Fiction written in French

[MrBernardCheeseman]

I’ve been using Duolingo to improve my French for a year now and it doesn’t seem to be getting any harder. I want to read some fiction written in French which is either fairly steady away to follow or has a translation in the text. Does such a thing exist? Can anybody recommend something that isn’t a boring old text book, sil vous plait?

TIA

Another vote for Le Petit Nicolas, a bit like a French Just William.

The Pagnol books are also an easy read but he does use the past historic tense quite a lot, so bear that in mind.

Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse is a good one too, simple to read and not too long.
Personally I much prefer to read an original French author rather than a translation of a British or American book. That way you get more of an insight into French life as well.

I’m a big fan of Fred Vargas and Daniel Pennac. Both quite easy and funny too.

I would also recommended Le Petit Nicolas.
The WW2 book is 'un sac de billes' not 'boules'.

If you like old sci-fi, then Barjavel is not a difficult read.

La nuit des Temps and/or Un Grand Secret

There's an app called Libby which if you're a member of your local library you might be able to use to borrow books. You can filter by language, mine is showing 227 books in French.

This is such a good idea @MrBernardCheeseman. I've been on Duolingo as well and think I'd benefit from doing some reading in French.

As another one who has been trying to reinvigorate my rusty French, I would second the Amelie Nothomb recommendation. Also Annie Ernaux (who recently died) has a style that is 'deceptively' simple - i.e. the vocabulary and sentence structures are quite straightforward but the novels are incredibly subtle and interesting. I really enjoyed her La Place.

Another vote for Amélie Nothomb - I’ve only read one (Stupeur et Tremblements) but it was very readable and funny. Asterix is a good suggestion but the problem is that the English translations are so good that I’d rather read them than the original! Le Chapeau de Mitterand (someone else has already suggested it) was also good and not difficult.

I would also recommend Leila Slimani, and the graphic novel series Les Cahiers d’Esther by Riad Sattouf (told from the perspective of a 9-year-old up to when she is 17 (so far) and very realistic and funny, especially if you have kids around that age).

Annie Ernaux is old, but she's very much alive!

Google ‘parallel texts’ if you want a side by side translation. I think they must still exist.

A PP recommended Bonjour Tristesse, which is good (and short!) but Un Certain Sourire also by Sagan is great too

I would have a look at eg A level French syllabus books; I did Le Grand Meaulnes (Alain-Fournier) which I loved, and Camus’ La Peste which I hated - but the point is they were at a level which was readable! I also liked the short stories of Guy de Maupassant

I found a pile of French Mills and Boon style romances in a hotel bookshelf and these are great for reading - repetitive language, clear storylines, narrow vocab, nice and short. Plus you get to know all the French euphemisms for penis etc, which is useful general knowledge.

It's this- https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/joseph-joffo/un-sac-de-billes/9782253029496?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18082217234&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2qKmBhCfARIsAFy8buJFjCmaGIRAUmlPDRAGiHN4SfsUHzURN3QQL0l7_1NVXD8VcoDhcowaAveSEALw_wcB#GOR001209240

We read it for french A level. A pretty gripping book from what a recall! And fairly readable for that kind of level french

your french holidays are obviously a lot more exciting than mine!

(Also great user name, I love her books)

Annie Ernaux uses simple vocab.
Camus's L'Etranger is simple (in terms of language at least) too and probably available with the English on one side and the French on the other.

As a teenager, I used to read Barbara Cartland translations. They are very simple and the storylines so basic and repetitive that you can make an educated guess, if necessary.

I love Paris au Mois d’Août - takes me back to teenage summers. Also Zazie dans Le Métro.

I am reading (slowly) the latest Joel Dicker roman policier "L'Affaire Alaska Saunders" on my Kindle because it hasn't been published in English yet. The translation is good, but sometimes too colloquial for the dictionary function.

Ooh. I’ve just looked and these are available to download from the library.

Le Petit Nicolas is a sweet series of kids books about a naughty little boy. A bit like Just William.

I love Marc Levy who writes French language novels but very appealing/understandable to the British market. Lots of Uk settings, and very uk-repayable themes.

Or I’d suggest British/American novelists in translation - things like John Grisham etc.

Some of the French novels are harder to access because they’re very “culturally French” so themes etc which differ from uk novels making them harder to access as they aren’t predictable to a uk reader.

#relatable

Try Agatha Christie in French and get the English version to check. There's a lot of conversation, which I needed more than flowery language which I wouldn't use in daily life.
I have 'Bertram's Hotel' in both languages. Good luck.

eeek @cassandre of course you're right - I'm sorry! I remembered talking about Annie Ernaux to friends a few months ago and I thought it was because she died, but actually it was because she won the Nobel Prize!

je suis navrée Mme Ernaux!

Another for Le Petit Nicholas. Read them as a child, re-read as an adult. There's a whole other level reading them as an adult. He's very funny and well observed.

I second the idea of the dual language books - I have a version of A Christmas Carol like it. Here are some short stories on Amazon:

French Stories: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language French) amzn.eu/d/h4i5sat

Also try subscription to LingQ - it has much more challenging material than DuoLingo and will will help bridge the gap between learning a language and real life. Good luck!