I’m trying to find a book that I can buddy read with my wife. She’s a native French speaker who’s fluent in English, but since it’s not her first language, she isn’t as used to reading in English.
I’ve been looking for something we can both enjoy, ideally a book that doesn’t have overly complicated scenery or world-building. I think her main struggle would be trying to comprehend/visualize complex sentences, rather than finding the definition of a word.
One of the books she read recently and found to be a quick, easy read was The Housemaid, so that might be a good point of reference.
In terms of genres, she's not super into sci-fi, non-fiction, or horror. thrillers, fiction, maybe light fantasy, YA, stuff like that.
Some of the ones I'm considering that I haven't read:
- City of Thieves by David Benioff
- Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (it's fantasy but heard it's an easy read?)
- Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
by marbles12
4 Comments
An easy buddy read would be the short play, [Cake for the Queen](https://www.youthplays.com/play/cake-for-the-queen-by-robin-blasberg-513). You can split up the cast list and then each read the dialogue for your selected characters.
I know I have seen a copy of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais that has both English and French in the copy. It is a French classic and a lot of fun to read!
Blacktop Wasteland is good, but I found it pretty heavy and intense. If you’re looking for light, that may not be ideal.
I’m a fan of the light fantasy/cozy mystery series The Accidental Alchemist. It’s magical realism, so the world-building isn’t very complex, and there are some French touchstones (Nicholas Flamel a couple of books in, a living gargoyle from the start) that might be a nice touch. The plots are mostly set in Oregon, but main characters previously lived in France.
Candide by Voltaire