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France: Alsace

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 EXFRN417. Buy these 4 items as a set for $63 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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It's Not about the Bike, My Journey Back to Life

by Sally Jenkins | Lance Armstrong

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

Not just an inspirational account of Armstrong's battle with cancer, this memoir reveals the athlete's scrappy youth, coming-of-age, marriage, fatherhood -- and a great deal about the elite world of championship cycling. (GEN258, $16.00)

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)

Michelin Green Guide Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne

Michelin Green Guide Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

A guide to Alsace, Champagne and Vosges in the classic Michelin style. (FRN157, $21.99)

Alsace, Lorraine Map 516

Alsace, Lorraine Map 516

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • MAP

An up-to-date regional map at the very good scale of 1:200,000 published by Michelin. (FRN158, $12.95)

 
French or Foe?

French or Foe?


by Polly Platt

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 292 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

With humor, directness and great insight, this compact book is an expert and entertaining guide to the French and how to get along with them. The expanded third edition addresses France's romance with cell phones and includes a short chapter of recent vignettes. (FRN54, $16.95)

Lonely Planet French Phrasebook

Lonely Planet French Phrasebook


by Marie-Helene Girard | Anny Monet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2011
  • PAPER

This handy phrasebook focuses on pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (FRN120, $8.99)

Made in France, A Shopper's Guide

Made in France, A Shopper's Guide


by Laura Morelli

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

Both a fascinating history of France's artisanal legacy and an insider's shopping guide, Made in France includes illustrations, maps, a primer on French shopping culture, and craft festivals. (FRN706, $24.95)

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)

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)

France from the Air


by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 340 PAGES

This spectacular book of photographs, one in a series by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, showcases the rivers, fields, landscapes and cities of France in a series of dramatic low-altitude shots. With a introductory history and descriptive captions. (FRN598, $55.00)

The Autumn of the Middle Ages

The Autumn of the Middle Ages


by Johan Huizinga

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 467 PAGES

A pioneering work of social and cultural history, this well-translated classic is a richly detailed portrait of life, thought and art in 14th- and 15th-century France and the Netherlands. (EUR17, $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
  • BEST SELLER

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)

The Thirty Years' War


by Geoffrey Parker

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 316 PAGES

A scholarly history of the major European conflict of the 17th century. Among the outcomes were the annexation of Alsace by France, the annexation of Pomerania by Sweden and the legalization of Calvinism in Germany. (EUR115, $39.95)

The Gothic Enterprise, A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral

The Gothic Enterprise, A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral


by Robert A. Scott

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES

An enthusiast, Scott presents history, design, architecture and wonder of the medieval cathedral and the great Abbey churches. (EUR190, $21.95)

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)

Clementine in the Kitchen

Clementine in the Kitchen


by Samuel Chamberlain

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 268 PAGES

This sweet tale of a transplanted American family and their endearing French cook evokes the traditions, character and food of rural France in the years before WWII. Clementine eventually accompanies her new friends back to America, where, happily, she finds love. (FRN455, $16.00)

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)

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)

Suite Francaise

Suite Francaise


by Irene Nemirovsky

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 431 PAGES

Rediscovered after 60 years, Nemirovsky's two lustrous novellas capture the rhythms and peculiarities of daily life in German-occupied France with warmth and wit. (FRN642, $15.00)

Three Crimes

Three Crimes


by Georges Simenon

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 135 PAGES

Simenon mixes the story of murders committed by a pair of men, fellow editors from his youth, with long nights in this intense psychological thriller, published in French as Les trois crimes des mes amis. (FRN678, $15.95)

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)

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.