French Literature Final Boss
=== Stable! ===
Based on my original post on having quests for French Literature, I made starter packs (check my profile 👀) but I'm thinking we just need a big dump! Thanks to everyone participating!
This list covers books across time by French authors (as in people that have the nationality no matter their origins) and can hopefully incentivize crossovers with the Francophonie mon amour list!
Check comments to see how I diversified the list!
created by aoitsuki
last updated October, 2026
Comments
While curating this list, here is what I consider:
- Each book must be available in English and have a 1:1 correspondence to the original piece (no compilation editions) -- Current exceptions: My father's glory and My mother's castle by Marcel Pagnol, open to suggestions to fix it!
- A defined time period, here very broad as it's from the 12th to 21rst centuries, including well known contemporary pieces
- Authors of French Nationality only (see Francophone mon amour otherwise!) and for now max 2 pieces per author to allow as much diversity as possible, but open to discussion!
- Diversity in the list as in time period, author gender, type of piece (play, novel, poem, essay,...) and theme (feminism, colonialism, queer, ... But also romances, thrillers, scifi and so on for more recent pieces)
- Level of general interest, so for prolific authors I prioritized books that were already in another quest and/or had a lot of readers
- I also try to follow a no kids books policy, otherwise it would never stop, but I did make exceptions because of their popularity so I don't know 🤔 -- Current exceptions: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry because it's literally the most popular one and could be an easy entry point for international peeps // Marcel Pagnol books because there are not technically, they are just read at an early age?
Please let me know if you think a book doesn't comply, if you want to discuss those rules, or if you have suggestions to fill in the last spots!
I just want to say that I love this list so much 🤩🤩🤩
Especially that you included works that are overlooked a lot in the English speaking world, like Marie de France, Olympe de Gouges and Charles Perrot!
Also absolutely hilarious to have Lobster on here 😂😂 🫡
aoitsukiOP
Thank you, I'm so glad you do 🥹 🥰🥹
Trying to get a bit of everything for everyone, we're also a lot of native speakers here, I hope it can help everyone discover something new!!
Hahaha I feel like it was a given after the Lobster cult incident, the goal is also to make the quest rewarding for the adventurous 🤣 And make it special to PB!
aoitsukiOP
Time has come guys... I have shamelessly nominated my own list for the community quests 🫣😶🌫️
Actually stressing like crazy 😣
If it makes it into the voting spreadsheet I will be voting for this list! I've got quite a few on my TBR + some already finished in here 😄
aoitsukiOP
Crossing the fingers, hopefully it fits the guidelines! If it were a quest, would you already get a badge? 👀
If I were more confident that I'd fully finished either of Jules Verne's novels in this list when I was younger then I would get an insta bronze badge! As it is though I think a reread of both is in order 😅
yeeeahhhh
i hope this wins! i've never bothered to vote for a list before, but i definitely will vote for yours if it makes it into the running. bonne chance!
aoitsukiOP
Han thank you, that means a lot that this list interests you enough to act 🫶
I’ll try to remember to vote for it if it’s in the next list !!
aoitsukiOP
It is so sending you a little reminder! (And to myself too, I still need to pick my 3rd choiiiice 😵💫 It's so hard, there are so many good lists and things to consider!)
Happy to say that I already voted a few days ago and I won’t say too much but your list was first on my votes 🤭, hoping that it works !!! Also yes there are many lists that are really good ! I had a hard time choosing which one to vote for
Pas une grande lectrice de littérature française (oups 🤭) mais tu as bien sûr mon vote ! 🤝
I feel duty-bound to support this as a former French lit student and as a French to English translator 🫡
aoitsukiOP
Haha thank you 🙂↕️ So many cool lists to choose from, this will probably not be top 3 but we had to try! I didn't realize you were also a translator, that's so cool! Do you do literature or business translations?!
Yes indeed!! Also Spanish and German, but French is the language of my heart 🩷🩷
I mostly do business, but I’m currently also working on a self published YA high fantasy series 🤭 my dream would be to do all literary translation!!
aoitsukiOP
3 languages to translate from, that's amazing!! 🤩 I was myself a business translator from English and Spanish to French before I bifurcated (and although I'm not fully against IA, seeing how AI is running the industry is making me sad, wondering how you feel about it over in the US if you ever want to chat longer...) You are also writing?!?! So so so coooool, I'm so curious!!! I really hope your dreams can come to fruition 🤞 Should we maybe exchange Discord or is it too forward?
Haha sorry, I meant I’m translating a series FR > EN ! Also I had no idea you were also a translator, how exciting!!
Yeah, I also have a lot of concerns about AI in the industry. It seems like all the new client and job offers I get recently are AI based - either to train AI or editing AI translated documents. But my established clients don’t or can’t really use it: every year I do a lot of end-of-year and mid-year financial reports for major French companies that have big confidentiality concerns, so they don’t use it, and most of my other work is medical, which also can’t use AI due to confidentiality issues.
I don’t use Discord a lot 🙈 but yes I’d love to chat more about it! What’s your discord?
aoitsukiOP
Oh my bad, I thought you might be writing since it can be common in our field to do so but translating it is also very cool! Here the business and Literature translation industries are very separated and it's kinda hard to get into the Literature side so I'm very impressed!
Very interesting to learn that some fields with governance/confidentiallty issues are still preserved for now, I haven't had that retex yet but it absolutely makes sense
I'm suggesting Discord as it feels the easiest way to share a way to connect privately here without leaking more personal info but I'm not a big user myself so if you have another suggestion feel free! (We can also pivot from Discord quickly if you'd like) My discord: @aoitsukipb (I actually made an easy handle to share here for that)
aoitsukiOP
3 languages to translate from, that's amazing!! 🤩 I was myself a business translator from English and Spanish to French before I bifurcated (and although I'm not fully against IA, seeing how AI is running the industry is making me sad, wondering how you feel about it over in the US if you ever want to chat longer...) You are also writing?!?! So so so coooool, I'm so curious!!! I really hope your dreams can come to fruition 🤞
Shamelessly piggy backing this convo to say I'd love to read you series whenever it's out don't hesitate to holla at me, and by that I mean please I beg holla at me when it's out 🙏🙏
Ahaha it’s already available in French! I’m just doing the English translation. I actually cannot give out the name publicly at this point, since when it comes out my real name will be attached as translator. If you have a Discord I can share it with you there!
Yes totally fair, let's do it on discord
Yassss french quest for the wiiiiin 🤞
aoitsukiOP
I wish! Voting is closed now though and with 115 options, competition is fierce, not sure a literary quest will be voted, or more probably a weird girl lit one, we will see 🤷♀️ I had to try though! Have you voted?
Who knows, maybe some people have been feeling their french fantasy lately 🤷♀️ I'm mostly afraid that since there were two french lists nominated, the votes might have been split between them. I did vote, because how can I not in these troubled times 😭🤣
aoitsukiOP
Yeah I saw 😣 The other one was a side quest though so maybe it impacted the votes... It's not the only topic with several lists though, many around the indigenous topics too, I'm so curious to see the results!!
I’m sure this is on your radar, but I feel like À la recherche du temps perdu must be on a final boss list 😂
It's on the first opus I think 👀
aoitsukiOP
Yes! Filling it up as I go, I've been curating a private shelf thanks to all of you guys suggestions but there is no easy way to dumb my shelf in the list 🥺
Might I suggest for any of your French literature lists The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo and also The Nun by Denis Diderot 😌 I admire your evident passion for French lit!!
Thank you for your suggestions! The nun is a great idea, I added it :) For the Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, for now I'm trying to limit it to 2 books per author to leave some room for others, but it's definitely in the backlog if we still have some room left at the end :)
Good job for your list ! Must have take you some time to do it so congrats. When I finish my TBR list I will come here look for new book to read. 😄
(Some parts of this list makes me feel like I'm back to school 😂)
aoitsukiOP
Hahaha thank you! Fortunately many people have contributed so we had a lot of material, but it did take time to select and hopefully get a good balance, not just have the same few dudes we think of when we think of Classic French Literature!
Yeah the initial focus was French Classics like we have British & Irish Classics or and American Classics quests so I definitely drew from my school days 😁 Not sure what is currently studied by high schoolers so if we are from the same generation it might speak to you a bit more lol There are also a few contemporary pieces to display the diversity of French Lit but not as many have been translated to English so it was harder to select 😥
I hope it's not too scholarly and boring though! The goal is for the list to be rewarding if you've already read some but also make you discover new stuff!
Maybe he is not that know but I feel like a David Foenkinos book could fit in there. I know that some high school teachers can recommend him for contemporary(hope I am using it right) books and he is kind of popular within some French book circles. I feel like Charlotte or La délicatesse could have a place here. Anyway you did such a great work with that list and I hope it can one day become a quest because there are really some good or recognised authors in here with a lot of variety in the chosen books !
aoitsukiOP
Thank you for your suggestion! Could have definitely been added, unfortunately it seems that none of his books have been translated to English 🥺 please correct me if I'm wrong though! I have the same issue with several contemporary authors (great use by the way 👌), for example Maxime Chattam doesn't seem to be translated, and Damasio's first translated work is only to be released later this year (so I was able to add it)! I'll keep an eye out just in case though!
Thank you so much 🙏 Trying hard to make it as interesting as possible for everyone with all of your help! Thanks again for giving some input!
this list covers such a big swath of French lit (always happy to see Sand get her flowers) - plus seeing francophonie as its own list to help highlight a greater picture of French lit!
surprised not to see any Jean Cocteau (unless I missed him somewhere)
aoitsukiOP
I'm glad you like it!! Good question 🤔 In my imagination, he is more of a movie director than an author, but he seems to have also written a lot of poetry. However, I couldn't find any that was translated into English, did you have something in particular in mind?
The Holy Terrors / Les Enfants terribles is a novel I read in undergrad!
It has some quirks (in a Flowers in the Attic way, though its similarities to it begin and end with the siblings being so isolated that they get warped), but it’s also Cocteau so it was bound to have quirks. It’s fairly influential though, including adaptations in opera, a film (a collab between Cocteau and another director) and a ballet.
aoitsukiOP
I see! The name felt familiar but I wasn't sure if it was his most influential written work as he described himself as a "poet", so thank you so much for your help! I mostly associate him with the movie scene of the 20th century (especially Beauty and the Beast which we studied in class at some point) so it's very interesting to see him being recognized for his books abroad, assuming you are not from France though? Unsure as you seem to be interested and knowledgeable on the topic!!
In any case, I added it!
I’m Canadian! It was introduced to us very much in the “this is a famous director, one of his movies is based on this novel and you’ll get to watch the movie in tandem with it for analyzing adaptations” way so the legacy of Cocteau as director was still bigger than his writing lol
Ça c'est bon! I’m excited to read some French lit! ⚜️🇫🇷🥖
aoitsukiOP
Allez 😏 There is a little bit of everything including contemporary lit (published after 2000), let me know if you need some pointers 😉
Merci, chérie ❤️ I’d love recommendations on nonfiction French history! I’m currently in a deep dive on the royal family in the 14th century with particular interest in King John II. Also the antipopes, especially the last antipope, Felix V (aka Amadeus VII, Duke of Savoy). Kinda niche but do any books come to mind?
aoitsukiOP
Hum for non-fiction books you might want to ask @StJust for more recs! I think they studied French History more deeply, they made a list for non-fic on the French Revolution for ex I can look it up a bit otherwise, do you read in French?
If you are open to fiction books, have you read The Accursed Kings series? It's a French series translated into English really based on historical facts from Philip IV the Fair to John II actually! I think it also inspired J. R.R. Martins for the Games of Thrones series (although his series is way more fantasy of course, The Accursed Kings is purely historical fiction)
© 2025 Pagebound