A Paris Book Recommendation

In an excerpt from her book, The Radiant City, Lauren Davis writes, "People come to Paris to work out something, to try a dream that may very well have failed at home. They believe they can either forget themselves, or find themselves... That’s the thing about Paris: you may not be changed in the way you dreamed of, but you will certainly be altered...[Paris is] a city that is both beautiful and brutal".

Summer Reads: From Here, You Can't See Paris

Clearly, I'm a fan of the expat memoir.

In From Here, You Can't See Paris, Sanders moves his wife and daughter to the southern French town of Les Arques where he studies the only business in town, the local restaurant and falls into the sweet rhythms and struggles to maintain a way of life in Les Arques (population 159) in a fast-paced world. This is definitely a book of choice for foodies and armchair travelers everywhere.

Summer Reads: A Year in Provence

Within the author's first month in his new country, he realizes the French countryside isn't quite as idyllic as he thought. Throughout the book, he paints colorful portraits of his neighbors, who amuse, confuse and befuddle him, and the frigid wind that nearly cripples his charming 200-year old farmhouse.

Part memoir, part homeowner’s manual, part travelogue and all fun, A Year in Provence is a charming jaunt into the French countryside.

Summer Reads: Words in a French Life

Words in a French Life details the author’s move to the south of France from Phoenix where she settled, married and had kids. The book is based upon her blog, "French Word-A-Day", where she outlines stories of culture shock and learning the language. She still struggles with being called l'Américaine and her French is still corrected, by her kids no less.

Summer Reads: My Life in France

If limited funds are keeping you from running away to France this summer, why not engage in a little armchair travel? Here are some of my picks for your French reading list.

Julia Child dazzles in her memoir My Life in France. While some memoirs can come up dry and ever so boring, Julia shines in recounting her time in Paris and Marseilles in the 1940's discovering her inner foodie.