One reviewer said:
My family just returned from a two-week visit to France. While I had studied French throughout my pre-college years, I was a bit uncertain of my ability to communicate, and bought Savoir Flair!, feeling that it would help me to understand French culture better, thereby improving the quality of my interactions with the French. It certainly did. I can't praise this book highly enough! It was much more useful than the phrase books and dictionaries I brought along, because it helped me understand what makes the French tick. Thanks to its insights on how French culture works, and what individual French persons expect in a variety of situations, we could not have had a better experience. I knew what to say and how to say it to get a positive, helpful response. Thanks to the book, we even managed to bring on board our plane over 250 lbs of French floor tiles we bought on our last day in Paris - without any trouble by officialdom over weight or size! The advice worked like a charm in each and every instance - and even earned me the respect of my usually prickly adult children who depended upon me to translate on their behalf. Truly, this book was a joy. 
Let's face it: the French have gotten a bad rap. Mention that you're considering a trip to France and everyone will warn you about rude waiters, supercilious shopkeepers, and snooty concierges who won't give you the time of day--and worse, pretend not to understand your high-school French. Not so, says Polly Platt, author of French or Foe? :"The French are generous, exhilarating friends," but they are different--wonderfully so. The trick to getting along in France is understanding the culture and learning to accept it on French terms instead of your own. Though the book is designed primarily for people who will be living or working in France for extended periods, the lessons Platt teaches about manners, attitudes, and culture are invaluable for even those visitors just passing through.
Whether you're conducting business, traveling for pleasure, or even relocating abroad, one mistake with customs or etiquette can leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. International travelers, now more than ever, are not just individuals from the United States, but ambassadors and impression makers for the country as a whole. Newly updated, redesigned and resized for maximum shelf appeal for travelers of all ages, Culture Shock! country and city guides make up the most complete reference series for customs and etiquette you can find. These are not just travel guides; these are guides for a way of life. 
Never feel like a stranger in France again!
When should you mention a person's family name in a greeting? Should you pay immediately when you are served in a café? Wearing what item of clothing will instantly reveal you as a tourist? All these answers and more can be found in When in France, Do As the French Do, a fun and intriguing book that teaches you about France's culture, language, and people. It features 120 multiple-choice questions that are cross-referenced to articles on pop culture, customs, behavior, history, consumer trends, literature, tourist sights, business, language, and more. Also included are key terms and useful expressions, informative charts, and web sites for further reference. 
Raymonde Carroll presents an intriguing and thoughtful analysis of the many ways French and Americans--and indeed any members of different cultures--can misinterpret each other, even when ostensibly speaking the same language. Cultural misunderstandings, Carroll points out, can arise even where we least expect them--in our closest relationships. The revealing vignettes that Carroll relates, and her perceptive comments, bring to light some fundamental differences in French and American presuppositions about love, friendship, and raising children, as well as such everyday activities as using the telephone or asking for information.
The French Way includes 85 major topics--organized alphabetically--that cover everything from ecology, food, holidays, the media, religion, sports, and style. This book will help increase your understanding and ability to communicate with French-speaking people. 
Think of French cuisine: the buttery croissants, the decadent pastries. Yet French women manage to remain svelte. What is their secret? Guiliano, CEO of Clicquot, Inc., insists that it's cultural. French women don't snack, eat fast food, eat hurriedly, drink hard liquor, flavor their food with sugar and fat, or weigh themselves. French women do eat three meals a day, eat until they are satisfied but not stuffed, drink lots of water, savor wine, walk everywhere, take the stairs, consider the presentation of food as important as the taste, and regard dining as a sensuous experience. Guiliano, who gained 20 pounds as an exchange student in the United States (and took them off when she got home), celebrates her French heritage and gives the reader a glimpse into the French way of food shopping and preparation. | A Goose in Toulouse: And Other Culinary Adventures in France, by Mort Rosenblum |
 "In France," said Montesquieu, "one dines. Everywhere else, one eats." A Goose in Toulouse is Mort Rosenblum's delightful foray into the French culinary experience, and into the soul of France itself. Good food, good sense, saveur , and savoir faire are the reasons this nation of sixty million inhabitants still lights the way for gastronomes around the globe. France's culinary expertise has long been an integral part of the country's national identity, and the rise of French grandeur owes more to kings' and emperors' chefs than to their generals. But if the rise of French civilization can be measured by the knife and fork, so can its fall. In a globalized world of fast food and genetically engineered crops, what does the future hold for France? Mort Rosenblum's quest to unravel the complicated politics and economics of food leads him to snail farmers and oyster rustlers, to truffle hunters, starred chefs, and legendary vintners, to those who mourn the passing of the old days and those who have successfully adapted. |
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
Some of the essays in this book deal with Sedaris' problems with the French language.
By an ironic twist of fate, readers find present-day Sedaris in France, where only now, after all these years, he must cling safely to just plural nouns so as to avoid assigning the wrong genders to French objects. (Never mind that ordering items from the grocer becomes rather expensive). Even the strictest of grammarians won't be able to look at the parts of speech in the same way after exposing themselves to the linguistic phenomena of Sedarisian humor. Just why is a sandwich masculine, and yet, say, a belt feminine in the French language? As he stealthily tries to decode French, like a cross between a housewife and a shrewd detective, he earns the contempt of his sadistic French teacher and soon even resorts to listening to American books on tape for secret relief.
What David Sedaris has to say about language classes, his brother's gangsta-rap slang, typewriters, computers, audiobooks, movies, and even restaurant menus is sure to unleash upon the world a mad rash of pocket-dictionary-toting nouveau grammarians who bow their heads to a new, inverted word order.
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LIVING IN FRANCE
Living & Working in France: A Survival Handbook,
by David Hampshire
Fully updated and
revised edition and the only book about living and working in France
that is updated annually. Essential reading for anyone planning
to live or work in France and the most up-to-date source of practical
information available about everyday life. It's guaranteed to hasten
your introduction to la vie française and, most importantly,
will save you time, trouble and money!
Buying A Home In France: A
Survival Handbook, by David Hampshire
Living, Studying, and Working in France: Everything You Need To Know To Fulfill Your Dreams of Living Abroad, by Saskia Reilly and Lorin David Kalisky
More than 90,000 Americans live abroad in France, making it home to one of the largest expatriate communities in the world. This is a savvy and insightful book full of hard-earned advice on how to make the most of your experience in France.
Following in the footsteps of the successful Living, Studying, and Working in Italy , this guide will help Americans grow into French culture and help them feel at home in a country famous for its cultural and social particularities. The authors, two Americans who have spent extensive time in France, provide detailed information ranging from health care procedures in France to how to put together a résumé (known as a CV in France). With material on networking, employment opportunities, choosing the right study program, and navigating the French Internet, this is the essential guide for anyone who wants to live, study, or work in France.
| Foreigners in France: Triumphs and Disasters: Real-life Stories from Expatriates in France |
by the editors Joe Laredo and Kerry Laredo An important new book for those planning to live, work, or buy a home in France, containing real--life stories from expatriates. |
Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris, by Sarah Turnbull
A bestseller in Turnbull's native Australia, this firsthand look at the hardships of settling into a city infamously chilly to outsiders gives a glimpse of the true nature of Parisians and daily life in their gorgeous city. Though Turnbull tells readers less about love than new life, it was in falling for a Frenchman that the journalist found herself moving to Paris, for a few months that stretched into years. The cultural relationship is challenging enough, leaving aside the more intimate personal story (though readers do learn enough about Turnbull's now husband to understand her decision to stay), and she writes of finding work, making friends, surviving dinner parties and adapting to the rhythms and pace of life with a Parisian boyfriend with humor and a developing sense of wisdom. Of the struggle to adapt to her new home, the author writes, "I've discovered a million details that matter to me - details that define me as non-French." No matter how much she tries to assimilate, while over time she grows to appreciate some perplexing aspects of French culture, as "everyday incidences elevate into moments of clarity simply because they would never, ever happen in your old home," from developing her confrontational side enough to defend herself (in French) from rude remarks to receiving advice from "a terribly chic blonde who advises me to use eye-makeup remover on Maddie's [Turnbull's dog's] leaky eyes." This is an engaging, endearing view of the people and places of France. It's an excellent read!
Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious
Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City,
by David Lebovitz
The Sweet Life in
Paris is a deliciously funny, offbeat, and irreverent look at the
city of lights, cheese, chocolate, and other confections.
Words in a French Life: Lessons
in Love and Language from the South of France, by Kristin
Espinasse
Based on the popular
blog (french-word-a-day.com) and newsletter with thousands of subscribers
-- a heart-winning collection from an American woman raising two
very French children with her French husband in Provence, carrying
on a lifelong love affair with the language.
C'est la Vie: An American Conquers
the City of Light, Begins a New Life, and Becomes--Zut Alors!--Almost
French, by Suzy Gershman
After
Gershman and her husband had planned a one-year move to Paris, her
husband was diagnosed with cancer and died quickly. Gershman decided
the best way for her to cope was to go ahead with the move and,
six weeks after her husband's death, she found herself in France.
This account of her experience there combines travel-book tips with
midlife coming-of-age. Gershman, who works as a professional shopper
and writes the Born to Shop travel series, uses her expertise to
make the most of trips to flea markets, department stores, and outlet
shops. Anyone interested in living in France will file away the
tips she dispenses, including where to look for bed linens and what
to bring from home. Gershman had some advantages (semi-famous friends
in France, for example, whose names are dropped frequently), but
even so, she displays great tenacity in plunging into a new experience
after a tremendous loss (and while learning a new language at age
52). A good choice for the Under the Tuscan Sun crowd.
On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town, by Susan Herrmann Loomis
Loomis, an American chef and author of Farmhouse Cookbook and The Great American Seafood Cookbook, enthusiastically recounts every aspect, both intriguing and mundane, of her immersion into the cuisine and lifestyle of northern France. She moved to Paris in 1980 to study cooking and, after a rough start, found her place as a weekend visitor at one family's home in Normandy. After cooking school, she went back to the States, returning to France frequently to visit friends. It wasn't long before she became addicted to Normandy's fresh ingredients goose, garlic, rabbit, wild mushrooms and rich gastronomy, and found herself longing to live there. In 1994, Loomis and her husband moved to the region and bought a dilapidated convent in the small town of Louviers. Her tales of adventures in restoration and run-ins with locals (e.g., the crotchety priest next door, the incorrigibly gregarious rug salesman) are funny and entertaining.
A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle
They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provençal sun. And suddenly it happened. Here is the month-by-month account of the charms and frustrations that Peter Mayle and his wife - and their two large dogs - experience their first year in the remote country of the Luberon restoring a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse that they bought on sight. From coping in January with the first mistral, which comes howling down from the Rhone Valley and wreaks havoc with the pipes, to dealing as the months go by with the disarming promises and procrastination of the local masons and plumbers, Peter Mayle delights us with his strategies for survival. He relishes the growing camaraderie with his country neighbors - despite the rich, soupy, often impenetrable patois that threatens to separate them. He makes friends with boar hunters and truffle hunters, a man who eats foxes, and another who bites dentists; he discovers the secrets of handicapping racing goats and of disarming vipers. And he comes to dread the onslaught of tourists who disrupt his tranquility.
In this often hilarious, seductive book Peter Mayle manages to transport us info all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons, not by days. George Lang, who was smitten, suggests: "Get a glass of marc, lean back in your most comfortable chair, and spend a delicious year in Provence."
Toujours Provence, by Peter Mayle
The author of the beloved bestseller A Year In Provence offers readers another funny, beautifully evocative book about life in the picturesque French town--a heartwarming place where, if you can't quite "get away from it all, " you can surely have a good time trying.
Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik
In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of Paris. In the grand tradition of Stein, Hemingway, Baldwin, and Liebling, Gopnik set out to enjoy the storied existence of an American in Paris -- walks down the paths of the Tuileries, philosophical discussions in cafés, and afternoon jaunts to the Musée d'Orsay.
But as readers of Gopnik's beloved and award-winning "Paris Journal" in The New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and carrying on with la vie quotidienne -- the daily, slightly less fabled life. As Gopnik discovers in this funny and tender account, the dual processes of navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely dissimilar -- both promise new routines, new languages, and a new set of rules by which each day is to be lived. With singular wit and insight, Gopnik manages to weave the magical with the mundane in this wholly delightful book that Entertainment Weekly deemed "magisterial."
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FICTION SET IN FRANCE
Chocolat, by Joanne Harris
Chocolat is a timeless novel of a straitlaced village's awakening to joy and sensuality. In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat 's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday. Now a Hollywood movie.
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
This thriller is an exhaustively researched page-turner about secret religious societies, ancient coverups and savage vengeance. The action kicks off in modern-day Paris with the murder of the Louvre's chief curator, whose body is found laid out in symbolic repose at the foot of the Mona Lisa. Seizing control of the case are Sophie Neveu, a French police cryptologist, and Harvard symbol expert Robert Langdon, reprising his role from Brown's last book. The two find several puzzling codes at the murder scene, all of which form a treasure map to the fabled Holy Grail. As their search moves from France to England, Neveu and Langdon are confounded by two mysterious groups-the legendary Priory of Sion, a nearly 1,000-year-old secret society whose members have included Botticelli and Isaac Newton, and the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. Both have their own reasons for wanting to ensure that the Grail isn't found. Brown sometimes ladles out too much religious history at the expense of pacing, and Langdon is a hero in desperate need of more chutzpah. Still, Brown has assembled a whopper of a plot that will please both conspiracy buffs and thriller addicts.
A Year in the Merde, by Stephen Clarke
This surprise international bestseller is a sharp-tongued, funny account of a corporate-climbing Brit thrust deep into the MERDE of daily Parisian life. Gerard Doyle neatly embodies protagonist Paul West as the cocky, headstrong success-and-skirt-chasing young exec who must adjust to an annoyingly eccentric Gallic lifestyle. You'll laugh as West explains his blundering attempts to solve the puzzle of French society, finally succumbing to its charms in his take-no-prisoners entrepreneurial style.
The Race: A Novel of Grit, Tactics, and the Tour de France,
by Dave Shields
One reviewer said:
This is a very exciting and well-written book -- a novel, but based in interesting and real context of bicycle racing and the Tour de France. The facts and context of the novel are fascinating and educational and increased my understanding of bicycle racing and the behind-the-scenes workings of a bike racing team. The storyline is just fantastic - with tidbits from past Tour de France races, characterizations (a little bit Lance, a little bit Floyd, etc.) and huge drama being played out over a race culminating in an ascent of the Alpe d'Huez. It reads very quickly. I liked the timeline which cleverly weaves the protagonist's past into the race as he works through the race and the issues of his past simultaneously.
Mademoiselle Benoir, by Christine Conrad
Tim Reinhart enters a wondrous new world the moment he buys a farmhouse in the country of France, region of Quercy, department of Lot. Or, in his marvelous words, "From the moment I saw this property, I had a bead on it. I can't completely explain why, but I had an intense feeling of belonging." He has given up his teaching life in New York and begun working as the artist he's always wanted to be. Letters written to his family back home sweep the reader up in Tim's schooling in, and awakening to, the pastoral French lifestyle. From the attention to food (meals seem to Tim a semi-religious rite) to the delightfully quirky neighbors who appear to spring straight out of a Balzac novel, we share Tim's ever-growing pleasures and adventures. But his enchantment with this foreign land becomes far more complicated when his drawings- and then Tim himself- catch the eye of Mademoiselle Benoir, a beautiful, aristocratic woman twenty years his senior. Their decision to marry sets off a cluster bomb, uncovering incendiary layers of emotional and cultural complexity on both sides of the Atlantic. As his family tries to reason with him, her family declares war, and the villagers choose sides. Will tradition triumph over love? Inspired by a true story, this is a delicious stew with something for everyone.
Le Divorce, by Diane Johnson
Le Mariage, by Diane Johnson
In Le Divorce, Diane Johnson's heroine dipped her American toe into the unfathomably deep waters of French culture. In Johnson's follow-up, Le Mariage, we plunge right in and swim among American expatriates and French high society types as they try to navigate relationships with one another. The novel makes references, both overt and oblique, to one of the great achievements of French culture, Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game, a film that steps lightly between farce and tragedy. Le Mariage
does the same. The story centers around two couples. Anne-Sophie, a bon chic, bon genre Parisienne who sells equestrian-themed antiques at the flea market, is engaged to Tim, an American journalist, "one of those large pink-cheeked rugby-player types." Clara, also an American, is a film actress married to her director, the brilliant Serge Cray. The two lead a reclusive life on the outskirts of Paris until their serenity is broken by a couple of events: following a well-publicized murder, a couple of American tourists drop in on the Crays and won't leave; and Clara is arrested for desecrating a national monument, when all she was trying to do was decorate her house.
These various settings--the flea market, the director's chateau, even the jail--allow Johnson ample room for the kind of Francophile fieldwork for which she is so justly famed. The engaged couple in particular provide lots of scope for details of Paris life.
Chasing Cézanne, by Peter Mayle
Set in the region made famous by his international bestseller A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle's novel, Chasing Cézanne, is a wild chase through galleries, homes of prominent art collectors, and delectable restaurants that culminates in a true work of art. The declining magazine Decorating Quarterly has a new editor, Camilla Jameson Porter. She has revamped the stodgy old magazine from top to bottom, giving it a more concise and hip name, DQ, a new look, and a sharp new edge. Andre Kelly, DQ 's distinguished photographer, has the glamorous job of capturing on film the houses and treasures of the rich and famous. When he happens to have his camera ready as an original Cézanne painting is stolen from the home of an absent collector, Kelly suddenly finds himself on the trail of a state-of-the-art scam -- literally chasing Cézanne.
The Fly-Truffler, by Gustaf Sobin
Out of the pungent soil and wind-struck orchards of Provence, this enchanting love story will make you believe, if you ever doubted it, in the power of love and the lengths people will go to keep it alive. Philippe Cabassac has fly-truffled—the art of stalking the flies that lay their eggs directly over the truffles—every winter since childhood on his family estate in Provence. Since the death of his young wife, Julieta, the truffles have come to represent something far more than a delicacy for Cabassac's palate: they trigger an evocative sequence of dream visions in which he and his lost wife enter, on winter nights, a state of intimate and prolonged communion. As Cabassac becomes increasingly involved in his dream life with Julieta, he loses his hold on his teaching obligations, on managing his estate, on his waking life altogether. Set against the fading of traditional Provencal culture and an incandescent Mediterranean landscape, The Fly-Truffler celebrates a love that, by its very ardor, outlasts a lifetime. Gustaf Sobin has lived for thirty-five years in Provence.
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TRAVEL LOGS
Walking Paris: Thirty Original Walks In and Around Paris,
by Gilles Desmons
Join this magical tour of Paris, and discover the keys to unlock some its most fascinating secrets. The French capital grew outward over the ages in concentric circles from the Ile de la Cité. Follow the author along the boulevards and avenues as he points out famous sights as well as unusual corners and hidden delights en route. His tour is rich in historical background, intriguing anecdotes, and tips on cafés and places to rest weary feet.
Gilles Desmons is a writer and lecturer who was born, raised, and educated in Paris. He works in a windmill near Lyon.
Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream, by James Morgan
One reviewer said: The author, a writer and artist, is fascinated by the work of Matisse. He and his wife, also a writer, sell their house, leave their desk jobs and go off to France to follow in the footsteps of Matisse. The author chronicles their travels to the places that inspired Matisse - Paris, Collioure in the Pyrenées, Corsica, Belle-Ile off the coast of Britany and the South of France.
In these places the author learns not just to look but also to see. The facts of Matisse's life and his development as an artist are interwoven with the travel adventures of the author and his wife as they live their dream of starting over in a foreign country. This is a look into the soul of an artist and what we can learn from him if we seek to live the creative life. Chasing Matisse is a map so that the reader can see the locations of the various places that are visited. It's also helpful to have on hand a copy of "Henri Matisse: A Retrospective", Museum of Modern Art 1992 while you read, so that you can see the paintings that the author mentions extensively in the book.
| The Wine Atlas of France: and Traveler's Guide to the Vineyards, by Hubrecht Duijker |
The essence of the Atlas, and a quality that distinguishes it from all previous books on French wine, is the way it familiarizes the reader with French wine on its home ground. The beautifully detailed wine maps show the vineyards and boundaries, the contours of the land and the locations of wine estates. These maps are carefully cross-referenced to high-quality road maps, allowing the traveler to plan an individual wine journey around France. The text works with the maps, giving details of wine routes, offering opportunities for tasting and buying wines, suggesting historic and cultural sights to visit, revealing restaurants and hotels which local wine growers have recommended. It is a charming and visually seductive introduction to France and her wonderful wines. An invaluable companion for the traveler in France, and an incomparable guide for the wine lover at home.
French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew, by Peter Mayle
Ranging far from his adopted Provence, Mayle now travels to every corner of the country, armed with knife, fork, and corkscrew. He takes us to tiny, out-of-the-way restaurants, starred Michelin wonders, local village markets, annual festivals, and blessed vineyards. We visit the Foire aux Escargots at Martigny-les-Bains, a whole weekend devoted to the lowly but revered snail. We observe the Marathon du Médoc, where runners passing through the great vineyards of Bordeaux refresh themselves en route with tastings of red wine (including Château Lafite- Rothschild!). There is a memorable Bouillabaisse in a beach side restaurant on the Côte d'Azur. And we go on a search for the perfect chicken that takes us to a fair in Bourg-en-Bresse. There is a Catholic mass in the village of Richerenches, a sacred event at which thanks are given for the aromatic, mysterious, and breathtakingly expensive black truffle. We learn which is the most pungent cheese in France (it's in Normandy), witness a debate on the secret of the perfect omelette, and pick up a few luscious recipes along the way. There is even an appreciation and celebration of an essential tool for any serious food-lover in France: the Michelin Guide.
Here we have all the glory and pleasure of the French table in the most satisfying book yet from the toujours delightfully entertaining Peter Mayle.
Sources: Barnes & Noble.com; Amazon.com
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