what are your fav french books? :)
I’d say let me think but I know exactly what to say.
- Les Misérables, Victor Hugo, 1862 - you know this one, careful very long, amazingly well written and I cried a river at the end (if you don’t know, Jean Valjean is out of jail after 17 years despite Inspector Javert’s hatred for him and tries to become a better man, adopting Fantine (a poor sex worker who was left by her lover and dies)’s daughter Euphrasie/Cosette who was until then looked after and abused by the Thénardier’s family. But Javert is after Valjean who stole a coin from a kid shortly after getting released, Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius, a rich kid who left his family to fight for the revolution - cause yeah, it’s révolution française time. The movie forgot about half of the book (and Fantine is BLOND FOR FUCK’S SAKE it literally says that “her only treasures are the gold on her head and the pearls in her mouth”) but is still amazing and let’s not talk about the soundtrack) I have an extra copy if you want
- Le Chef d’oeuvre inconnu, Honoré de Balzac, 1831 - short story about a crazy painter in love with the woman he painted
- Les Liaisons dangereuses, Choderlos de Laclos, 1782 - epistolary novel (I’d say watch the movie before (SUCH A GOOD MOVIE), it’s easier then to follow the book) two noble, cruel and manipulative libertines fool everyone - especially prudes and believers - using sex and charisma
- Manon Lescaut, l’Abbé Prévost, 1731 - SO pretty, the impossible love story between Manon and the knight Des Grieux, their families disagree with their relationship so they keep running away, moneyless but madly in love
- Ruy Blas, Victor Hugo, 1838 - Spain, XVIIth c, the story of a lackey madly in love with the queen and manipulated by his master who wants the crown
- Bérénice, Jean Racine, 1670 - about the complicated love story between Titus flavian roman emperor and Berenice princess of Judea
- Le Cid, Pierre Corneille, 1636 - Rodrigue and Chimène love each other and want to get married but their fathers have an argument, Chimène’s dad slaps Rodrigue’s who can’t fight back and demands that his son kills him
- Tartuffe ou l’imposteur, Molière, 1669 - Orgon, a court person, and his family are manipulated by the hypocrite Tartuffe who pretends to be very religious and is always being taken seriously because of that (read all of his work anyway)
- Discours de la servitude volontaire, Etienne de la Boétie, 1576 - about how we become society’s slaves because we don’t fight and almost want it
- De l’Inconvénient d’être né, Emil Cioran, 1973 - about the absurdity of human condition, pretty emo, also wrote Syllogismes de l’amertume, 1952
- Pensées, Blaise Pascal, 1670 - for christians but not only, shows you how to live without fear, without narcissism, hard to read but eye opening
- Le Mythe de Sisyphe, Albert Camus, 1942 - absurd philosophy, why staying alive, should we kill ourselves or fight back
- Demain dès l’aube, Victor Hugo, 1856
- Mon rêve familier, Paul Verlaine, 1866
- La Terre est bleue comme une orange, Paul Eluard, 1929
- Crépuscule, Guillaume Apollinaire, 1911(?)
- Lélia, George Sand (aka Aurore Dupin), 1833 - about a strong and spiritual woman who won’t give in to the poet Sténio who loves her
- Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée, Simone de Beauvoir, 1958 - autobiography if you know her it’s probably from Le deuxième sexe, a feminist bible
- Gigi, Colette, 1944 - short story about a poor 15 yo girl who wishes to be a society woman, helped by her grandmother
- No et moi, Delphine de Vigan, 2007 - if you were a very bright and very lonely girl growing up, you are desperately going to fall in love with this + the only book written by someone who’s still alive (and quite young)!
- L’Oeuvre au noir, Marguerite Duras, 1968 - the tragic destiny of Zenon, alchemist and doctor from the XVIth century
- Claire Vénus qui erres par les cieux, Louise Labé, 1555 - poetry
- Femme réveille-toi, Olympe de Gouge, 1790 - feminism (incomplete link)
- Delphine, Madame de Staël, 1802 - Delphine arranges a marriage between a relative and a man and then falls in love with the man
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