Welcome!

Enrich Your Travels with Longitude

We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.

SIGN UP FOR

Longitude News

Get our monthly e-mail update

GET A

Catalog

In the Kitchen

Gran Cocina Latina, The Food of Latin America

Maricel E. Presilla

SEE ALL >

Antarctica

Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Alfred Lansing

SEE ALL >

Our Favorites

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

SEE ALL >

Tuscany

Every Day in Tuscany, Seasons of an Italian Life

Frances Mayes

SEE ALL >

Paris & the Loire Valley

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

  • E-MAIL
  • PRINT

Kids

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 EXFRN457. Buy these 4 items as a set for $62 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG
Eyewitness Guide Loire Valley

Eyewitness Guide Loire Valley

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 264 PAGES

Visually rich, comprehensive, and practical, this guidebook is an excellent introduction to the history, culture and attractions of the Loire Valley. Highly recommended. (FRN43, $25.00)

Fodor's Paris' 25 Best

Fodor's Paris' 25 Best

by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 176 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, $12.99)

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)

Loire Valley Map 517

Loire Valley Map 517

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • MAP

A map of the Loire region of France in the series published by Michelin series, at a scale of 1:200,000. (FRN302, $11.95)

 
Paris Map

Paris Map


by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A sturdy laminated map of the city center at a scale of 1:12,000 and all of Paris at a scale of 1:15,000. (FRN400, $8.95)

Eyewitness Guide Paris

Eyewitness Guide Paris


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES
  • CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
    • >

Gorgeous, well illustrated and filled with maps, this compact book provides an excellent overview of the French capital, its history, traditions and sights. (FRN02, $25.00)

Lonely Planet French Phrasebook

Lonely Planet French Phrasebook


by Marie-Helene Girard | Anny Monet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

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, the book 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)

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong


by Jean-Benoit Nadeau | Julie Barlow

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 351 PAGES

Two Canadian journalists tackle the contradictions and complexities of the French character, paying particular attention to the question of why the French resist globalization. (FRN755, $18.99)

Speak the Culture France

Speak the Culture France


by Andrew Whittaker

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 295 PAGES

This helpful guide with a sense of humor provides an overview of historic and contemporary French culture, including literature, performing arts, fashion, communications and, of course, food. (FRN885, $24.95)

The Most Beautiful Villages of the Loire

The Most Beautiful Villages of the Loire


by James Bentley | Hugh Palmer

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2001
  • HARD COVER
  • 208 PAGES

An illustrated portrait of the region, its landscape, architecture, and people, featuring 275 color photographs and accompanying lively essays by Francophile James Bentley. (FRN483, $40.00)

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)

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. Lynch brings the domains and appellations of French wine to full-blown life, and his portraits of the grand personalities who make the wine are priceless. (FRN72, $19.00)

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc


by Mary Gordon

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

In elegant, insightful prose, novelist Gordon meditates on the courageous and complex young girl and the iconic status she has acquired. (FRN753, $15.00)

Paris to the Moon

Paris to the Moon


by Adam Gopnik

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 338 PAGES

Gopnik writes with candor and humor about Paris and Parisian ways in these charming reflections on adapting to life in glorious exile. (FRN208, $16.00)

Paris to the Past, Traveling Through French History by Train

Paris to the Past, Traveling Through French History by Train


by Ina Caro

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

The infectiously enthusiastic Ina Caro charts 25 day trips from Paris in this marvelously conceived history and guide. From the splendor of Chartres, wonders of Sainte-Chapelle and elegant Place de la Concorde, Caro enchants. (FRN953, $17.95)

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)

Murder in the Marais

Murder in the Marais


by Cara Black

  • MYSTERY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 360 PAGES

Literate and thrilling, with a strong sense of the geography and flavor of Paris, the first in a series of mysteries starring Aimee Ledoc shows off the French-American detective's wit and wile. The series continues with Murder in Belleville (FRN562), Murder in the Sentier (FRN563) and many more. (FRN561, $14.00)

Birds of Europe

Birds of Europe


by Lars Svensson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Featuring 3,500 glorious paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom, the second revised edition of this exquisite guide has been brought up to date with revised text and maps. (FG47, $29.95)

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.