany by Helen McInnes

At Home in France: Eating and Entertaining with the French by Christopher Petkanas, Jean-Bernard Naudin (Photographer)

Bananas in Bordeaux by Louise Franklin Castanet

Best Foot Forward by Susie Kelly (About a French resident British lady who walked from la Rochelle to Geneva for fun)

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

Bon Appetit by Peter Mayle

Bon Courage by Richard Wiles

Can we Afford the Bidet by Elizabeth Morgan

Celestine: Voices from a French village by Gillian Tindall

Chantemesle by Robin Fedden

Charlotte Grey by Sebastian Faulks

Chasing Cézanne by Peter Mayle

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Coastliners by Joanne Harris

Distance from Normandy by Jonathan Hull (About the relationship between a grandfather, an ageing WWII veteran who revisits his memories with his grandson).

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

Encore Provence by Peter Mayle

Exiles by Anita Burgh

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

France - A Culinary Journey. Classic Recipes from the regions of France

France Since 1945 by Robert Gildea

French Cricket by George East

French Flea Bites by George East

French Kisses by George East

French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle

French Letters by George East

French Revolutions by Tim Moore [TF member Thomas16 comments: excellent - very funny. I managed to get through it easily even though I have absolutely no interest in my bike apart from it getting me to the shop when my old van conks out! )

French Spirits by Jeffrey Greene

From here, you can't see Paris by Michael Sanders

Good bye, Johnny Onions by Gwyn Griffiths

Holy Fools by Joanne Harris

Home and Dry in France by George East

Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle

Lilac and Roses by Peggy Anderson (House renovation book, written 40 years ago)

Matisse?s War by Peter Everett (fictionalised account of Matisse during WW 2)

On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis

Perfume from Provence by Lady Fortescue (Gardening)

René and Me by George East

Scapegoat, Write to Kill by Daniel Pennac (mystery in Paris)

Selling French Dreams by Alan Biggins (TF member Val comments: Found Selling French Dreams funny, touching, and very enlightening. A good antidote to rose tinted spectacle syndrome if you're planning a move, but also positive about France and the French without being patronising)

Short Walk from Harrods by Dirk Borgarde

Something to Declare by Julian Barnes

The Bells of St. Paradis: A Love Affair with the Limousin by Anne Loader

The Caves of Perigord by Martin Walker

The Château by William Maxwell (About a young American couple who arrive in France for a 4 month holiday just after World War 2 and are perplexed by their reception)

The Duck with a Dirty Laugh by Anne Loader

The Girl at the Lion D'Or by Sebastian Faulks

The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village

The Icelander (L?Islandais)

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan (Provence)

The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater

The Ripening Sun by Patricia Atkinson (TF's AndrewRose comments: my book of the year goes to Patricia Atkinson's 'The Ripening Sun', which is just superb.)

The Horesman on the Roof by Jean Giono (Provence countryside)

The Vintner?s Luck by Elizabeth Knox (A novel of forbidden love, wine and immortality in 19th century Burgundy)

Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle

Watersteps through France by Bill Cooper

Gourmand

For Great Britain I would suggest:

All of Dickens
All of Jane Austen
Good-Bye Mr. Chips
Enchanged April (although the most beautiful parts of the book take place in Italy)
To Serve Them All My Days (a beautiful book which was a mini-series on Masterpiece Theater)
The James Herriot books (All Creatures Great and Small, etc.)
Dr. Johnson's Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (short piece, less than 100 pages, but marvellous)
The Bronte sisters: Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest
How Green Was My Valley

Thank you for your post. This got my mind working on books that I would enjoy re-reading!

mclaurie

Not fiction, but it reads like fiction, especially the first section-The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester recounts the making of the Oxford English dictionary. It sounds pretty dry but it's not. I recently read it & was amazed at how much I learned.


And here's a URL which lists mysteries set in France

http://faculty.law.lsu.edu/ccorcos/l...hmysteries.htm

jsmith

If you'll excuse the move over the Irish Sea, I'd add the mysteries of the recently deceased Bartholomew Gill set in Ireland. Gill was an American as is Elizabeth George and Deborah Crombie.

grandmere

Alain-Fournier's atmospheric, coming of age novel, Le Grand Meaulnes, available in English by Penguin, is a classic.
John Fowles says his works were influenced by Alain-Fournier; The French Lieutenant's Woman by Fowles is another excellent novel.
A. Byatt's Possession, a "modern Victorian novel", takes place mainly in England, but also in Brittany. It won the Booker in late 80ies.

desertduds

How Green Was My Valley, Shell Seekers and Bryson's Notes From A Small Island

brotherleelove2003

The Da Vinci Code

SalB

Rutherford fans, I hope you've read "The Forest." I liked it better than "Sarum" and I liked that too.

I scanned quickly through this wonderful list and don't think I saw "Madame Bovary" which is a thumping good read.

Keep 'em coming. I'm making my own list.

garlicgirl

Great Question!

I'm going to Paris in three weeks and am doing the same thing: At the moment I am reading _The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B._ which is the first of three about Josephine Bonaparte. It is written by Sandra Gulland and I am loving it, I plan to read all three.

I have also just begun _Down and Out in Paris and London_ by George Orwell--he is one of my favourite authors.

A lot of other books I love have been mentioned already: One, The Outlander series by Gabaldon is light, entertaining reading (it is classified as "romance" and does have those requisite romantic scenes, I just skipped over them). It takes place in Scotland and there is time spent in France as well. Good plane reading.

I loved Margaret George's _Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles_, it also has some French conections.

Rosamunde Pilcher is another good one for light, entertaining reading: _The Shell Seekers_ is my favourite.

SuzieC

I've got Michael Sanders' "From Here, You Can't See Paris"...this is a fun read.

I've read all of M. F. Fisher

And Pilcher's "Winter Solstice" is a favorite...

dln

One of my favorite English books (my copy is 20 years old and dog-eared) is Bridehead Revisited by Somerset Maugham. Does anyone remember when it was filmed for Masterpiece Theatre? A very young Jeremy Irons was in it.

And for books set in France, though not by a French author, anything by Peter Mayle, a few examples of which are noted above. Although I think Hotel Pastis is the funniest of the bunch.

starspinners

I'm very fond of historical fiction and I have two books of that genre to recommend to you. Both books are well written and hard to put down.
My first recommendation is one of my favorites books. I have been re-reading it since I was 12.
Katherine, written by Anya Seton, takes place in 14th century England. Katherine de Roet was the daughter of a squire and the ward of a queen .
There is unrequited love, palace intrigue, the Peasant's Revolt, the burning of the Savoy Palace and much more.
Katherine's older sister, Phillipa, married Geoffrey Chaucer.
Katherine's romantic relationship with John of Gaunt resulted in the two of them becoming ancestors of the House of York and of the Tudors.
My second historical novel recommendation is Desiree by Annemarie Selinko .
The book begins just after the French Revolution when Desiree is a young girl engaged to General Napoleon Bonaparte . It takes the reader past the time when Desiree is a grown woman who has become the queen of Sweden. In between times you'll read about the French Empire's rise and fall. It's a great long read.

pat

Penmarric by Susan Howatch. It`s one of those sweeping sagas set in Cornwall in the 19th century. Very Romantic. A good book for women.

carolyn

Charles Todd has written a series of mysteries with a Scotland Yard detective just returned from the WWI trenches and "shell shock." They are very good.

I also like Kate Charles' mysteries with cathedral settings. You learn a lot about the buildings as well as the humanity of pastors, priests, and their congregations.

Ani

garlicgirl...have you read MArgaret George's other books? As much as I LOVED "Mary", her Henry VIII is even better! Cleopatra is fantastic too but not along the line of this thread.

garlicgirl

Hi Ani,

No, _Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles_ is the only book by George I have read. I will put Henry VIII on my list now though!

I was really excited to see her new one (newish, anyway) _Mary, Called Magdelene_ because I like reading about biblical times as well (I loved _The Red Tent_). Have you read the Magdelene book yet? To bring this back to travel related: These two books would probably be good reading to get in the mood for a trip to the middle east!

ThinGorjus

Somerset "Of Human Bondage" Maugham did not write "Brideshead Revisited." Evelyn Waugh wrote the novel. Stick to Barbara Cartland, sweetie.

Ani

garlicgirl-definately read Cleopatra and Henry VIII. I have actually read her Mary Magdalene novel. It was VERY informative historically-learned a lot about the Jewish faith. As far as storytelling, however, I didn't find it as good as her other novels. Judging by the ratings on amazon-neither did many. Still-its worth the read.