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READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXFRN384. Buy these 5 items as a set for $85 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Eyewitness Guide France

Eyewitness Guide France

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 720 PAGES

This superb guide to all of France features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (FRN01, $30.00)

The Road from the Past, Traveling through History in France

The Road from the Past, Traveling through History in France

by Ina Caro

  • HISTORY
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 339 PAGES

Time travel through France by way of its finest castles, chateaux, cathedrals and monasteries. This unusual travelogue is an invaluable companion for traveling in Paris, southern France, the Dordogne and the Loire Valley, combining personal observation with large doses of well-presented history. (FRN03, $17.00)

France, A Traveler's Literary Companion

France, A Traveler's Literary Companion

by William Rodarmor

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This collection contains literary gems from all corners of France--not just Paris--by a select group of 20th-century French writers, from Colette to Georges Simenon. (FRN767, $14.95)

The Food of France

The Food of France

by Waverly Root

  • FOOD
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 450 PAGES

An evocative and beautifully written survey of French food. First published in 1958 and revised in the mid-1970s, the book covers the important regions of French cuisine by dividing them into domains of Butter (northern France), Fat (Alsace) and Oil (the south). (FRN17, $18.00)

France Map

France Map

by Michelin

  • MAP

A colorful, accurate and up-to-date map of France at a scale of 1:1,000,000. (FRN07, $11.95)

 
Fodor's Paris' 25 Best

Fodor's Paris' 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket map and guide includes essential information on the city's history, highlights and sightseeing, ideal for a short visit to the City of Light. (FRN41, $11.99)

A Traveller's History of France

A Traveller's History of France


by Robert Cole

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This fast-moving survey covers the conquests of ancient Gaul through the heady days of revolution to modern times. (FRN08, $14.95)

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages


by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

This pocket-size encyclopedia of the art, architecture and culture of the Middle Ages features hundreds of drawings, color illustrations and a brief chronology. (MED07, $15.95)

Impressionism, Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society

Impressionism, Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society


by Robert L. Herbert

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 324 PAGES

A magnificently illustrated social history, this book shows the cafes, opera houses, dance halls and other places of entertainment and leisure that inspired some of the great Impressionist paintings. (FRN117, $35.00)

The Cave Painters

The Cave Painters


by Gregory Curtis

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

In this tale of art, paleontology and discovery, Curtis introduces the masterworks of cave art. (FRN620, $15.95)

Vincent Van Gogh, The Passionate Eye

Vincent Van Gogh, The Passionate Eye


by Pascal Bonafoux

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

From Paris to Asnieres, Amsterdam and Provence, this jewel of a book traces the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh, the spirited, self-destructive painter who celebrated the south of France. Engaging, compact and illustrated with hundreds of photographs. (FRN29, $12.95)

A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast


by Ernest Hemingway

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 211 PAGES

A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society and its luminaries circa 1925. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who idled on their way to greatness. (FRN26, $15.00)

Adventures on the Wine Route, A Wine Buyer's Tour of France

Adventures on the Wine Route, A Wine Buyer's Tour of France


by Kermit Lynch

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 271 PAGES

A delightful and warmly anecdotal book, highly recommended for anyone touring the wine regions of France. The book brings the domains and appellations of French wine to full-blown life, and Lynch's portraits of the grand personalities who make the wine are priceless. (FRN72, $19.00)

My Life in France

My Life in France


by Julia Child

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 317 PAGES

Child's characteristically ebullient record of Paris and Provence, her many friends, family and memorable meals, in the years after WWII, turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci (as husband Paul). (FRN596, $16.00)

Talk to the Snail, Ten Commandments to Understanding the French

Talk to the Snail, Ten Commandments to Understanding the French


by Stephen Clarke

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 258 PAGES

Clarke's essays on France and the French, as witty as they are useful, combine a guide to cultural understanding with some perfectly rendered, entertaining and tongue-in-cheek notes on how to speak proper French. (FRN643, $15.95)

France in Mind

France in Mind


by Alice Powers

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES
  • COMING IN FEBRUARY

This wonderful selection of essays, excerpts and stories filters the experience of being in France through the lens of 33 British and American writers. (FRN384, $14.00)

Travelers' Tales France

Travelers' Tales France


by James O'Reilly | Larry Habegger

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 528 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

A wonderful collection of mostly contemporary tales, including such marvelous authors as Peter Mayle, M.F.K. Fisher, Mort Rosenblum, Ina Caro and Jan Morris. Organized thematically, it's a good introduction to the history, culture and character of France. (FRN05, $18.95)

In a Dark Wood Wandering, A Novel of the Middle Ages

In a Dark Wood Wandering, A Novel of the Middle Ages


by Hella Haasse

  • LITERATURE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 594 PAGES

With a cast of thousands including Joan of Arc and the Dukes of Burgundy, this 1949 historical novel renders the political intrigue, people and texture of 15th-century Europe. Haasse captures medieval court life during the Hundred Years War. (FRN86, $21.95)

The Lost Upland, Stories of Southwest France

The Lost Upland, Stories of Southwest France


by W.S. Merwin

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

Three richly evocative stories of life in a Dordogne village by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Merwin, one of our finest living poets. Originally published in 1992, the book is steeped in history, food and personality. (FRN11, $16.00)

Timeline

Timeline


by Michael Crichton

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

Crichton's blockbuster fantasy combines time travel and adventures in Medieval France. A fast-paced, remarkably well-researched introduction to 14th-century Dordogne and Perigord. (FRN135, $7.99)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.