Here, I introduce you two books.
Le petit Prince / The little prince
The first book is The little prince (Le petit prince). I suggest you to buy a bilingual book of the little prince (Le petit prince). This is a very famous book worldwilde, a very famous story. So, the author of this book (l’auteur de ce livre) is very famous as well, his name is Antoine de Saint–Exupéry. It is a story about a pilot, he had an accident with his plane in the desert of Sahara and he meets a boy from another planet, this little boy is « the little prince » (Le petit prince) he wants to say some things about the world of the adults. They made a movie from the book. I suggest you to buy a bilingual book which one part is written in the French language and the other part is written in the English language. I really like that version, it is really good. The drawings are good, they are quality drawings. It is cool because it comes with a disk (it depends on the version, sometimes there is no CD). To practice your understanding skills you can listen to the MP3 file on your computer or on your mobile phone. You can listen to the French language version or the English language version. It is efficient to listen to the both of them to see how the languages are made, what are their stuctures. It is a really nice story, it contains a certain type of philosophy. It is suitable for both kids and adults.
Here are some famous sentences of this book :
All the adults were first children, but a few of them remember it
One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye
It is the time you lost for your rose that makes your rose so important.
This is really useful since it is beautiful
Of course, said the fox. You are still to me a little boy just like a hundred thousand little boys. And I do not need you. And you do not need me anymore. I am only a fox to you like a hundred thousand foxes. But, if you tame me, we will need each other. You will be unique in the world for me. I will be unique to you in the world.
You will therefore judge yourself, replied the king. This is the most difficult. It is much more difficult to judge yourself than it is to judge others.
Men no longer have the time to know anything. He buys ready-made things at the stores. But since there are no friendly merchants, men no longer have friends.
Asterix
Do you know who Asterix and Obelix are ? They are famous characters of the French culture (Ce sont des personnages connus de la culture française) . It is a very famous French cartoon and comic. Some famous movies were made from the comics. It is a comic book with pictures and bubbles. You can read it or watch it with your friends or your family and I suggest you to do this unless you are very advanced in the French language. If you have a professor who is teaching you the French language (un professeur / un enseignant de français), you can ask him (or her) if you do not understand some phrases or ideas which are in the comic or in the film. I recommend to read it with a French native speaker (une personne de langue maternelle française) because you are going to read a lot of jokes, a lot of specific sentences. And it does not really make sense when you translate them into your mother tongue.
In the first page you are going to see that there is a map of the different cities of the roman people, there are towns and the names of the cities are supposed to be jokes.
Here are some examples : Babaorum which refers to « a rum baba » (un/le Baba au rhum), Petibonum which refers to « a little boy » (un petit bonhomme), Laudanum which refers to a medecine, Aquarium which refers to « an aquarium » (un/l’aquarium).
As well you are going to see that the names of the characters are supposed to be jokes.
Here are some examples :
- Asterix evokes the typographical sign « an asterisk » (un/l’astérisque) which refers to a footnote
- Obélix is inspired by the Egyptian monuments « the Obelisk » (un/l’obélisque)
- Idéfix who is the dog refers to « an obsession » (une/l’idée fixe)
- Panoramix (which means something like the word « panorama » (un/le panorama))
- Abraracourcix (which means « shortened arms » (les bras raccourcis))
- Assurancetourix (which is related to the word « insurance » (une/l’assurance)
- Ordralphabetix (which is related to the expression « alphabetic order » (l’ordre alphabétique))
- Antivirus (which is related to the word « antivirus » (antivirus)).
They are jokes. If you have a French native speaker (un français de langue maternelle / une personnes de langue maternelle française) beside you he (or she) will laugh because the stories of « Asterix and Obelix » are supposed to be very funny. So, this is really good. It is a important and famous element of the French culture. For the movies (les films), there is a lot of humor in these movies, the humor is because of the names of the characters, the names of the characters are words games (des jeux de mots).