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Hi there,

My name is Rene, 33 years old of age. I was born in Asia but raised in Boston (USA). I’ve always considered myself a citizen of the world. It’s been quite a good deal of years since I’ve been dedicating my leisure time to learning French and I’ve been a regular visitor to the French Tutorial. And damn, I know the efforts and will required to keep on trying. As such, and this is the reason for sending you this email, I want to let you know about a very good book I recently discovered to improve my French. There is no secret to learn French, but there are some unique resources you don’t want to miss. The book is a French novel entitled ‘Comme les deux doigts’, by author Cedric Simard.

I’m a heavy reader, always in search of new, cool books to read. My tastes are eclectic, ranging from French literature classics such as Balzac or Victor Hugo to more modern thrillers or science fiction novels. But to be honest, I’ve always find it hard to find what I would call ‘my French bible’. What I mean by this is a book that I could keep for years, if not for a lifetime, while always learning something cool and new about the French language each time I open it at a random page. And this is exactly what ‘Comme les deux doigts’ has been for me since I started reading it. Actually I always read it twice, and since then, it stands on my night table when not in my suitcase.

So why this book?

1. First, the story is very modern. In terms of language learning, it means fresh vocabulary and idiomatic expressions as they are used in real life by real, native French speakers – as opposed to the rusty-dusty ones you can find in standard vocabulary lists, most of them being only good enough to make you look like a Martian when using them. The story takes place in Paris around 2003, and it deals with the life of a 30 year-old French man – Nicolas Gamution – who tries to recover from a sentimental breakup. His long-time girlfriend leaves him a farewell letter for St Valentine’s Day. From them, the book will basically be split in two big phases. The first phase will take you to the life of a wrecked man struggling to save his love story, while the second one will resemble a firework in terms of plot surprises and dating adventures. I am trying here not to spoil your possible reading by writing too much about the plot, but it takes on such speed in the end that you feel like watching Prison Break TV series.
2. Another interesting feature is the number of well-rounded characters and the strong, respective identities they display. It will enable you to experience the French language from different perspectives and ways of speaking. Actually, the book truly mixes elaborated, academic structures of the French language (time to refresh your conjugation here) with some unique ‘street French’ and slang you may have a hard time to find documented somewhere else. Let me give you two examples. One of the book character is ‘une fille des cités’ (basically an underprivileged girl from a poor area) who can only express herself through an SMS-based language. Another one is a man whose way of speaking will teach you all the ‘gros mots’ (rude words) you will ever need – trust me on that one!
3. Another reason that makes this book stand as the perfect helper for the French language learner is certainly the number of miscellaneous topics it addresses. To name a few, you will read and learn about the thematic domains and lexical fields of love and sentiments, suicide, Parisian architecture (ah, that beautiful St Eustache church of Paris!), food and cooking (ordering a traditional ‘Flammeukuche’ at a French restaurant), dating, the Internet, homosexuality, martial arts (krav maga, ju jitsu and others), erotic wrestling, human bodies, sexual behaviours, sensual talks, the Japanese culture (I did not what a fusuma what before), tattoos, zen philosophy, advertising, corporate lifestyle (useful for expats living in France), home lifestyle…
4. From a cultural standpoint, the book reveals interesting views on the life of today’s French people – both in the office and in the private lives – and on sometime hard-to-reach social groups.

At last, the book is entertaining and will boost your French even at a subconscious, transparent level. This may be the key reason why you may want to read it. It book is published by ‘Publibook editions’ and can be ordered here. They provide worldwide delivery.

Rene