Recommendations based on "The Little Paris Bookshop"

Published when she was only nineteen, Fran�oise Sagan's astonishing first novel Bonjour Tristessebecame an instant bestseller. It tells the story of C�cile, who leads a carefree life with her widowed father and his young mistresses until, one hot summer on the Riviera, he decides to remarry - with devastating consequences. In A Certain SmileDominique, a young woman bored with her lover, begins an encounter with an older man that unfolds in unexpected and troubling ways. These two acerbically witty and delightfully amoral tales about the nature of love are shimmering masterpieces of cool-headed, brilliant observation.

Written when execution by guillotine was still legal in France, Albert Camus' devastating attack on the 'obscene exhibition' of capital punishment remains one of the most powerful, persuasive arguments ever made against the death penalty.

In The Outsider, Camus explores the alienation of an individual who refuses to conform to social norms. Meursault, his anti-hero, will not lie. When his mother dies, he refuses to show his emotions simply to satisfy the expectations of others. And when he commits a random act of violence on a sun-drenched beach near Algiers, his lack of remorse compounds his guilt in the eyes of society and the law. Yet he is as much a victim as a criminal.

An old French peasant, Fouan, divides his farmland among his three children, only to be astonished by their ingratitude and greed

The thirteenth novel in Émile Zola’s great Rougon-Macquart sequence, Germinal expresses outrage at the exploitation of the many by the few, but also shows humanity’s capacity for compassion and hope.Etienne Lantier, an unemployed railway worker, is a clever but uneducated young man with a dangerous temper. Forced to take a back-breaking job at Le Voreux mine when he cannot get other work, he discovers that his fellow miners are ill, hungry, and in debt, unable to feed and clothe their families. When conditions in the mining community deteriorate even further, Lantier finds himself leading a strike that could mean starvation or salvation for all.New translationIncludes introduction, suggestions for further reading, filmography, chronology, explanatory notes, and glossary

Bonjour Tristesse Is Françoise Sagan's Stylish, Shimmering And Amoral Tale Of Adolescence And Betrayal On The French Riviera, Published When Its Author Was Just Eighteen Years Old. It Tells The Story Of Cécile, Who Leads A Carefree Life With Her Widowed Father And His Young Mistresses Until, One Hot Summer On The Riviera, He Decides To Remarry - With Devastating Consequences. In A Certain Smile, Which Is Also Included In This Volume, Dominique, A Young Woman Bored With Her Lover, Begins An Encounter With An Older Man That Unfolds In Unexpected And Troubling Ways. Both Novellas Have Been Freshly Translated By Heather Lloyd And Include An Introduction By Rachel Cusk. Françoise Sagan Was Born In France In 1935. Bonjour Tristesse (1954), Published When She Was Just Eighteen, Became A Succès De Scandale And Even Earned Its Author A Papal Denunciation. Sagan Went On To Write Many Other Novels, Plays And Screenplays, And Died In 2004. Heather Lloyd Was Previously Senior Lecturer In French At The University Of Glasgow, And Has Published Work On Both Bonjour Tristesse And Françoise Sagan. Rachel Cusk Is The Author Of Saving Agnes (1993), Which Won The Whitbread First Novel Award; A Life's Work: On Becoming A Mother (2001); And Arlington Park (2006), Shortlisted For The 2007 Orange Prize For Fiction. Her Most Recent Book Is Aftermath: On Marriage And Separation (2012). 'funny, Thoroughly Immoral And Thoroughly French' The Times

"An obsessive and revealing self-portrait of a remarkable woman humiliated by the circumstances of her birth and by her physical appearance. La Batarde relates Violette Leduc's long search for her own identity through a series of agonizing and passionate love affairs with both men and women. When first published, La Batarde was compared to the work of Jean Genet for the frank depiction of sexual escapades and immoral behavior. A confession that contains portraits of several famous French authors, this book is more than just a scintillating memoir - like that of Henry Miller or Charles Bukowski, Leduc's brilliant writing style and attention to language transform this autobiography into a work of art."--BOOK JACKET.

After his father dies, Didier Eribon returns to his hometown of Reims and rediscovers the working-class world he had left behind thirty years earlier. For years, Eribon had thought of his father largely in terms of the latter's intolerable homophobia. Yet his father's death provokes new reflection on Eribon's part about how multiple processes of domination intersect in a given life and in a given culture. Eribon sets out to investigate his past, the history of his family, and the trajectory of his own life. His story weaves together a set of remarkable reflections on the class system in France, on the role of the educational system in class identity, on the way both class and sexual identities are formed, and on the recent history of French politics, including the shifting voting patterns of the working classes -- reflected by Eribon's own family, which changed its allegiance from the Communist Party to the National Front. Returning to Reims is a remarkable book of sociological inquiry and critical theory, of interest to anyone concerned with the direction of leftist politics in the contemporary world, and to anyone who has ever experienced how sexual identity can clash with other parts of one's identity. A huge success in France since its initial publication in 2009, Returning to Reims received enthusiastic reviews in Le Monde, Liberation, L'Express, Les Inrockuptibles, and elsewhere.

When Édouard’s mother reveals she is—not for the first time—enduring an abusive relationship, mother and son plot her next steps in what is at once an edge-of-the-seat escape narrative and a meditation on freedom and renewal.Late one night, Édouard receives a telephone call from his mother. In tears, she tells him that her partner, her first since her abusive marriage with Édouard’s father, has been insulting, degrading, and humiliating her. I thought this would be a new life for me and now it’s starting all over.From afar, in Athens, Édouard swiftly sets a plan in place for Monique; the next morning, she departs the apartment she has been sharing with the man. What takes shape over the next weeks, over phone calls and informal Internet tutorials, on video chats and train rides, is a powerful and transformative shared experience for mother and son as they navigate the aftermath of male brutality, confront the limitations of class and society, and lay bare the pain of their past. With characteristic insight into society’s underpinnings and oversights, and with exquisite and tender portraiture, Édouard Louis’s Monique Escapes is a profound story of a woman, a mother, and a family’s search for more.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Translator's Note -- La Fière, la fière -- I -- II -- III -- IV