How could I forget : Nestor Burma, by Leo Mallet.
Books, TV series and cartoons - the cartoons are particularly good (in French of course, and with some slang of the 40's (argot as we put it).

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor..._dessin%C3%A9e)

No idea if it has been translated though.

<<"I'm sure a lot has changed in the past 30 years!">>

Your francs are no good. The colors of lipstick on the Wilde tomb are more varied.

oh my goodness, look at the treasures I've received in 24 hours! You are all too good -- and now I have to go through this list and probably will have to quit my job because I'll be spending all my time reading for the next 12 months ....

I am so thrilled to be going back to Paris. I have such good memories of being 20 years old, on my very first adventure by myself. I came from England where I was on my junior-year abroad and was thrilled to be on my own. This was early April, I believe, and it was the start of 3 weeks of travel before going to Israel to spend Passover with my Israeli cousins. I thought I was so cultured and independent in 1986 to be walking in Paris by myself. ha.

One morning I woke up with a very sore throat. I had one of those little Berlitz phrase books, remember those? -- and I was looking up how to say, "where is the pharmacy, my throat hurts". I remember I was walking on a large boulevard and I sat down next to a beautiful Parisian older woman -- she was probably 70. I said, in my best French, "excuse-moi, s'il vous plait, ou est la pharmacie" and I opened my mouth and pointed to my throat and said "ma gorge". Well, she took one look at me being pathetic, and took me by the hand and marched me to the pharmacy which was across the street and she said something to the guy behind the counter who motioned to me to open my mouth. And then he gave me some medicated lozenges. I must've said merci boucoup madame a million times. And that's how I learned that in France, the pharmacies have green neon crosses.

thanks for all the recommendations!

A few more--

L'Assommoir by Zola (what it was like to live in those Paris tenements that are now vacation rentals)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame for medieval Paris, Les Miserables for the 19th c.

At the Nissim di Camondo Museum, when I read about what happened to the children of that family, I was reminded of an old Richard Condon novel, An Infinity of Mirrors (available with a lurid cover on Amazon for $0.01). About a Jewish Parisian actress who marries a Nazi officer. Starts with funny Condon-style stuff about naughty French people, concludes with the Deportation.

L'Assommoir by Zola (what it was like to live in those Paris tenements that are now vacation rentals)

Love this comment !

Had to read l'Assomoir at school, probably why I don't recommend it :-)

I take back my non-fiction recommendation of Gopnik's 'Paris to the Moon'. I'd just started it when I said (above) that I was enjoying it but, sorry to say, that didn't last long. Too much random minutiae, for me anyway, that began to read as blah blah blah. I've returned it to the library. I was early getting there so sat on a bench outside reading a bit more, trying to convince myself to keep it and failed.

Ohhhhh....and The DaVinci Code.

I certainly would remove <i>Almost French</i> from the list proposed by TPAYT. Not only is it purportedly non fiction, but it is also a load of hooey.