Bestsellers Around the World: France

 

Once upon a time I had an infrequent feature called Bestsellers Around the World where I would take a look at the bestsellers from a country and see what caught my interest, particularly when I compared it to Australian lists. These days it is even more infrequent as it is something that I save for Paris in July! So, here is this week's bestsellers in France, based on the list from Sens Critique for the week from July 6 to 12.

1 Le Diner (The Dinner Party): A Pick Your Poison Adventure by Freida McFadden

2 La Prof (The Professor) by Freida McFadden

3 Les heures fragiles (Fragile Hours) by Virginie Grimaldi

4 Tata by Valerie Perrin 

5 Un lieu a soi (A room of One's Own) by Virginia Woolf

6 Tout le monde aime Clara (Everyone Loves Clara) by David Foenkinos

7 Quelqu'un d'autre (Someone Else) by Guillaume Musso

8 L'intruse (The Intruder) by Frieda McFadden

9 D'autres printemps (Other Springs) by Virginie Grimaldi

10 A Retardement (Delayed ) by Franck Thilliez

Freida McFadden has really dominated the bestsellers lists over the last couple of years when I have done these posts. I was surprised to see that the number one was a short story though, and it is not one I remember hearing about but that maybe because I don't really read her genre. I did recently read one of her books and I liked it. Just not rushing out to read another one really.

I was surprised when Virginie Grimaldi wasn't on the list last year but she is back with two novels in the top ten this year! I read one of her books a couple of years ago and really liked it. I am tempted to read more, but there are none available in my library system (which isn't really that surprising) and some of her translated novels are more than $30 on Kindle which is too much! 

I own Tata and was hoping to get it read for Paris in July this year but I am rapidly running out of time. I did read Like Water for Flowers for last years Paris in July and really liked it. I think I now have three of her novels waiting for me!

I thought it was interesting to see Virginia Woolf on the list. Seeing it makes me wonder about what has bought it back into the spotlight in France

Franck Thilliez has appeared on a lot of the lists over the years. Delayed was on the list last year so this book has a lot of staying power!

Often when I look at the Australian list there is some crossover, even if it is for an author like Frieda McFadden, but there was none this year!

Previous French lists

2025

2024

2023

2022

2020

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Top Ten Tuesday/Paris in July: Bestsellers Around the World - France

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme Books I Wish Had More/Less [Insert Your Concept Here] In Them (for example: more/less romance, more/less world building, less info dumping, more/fewer pages, more character development, fewer characters, fewer descriptions, more suspense, etc.)

We are, however, getting to the tail end of Paris in July, a month long celebration of all things French. One of the posts that I try to do for every Paris in July is a look at what is currently on the bestsellers list in France. I call this feature Bestsellers Around the World. I roll it out infrequently, but I do like sharing it so here are the bestsellers for this week based on the bestseller list at Sens Critique! And my post for this week's Top Ten Tuesday.







The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart (La Sage Femme d'Autwitchz) - Interesting to see a WWII historical fiction novel at number one on the list.


A Beautiful Life by Virginie Grimaldi (Une Belle Vie) - I read and enjoyed a Virginie Grimaldi book last year and enjoyed it. I will be looking for this one when I can.


Angelique by Guillaume Musso (Angelique) - This is a crime novel, featuring a cop who has a heart attack and then meets a woman who needs help.


The Bartender at the Ritz by Philippe Colin (Le Barman du Ritz) - This is another WWII novel. It does sound interesting!


Seasons, Volume 4: A Summer to Find You Again by Morgane Moncomble (Un été pour te retrouver) - How gorgeous is this cover! This is an author who started out on Wattpad!






Women from the End of the World by Melissa Da Costa (Les femmes du bout du monde) - Melissa Da Costa regularly appears on this list, but I don't think that she has been translated into English yet.


The Bride Wore Yellow Boots by Katherine Pancol (La Mariée portait des bottes jaunes) - This is a family drama set in Bordeaux


The Rift by Franck Thilliez (La Faille) - This is another author who regularly appears on these lists


The Housekeeper by Frieda McFadden (La femme de Menage - It's interesting to see which books cross the language barriers.


Complete Tragedies by Aeschylus (Tragedies Complete) - This one felt a bit like a bit of a curveball! I wonder why it has hit the bestsellers now.


You can find other posts in this series of posts at this link - Bestsellers Around the World