Jade

Hi fellow Fodorites: <BR>Am travelling to Paris on October 5th and I wanted to be armed with a great paperback for the gruelling 23 hour flight there (from Sydney) - can anyone pls recommend a great book set in Paris to 'get me in the mood'? <BR>Thanks.

Ursula

Read something written by Emile Zola or Patrick Süskind's "Perfume". Sorry do not know the English title of the latter, but was surely translated into English. <BR>Enjoy Paris!

xxx

The Three Musketeers. Seriously

xxx

If dish washing gets you in the mood try George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London." Something dirtier: Any of the Claudine series by Collette, e.g. Claudine a Paris.

Laura

Get a copy of Ernest Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast".....all takes place in Paris and you will recognize many, many places he mentions here. A wonderful book!!!

Gretchen

Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon or The Flaneur.

mimi Taylor

Good morning Jade' <BR> I will second Ursula's suggestions. Yes, Perfume is the name in English. As for Zola's books, The Belly of Paris and The Lady's Paradise. Somthing lighter is Le Divorce by Diane Johnson. Two wonderful non fiction little books are We could almost eat outside and The Flanneurs by Edmund Wilson. For something sad yet beautiful, a true story, The bell and the Butterfly.

Joni

The Dud Avocado, by Elaine Dundy. Hemingway's (non fiction) A Moveable Feast. Nana, Ladies Paradise, Pot Bouille or L'Assomoir, by Emile Zola. A handful of short stories by Irwin Shaw set in Paris.

cd

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson <BR>The Last Time I Saw Paris--this one is great! She the traces the path of an earlier trip through Paris and on to Provence, will really get you in the mood, and is a good story! Only prob is I forget the authors name! Look it up on Barnes and Noble.com! Bon Voyage!!

Paul

Although they're not fiction, have to second the recommendations on Gopnik's Paris to the Moon, a great book, and Hemmingway's Moveable Feast. I read both before my last trip to Paris and they really set me up good. <BR> <BR>Fiction: While there I read Bel Ami, by Maupassant (Spelling?), a novel, which was also good. <BR> <BR>Have a great trip!

elvira

Homer Evans mysteries by Eliot Paul; any of the Maigret mysteries by Simenon; Coq au Vin by Charlotte Carter; Masquerade by Walter Satterthwait <BR> <BR>I recommend the Three Musketeers too, and also the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

dan woodlief

Hunchback of Notre Dame, The American by Henry James (a clash of French aristocratic and American culture set largely in Paris with many sights, including the Louvre), and The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux are very good. The first two are much better for including Paris sights other than the Opera House. Hemingway's Sun Also Rises starts in Paris and ends in Spain, and it is one of my favorite novels.

s.fowler

I second Gopnik's book "Paris to the Moon." For a fictional account of the Parisian culture and mores try Diane Johnson's "Le Divorce"

Alex

Don't know about CD's "The Last Time I saw Paris" (by Elizabeth Adler) but the original, written by Elliot Paul, is a pre-war (WWII) classic of depicting life in a big city of unforgetable characters.

none

Adrian Mathews, The Hat of Victor Noir

mimi taylor

More colette but taking place in Paris are Gigi, Cheri and The last of Cheri. <BR>The Taxi and Mad in Pursuit by Violet LeDuc. A Place Called Paris by Barclay, but there is a great many books that are non fiction that are so interesting, such as the cronies of Hemingway, The janet Flanner journals(who wrote for the <BR>new Yorker under the name Genet) and if you are interested in art, Kiki's Paris is a good start. Kiki was the lover and model for alot of the artists in Paris 1900 to 1935.

carol

Another vote for "Paris to the Moon" and "Le Divorce". They'll both get you in the Paris mood in an engaging and diverting manner.

Joel

"Paris In the Fifties" by Stanley Karnow (Pulitzer Prize) gives you an outstanding modern view of why/how the French are so French. "A Moveable Feast" is a must.

topping

MORE BOOKS!

trying

It has been about 10 yrs since I read it, but isn't Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer set in Paris? The book was supposedly quite controversial at one time, but I don't recall much about it that was controversial (at least by today's standards). I probably need to re-read the book, now that I've actually been to Paris a couple times. I believe the book was technically non-fiction.