# Suggest an intermediate-level book in French for me to read.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 13, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345 "2006-02-13T22:06:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345/1 "2006-02-13T22:06:13Z")

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I’ve decided that a good way to maintain my ability in French would be to read something in it. Unfortunately, I have no idea what I could read. Could someone suggest a fairly easy-to-read novel or play that wouldn’t strain my ability too much?

For what it’s worth, I did fairly well (A- or so) in my first year university French after taking it throughout high school, so I’m not incompetent. I’m just not fluent.

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**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345/2 "2006-02-13T22:48:31Z")

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A little additional info: I can read [this](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie_de_l%27%C3%A9volution) with a decent measure of understanding. I miss a few words now and again, and once or twice I think I hit some grammar that I didn’t recognise, but overall, that’s about where my reading skill level sits.

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**Author:** ![Cockatiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cockatiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cockatiel)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345/3 "2006-02-14T02:03:26Z")

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If you can find it in French, Camus’s _L’Etranger_ (_The Stranger_) is actually a pretty easy read. I read it this year and apart from a couple of vocab/grammer things, I didn’t have much trouble.

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**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345/4 "2006-02-14T02:08:34Z")

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How about French newspapers? Also, for pronunciation and listening comprehension, I listen to [RFI](http://www.rfi.fr/) on the web.

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**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-an-intermediate-level-book-in-french-for-me-to-read/344345/5 "2006-02-14T03:28:34Z")

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Le Petit Prince - Antoine de St Expuery. Some see it as a children’s book, but I enjoy it as much as an adult as when I first read it. Just a great story, really.