France - BOOKS Expat memoirs about living in France

[Roz]

Lindy mentioned above Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. She also has a new book called Picnic in Provence. I hadn't read her first one because just from a quick look I thought it was kind of a silly chick-lit type romance. But I did just read the second one and loved it, so went back and read the first one.

The books are not at all how the covers make them appear (at least to me). The author did fall in love in Paris and eventually moved there, but most of the book is full of very interesting and well-written descriptions and analyses of life in France, how it compares with life in the US, and how hard (but rewarding) it can be for an American to make those adjustments. It's serious and funny at the same time. Elizabeth and her husband seem like really great people, whom I'd love to meet.

Their latest project (described in the new book) is an artisanal ice cream shop, which sounds fabulous. Their first in the little town of Cereste (fairly near Apt) was so successful they have now opened a second in Paris. Scaramouche. I definitely want to check it out when we are next in Paris (which will actually be in September).

 

[jonathan]

The English publishers have chosen a cover design which seems more fitting to your description, Roz. I've driven past Cereste, but don't remember stopping there: next time, I will!

 

[PatrickLondon]

Stephen Clarke (mentioned above) has written a number of books about living in Paris, building on the success of A Year in the Merde. I enjoyed Paris Revealed. Also based on personal experience, but rather broader than a memoir, is Lucy Wadham's The Secret Life of France.

 

[Lindy]

Roz, found this in my mailbox this morning. The article is a conversation with Elizabeth Bard during one of the stops on her promo tour of Picnic in Provence. You can find it at Francetoday.com.

 

[artnbarb]

Here is a delightful book about Pere Lachaise cemetery. Although not by an expat the story pokes fun at the pre-imminent inhabitants, through feline characters. You will know doubt recognize all the principals. I used this as a book club selection and provided each member with a picture of a cat named for each "famous person" and had them dress the part when it came to review the book resulting in a very very entertaining get together. Some of the meows were quite unique. Whiskas treats were available for those who were totally in character. Book title - Waiting for Gertrude by Bill Bryson

I think you meant Bill RICHARDSON, not Bill Bryson!

 

[phirhon]

I always read threads like this because I enjoy reading books set in France and am keen to find more. I have a large collection, which includes a lot of the ones mentioned, mostly garnered from op shops and second hand shops. Now I have a Kindle, it has opened up another source, but like Roz, I think , I am not going to spend a lot and I keep to specials.

Over the years I have read books and then we have travelled to the region and vice versa. It is lovely to visit places we have read about and it is equally pleasant to read a book set in a place we have visited. They keep me in touch in between trips. Recently in an op shop I found " Life in a Postcard " by Rosemary Bailey about buying a monastery near Mosset in the Pyrenees Orientales. We spent a week in Eus and must have driven past it when we went up to Mosset. One I have just finished which was .99 cents is " Tales from a Hilltop" by Tony Lewis. It is based in Cordes sur Ciel and is a change from the usual ex - pat memoir. It was entertaining and told some history as well. This region is in our plans for our next trip, so I read it with interest.

Susie Kelly is a British ex pat who lives in the Charente. I found her first book " One step Backward " second hand and enjoyed it. I then bought the boxed set for my kindle [ five books] and have read two so far. In " Best Foot Forward " w she walks across France from La Rochelle to Geneva. We had been to quite a few of the areas she passed through, so I quite enjoyed it. "Travels with Tinkerbelle" has her and her husband travelling around the perimeter of France in a camper with two large dogs.

I also enjoy French cookbooks that have some commentary as well as recipes . One of my favourites is " Travelling and Cooking in South West France" by fellow Australian, Stephanie Alexander. It is based in the Dordogne and is a gorgeous book. Joanne Harris of " Chocolat " fame has "The French Kitchen ", and Bridget Tilleray [ " The Frenchwoman's Kitchen "] whose lovely book " Undiscovered France " is unfortunately not in my collection. I enjoyed Susan Loomis' books " On Rue Tatin" and " Tarte Tatin". And also set in Normandy by Jane Webster, " At My French Table " and " French Ties ". And who can forget " French Odyssey " by Rick Stein. Another very nice one is " A Kitchen in Burgundy " by Anne Willan. We stayed nearby in Villeneuve sur Yonne for two weeks last year.

I am sitting here looking at my shelves of books and I could keep on listing. Can you guess I am looking forward to planning another trip!!!

Happy reading!!

 

[Pauline]

Thanks @phirhon for a good list of books!

 

[Roz]

I'm reading and very much enjoying A Baguette a Day: My First Year in Saint Antonin which is $2.99 on Kindle. It's another of these "Americans buy a house in France" books, but so far I think it's better than many of the type. I like the way the author describes his daily walks in the French countryside, his day-to-day life, and various encounters with French bureaucracy. He also makes a point of saying how friendly all his French neighbors are, even though he doesn't speak French very well. He, his partner Linnea, and their dog Beau seem like people I'd enjoy spending time with. (I say "people" because he says he thinks Beau considers himself more a person than a dog.) I also really love the area of France where they are living, so the setting especially appeals to me.

Pauline, I was thinking of you when reading this, since they are vegetarians and seem to be getting along okay in France so far.

 

[Pauline]

I'm reading and very much enjoying A Baguette a Day: My First Year in Saint Antonin which is $2.99 on Kindle. It's another of these "Americans buy a house in France" books, but so far I think it's better than many of the type.

Two American artist from Sedona Arizona buy a house in Saint Antonin-Noble-Val (in Tarn et Garonne, south-west France, north of Toulouse), the village where the movie "The Hundred Foot Journey" with Helen Mirren was filmed (great movie). The area and village look great. Here is a vacation rental company for the village.

I am giving up half way through this book. I can't stand it! I enjoyed the first 25% but it was starting to seem endless. I kept reading because they were just buying their house. But at 50% I really can't continue. The book is full of typos. It needs to be edited. He repeats himself many times. It feels like half the book is about his dog and the other half is about the desserts he eats.

They buy a used car from England because it is cheaper - so they have to use a right hand drive car in a left hand drive country!! That makes no sense.

They call themselves vegetarians, but they both eat fish. Nearly every meal that he describes features fish. They are not vegetarians. At one point he decides to change his diet and gives up his baguette a day (white bread) and sugar and alcohol. Yet a few pages on he is back to eating and drinking as before with no mention of why he cast aside the changes that he was telling us were very necessary.

I think it would have been a fun book if it was shorter and less rambling. I learned nothing from the book except that stone walls take a lot of paint.

A few choice quotes:
Touring Carennac near Rocamadour: "It is worth seeing because it's so old and has a pretty nifty thousand year old church."
On adding a new bathroom: "I thought all shower pans were created equal. That's an assumption one should always be wary of."

And the one where I stopped reading.
About his partner and their studios: "Linnea will work below me, partially under the loft. She does her best work under me." Ewwww!

 

[Roz]

"I enjoyed the first 25% but it was starting to seem endless ..."

Actually, Pauline, the funny thing is that when I wrote that comment about the book, I was only about 20% through it. But as it went on, I have to agree with you that it got more tiresome and repetitive. It is mainly a totally unedited diary, and I skimmed through most of it. I think it proves how much these self-published books really need a good editor.

You might just want to read the last chapter though, since there is sort of a twist at the end.

 

[Pauline]

You might just want to read the last chapter though, since there is sort of a twist at the end.

Thanks, I will do that! I was wondering how you were doing with it!!

 

[Pauline]

@Roz I was shocked by the ending! One year in France, a couple of months renting, then into the house they buy, months of renovations, neither of them learn much French, he stops eating baguettes to lose weight, a movie makes their village famous so they sell their house at a profit and leave. They didn't like the bureaucracy, the weather (they are in southwest France, near Toulouse), village life.

Steve and I had talked about moving to France, but I couldn't cope with all the research and travel we would have to do to find a place we liked and Steve knew me well enough to know that I would never do the work needed to become semi-fluent in French.

 

[Roz]

I know, I thought you'd want to see what happened at the end, Pauline. Actually, as the book went on I was reading it more to see and marvel at what crazy and stupid things they would do rather than because it had any useful insights into moving to France. They apparently did NO research and had no idea what they were getting into ahead of time. They just seemed to live day by day, and somehow always seemed to stumble over people who would help them with their renovations, feed them meals, etc.

As for the weather, I will say that they apparently were in SW France during one of the worst, rainiest years that part of France had ever had. At least that's what all their neighbors were telling them. But then before they went to France, they moved from Arizona to Portland, Ore, and were surprised when they had a lot of rain.

 

[Pauline]

Lindy mentioned above Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. She also has a new book called Picnic in Provence. I hadn't read her first one because just from a quick look I thought it was kind of a silly chick-lit type romance. But I did just read the second one and loved it, so went back and read the first one.

I am reading Picnic in Provence now and enjoying it. Well written, entertaining and a good story.

 

[Pauline]

I finished Elizabeth Bard's A Picnic in Provence and liked it. Towards the end she drifted into a detailed discussion of her and her husband starting an ice cream business. I would have rather read more about daily life in the village and you had the feeling she needed to wrap up the book, so wrote about that. Still, it was interesting. I loved all the details about her life in the village.

Here is her website - Elizabeth Bard.

And they have made a success of the ice cream business with a shop in their village in Provence (Cereste, east of the Luberon and Apt) with a second shop in Paris - Scaramouche.

I wonder if @Kathy or @Kevin Widrow know them and the ice cream shop?

 

[Roz]

We had wanted to get to Scaramouche in Paris when we were there last year, but it didn't happen. This fall we will be in Provence and are hoping to make a day trip down to Céreste for ice cream. Here's a write-up about such an excursion from a blog by someone who has a house quite near where we'll be staying in the Vaucluse: Artisan Ice Cream in Céreste Provence.

 

[Roz]

Picnic in Provence and Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard were recommended earlier in this discussion. Lunch in Paris, the earlier of the two books, is on sale now for Kindle for $2.99.

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes

The title is a bit misleading because it isn't just a romance between an American and a Frenchman. To me the most interesting parts were about Elizabeth's struggles to accustom herself to life in France as an expat.

 

[Roz]

I recently finished reading two books that I'd highly recommend:

The Bonjour Effect: Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed, by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow. This is a fascinating analysis of French culture. "The French don't communicate, they converse. To understand and speak French well, one must understand that French conversation runs on a set of rules that go to the heart of French culture. Why do the French like talking about "the decline of France"? Why does broaching a subject like money end all discussion? Why do the French become so aroused debating the merits and qualities of their own language? Through encounters with school principals, city hall civil servants, gas company employees, old friends and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoît explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting."

Duck Season: Eating, Drinking, and Other Misadventures in Gascony--France's Last Best Place by David McAnich. The author lived with his wife and daughter for 8 months in a small Gascon village, where "he herds sheep in the Pyrenees, harvests grapes, attends a pig slaughter, hunts for pigeons, distills Armagnac, and, of course, makes and eats all manner of delicious duck specialties—learning to rewire his own thinking about cooking, eating, drinking, and the art of living a full and happy life." It's very well written and highly entertaining.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Am reading David Lebowitz's latest book, l'appart about buying an apartment in Paris. It's great fun and peppered with recipes to complement each step of angst.
Note to self. Don't buy an apartment in Paris. Lol