Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road

France Bookshelf: Some Good Books About France

September 7, 2012 at 12:32 pm 6 comments

All the Light We Cannot See  Anthony Doerr

Boss Dog: A Story of Provence M.F.K. Fisher

Bruno, Chief of Police and other novels by Martin Walker

Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream  James Morgan

Coquilles, Calva & Creme: Exploring France’s Culinary Heritage, A Love Affair with Real French Food G. Y. and Joanne Dryansky

Death at the Chateau Brémont and other books by M. L. Longworth

Final Transgression: One Woman’s Tragic Destiny in War-Torn France Harriet Welty Rochefort

Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me and Nearly Broke My Heart William Alexander

France in Mind (ed. Alice Powers)

French By Heart Rebecca Ramsay

French Lessons: A Memoir  Alice Kaplan

French Spirits: A House, A Village, and a Love Affair in Burgundy, and other books by Jeffrey Greene

French Ways and Their Meaning Edith Wharton

I’ll Never Be French (no matter what I do) and (not quite) Mastering the Art of French Living  Mark Greenside

Journal  Hélene Berr

Jours of Our Lives Beth Arnold

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There Philip P. Hallie

The Occupation Trilogy Patrick Modiano

Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of St. James David Downie

Renoir, My Father  Jean Renoir

The Lost Upland: Stories of Southwest France W. S. Merwin

The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France  Ina Caro

The Plateau  Maggie Paxson

Sarah’s Key Tatiana de Rosnay

The Secret Life of the Seine  Mort Rosenblum

Suite Francaise  Irene Némirovsky

Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France  Caroline Moorehead

For books that take place in, or are about Paris, see my Paris Bookshelf. And for books about Franco/American cultural differences, and/or for help in understanding the French, my Demystifying the French: A Reading List may be helpful.

I’m open to suggestions for titles to add to this list, so please, shout ’em out!

Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and literature who divides her time between France and the United States.  She teaches literature courses in Paris for Queens College, CUNY, and offers Writing from the Heart workshops in a beautiful little village in the Champagne region of France. She also occasionally teaches culture and literature courses at Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington D.C. 

Entry filed under: About France. Tags: armchair travel, books about France, Edith Wharton, Etravel, France, Graham Robb, harriet welty rochefort, Jean Renoir, literature, literature about France, reading list France, travel.