Rick Steves Home > 2008 Tours > Best of Paris in 7 Days

Best of Paris in 7 Days: Recommended Reading & Viewing

Paris is overwhelmingly rich in history, art and culture. Any preliminary reading, viewing or listening you can do will help you get the most from your trip. For more information on any of these books, visit your favorite bookstore or check out amazon.com; for video information, go to imdb.com. Rick Steves guidebooks are available at our office in Edmonds and also on our website's Travel Store.

Recommended Reading

Non-Fiction

• Culture Shock: France — Sally Taylor
• French or Foe?; Savoir-Flair! — Polly Platt
• The Course of French History — Pierre Goubert
• The Cambridge Illustrated History of France — Colin Jones
• A Moveable Feast — Ernest Hemingway
• I'll Always Have Paris — Art Buchwald
• Suite Francaise — Irene Nemirovsky
• Is Paris Burning? — Larry Collins
• Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light — Tyler Stovall
• Paris to the Moon — Adam Gopnik
• A Corner in the Marais — Alex Karmel
• The Piano Shop on the Left Bank — Thaddeus Carhart
• Almost French — Sarah Turnbull
• The Flaneur — Edmund White
• The Authentic Bistros of Paris — Francois Thomazeau
• Paris: The Collected Traveler — Barrie Kerper
• Paris Mapguide — Michael Middleditch

Fiction

• A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
• Les Misérables; The Hunchback of Notre Dame — Victor Hugo
• A Place in the World Called Paris — Steven Barclay
• City of Darkness, City of Light — Marge Piercy
• Inspector Maigret series — George Simenon
• Murder in Montparnasse — Howard Engel
• Murder in the Marais — Cara Black
• Sandman — J. Robert Janes
• Madeline series — Ludwig Bemelmans

General Europe

• Europe 101 — Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw. History and art overview for the traveler; humorous and easy to read.
• A Distant Mirror — Barbara Tuchman. A well-written history of French nobility during the Middle Ages.
• Innocents Abroad — Mark Twain. Humorous classic recounts an American group's 1867 "Grand Tour" through Europe and the Holy Land.
• Civilisation — Kenneth Clark. BBC-TV series and book that teaches European art and civilization like nothing else. BBC-TV series and book that teaches European art and civilization like nothing else.
• Connections — Burke. Fascinating book and TV series that links historical events and scientific discoveries across the centuries.

Rick Steves' Travel DVDs

For a fun, informative preview of your next tour destination, watch a DVD from our "Rick Steves' Europe" TV series! Our online Travel Store has 70 shows available on 12 DVDs (a generous five to eight shows per disc).

Films With a Parisian Accent

Children of Paradise (1946) • The Red Balloon (1956) • The 400 Blows (1959) • Jules and Jim (1962) • Charade (1963) • Blue/White/Red (1990s) • Ridicule (1996) • Ronin (1998) • Moulin Rouge! (2001) • Amélie (2001) • The Triplets of Belleville (2003) • The Phantom of the Opera (2004) • The Da Vinci Code (2006) • Marie Antoinette (2006)

Mood Music

Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Francis Cabrel, Paris Combo, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, French Kiss or Gigi soundtracks.