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

• DESTINATIONS
  • Polar Regions
  • North America
  • Middle America
  • South America
  • Northern Europe
  • Southern Europe
  • Mediterranean
  • Middle East
  • Africa
  • Central & East Asia
  • South Asia
  • Southeast Asia
  • Australia & The Pacific
• FAVORITES

France

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

• E-MAIL
• PRINT

Kids

Books for

Item EXFRN199. Buy these 5 items as a set for $86 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG

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

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)

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)

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

by Michelin

• MAP

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

 

Also Recommended

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)

Lonely Planet France

by Steve Fallon

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• PAPER
• 1012 PAGES

What have they been waiting for! The first two Lonely Planet all-color country guides are head-and-shoulders above their forebears: not just brighter but easier to use with real maps, crisp red icons for sections on sleeping, eating, shopping and activities, and well-deployed color throughout; proper and place names, for example, stand out from the text in teal. Naturally, they feature the usual Lonely Planet trademark attention to detail. With a bonus pullout map of Paris. (FRN235, $26.99)

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

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)

Rough Guide France

by Rough Guide

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2009
• PAPER
• 1268 PAGES

A comprehensive guide to France, covering history, art, music and culture in detail. With a region-by-region overview of attractions and practical travel information. (FRN183, $24.99)

Long Ago in France, The Years in Dijon

by M.F.K. Fisher

• FOOD
• 1992
• PAPER
• 159 PAGES

A memoir of Fisher's years in France in the late '20s and early '30s, a time of exuberant discoveries of the glories of French food and French culture. (FRN21, $13.95)

The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

by Adam Gopnik

• FOOD
• 2011
• HARD COVER
• 288 PAGES

Gopnik (Paris to the Moon) opens this witty cultural history of food in 18th-century France, birthplace of modern taste and of the restaurant, tracing our current preoccupation with gastronomy with humor and learning. (FRN968, $26.95)

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)

Paris, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down

by Rosecrans Baldwin

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2012
• HARD COVER
• 286 PAGES
• COMING IN APRIL

A take on living in Paris by a young American novelist. (FRA01, $26.00)

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong

by Jean-Benoit Nadeau | Julie Barlow

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2003
• PAPER
• 351 PAGES

This lively, astute examination by two Canadian journalists tackles the contradictions and complexities of the French character, paying particular attention to the question of why the French resist globalization. (FRN755, $16.95)

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 Book of Absinthe, A Cultural History

by Phil Baker

• HISTORY
• 2003
• PAPER
• 304 PAGES

An entertaining cultural history of "The Green Fairy," from the drink's origins as an herbal tonic through its intoxicating heyday in European cities of the late 19th century. (FRN962, $14.00)

The Discovery of France

by Graham Robb

• HISTORY
• 2008
• PAPER
• 480 PAGES

Graham Robb marvelously illuminates the rural byways, regional eccentricities and making of modern France in this engaging portrait of place. (FRN770, $17.95)

The Impressionists at Home

by Pamela Todd

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2005
• HARD COVER

An illustrated, authoritative social history of the French impressionists and their homes. With biographies, 175 photographs and information on homes and gardens open to the public. (FRN600, $35.00)

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 Year in Provence

by Peter Mayle

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 1991
• PAPER
• 207 PAGES

The original best-selling tale of settling down in Provence, told with warmth and a great deal of humor. It offers a wonderful inside look at the charms and quirks of the people and the countryside in the south of France. (FRN19, $14.95)

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)

French Revolutions, Cycling the Tour De France

by Tim Moore

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2003
• PAPER
• 277 PAGES

British humorist, travel writer -- and woefully inexperienced cyclist -- Moore attempts to tackle the Tour de France, all 2,256 miles of it, in this hilarious, irreverent travelogue. (FRN387, $15.99)

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

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)

Two Towns in Provence

by M. F. K. Fisher

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 1983
• PAPER
• 208 PAGES
• FAVORITE

Celebrated food writer M.F.K. Fisher contrasts village life in Aix-en-Provence with bustling Marseilles, evoking both with anecdote and loving description. (FRN27, $16.95)

A Moveable Feast

by Ernest Hemingway

• LITERATURE
• 2010
• PAPER
• 240 PAGES

This restored edition of Hemingway's exuberant, irreverent portrait of life in Paris after World War I, edited by his grandson Sean, puts the 19 chapters originally selected by Hemingway in the order he presented. (FRN916, $15.00)

Flaubert's Parrot

by Julian Barnes

• LITERATURE
• 1990
• PAPER

Amateur Flaubert scholar Charles Braithwaite obsses on life, art, the difficulty of knowing another person and, of course, Flaubert. (FRN990, $15.00)

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

• JOIN OUR PARTNERS
• Why us?
• Travel with Longitude
• Make a Reading Guide

• ABOUT US
• The People
• The Business

• SMALL PRINT
• Customer Service
• Ordering
• Shipping
• Visiting

• CONNECT
• E-mail News
• Get a Catalog
• Longitude Blog
• Contact Us