Contemporary French literature - English language versions

[DaddyJ]

My French is pretty merde but I do enjoy English translations
of outstanding French authors.

Most recently, Monsier Houellebecq.

Alexandre Jardin has been recommended to me - any good?

Any other books/authors (last few years) that I MUST read?

suite francaise and fire in the blood by irene nemirovsky.

Just read up on her and am intrigued!
Merci!!

definitely suite francaise. will also try the other one!

other one very good if short.

Irene Nemirovsky's books have been rediscovered and since Suite Francaise her translator (Sandie Smith) has produced English translations of several earlier books by IN.

Are there any good books (non-fiction, too)
that deal with France's immigrant community / yoof culture?

Ah oui, I love the movies, too!

Thanks very much for the suggestions,
I have just ordered Suite Francaise.
Marvellous!

Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones is out this year (won the Prix Goncourt) but it sounds like pretty strong stuff judging from the reviews....

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, who won the Nobel last year, has just had a lot of his stuff reissued by Penguin and Vintage.

BookTrust have a website for translated foreign fiction:
www.translatedfiction.org.uk/Home

and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist was announced very recently also:
www.translatedfiction.org.uk/show/feature/Home/Translation-2009-IFFP-longlist

I couldn't get on with Suite Francaise myself, but know that popular opinion is agin me on this one.

Daniel Pennac is good- v funny

That's more than I bargained for - thank you

I'd get into Zola.
Fantastic, fantastic stuff.
My passion for him stayed with me loooong after i finished my degree.

Not contemporary obv but stories and themes are timeless.

Wikipedia says he was a passionate man, this Zola chap, and not afraid to have a go

• difficult to fathom why he appeals to you, moondog

I suppose what I am after is literature that will allow me to enjoy small talk with Parisians
as I might have to visit for business soon.

Does anyone know any English-speaking blogs of expats in France?

DaddyJ, not a blog but a great book: Paris to the Moon by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik. Fantastic observations of the city's culture and the way that expats behave in it. It won't give you small talk but it's a lovely window on the culture.

Isn't La Petite Anglaise an expat in Paris? Never read it myself but I can remember the name from a column on 'notorious' blogs (think she got sacked for it or something).

Floss, how odd, I hated that book.

Well, publishing would be a pretty boring industry if everyone liked the same stuff Guess we'd better be careful not to share recommendations then!!

Le Divorce and Le Mariage by Diane Johnson are quite fun, and MILES better than Petite Anglaise. Sarah Turnbull's A New Life in Paris is supposed to be quite good but I haven't read it.

A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clark is very funny in parts, but it won't endear you to the locals

Agree Daniel Pennac is good. And Suite Francaise is brilliant.

For immigrant/yoof culture try Faiza Guene and Chahdortt Djavann (not sure if latter is translated into English however).

Other favourites of mine include Romain Gary, Joseph Kessel, Patrick Modiano.

Oh and Fred Vargas writes great detective novels. "Ni Feu Ni Lieu" is my favourite, and set in Paris, but I don't know how good the translation is ("Have Mercy on Us All")

Ooh yes, had forgoten Fred Vargas- she is great!
Try the Three Evangelists, and Seeking Whom he may Devour. The translation is noticeable, but if you know french, you can just hear it in your head IYSWIM. Great stories though.

If you like crime theres also Jean-Christophe Grangé- wrote rivieres pourpre which was filmed with Jean Reno, by Matthieu Kassovitz

suite francaise has just arrived..will report back soon -
and thank you again for the many recommendations!!