Books from France
232 popular french books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Europe Challenge" were written by authors from France.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
151.
Papillon by Henri Charriere, Patrick O EN
Description:
Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantasti... continue
153.
Passion Simple by Annie Ernaux FR
Description:
Un Don Juan à éclipses, venu de l'Est, fait souffrir une nouvelle Bovary. Sur le thème de l'attente amoureuse, un roman sentimental de type "Harlequin", investi, avec une autorité sobre, par une intellectuelle. La critique est partagée. J.-F. Josselin, du ##Nouvel Observateur##, dit que ce petit livre est "aussi charmant qu'inutile."
154.
Description:
'I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret. Oh, will I ever see a man? How will love find me? Where can I reveal my true desires?' For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, the lyrics from the opera, The Peony Pavilion, mirror her own longings. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony too is cloistered and from a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. Though raised to be obedient, Peony is a rebel, secure in her beauty but wise enough to know it is fleeting. As Lisa See's haunting new... continue
155.
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac EN
Description:
This is a magnum-opus and one of the most widely read novels written by Balzac. It is a story of a young and eager man, Rastignac, who is determined to succeed at any cost. The novel contains deep sense of family values where a father sacrifices his all means for his two daughters. Moreover, Balzacâe(tm)s portrayal of Parisian aristocracy and human behaviour is conspicuous. Worth-read!
157.
Querido Diego te abrazo Quiela by Elena Poniatowska ES
Description:
Angelina Beloff, exiliada rusa, pintora, escribe desde la grisura, la pobreza y el frío del París de la primera posguerra a Diego Rivera, su compañero durante diez años, a quien no ha podido seguir en su regreso a México. Angelina escribe cartas amargas que el pintor, ya célebre en su tierra natal, deja sin respuesta. Elena Poniatowska ha recreado, en estas cartas imaginarias, el testimonio entrañable de una artista y amante abandonada, y con ello la saga de los tiempos idos en que los artistas eran gigantes, con todas sus virtudes y defectos. Una breve novela de gran finura.
158.
Res no s'oposa a la nit by Delphine de Vigan CA
Description:
Un matí d'hivern, Delphine de Vigan va entrar a l'apartament de la seva mare, Lucile, i se la va trobar morta estirada al llit. Arran d'aquesta mort sobtada en circumstàncies poc clares, l'escriptora va decidir emprendre una recerca detectivesca per mirar de reconstruir el trencaclosques que havia estat la vida de Lucile Poirier. Una dona fascinant, d'una bellesa terriblement dolça i salvatge, seductora i bohemia, pero amb l'ànima marcada per un dolor profund i misteriós.Els centenars de fotografies preses durant anys, la cronica... continue
159.
Sans famille by Hector Malot, Christine Ferreira FR
Description:
Un des premiers romans dont le héros est un enfant. Les aventures de Rémi, l'enfant trouvé, se passent dans la France du XIXe siècle. Une histoire émouvante qui nous touche encore aujourd'hui... Et qui finit bien. -- [l'Éditeur].
160.
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay EN
Description:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from... continue