🇫🇷 France Book Recommendations 📚

I’m less a collector of books than I am of book recommendations. It’s the reader’s version of the eater’s “eyes being bigger than her stomach”. I don’t take the time I would like to to read books, but I do have a few that I want to share, as they are great for summer reading. 📖

Click any of the links to be taken to the books.

Paris versus New York 🗽🇫🇷
Even though it sometimes annoys me when people compare one country’s biggest city to that of another country, I think it can be done it a fun and playful way, as Vahram Muratyan has done. His clever use of illustrations to make the distinctions between two of the most beloved cities in the world is a refreshing and non-judgmental way to think about these two cities. It’s a great gift for anyone who has a connection with both cities.
Order here.

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris 🛳
Prepare to devote some time to this one. The Greater Journey is a tome about various well-known Americans’ respective journeys to Paris from the 1830s to the early 1900s. I had no idea so many Americans had made the journey here – for fun, for cultural enrichment, for enlightenment, for politics, and some simply because they had the money to do so. It’s fun to read how so many Americans have been taken with Paris from the beginning and how many others took the plunge to go live there. The book follows the stories of notable Americans such as Samuel Morse, James Fennimore Cooper, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and many more. They, like me (decades and centuries later), found their “tribe” and made it their home, all the while continuing on their own respective projects. Our similarities stop there, as I would not be so bold to put myself in the same category as they.
Order here.

Blossoming in Provence 🍇
My lovely friend Kristin has been writing the only blog I have read with any regularity for the last 10 years. She openly shares her experience as an American in a small village in Provence, while teaching her readers a few words of French vocabulary with each post. Her writing is engaging and warm, giving you the feeling you’re wandering through her potager with her, or watching out her window with her as she looks on at her husband tilling the land at their vineyard.
Order here.

A Place in the World Called Paris
As a collector of quotes, it’s only natural this book would be a favorite of mine. The editor has compiled an impressive collection of quotes by what must be hundreds of authors who have written about Paris over the years. What a dream to have a quote published in a compilation like this!
Order here.

How the French Invented Love: Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance 💑
I was introduced to this book thanks to an event at my local library, which was featuring author Marilyn Yalom. She studied French history and French literature for a long enough time that she gained a unique perspective on how the French became renowned for being the best lovers. It’s a fun voyage through French literature to see how the French way has influenced the way we perceive and speak of love.
Order here.