Fiction with setting in Paris?
 

Hello France experts!
My DH and I are planning to plan a trip to Paris, for a week in October 2016. I was there in 1986 for 5 days when I was a university student, and my DH has never been. I'm sure a lot has changed in the past 30 years!

I'd love some suggestions of books to get me in the Paris frame of mind as I start researching what I hope will be a fabulous visit. Before we went to Florence a couple years ago, I read some of Margaret Nabb's detective novels set there, and Mary McCarthy's "Stones of Florence" -- which I seem to remember I heard about on this forum. Something like that, but doesn't have to be a crime story, would be great.

thanks for any recommendations. I'm sure I'll be back to ask questions once I get started.

Quite a few of the detective novels by French author Fred Vargas have been translated into English, and they have the great advantage of not getting the details about geography or everyday life wrong, which is one of the things that has me howling in horror when I read most British or American books set in Paris.

http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Vargas/e/B001I9OXT6

The Simenon 'Maigret' mysteries are classics and I love them.

There's a new one out, I'm waiting for a copy from the library, "The Little Paris Bookshop', by Nina George, that looks very promising. Paris, books and a love story all rolled into one.

Aimee Leduc mysteries, Cara Black

The next three are set during WWII but have an atmosphere of suspense that the occupation brought, as well as some mystery:
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky (set during German occupation, WWII)
Sarah’s Key, Tatiana De Rosnay

Not mysteries, but I would also recommend:
A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway (non-fiction)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery (friendship between older woman and young girl)
Au Bonheur des Dames, or The Belly of Paris, both by Emile Zola

My less-than-great public library system shows 4 of the Fred Vargas titles in the catalog. Thanks again, k.

Do you want it in English or will French do?

I liked Les Heures Souterraines by Delphine de Vegan, it is contemporary fiction set in Paris. It think this is the same novel, translated http://www.amazon.com/Underground-Ti...0001955&sr=1-4

Of course, there is always George Orwell (Down and OUt in Paris and London) and Hemingway, for bygone eras (and not fiction).

YOu can't beat Zola for classics (Au Bonheur des Dames, Ventre de Paris, Therese Raquin) in French or translated, but that's 19th century.

For popular American authors, there is Le Divorce by Diane Johnson (the best of her books IMO) which is sort of fun if silly at the end. There's a woman named Cara Black who writes detective books set in Paris, but I can't recommend them personally as I didn't care for the one I read, but she's written several so some people do. She is American, also, and would be easy to get at the library.

Max Byrd's novel "The Paris Deadline," set in the 20s, is very good; he's an excellent writer, known for his biographical novels (such as "Jefferson").

For something off-beat, try Joanne Harris's "The Girl with No Shadow," part of her series with the characters from "Chocolat." I really like this book.

For more of a cultural take on Paris, you might like Paris to the Moon. He was a New York magazine writer based there writing for them, and as someone married to a French husband for 40 years, he got it right-great read:

http://www.amazon.com/Paris-Moon-Ada...is+to+the+moon


Another fun read is Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide To Finding Her Inner French Girl Again written by an author based in Paris for a magazine.

http://www.amazon.com/Entre-Nous-Wom...rds=entre+nous

A very old one, also during WW2 : Is Paris burning (Paris brule-t-il), depicting the insurrection and the subsequent liberation of Paris in summer 1944.

Les Misérables from Victor Hugo - even older.

Je suis un peu sec sur la question...

Gopnik's 'Paris to the Moon' is really a memoir, not a novel, but he's good if you enjoy observations on politics and other insights a new writer-resident in the city, in particular, would observe. I'm reading it now and enjoying it. Not necessarily things that might concern a visitor for a few days or weeks but very interesting for anyone who wishes to go beneath the surface of things, even for a brief stay, to understand a bit as one might otherwise not.

France's most controversial writer:
Michel Houellebecq

Platform

Atomised

Not for the squeamish, but as Bertrand Russell stated, "Thought can stare into the Pit of Hell and is unafraid."

Behold Jane Eyre.

Thin

I read Paris to the Moon years ago and don't remember anything about it other than Gopnik liked swimming in the pool at the Ritz.


Thin

"I read Paris to the Moon years ago and don't remember anything about it..."

I'll likely forget the details, too, but I'm finding it's inspiring me to look further, at the politics of the time I was in Paris longest, mid-'60s and as a young person, was oblivious to what was happening all around me - with the exception of knowing of the existence President de Gaulle, who lived across the street from my best friend, and of Mr. Pompidou, whose wife came to my place of employment and sat a few feet from me as I worked. A book that gives one the impetus to explore further is worth something.

The main question here is who wants to read something just to find street, monument and business names that they recognize and who wants to read about life in Paris. The two are rarely found in the same book.

I would start with a few French novels centred on Paris. Many of the works of the great novelist Balzac are set in Paris--try "Père Goriot" or "La Cousine Bette". For a modern novelist, you might want to look at Muriel Barbery's "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and "Gourmet Rhapsody." Needless to say these are all available in English translation.

Mavis Gallant lived in Paris for much of her life and most of her fine short stories are set there. They are very much worth looking into. "Paris Stories" is one of her collections.

Another non-French writer with a great knowledge of and abiding love for Paris is Alan Furst. His novels are espionage thrillers set in the 1930s and during the Second World War, and are very evocative of those times. I put him on the same level as Eric Ambler. Paris appears in every novel, but only in a minor way in some. I recently read "Mission to Paris" in which most of the action takes place in the city and it is superb.

The Perfume Collector, Kathleen Tessaro
The Paris Time Capsule, Ella Carey
Paris my Sweet, Amy Thomas
Best Paris Stories, Winners of the 2011 Paris short story contest
Lunch in Paris, Elizabeth Bard
The mysterious bakery on Rue de Paris, Evie Gaughan (really about Compiegne but still interesting.

Paris was ours, 32 writers reflect on the city of light, (very good)
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain

The Cara Black novels are the best - They are set all over Paris and are great. Also just read The Nightingale - which is historical fiction set in 1939 Paris and France..

I enjoyed Cara Black's books too.

Also recently read The Paris Architect and Sarah's Key after that.

MmePerdu, I just finished The Little Paris Bookshop, and it was a good read. The thing is though, the novel was translated from (I think) German. It's my opinion that they gave it a new title that would appeal to Americans.

The bookshop is a barge on the Seine in Paris. Very shortly into the book, they leave Paris, and don't really return at all in the book.

So, although I really enjoyed the book, it doesn't really have much to do with Paris.

And I would echo Pariswat's suggestion of Is Paris Burning.

It's funny, but even though everyone knows how it ends, the book was as gripping as if you were there. Excellent read.