Thank you, Emma, for joining us today for our final guest post on diversity in books!
Reading and diversity:
10 ways to read your
way to France
While talking recently about diversity in books, a
blogger told me: “all the books I've read from French writers or that take
place in France are pretty much historical fiction. I would love to be
able to diversify that.”
Following this wish, I propose you 10 ways to read your
way to France, either through French authors, French topics, or books set in
France. The following are recent books I have personally thoroughly enjoyed or
about which I heard a lot of very good things.
And as November is nonfiction month for many book bloggers, I will start with
nonfiction:
2.
Travel
essays:
If you feel travel guides always lack this
je
ne sais quoi, here is an amazing volume with great descriptions of places
in France you may not even have heard of. The author adds her own personal
experience and recommendations. You will learn a lot about the history,
geography, and culture of the country as well:
100
Places in France Every Woman Should Go, by Marcia DeSanctis (Travelers’
Tales, October 2014)
3.
Memoirs:
I could recommend you tons of books here, it seems these past months everyone
has moved to France and is writing about their experience!
You have the hilarious and right on stories relating Vicki’s experience as an
expat in France:
Confessions
of a Paris Party Girl, followed by
Confessions
of a Paris Potty Trainer by Vicki Lesage (both books self-published in
2014).
In
We’ll Always Have Paris (Sourcebooks,
April 2014), Jennifer Coburn visits Paris with her teenage daughter.
And Samantha Vérant shares her amazing story of falling in love with a French
man, ignoring his letters for decades, and finally reconnecting and ending up
marrying him:
Seven
Letters from Paris (Sourcebooks, October 2014).
I can’t but talk to you about how this couple struggled to purchase and
renovate their house of their dream on a tiny paradise-like island off the
Western Coast of France. Their story of courage and perseverance, or call it
foolishness and stubbornness if you wish is presented in
The
French House, by Don Wallace (Sourcebooks, June 2014).
4.
Literary
fiction:
Comes to mind a book written by Grégoire Delacourt, a French author, quite
present in the media right now:
My
Wish List (Penguin, March 2014): on what would you do if you won the
lottery?
And one written by an American author, Adria J. Cimino:
Paris,
Rue des Martyrs (Agency Editions, Fenruary 2014): a beautiful narrative
connecting different people living in the same street in the Montmartre
neighborhood.
5.
Historical
novel:
As the blogger I quoted above hinted at, no lack of choice here. One of the
most recent I read is
A
Paris Apartment (St Martin’s Press, April 2014). Michelle Gable based her
novel on the true story of an apartment in the 9
th arrondisssement
that had been abandoned just before WWII and never opened for 7o years.
Historical romance:
It’s really a historical novel, but the story told was a romance in real life.
Heloise and Abelard are probably THE most famous French couple, even though
they lived back in the 12
th century. Unfortunately, they are no
longer well known on this side of the ocean. So you really don’t want to miss
this phenomenal opportunity to read about them, through
A
Sharp Hook of Love (Simon & Schuster, October 2014) written by Sherry
Jones.
6.
Paranormal:
If you enjoy the mix historical fiction and paranormal, I have one name for
you: M. J. Rose. Her last two books,
Seduction
- where you will meet Victor Hugo (Atria Books, May 2013) and
The
Collector of Dying Breaths - with Catherine de Medici and her perfumer
(Atria Books, April 2014) are set in France as well as her upcoming novel:
The
Witch of Painted Sorrows, set in 1890 Belle Époque Paris (to be published
in March 2015 by Atria Books).
7.
Romance:
If you prefer contemporary romance,
Juliette
Sobanet is THE author to follow, with her Paris series: Sleeping With
Paris, Honeymoon in Paris, Kissed in Paris, Midnight Train to Paris, Dancing
With Paris, One Night in Paris. Are you dreaming yet?
8.
LGBT:
I also have an author to recommend for this genre: Alyssa Linn Palmer and her
series
Le
Chat Rouge. In which she invites you to take a walk on the darker side of
Paris, and enter a jazz club on the Left Bank… See The Paris Game, and
Moonlight & Love Songs.
9.
Mystery:
A very popular series in France, even adapted on T.V. is fortunately available
in English translation, thanks to Le French Book. If you like the combo mystery
+ French wine, and really, who would not, you will love each of the volumes in
the
Winemaker
Detective Stories by the duo Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen. The title
says it all: Benjamin cooker is both a master winemaker and an astute
detective. A few of the titles already available may inspire you, and not just
to go open a bottle for yourself: Treachery in Bordeaux, Grand Cru Heist,
Nightmare in Burgundy, and
Cognac
Conspiracies.
10.
Thriller:
Book Bloggers International recently published my post on
The
French Thrill, where I explained how French crime fiction is now making top
of the list in front of Scandinavian authors. So I would like to end this list
with a woman who really blew my mind, Frédérique Molay. She has received
several awards in France. Her latest
Crossing
The Line starts with the super original idea of a message hidden in the
tooth filling of a dead man. As a teaser, do you want to know what was written
there? “I was murdered!” If this does not grab you…
The good news is that her next one,
The
City of Blood, comes out in January!
If you feel stuck in your reading program in the same old
same old, this list should help you insert some fine diversity in your TBR,
while making you travel to France and stroll in the City of Lights.
Thank you, Emma, for joining us today! Leave a comment for Emma below!
