books written in French

[Veva]

Hi,
I am planning to take up some books written in French and because my knowledge of this language is on level intermediate or upper-intermediate, I really can't start with those difficult classics.
Could somebody recommend me something less difficult, it shouldn't be written in passe simple, because that is just too much... ? Any suggestions? ;) thanx

[kiki1982]

Take a look at JBI's thread about French books. A lot of suggestions there...

Not all French classics are that difficult.

[loe]

"Le petit prince" isn't very difficult to read and understand.

Best regards

[Whifflingpin]

What sort of stuff do you like to read, regardless of the language?
It may be better to read something hard but interesting, rather than something easier but not of interest to you.

[libernaut]

Jean Paul Sartre- Nausea, and the plays
Albert Camus - The Fall and The Stranger

oh how great they are in english can only imagine how nice it will be for you to read in the origiinalfrench

[Pecksie]

Well... you'd be surprised at how easy and eminently readable Molière is. Try him!

[EPluribusUnus]

I recommend Lettres de Mon Moulin by Alphonse Daudet.

If you're up to reading Sartre and Camus, then I also recommend Les Misérables, a much read, loved classic. :)

[kiki1982]

Les Misérables is very difficult when it comes to vocabulary and sentence construction... I had done Dumas before, and Hugo was a huge step up.

I think it is Sartre that some French-speaking people even find too hard. I can't remember, maybe it was Camus. One of the two.

Les Misérables is not a good starter, nor is Le Notre-Dame de Paris. My father tried it and had to take a tranlation for the description of Paris in the beginning... And he had had an extensive education in French as people in Belgium do.

Passé Simple, by the way, is not that bad. You have to get used to the feeling of it being 'past' like the Imparfait.

Anyway: Tintin and Astérix are originally French, so you could start with that if you lack courage. Astérix is easier than Tintin I find, because Hergé uses longer sentences and the subject is mostly politically motivated (which you do not have in the Romans-ridden countryside in Bretagne).

Modern things are good to start with too, because they usemodern French. Amélie Nothomb seems to be extremely popular. I can't really comment because I haven't read her yet, but her books are short.