Tom usually makes these pages for the Book Club, but as he’s away, this is Ellie organising the books about France.
A Hundred Million Francs, by Paul Berna
Alice and Thomas and Jane, by Enid Bagnold
Anatole, by Eve Titus (also Anatole and the Cat, Anatole and the Robot, and others). This is my favourite.
Astérix, by René Goscinny, illustrated by Albert Uderzo
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. Points says this is the best of books, because it’s exciting, and tells us interesting things about the French Revolution, but it’s also the worst of books, because although there are two strong women in it, the one that we’re supposed to like best is very dull indeed.
Eloise in Paris, by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans (also Madeline’s Rescue, Madeline and the Bad Hat, Madeline and the Gypsies, Madeline in London, and others). Lopsy loves these books. She can recite most of them by heart. In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls, in two straight lines… And nobody knew so well how to frighten Miss Clavel, until the day she slipped, and fell.
The Blessing, by Nancy Mitford
The Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden. Didcot’s suggestion
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Teddy’s suggestion
The Red Balloon, by Albert Lamorisse. Gibbs’s recommendation
Gibbs and I have been to Paris to find all the Red Balloon locations.
The shop on the corner here is now a patisserie, and the patissier was very pleased when we showed him the picture of his shop in my copy of The Red Balloon. There’s also a film. You can see a bit of it here:
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. Quite swashbuckling.
Zazie in the Metro, by Raymond Queneau
