French Books

I was stalking a few people on twitter and checking out their websites, and came across a mention of the French buying so many copies of their president's least favorite novel, that it streaked to the best seller list!

Article here (thanks to Antof9)

I am not ever going to get political here, but I wonder what would happen to a book's Amazon ranking if Obama said he hated it.

Speaking of books, any recommendations? I'd like something French-related, maybe history or biography. Plowed through Three Musketeers (in English, of course), loved the Count of Monte Cristo. Done with Madame Bovary - that slut. Tale of Two Cities, bored with the London parts. Les Miserables - annoyed with that little Minette character. Working on the Hunchback, but I think I need a hotter main character to keep my interest. Maybe the French need a trashy Danielle Steele version of historical fiction - like The Other Boleyn Girl and the Tudors - I can read anything about Henry VIII while picturing Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Books about cooks' lives are some of my favorites these days. Yes, I read Julie and Julia, My Life in France, Heat, The Omnivore's Dilemna, Animal Vegetable Miracle, and a few by Anthony Bourdain. The Perfectionist was a crazy good book about a French chef who committed suicide because a journalist started a rumor that he might lose one of his three Michelin stars, so sad and yet so French.

I loved "The Beautiful Fall" about Yves St Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld's intertwined lives and fashion. Thanks to Shelley from Basic Pastry for that recommendation.

Don't forget to use my Amazon link if you are buying any fall reading - August was a slow month. Get back to the books - and straightening irons, and CDs, and baby toys, and flipflops. If I don't thank you for your purchase, it is because Amazon doesn't tell me who bought what. Your privacy is protected, lucky for you, because we all know I can't keep a secret!