The French Art of Living Well: Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World

This love letter to France and French people and culture is both a travelogue and a written documentary on French life, approached in much of the same way as a Rick Steves–led tour. Yandell (French Renaissance, language, and contemporary culture, Carleton Coll.) studied at the Sorbonne during her junior year of undergrad and later served as a lecturer in American literature at the Grandes Écoles, a Paris university. In this work, she relates anecdotes of her experiences there—her American faux pas included—as she falls in love with the country. This book guides readers through the history behind various aspects of the culture and mindset. She makes a strong case for how healthy and community-oriented it is in France, such as the practice of French intellectuals giving free lectures in public parks and the country’s relationship to literature and food. Readers get to experience what it’s like to live in France, and they will likely have takeaways of a few other authors and experiences to try next.