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Francophile Holiday Gift Guide: The Book Lover


at home with Rebecca Plotnick 

at home with Rebecca Plotnick 

My Aunt and I will regularly text back and forth, “What have you read lately?” She isn’t necessarily into Paris books like I am but it keeps me on my toes as I would never want to say I wasn’t reading something. From time to time we read the same book and compare notes. Here is what is on my list this year and a few books on my kindle for what I can’t wait to read over Christmas and into 2017. 

For a quick glance:

Favorite: The Paris Wife, Paris in Color, Paris My Sweet, Bright Lights Paris

What I am cooking with: My Paris Kitchen, The Paris Pastry Club, Bistro Cooking

Cooking Wish List: A Kitchen in France, Dorrie’s Cookies

On my Kindle: Bonjour Kale, The Knightengale 

Christmas Reading List: Je T’aime Me Neither, Je T’aime Maybe? 

Preorder this one for April: The New Paris 

One of my favorite books that I finally got a chance to read this year was The Paris Wife. If you haven’t read it I highly recommend it. It covers Hemmingway’s first wife and starts off in Chicago just a few blocks from where I currently and of course a lot of it takes place in Paris. 



the paris wife

My top 10 list: 

1. Bright Lights Paris – Shop, Dine, and Live Parisian Style. Angie Niles lives the Every Day Parisian life in Brooklyn. Her book a fabulous guide to living the Parisian life. Take notes as it’s seperated by neighborhood but you can find out where the St Germain girl shops, and what the Montmartre girl wears. All fabulous tips that can be applied to wherever you live. 


courtesy of angie niles 

courtesy of angie niles 

2. Bringing up BĆ©bĆ© – Now that I am an Auntie of two I purchased this and can’t wait to dig in over Christmas. 

3. Paris Pastry Club – As you know by now my sweet tooth is enormous! One of the things I miss most about Paris is the sweets. My Aunt gave me this book for my birthday and I have been baking up a storm ever since. The madeleines are to die for. 


rebecca plotnick madeleines

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4. Delicious Days in Paris


delicious days in paris

5. Bistro Cooking – My Aunt also introduced me to this book while I was in NYC earlier this year. We made the most amazing roast chicken and potatoes that I will share with you soon and the recipe for the potatoes was from this book. This is a great resource as it shares the history behind some of the Parisian dishes. A great read along with the recipes.

6. Cereal Guides Paris

7. Je T’Aime me Neither and Je T’Aime Maybe? By Lily Heise. She has written a few fabulous articles about Romantic spots in Paris. She just released her latest book so you have two great reads for the plane this holiday. Or even the beach if you are going somewhere warm.


8. Paris in Color – Nichole Robertson breaks down the city of Paris into colors in this beautiful book that will make even the grayest Winter days bright. She also produces the cutest tote bags which are perfect for your stack of books or Christmas presents you collect this year. I own this one and love it! 

9. Paris Cocktails – I just started playing around with cocktails this summer at a class and I can’t wait to dig in more with some of these. 

10. Paris My Sweet – I have mentioned this one before! Stay tuned for an exciting giveaway this Friday. 

11. Bonjour Kale – this is on my kindle waiting to read for Christmas when I am in Miami.

12. Bonus Preorder! The New Paris by Lindsey Trumata it comes out mid-April but available now on amazon for April delivery. I am super excited about this one! 

Since a lot of you have said that you haven’t started or finished your holiday shopping this should give you a jump start for all of the book lovers. You should find at least one or two books to put on your bookshelf and dive into over the Christmas holiday! Most have the amazon link included which should have the books arrive in time for the holidays with Amazon prime. Below are a few other ideas for the Paris Lover.

If there are any ones I am missing I would love to know to add to the list. 

*the amazon links included are affiliate links which put a little travel money in my pocket for my next trip to Paris.

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  1. I would like to add to your list a book entitled Paris Blue (2021) by Julie Scolnik. It is a lovely account of first love in Paris and hard to put down.

    • Yes, the Paris wife was so good! I hope you enjoy Bright Lights Paris. I am thinking of starting a Paris book club there are so many great options!