Tuesday 5 April 2016

The City of Literature: 40 Books Set in Paris

Hemingway wrote, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
It's a book lover's dream to wander the very streets that inspired Marcel ProustÉmile ZolaSamuel Beckett,Albert CamusSartreSimone de Beauvoir and so many others. You might step into the Salon at 27 rue de Fleurus where Gertrude Stein mentored Ernest Hemingway, or have a drink at the café littéraires Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, the long-ago haunts of James JoyceF. Scott FitzgeraldEzra Pound and their fellow The Lost Generation writers.
The love affair between Paris and writers has been a long and passionate one, whether authors are writing from Paris or about it. For centuries, the city has been host to an array of love stories, murder mysteries and dramas, from timeless tales like Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame to ground-breaking modern literature like Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer.
The astounding effect of Paris on writers is demonstrated in the countless memoirs they have penned about their days, years and lives spent in the city. The effect is so strong it's even inspired chefs and bakers to put down their whisks and pick up their pens, giving food memoirs a genre all of their own.
What is it about Paris that's so attractive to the creatively-inclined? Perhaps the city's own history is the most interesting story of them all. Take a literary tour with our selection of novels set in Paris, memoirs about life in Paris and Paris history books.

Novels Set in Paris

The Nightingale by Kristin HannahThe Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
   
Paris Was the Place by Susan ConleyParis Was the Place
Susan Conley
 
Hunting and Gathering by Anna GavaldaHunting and Gathering
Anna Gavalda
 
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de RosnaySarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
   
Giovanni's Room by James BaldwinGiovanni's Room
James Baldwin
 
The Razor's Edge by W Somerset MaughamThe Razor's Edge
W Somerset Maugham
 
Leon and Louise by Alex CapusLeon and Louise
Alex Capus
 
Cheri by ColetteCheri
Colette
 
The Ambassadors by Henry JamesThe Ambassadors
Henry James
 
The Paris Architect by Charles BelfoureThe Paris Architect
Charles Belfoure
 
Tropic of Cancer by Henry MillerTropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
 
The Paris Wife by Paula McLainThe Paris Wife
Paula McLain
 
Paris by Edward RutherfurdParis
Edward Rutherfurd
 
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest HemingwayThe Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway

Memoirs About Life in Paris

     
That Summer in Paris by Morley CallaghanThat Summer in Paris
Morley Callaghan
Paris to the Moon by Adam GopnikParis to the Moon
Adam Gopnik
 
The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de WaalThe Hare With Amber Eyes
Edmund de Waal
     
Paris, France by Gertrude SteinParis, France
Gertrude Stein
 
My Life in France by Julia ChildMy Life in France
Julia Child
 
A Moveable Feast by Ernest HemingwayA Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway

Paris History Books

       
Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair HorneSeven Ages of Paris
Alistair Horne
 

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