France - BOOKS Expat memoirs about living in France

[Pauline]

I think I read Hot Sun, Cool Shadow years ago, but will look at it again, plus some of these others. Thanks!

 

[Parigi]

I like MHK Fischer's books a lot. Like her descriptive title about Le Train Bleu (which I recommend to everyone for a coffee or cocktail, preferably before a train to the south), "Not a Station But a Place", her France is "not a country with cute people and cute things" but a culture, an experience, of deep dimensions.

Another book that I enjoy, that also does not cute me out about France, is Mavis Gallant's From The Fifteenth District.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the Mavis Gallant recommendation, Nancy!

 

[jonathan]

I like MHK Fischer's books a lot.

Otherwise known as MFK Fisher I love her writing, too - I've just dug out my copy of A Considerable Town, a portrait of 1970s Marseille, as a nice bit of background for my trip there next month. Map of another town, on Aix-en-Provence in the 50s & 60s, is lovely.

 

[Pauline]

Mavis Gallant is a Canadian writer and I loved her stories years ago. I recently bought a short story collection about Paris, but have not read it yet. I will put it in my "next" folder.

 

[Parigi]

Oops.

 

[Parigi]

"I recently bought a short story collection about Paris"
I wonder if it is the collection titled "Potter". I loved those short stories, including Potter.

 

[Chris]

Just Potter? I can't find anything on Amazon with just that name except Harry Potter and Beatrix Potter...

 

[Pauline]

Paris stories, Mavis Gallant. Kindle version.

 

[Chris]

I'll have to get that one too.

 

[Parigi]

How o how did I forget this one ? "Life" by Keith Richard, with a very lively section devoted to the year of 1971 when he lived in Villefranche sur mer and along with the other Stones recorded the iconic "Exile On Main Street". Keith's voice is what I call unflinching in that he talks about nice things and really unsavory things about himself, and they are all the same to him.
This book has become my fave book to read whenever I go to Nice, always renting in the old Port area so near Villefranche. Sorriest about "Tender Is The Night", which used to be my fave French Riviera book…
Villefranche has remained quite unchanged since Keith's Exile days. I urge everyone to take a long lovely seafront walk from west to east, ending in a pilgrimage moment at the gate of the old Nellecôte villa where it all happened. Those were those days.

 

[Valerie]

I received The Ripening Sun as a gift. Good lord, could it be more boooorrrring? Too reminiscent of that wretched Botticelli Blue Skies for my taste. It's in the cantina waiting for winter as a fire-starter! I couldn't get past the third chapter it was so bad.

 

[Roz]

I just finished reading the latest book by Jamie Ivey, Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence. I had read his first two books several years ago: A Very Pale Rosé, and La Vie en Rosé. Another in the vein of the Brits who chuck it all and move to Provence, but I found them all quite entertaining.

Pauline, parts of the first two are set in and around Uzès if I recall correctly. Now he is living in the Lourmarin area and has recently started a blog: ProvenceGuru.

There is a fourth book, actually the third in the series, that was not published in the US: Rosé en Marché: Running a Market Stall in Provence. I found it for under $1 used on Amazon from the UK and just ordered a copy. It's surprising to me that I can get used UK books shipped to the US for the same $3.99 that Amazon charges for domestic shipping.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks Roz, I will download a sample of his first book to my Kindle. I used to have UK books shipped to the US from Amazon, and remember it being reasonable. Good to know this is still a good option.

 

[Chris]

I also order Amazon used books from the UK occasionally, and I'm also amazed that they arrive so fast!

 

[jonathan]

There's some good stuff on Ivey's blog - thanks for posting, Roz!

 

[Pauline]

Don't read this one: Down and Dirty in the Dordogne by Andrea Frazer. The reviews were not great, but I liked the sample, so I bought it (only $2.99). By the end of the book I really disliked the woman and think she only moved to France so she could buy and renovate an historic house cheaper than in the UK. The book is mostly about how much they drink, how all their cats get killed (usually by cars) and how much she dislikes the French hospitals (which she has a lot of experience with).

What a waste of my time. Now I will look for the ones @Roz recommended.

 

[Heather Francis]

It was really interesting to read your opinions regarding ex pat memoirs of living in France. I too enjoy the genre very much. Having just published my own true story, 'Bonjour Darling' by Heather Francis, I would be delighted if some of you would consider putting me on your 'to read' list.

 

[Pauline]

Note to Pauline - Update the top post with all these excellent suggestions so we have them all in one place.

 

[Pauline]

On the Novels thread @Lindy posted:

I have also just finished French House, authored by Don Wallace. He & his wife(both Americans & both surfers) visit Belle Isle, off the west coast of France, early on in their marriage and fell in love with the location. They in the following years, choose to buy a wreck and eventually over a good many years return it to it's former glory. A very interesting saga of how the French (on this island) deal with etrangers (read tourists), especially if they are purchasing property and only living in them for a month or so each the year. The main French characters are hell bent on preserving the Breton architecture & way of life and rightly so. It's an interesting exercise in patience and (mis)understanding of the ways of negotiation between the two nationalities. All ends well, as the Americans over the years become part of the Breton way of life. Both baseball and surfing have a big role in this.

I will get these new ones added to our main list (soon).