If there is one genre of a book I will immediately gravitate to in a bookshop, no matter what the particular specific topic is, it is French-related. It could be cooking, it could be history, art, a novel, you name it, I will at least have a look at it.

This will not surprise you, and if you are reading this post, I have a feeling you and I are kindred spirits. 🙂

Over the years I have written a handful or more posts sharing specific French-related titles I love (I have included links to each of them at the bottom of this post), and in every weekly This & That post over the past 12+ years, I share any and all newly released French titles I think you might enjoy. Many books have been chosen as Petit Plaisirs for the podcast, and as I regularly share with TOP Tier Members in our monthly A Cuppa Moments w/Shannon video chat books I am reading and loving, more than a few times those books are French-inspired.

However, when I looked back to find a comprehensive post that has been shared in the past five years sharing French titles I have enjoyed, I couldn’t find one, and realized I have read too many French-related books to count during that time and needed to catch up and share them with you. And so that is exactly what I have done in the list below.

Earlier this week to kick off the 9th Annual French Week, I included in this post that one way to savor France when we can’t be there is to read anything related to the French culture, so you will recognize that the books I linked in that post (4-5) are also in this post, but with more detail about why I think you might enjoy them.

With that said, these books are shared in no particular order, all books are linked to purchase and explore further, and if I spoke/wrote about the book in a previous episode or post, I have clearly linked that so you can learn more about the title.

Whether you are looking for a lifestyle, culture, history, gourmet, travel, mystery, cookbook, memoir, or really just about anything else book – beauty too!, you will find at least one below. Most of the books were published in the past six years, with a few published in the early aughts.

Now, to the list!

1. On Rue Tatin by Susan Herrmann Loomis

Step inside the French country kitchens of a handful of the author’s friends where she lives in Normandy – Louviers to be exact, a small town that is worth stopping into if you are in the area. Sharing stories along with recipes, the apple tart that is shared in this book is one I regularly make. In fact, my copy of this book is so decorated with flour and sugar and other flavors from the kitchen, it shows how well-used and enjoyed this book has been.

I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author and American expat now living in France and a citizen of France back in 2019 at a private invite cooking evening in Portland, Oregon. And what I brought with me was my copy of On Rue Tatin hoping she would sign it. Not only did she sign it, but she left a very sweet note after a wonderful evening of cooking with about 10-15 other students and then dining together on a four course meal late into the evening. I then attending her four day cooking school in her Louviers kitchen that summer, and had a most memorable and delicious time.

A lovely read told in Susan’s enthusiastic tone and curiosity, if you are wanting to slip away to France and everyday life in the kitchen, this is the book to read.

On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town by Susan Herrmann Loomis

2. Monsieur Mediocre by John von Sothen

Back in 2019, I had the opportunity to meet up with the American author and writer who now lives in France, Paris specifically, John von Sothen in the arrondisement he has called home for nearly 20 years – the 10th – and join him for what I like to describe as a “walk and talk”. Our conversation was shared in episode #257 which you can listen to here. For more than two hours (which felt like minutes as I had the good fortune of being on a one-on-one guided tour of a city I too love, but have so much to learn), he showed me his everyday life from the fish monger where he picks up his poisson, the boulangerie where he walks down to pick up his faily’s baquette (or two) in the morning and the restaurant where the neighborhood parents meet up after dropping their children off at school in the morning. 

His new book, released in 2019 – Monsieur Mediocre: One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French – shares the reality of being an expat from America living in Paris all the while being newly married, newly a parent and new to everyday living in France. Needless to say, with a dose of humor, an insatiable curiosity and deep affection for France, and being raised to “contribute” as his mother would also encourage him to do at dinner parties his parents would host in Georgetown in his youth, he has found France to be his home in more ways than he ever intended, but sincerely appreciates.

Monsieur Mediocre: One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French by John von Sothen

3. La Seduction by Elaine Sciolino

Having read this more than 10 years ago, it was my first book read written by Elaine Sciolino, of which she has written many inspired by her living in Paris being the Paris bureau chief of The New York Times – nearly all are worth reading, especially the history of The Seine. What I most enjoyed about La Seduction was how she explains this role of seduction as it appears outside of the typical ‘amour’ relationships, and shows up in business and everyday life, and it often misunderstood to the outsider. She also has written a follow-up introduction that speaks to how the French are reassessing how seduction, the entire premise she shares insights and the history of, is changing, something Simon Kupor speaks about in detail in the book listed #8 on this list.

La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life by Elaine Sciolino (2012)

4. Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor

One of my all-time favorite books in any genre, French chef Robert Arbor’s book Joie de Vivre was the focus of episode #253: 36 Ways to Welcome Joie de Vivre into Your Everyday Life.

In 2003, Arbor released Joie de Vivre, a book that offers a personal glimpse into his everyday routines which adhere to the French’s simple approach to living well. With time split between living in Connecticutt and living in a country home in Flaujac-Poujol, France, with his wife and two sons, he shares how the secrets of the French are really quite simple when it comes to elevating the everyday.

“I firmly believe that it’s the little things we do that eventually add up to a happy life. I am not asking you to change everything about the way you live, but perhaps to reconsider a few details of your daily routine. Remember that joie de vivre is not revolutionary —but it is evolutionary.”

Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living by Robert Arbor (2003)

5. Monet: The Restless Vision by Jackie Wullschlager 

TOP Tier Members have heard me go on and on and on about this new biography, the first of its kind sharing never before accessed letters from Oscar Claude Monet, close to 3000 of them, to tell his entire life story, and Jackie Wullschlager, a Financial Times art contributor does a wonderful job of keeping the chapters concise, engaging and full of vivid detail.

I absolutely loved this book as someone who has been intrigued by the Impressionists as so many of us are, and especially Monet after having seen Giverny with my own eyes and most recently in 2022, L’Orangerie and his La Grande Décoration at Le Musée de L’Orangerie. Admittedly, he intrigues me for both his painting talents and his mastery at gardening.

Monet: A Restless Vision by Jackie Wullschlager  (2023)

6. Camille Pissarro by Anka Muhlstein

As a follow up to reading The Restless Vision about Monet, and having learned a bit about fellow Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro in that book as the two, Monet and Pissarro were very good friends throughout their entire lives (Monet loaned Pissarro money to buy his house in Normandy after Pissarro’s wife spoke with him – Pissarro was determined and did pay him back), I immediately began reading the new biography about Pissarro which is equally intriguing. Again, another book that shares the life of the painter and the Impressionist movement.

Camille Pissarro: The Audacity of Impressionism by Anka Muhlstein (2023)

7. Miss Dior by Justine Picardie

Chosen as the Petit Plaisir for episode #378 of the podcast, Justine Picardie’s biography about Catherine Dior, Christian Dior’s younger sister provided much of the inspiration for AppleTV+’s The New Look series that premiered earlier in 2024.

The life of Catherine Dior, along with living simply and dedicating her life to France’s freedom, nearly giving her life for France’s freedom, is one of adoration of natural beauty and being in the garden, inspired by her own mother’s prowess with roses. Catherine then carries on this love when the family moves to Provence from Normandy where her father ran a lucrative fertilizer company due to their father’s financial loss in October 1929 that upended so many lives. Living with her father prior to and then following WWII, her miraculous return from the concentration camp, she immerses herself in growing and selling her flowers, especially the Granville Rose with her long-time partner, Hervé des Charbonneries, until her death in 2008. As well, following her beloved brother Christian’s sudden death in 1957, she became the ‘moral heir’ of his fashion empire, safeguarding its legacy and preserving his legacy; she also served as the honorary president of the Musée Christian Dior until her own passing, aged 90.

The book is enthralling throughout, beyond heartbreaking at times but deeply necessary in understanding aspects of history for far too long lesser known, and inspiring by the down-to-earth nature of a woman who truly did life a courageous life.

Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture by Justine Picardie (2021)

8. Impossible City by Simon Kuper

Yet another book I have gone on and on about in our monthly A Cuppa Moments’ video chats with TOP Tier Members, and with good reason. Financial Times’ columnist Simon Kuper’s new book Impossible City shares how everyday life – culture, politics, food, etiquette, the meshing and accepting and blending (or not blending) of various neighborhoods – has shifted and evolved due to all sorts of events – many tragic, but also uplifting as he has been calling Paris home for nearly twenty years.

Impossible City: Paris in the 21st Century by Simon Kuper (2024)

9. Brittany Mystery series (detective Georges Dupin) by Jean-Luc Bannalac (10 books so far)

In my first post shared back in 2017 of my favorite French books, I included M.L. Longworth’s Provençal mystery series, so rest assured, I am not forgetting those wonderful capers. As Mary Lou has wrapped that series up (there are ten books), I have since discovered a wonderfully puzzling as well as ideal for vicariously traveling to France, specifically the Brittany coast in Jean-Luc Bannalac’s Brittany mystery series with Parisian transplant Commissionaire George Dupin leading the sleuthing. I have read all nine of the books, and with the tenth book being released in February 2025, preordering is done.

What is unique about the organization of the book regarding chapters, is that you will maybe having three chapters in each book, so very loooooong chapters, because each chapter contains an entire day’s events no matter how long it takes to move through the solving of the crime.

Get ready to start planning a trip to Brittany to see the beauty and taste the local fare. The imagery is spectacular.

Brittany Mystery series by Jean-Luc Bannalec

10. A Taste for Provence by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz

Prior to my first trip to Provence in the summer of 2018, I picked up A Taste for Provence, and well, needless to say, I became even more eager to arrive in the southern region where the mistral winds blow, the sky is surreally blue and the markets are plentiful.

A Taste for Provence by Helen Lefkovwitz Horowitz (2016)

11. The French Art of Living Well by Cathy Yandell

Last year I shared 10 Tips discovered from Cathy Yandell’s book, The French Art of Living Well, after having read it and thoroughly appreciated that it wasn’t like your typical “How to Live Like the French” book. When I began reading professor of French Renaissance literature and culture, as well as contemporary cultural and political issues in France and the French language Cathy Yandell’s new book released this past May, I immediately discovered a book that is far less common compared to the sea of French-inspired living books, and it is her different approach that kept me intrigued and most appreciative of all that she shared. 

Sharing through her academic lens of experience, an American expat living and teaching in France, her first experience visiting France was traveling abroad as a young girl and being immediately engrossed and curious about this ‘new world’ she could not have imagined, but that immediately intrigued and ultimately inspired her to return and eventually live in France.

Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World by Cathy Yandell (2023)

12. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong by Jean Nadeau and Julie Barlow

A husband and wife team who have authored a few books on the French culture, in Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong you will discover “the art of living à la française, the allure of Parisian streets, the delights of French cuisine, and the essence of joie de vivre. Unravel the secret behind the French paradox: how a nation can evoke both admiration and frustration simultaneously. Gain a deeper understanding of the French communication style, their views on work and leisure, and the societal norms that shape their interactions. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong is your gateway to decoding the French psyche, bridging the gap between perceptions and reality.”

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be Wrong: What Makes the French So French by Jean Nadeau and Julie Barlow (2003)

13. Flirting with French by William Alexander

Well, a serendipitous moment happened as French Week kicked off this year, long-time member of TSLL, Jen M. reached out to me to share that she met the author of Flirting with French as he lives in Washington and happens to be her neighbor. I was beyond delighted for her as based on what she shared, he sounds to be the curious Francophile so many of us are, and sharing what he discovers along the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed his book when I read it nearly eight or nine years ago now, and I think you will too especially if you are dipping your toes into learning the French language which is why I picked it up and began to read it.

His insights and discoveries as he too was learning the language reassured me I was not alone and my frustrations were not unique.

Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me & Nearly Broke My Heart by William Alexander (2014)

14. Ageless Beauty The French Way by Clémence von Mueffling

One of the top episodes of the podcast centered around this book. Episode #258 shared 22 French Beauty Secrets Worth the Investment in either time or money and all of the secrets came from this book.

Since the publication of Ageless Beauty: The French Way by Clémence von Mueffling in 2018, TSLL readers continued to recommend it, and it wasn’t until the next summer that I purchased it and read it in one afternoon and evening. I highly recommend it if you are looking for specific beauty product recommendations for your skin at every stage of aging – jeunesse (20-35) to maturité (55-older).

Sharing not only specific beauty routine ideas but also offering detailed explanations so that readers can understand why they are doing what they are doing to justify the investment, the book will be a resource I return to in the future as well when I begin to step from plénitude, as she describes 35-55. But beauty when it comes to products for skincare and makeup are not all that is covered. She writes about food, exercise and carriage, as well as hair and perfume.

Ageless Beauty the French Way: Secrets from Three Generations of French Beauty Editors by Clémence von Mueffling (2018)

15. The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard by Ollivier Pourriol

In 2020 I wrote a detailed post inspired by what I discovered while reading Pourriol’s new book – 10 Ways to Live with Effortless Ease. Contemporary philosopher, writer and novelist who calls Paris home, Ollivier Pourriol wrote Facile: L’art français de réussir sans forcer in 2018, and finally, in September 2020, the English translation became available (seen above). Sharing in his introduction the idea for the book being birthed while enjoying an apéritif followed by dîner with his friend, the book’s genesis exemplifies how great things can come to be without directly trying, but rather out of sincere curiosity and being present.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and swiftly read through it a couple of weeks ago, there are many gems of insight and ideas worth contemplating when it comes to living with ease as the French appear to do incredibly well. The truth is, it comes back to being present, refraining from living in the future and tapping into what you deeply love doing and sharing with the world. I have pulled out ten ideas for living effortlessly and seemingly without trying too hard, accompanying each with a quote from the book.

The French Arr of Not Trying Too Hard by Ollivier Pourriel (2020)

16. The Farm to Table French Phrasebook by Victoria Mas

I happened to pick up this book initially because the cover just caught my eye immediately. And as I was in Paris when I picked it up, at the La Librarie Gallimard, it felt like a book I had to bring home as I had not heard of it prior to my trip, and food is at the forefront of one’s mind when in Paris.

Both ideal for French language learners as well as those who love food, Victoria Mas share a “comprehensive language guide for food lovers that also offers a fascinating history of French eats, complete with delicious facts about the cuisines of every region from Alsace’s pinot gris to Normandy’s Pot-au-feu”.

The Farm to Table French Phrasebook: Master the Culture, Language and Savoir Faire of French Cuisine by Victoria Mas, illustrations by Meera Lee Patel (2022)

17. The Art of Flaneuring by Erika Owen

While not French herself, Erika Owen is a travel-writer and well versed in the art of flaneuring, a practice, a word, that is quintessentially French, and so I enjoyed reading through this book as it isn’t dense, but it is insightful. Sharing oodles of ways presented in creative bulleted form throughout the entire book, you will put down the book and be inspired to slow down, take a look around you and savor where you are.

The Art of Flaneuring: How to Wander with Intention and Discover a Better Life by Erika Owen (2019)

18. When in French by Lauren Collins

Lauren Collins is an American expat living in France with her French husband. As a regular columnist for The New Yorker, she is regularly sharing culture insider stories of Paris in the magazine, but it was in her first memoir of a book that she tells the more intimate story of meeting, marring and living with her husband as they set up their new life in Paris. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when it was released and have recommended it previously on the blog and podcast, which meant it had to be on this list – bien sûr !

When in French: Love in a Second Language by Lauren Collins (2016)

19. The Gourmands’ Way by Justin Spring

Food lovers and historians, this is a must-read book for all the obvious reasons that the subtitle conveys.

“The six are A. J. Liebling, Alice B. Toklas, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Alexis Lichine, and Richard Olney. The book is the first ever to look at these unforgettable figures as a group. It is also the first to focus specifically on their Paris-based adventures. Liebling was a great war correspondent, reporter, and humorist who opens Spring’s narrative by sweeping into Paris with the French and Allied forces in August 1944; Toklas was Gertrude Stein’s life partner who reinvented herself at age seventy-five as a cookbook author; Fisher was a sensualist storyteller and fabulist; Child was a cookbook author, America’s greatest television food celebrity, and the reinventor of the dinner party; Lichine was an ambitious wine merchant who, through an astounding series of risk-taking ventures, became the leading importer of French wines in America; and Olney was a reclusive but freewheeling artist who reluctantly evolved into one of the foremost American writers on French cuisine and French wine.”

The Gourmands’ Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy by Justin Spring (2017)

20. Provence, 1970 by Luke Barr

Yet another book that involves a few of the same names mentioned in the previous book on this list, Provence, 1970, is more nuisanced and romantic and sweeps you away to the south of France in the tucked away towns that weren’t as bustling with tourists and second-home owners as they are today. Get to know Julia Child from a different and still adoring perspective as well as how these three well-known gourmands changed how Americans ate forever.

Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste by Luke Barr (2013)

21. Gâteau by Alexsandra Crapanzano

While I wrote a detailed post on my 10 favorite French cookbooks (linked below), since that post was shared, James Beard Award–winning writer Aleksandra Crapanzano cookbook (or bakebook) was released and I absolutely loved it. Not only do you discover how to make dependable, classic French cakes, you also learn about the French culture and everyday eating habits. Paired with playful illustrations throughout, this is a must-have cookbook for anyone you know who enjoys baking without the stress or fanciful nature of it all.

Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Alessandra Crapanzano (2022)

The cookbook prompted the sharing of one of the first, most classic French everyday cake recipes, the Gâteau au Yaourt Citron, Petit Plaisir #342

Happy reading and traveling vicariously to France as you do, and look for more French-inspired and focused books to continue to be shared on the blog in the weekly This & That post, Petit Plaisirs and detailed posts.

SIMILAR POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY

My 10 All-Time Favorite French Books (2017)

episode #188, 18 Secrets & Lessons from the French Culture to Begin 2018

10 Favorite French Cookbooks for Your Kitchen Library

5 New-in-2019 French Lifestyle Books I Have Enjoyed

Explore all of the posts from this year’s French Week