What Book to Read in France
Sep 26th, 2004, 08:17 AM
#102
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I didn`t like Alice Steinback`s Educating Alice nearly as much as the one before it, Without reservations. She spends a lot of time in France,and meets a Japanese man, who she is having a romance with. I didn`t care for the Davinci code either. I liked Instructions for Visitors, by Helen Stevenson too.
Sep 26th, 2004, 10:52 AM
#103
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well, this is an old thread and has turned up again. I recommend Adventures of a Diamond by Marian Fowler. It`s the story of the hope diamond, and how it started out in India, and ended up in the Royal Court in France. It talks a lot about court life and made me want to go back to France. It`s not a heavy duty or scientific book, and you won`t be bored. It`s just fascinating, about how a rich American used to let her dog wear it around his neck, among other stories about it.
Sep 28th, 2004, 07:19 PM
#104
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Ernest Hemingway's "A Movable Feast" is the classic story about life in Paris in the 1920's. Great reading before a trip to that city.
I forgot to suggest "The Tides of Mont St-Michel."
I forgot to suggest "The Tides of Mont St-Michel."
May 26th, 2005, 09:58 AM
#105
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to Underhill,
I read A moveable Feast and it was wonderful. I should read it again.
I havent heard about the Mont St. Michel one but I'll look for it especially since we were there and we can keep reading about France to prolong the pleasure of visiting.
Carolee
I read A moveable Feast and it was wonderful. I should read it again.
I havent heard about the Mont St. Michel one but I'll look for it especially since we were there and we can keep reading about France to prolong the pleasure of visiting.
Carolee
May 31st, 2005, 10:53 AM
#106
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I went on a bit of a spree in reading French literature this past winter. Because I love the 19th century, I read several novels in French by Gud de Maupassant, which were a little more accessible than Madame Bovary, which I also managed to read over the last 12 months. Phew! Interestingly, Maupassant knew Flaubert and thought of him as a kind of avuncular mentor.
I also read nearly every book in the Petit Nicholas series, which are illustrated by Sempe. Those are books that are written to delight adults as well as children, and I found myself frequently chuckling through the predictable mishaps of Nicholas and his school chums. It helped me to get a bit more of a flavor for simple French slang words like "chouette," and it gave me a somewhat more contemporary sense of French life after all the Maupassant!
I also read nearly every book in the Petit Nicholas series, which are illustrated by Sempe. Those are books that are written to delight adults as well as children, and I found myself frequently chuckling through the predictable mishaps of Nicholas and his school chums. It helped me to get a bit more of a flavor for simple French slang words like "chouette," and it gave me a somewhat more contemporary sense of French life after all the Maupassant!
May 31st, 2005, 12:01 PM
#107
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Hi carolee, hope your trip is great. Part of the mystique of travel is seeing the things you have only heard about all your life. Every time I read a book that mentions a place to which I've traveled, I reconnect just a bit to the time I spent there. I read a lot at night and have been known to poke my poor sleeping husband in the ribs, wake him and let him know that the characters are in a London Pub we visited or in a restautant in Belgium at which we ate. Just before leaving for our just completed France trip, I tried to find the Da Vinci Code in paperback. It is not available here in paperback according to our local bookstore. I was able to buy the English version in Chartres and started it when we returned home. Even though the book is not a literary masterpiece in my opinion, the story takes you to all kinds of places that you are apt to visit. Imagine my suprise when I read about Sophie driving west into the hills near Creuly. I was just in Creuly(in Normandy) and stayed at the best spot of our 2 week trip. It was an old converted farm called "Ferme de la Ranconniere". I could relate to the area, even the road(and there are not many there, its farm country). There are some wonderful suggestions posted, pick one that will help you anticipate or relive the stops on your trip. yy4me
Jun 10th, 2005, 06:29 AM
#109
Someone on PB Provence's forum at delphiforums mentioned a new book by Michel Sanders( "From Here you can't see Paris" a book I enjoyed alot) About wine growing families in the SW of France. Has anyone read it?
Jun 10th, 2005, 07:24 AM
#110
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If you like books that reference the places you are seeing on your travels, Time and Chance, by Sharon Penman is great for Normandy. It's about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and much of the action takes place in Normandy and Aquitaine (as well as Wales). I found it slow to get into, but I ultimately enjoyed it very much.
Jun 10th, 2005, 08:59 AM
#111
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Agincourt by Christopher Hibbert. France in the New Century, France Today and Villages of France by John Ardagh. Napoleon and Wellington by Andrew Roberts. Paris in the Fifties by Stanley Karnow. But those are non-fiction. As for something with a Norman twist, somewhat fictional, is The Devil's Crown by Richard Barber, a stylized version of the relationship of Henry II of England, Anjou and Normandy, his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his sons Princes Richard, Geoffrey and John. The Devil's Crown formed much of the basis of the movie Lion in Winter starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.
Jun 10th, 2005, 10:49 AM
#112
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I just went to the library today---and now can't wait to get back with my list in hand! I'm surprised that I did not see Tracy Chevalier's Lady and the Unicorn mentioned. While not about Paris or France, the book will interest anyone going to the Musee de Cluny to view the tapestries as the story is filled with historical background of tapestry making---and the reader may even be tempted to go to the Gobelins tapestry workshop for a tour! And chiming in on Cara Black's books--I too read Murder in the Marais, but after only a few pages of Murder in Belleville, I put it down. Happy Reading!
Jun 11th, 2005, 04:46 AM
#114
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Gabriel Chevalier's "Clochemerle" and its sequel "Clochemerle Babylon" are hilarious novels set in the fictitious town of Clochemerle in Beaujolais. They are available in English translation.
Jun 11th, 2005, 06:28 AM
#116
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For fans of Peter Mayle, I can also recommend "Hotel Pastis". I read it on the plane on the way home from France so I could stay immersed till the last minute. Its very witty and charming - it also gives you an idea of what it would be like to open a hotel/inn/B&B if you have ever fantasized about that type of thing.
Great recommendations here for my summer reading. Thanks.
Great recommendations here for my summer reading. Thanks.
Jun 11th, 2005, 08:39 AM
#118
When I first read Hotel Pastis I could picture Humphrey of "Are you being served,"as the gay man at the hotel but now he's too old for that part who would you pick, the blond from Queer Eye?
Jun 11th, 2005, 09:18 AM
#119
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Cigalechanta:
For "Clochemerle", try
www.abebooks.com
They have 634 copies, about 500 of them in German, as far as I could see, but there were a few English copies as well from booksellers in the U.S. and Canada: mostly used paperbacks at about $ 2.00.
For "Clochemerle", try
www.abebooks.com
They have 634 copies, about 500 of them in German, as far as I could see, but there were a few English copies as well from booksellers in the U.S. and Canada: mostly used paperbacks at about $ 2.00.
