Géraldine's Book Recommendations
Books About the French Language
This is one of those short, punchy essays that we call “tracts”. It’s fascinating, well-sourced, well-written. Pick any topic you like and read it. And mostly: feel free to disagree! They are very popular in France right now, and I recommend them a lot to my students. Here, a group of professional linguists address the questions some media use to make cheap, populist headlines about the French language. I’ve bought and sent it to several members of my team as it summarizes my view of French language for Comme une Française.
Laélia Véron and Maria Candea are part of the same collective of linguists, and in this book they show how there is a very French arrogance around a certain form of the language (some sort of “pure French”), when in fact French is also dialects, regional ways of speaking, and above all a living language that evolves with the people who use it. This is something very important to me at Comme une Française: the French you learned in your 1960 grammar book is not the only French.
Romain Filstroff also belongs to the linguists collective and has a wonderful YouTube channel called Linguisticae. This book goes beyond French and talks about languages in general, but there are many chapters on French regional languages and on what was imposed on people depending on the historical period. If you are interested in French, the violence of the linguistic experience of people in Alsace and Lorraine around the two World Wars is absolutely fascinating.
To Read One to Three Pages at a Time
This is the most famous of Delerm’s books, and all his others follow the same format. In a few pages, he captures the small sensations of everyday life and brings good memories back to the surface. I find him endlessly pleasant to read. His other titles — La vie en relief and Et vous avez eu beau temps ? — are just as good.
I used this book a lot when I was teaching French at the Red Cross, because you can spend hours on a single page. Raymond Devos was a great belgian comedian and a master of written humor that must be read aloud. You will probably only catch 10% of the jokes at first, and that is exactly why it is so rewarding: every time you understand a new one, you feel proud of yourself.
Clémentine Mélois takes French book titles and covers and turns them into something very, very funny. What I love for my students is that she explains both the context of the book and the joke, so you always have what you need to connect the two. I loved this book enormously.
Bande-dessinées
Short reads
Some parts of this book were banned in the United States. In a few pages per portrait, Pénélope Bagieu draws the life of an extraordinary woman who is described as culottée, meaning bold and daring. It can be read at any age. I have given it as a gift many times.
A classic of franco-belge comic book culture. As his name suggests, Gaston is always making gaffes, meaning blunders. Stories run one to two pages, and he always ends up causing some kind of disaster. It is very funny and completely timeless.
This one is for a more advanced level, because there is an enormous amount of wordplay. Rubrique à brac truly marked my life: the virtuosity of the drawing and the humor, all in one page, could make me weep with laughter. This is the book I’d bring to a desert island.
A very modern graphic novel where birds Violette and her grand-mother Rose answer real letters sent by real readers of their comic series. Sophie Guerrive has an incredible sensitivity. Some letters make you laugh, others make you dream, and others leave you in tears. I would recommend everything she has written, but this book is unique in its relationship with its readers.
I hesitated to include this one because it is truly unlike anything else. It is the author putting his depression on paper. Where Gaston Lagaffe makes you laugh, this is a real plunge into the artist’s mind. It is a book that stays with you. My dad has it and I recently bought my own as to have it around at home.
Series
A classic of modern comics. It is the true story of a little boy born to a Syrian father and a French mother, living between two cultures. We would rush to the bookshop for each new volume because the author had never spoken about his own story publicly. It is very funny, very moving, and completely gripping.
This series was very important to me as a teenager. Every volume is full of jokes, more or less in good taste, but I reread them recently and enjoyed them just as much. It is the story of a magical world where everyone has a power, more or less useful, and there are trolls who eat people. It is very much part of French popular comic culture.
This is an adaptation of Orwell’s English novel, four volumes. I had heard great things about it and was not disappointed at all. It is very beautiful, very well written, and full of emotion. Unlike some series that run on and on, this one is contained and complete.
Classic comics
You either love it or you don’t, but Astérix is above all a reflection of how the French see themselves through Goscinny’s eyes. I recommend reading the ones written by Goscinny specifically, because that is where the magic is: you see the French laughing at themselves as complainers, lazy, and sometimes unbearable abroad. I have a particular affection for Astérix chez les Helvètes and Astérix chez les Bretons.
All of my childhood. The ones written by Peyo are genuine cultural satires with a real message. Le Schtroumpfissime is very political and sociological. With adult eyes I can see it is quite sexist, but I cannot help it. It is my entire childhood, and it is also genuinely funny.
Modern one-shots
A big success in bookshops recently, and absolutely excellent. Marion Montaigne is hilarious. This book tells the story of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s preparation for his mission to the ISS. It is funny and very informative. If you love reading about science, it is wonderful.
Another Marion Montaigne, because I love sociology in comic form. She collaborates with well-known sociologists Michel Pinçon et Monique Pinçon-Charlot to explain what wealth actually means. What makes it interesting for my students is the explanation of wealth in the French cultural context: the idea of bourgeoisie and nobility that may not exist in your own culture.
This book truly moved me. Catherine Meurisse, a cartoonist at Charlie Hebdo, survived the attack by chance because she was late. She talks about her return to life, her stay in Italy, and her journey back to beauty. Her watercolors are sublime.
Guy Delisle is a Canadian who follows his wife, who works for an international organization, to complicated and faraway countries, and he writes about it. All of his travel chronicles are wonderful. I chose this one because it was the furthest from my own reality, but they are all excellent.
Novels
Series
Au revoir là-haut and the full series
Pierre Lemaître
Pierre Lemaître is an author I have a great affection for. The whole series that follows Au revoir là-haut is extraordinary. He is a master of suspense who also takes you through French history from World War I to the 1970s. His female characters are absolutely brilliant: you either want to be them or to despise them. He has great respect for his listeners and reads his own audiobooks himself. His voice is mesmerizing, and even though I am perfectly capable of reading his novels, I often buy the audiobook just to have the pleasure of hearing him tell the story.
I loved Sophie Hénaff before she wrote novels, because she wrote very funny columns for Cosmopolitan magazine. When I saw she had written a novel, I went straight for it. It is the story of a group of police officers who have all been kicked out of their respective units for being incompetent or problematic, and who end up together. It is so funny. We read it, and I also got the audiobook for a long road trip. I have read all the books in the series. They are all good.
One-shots
A novel that changed my life because I did not expect it at all. A friend passed it to me. I did not expect the beauty of a text that tells the 1970s story of a filial love between a little Maghribi boy and an old jewish prostitute who shelters children to protect them from social services. It is a truly exceptional classic that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. The French version is for advanced learner because the child misunderstands some words that are purposefully misspelled.
Another very famous Romain Gary, semi-autobiographical. about the relationship between a mother and her son, determined to launch him into a great life. It is extraordinary, knowing what Romain and his mother went through. It’s a 1960 book about the strength and wonder of motherly love.
Everything Clémentine Beauvais writes is good. She is a young adult author with a truly beautiful pen. In this book, she tells the story of three bullied teenage girls who decide to cycle from Bourg-en-Bresse to Paris to join the 14 juillet celebration with the French President. It is very funny and very well written.
Warning: I cried so much reading this. It is the kind of novel where you read one chapter and cannot stop until the end. Valérie Perrin has an extraordinary sensitivity and a way of pulling you through the story almost against your will. It is the kind of book you read and then pass to a friend, who passes it to a friend, who passes it to a friend.
A historical novel set during World War I, about the gueules cassées, the soldiers who came back with disfigured faces. The story follows their recovery and their friendship in hospital. It was my uncle who recommended it, and it was extraordinary. It has also been adapted into a film.
Her most famous book, about her experience working in Japan, is a wonderful way to understand the difference between Japanese and French culture. Everything she writes is worth reading. And I strongly recommend looking up her interviews on YouTube: she is extraordinarily intelligent.
Everything written by Marion Fayolle, I read. I buy it and I read it. She has an extraordinary sensitivity for writing about children. Her style is her own. You either love it or you don’t, but in every book there are always a few pages that lift you up completely. I will keep reading her for the rest of my life.
All of Annie Ernaux’s books can be read with great pleasure, some more accessible than others. What I loved about this one is that she describes the everyday life my father saw in his own youth. You might not understand everything, because it is very much French culture without explanation, but it is magnificent.
Essays
An essay that, as a reader, truly changed my life. Pierre Bayard talks about the guilt of not reading enough, of not concentrating enough, of feeling like you have read nothing at all when in fact you are a great reader. I cannot recommend it enough.
In the same vein as Pierre Bayard, a book about the joy of reading, full of references and ideas for other French literature to explore.
An essay to understand French secularism: what it is, and how it differs from American, British, or Mexican secularism. Fascinating, especially right now when so many people are trying to use it as a tool of oppression.
Des mille et une façons d'être juif ou musulman
Delphine Horvilleur and Rachid Benzine
A dialogue between a rabbi and an Islamic scholar, two specialists who talk about Islam and Judaism together. Even if you are neither Jewish nor Muslim, it is absolutely fascinating, especially when it comes to traditions, culture, history, and exchanges between these two worlds. I warmly recommend everything both of them have written separately as well.
This book came out of a podcast by Titiou Lecoq on the subject of money. What makes it interesting for my students is what it reveals about French couple culture, beyond just its financial advice. Titiou Lecoq is absolutely hilarious in everything she does. I buy her books and read them with great pleasure.
Édouard Durand is a children’s judge, and in this book he talks about the policies we need to protect children in French law. It is heartbreaking, but it is a formidable essay. I love it.
An essay about travel from a feminine perspective, telling the stories of great women explorers from around the world. It reads beautifully and makes you want to pack your bags immediately. I loved it.
Biographies and Autobiographies
I read many testimonies about the Charlie Hebdo attack because it was a turning point in my life. In this book, Philippe Lançon, who was there that day, tells the story of his return to life after being shot in the head and his time recovering in the military hospital. I don’t know what else to say, except that it is truly remarkable.
I trusted Titiou Lecoq’s writing completely and knew nothing about French litterature superstar Honoré de Balzac. I laughed so much. She writes his biography in a way that makes you want to read everything he ever wrote, which is quite a feat for an author most of us associate with obligatory school reading. I have bought it for several friends, and they all loved it.
Simone Veil is known mainly as the minister who legalized abortion in France, but she was also a woman who survived the concentration camps and lost several family members. She tells her whole life here. It is a book that should be put in everyone’s hands.
A book that absolutely changed my life. My father pushed it into my hands for years before I finally read it. Alexandra David-Néel was a Belgian explorer in the early twentieth century and the first woman to enter the forbidden city of Lhassa, without a phone, without GPS, with a minimum of maps. You read it like a novel and cannot put it down. If you can’t be bothered to read it, read at least her Wikipedia page.
This book compiles interviews from Le Monde, focused on women: artists, writers, scientists, politicians, all talking about their journeys. You take notes on every page and immediately want to read the same books as them.
A completely unexpected historical book I bought by chance in Strasbourg, about women’s resistance during World War II, specifically in Alsace and Lorraine. I love books with regional French history like this one. I had to keep stopping to avoid crying in front of my son. It is superb.
Books for Children
There is a wonderful series of French documentary books by French editor Milan for children called Mes Docs (and another one called Mes P’tits Docs for the 4-7 year-old). They talk about any imaginable topic: dinosaurs, the French revolution, the ISS, greek mythology… They have recently created a collection about France that is excellent. If you are traveling in France with a child, you can pick up the one for the region you are visiting: Mont-Saint-Michel, the Loire Valley, Paris, etc. We always borrow them from the library when we go somewhere new.
Claude Ponti is a very well-known author of children’s books in France. His style is very particular: you either love it or you don’t. I did not love it when I was younger, but I love it now that my son loves it. This recent book is a collection of answers to children’s questions, illustrated by Ponti himself. I bought it for myself and loved it enormously.
Wordless Books
Without a single word, just drawings, Marion Fayolle says everything there is to say about having children around you, whether they are yours or not. This book is breathtaking. It also opens up a conversation with the children in your life about growing old, about growing up, about sacrifice, and about the beauty of watching them beside you.
A wordless comic series for children, very popular with French children. If you have French-speaking children around you and want to read with them, this is perfect: there is nothing to read, but everything to talk about together.
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