Vive la France

Monday, July 14 is Bastille Day, the French national holiday commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison during the French Revolution. In honor of nous amis a travers l'ocean, we offer cette liste de nouveaux livres tres scintillants sur France.

• Chocolate and Zucchini: daily adventures in a Parisian kitchen. Clotilde Dusolier. (cookbook avec commentary)


• Discovery of France: a geographical history from the Revolution to the First World War. Graham Robb. (as explored on his bicycle!)


• Extremely Pale Rosé: a very French adventure. Jamie Ivey. (wine journey through southern France)


• French by Heart: an American family’s adventures in La Belle France. Rebecca S. Ramsey. (Mom, Dad and 3 kids relocate to Michelin-land)


• The French Century: an illustrated history of modern France. Brian Moynahan. (from 1900 to the present)


• The Girl With No Shadow. Joanne Harris. (sequel to the novel Chocolat)


• I’ll Drink to That: Beaujolais and the French peasant who made it the world’s most popular wine. Rudolph Chelminski. (stylish history of wine-making)


• La Vie en Rosé: a very French adventure continues. Jamie Ivey. (full-bodied romp through southern France)


• Mediterranean Summer: a season on France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella. David Shalleck. (American chef cooks on board a luxury yacht)


• Metro Stop Paris: an underground history of the City of Light. Gregor Dallas. (told through 12 subway stops)


• My French Life. Vicki Archer. (beautifully photographed life in Provence)


• Narrow Dog to Carcassonne. Terry Darlington. (down French canals in an English narrowboat)


• Nobody Does It Better: why French home cooking is still the best in the world. Trish Deseine. (irreverent guide by best-selling French cookbook author)


• Pardon My French: unleash your inner Gaul. Charles Timoney. (insider’s language tips for dining, shopping and slang)


• Petite Anglaise: a true story. Catherine Sanderson. (digital age Paris blogging fairytale!)


• A Piano in the Pyrenees: the ups and downs of an Englishman in the French mountains. Tony Hawks. (how not to buy a house abroad---hilarious!)


• Pork & Sons. Stephane Reynaud. (homage to the pig from slaughterhouse to table, plus 150 recipes)


• Talk to the Snail: ten commandments for understanding the French. Stephen Clarke. (customs, romance---it’s all here!)


• A Town Like Paris: falling in love in the City of Light. Bruce Corbett. (searching for a new love in Le Marais)


• We’ve Always Had Paris---and Provence: a scrapbook of our life in France. Patricia and Walter Wells. (one couple’s 25-year foray into going native)


• Words in a French Life: lessons in love and language from the south of France. Kristin Espinasse. (short chapters, each inspired by a French word)
  
  Apprecier et avez-un verre de vin pour moi!