The Theory of Clouds, by Stéphane Audeguy. Akira Kumo, a miraculous survivor of Hiroshima and insatiable collector, hires Virginie Latour, a young librarian. While she's at work cataloguing his large compilation of literature on clouds and meteorology, he recounts stories of those who have devoted their lives to the nebulous skies; artists, explorers and eccentrics alike. This notable translation by Timothy Bent of Audeguy's first book is published by Hartcourt. The Theory of Clouds has been translated in many languages and is now a worldwide success.

Books on Fire by Lucien Polastron published by Inner Tradition. The destruction of the library of Sarajevo triggered the resolve of Polastron, a historian specialized in the history of paper, to conduct research on the destructions of libraries worldwide. Going as far back as the destruction of the library of Alexandria, he also examines the future of books with the massive digitalisation underway. Polastron's book received the French Prize Grand prix de l'essai et d'histoire (2004).

On a lighter note we would recommend a small book by Françoise Blanchard and Jeremy Leven. In Say Chic, the authors feature small texts about 70 French words or expressions, which crossed the Atlantic and became part of the English language. Among others, you'll find a brief description of the etymology and use of words and phrases such as Cliché, Ménage à trois, or Rendezvous (Published by Scribner).

Our fiction selection includes three more delightful books:

Sixty-six years after it was written, Knopf has published Irène Nemirovsky's Fire in the Blood. As with the bestseller Suite Française, her family and publisher kept pieces of the manuscript all those years. It was long thought to have been an unfinished work but the puzzle was recently solved. The novel follows Sylvio, who left his hometown in order to travel the world. As he returns to his small village, two decades of intrigues, murder and love surface again in his mind.

The Lost Sailor by Jean-Claude Izzo. Europa Edition, which published the last book of the Marseille Trilogy by Jean-Claude Izzo, Solea, this summer, is bringing us another novel by Izzo. Abdul Aziil, captain of a bankrupt freighter impounded in Marseille, decides to stand by those of his crew who choose not to give up the fight to receive their unsettled wages. Izzo transcribes colorful stories of those sailors' passions and loss of purpose.

Wash this blood Clean From My Hand by Fred Vargas. The French historian and archaeologist turned best-selling crime writer bring us yet another story about the engaging character Commissaire Adamsberg. Accused of the killing of his lover, Adamsberg goes on the run and tries to prove his innocence. Published by Penguin in 2007, the book was short listed for the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie International Dagger.

Moving on to non-fiction we would highly suggest the following:

Vincent Van Gogh; Painted with words: The Letters to Emile Bernard by Leo Jansen, Hans Luitjen and Nienke Bakker. This volume gathers letters written by Vincent Van Gogh to his fellow painter, Emile Bernard. Published in association with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and The Morgan Library & Museum, home to 19 of those letters, the book also includes paintings and drawings by both artists. It deals with key artistic questions, some of which have proven fundamental to Modern Art.

Madame Proust: A Biography by Evelyne Bloch Dano. The author sheds light on the central position of Marcel Proust's mother in his body of work and in a wider sense testifies to the place she held in the literary world. Bloch Dano depicts Jeanne Clémence Weil's thoughts about her son’s talent, ailments, and sexuality. In addition, the book bears witness to an era and its preoccupations, such as the Dreyfus affair. Published by the University of Chicago Press

The French Century: an Illustrated History of Modern France published by Flammarion. Brian Moynahan, foreign correspondent for the London Sunday, relates the history of France's social, political, intellectual and economic life, from the end of the 19th century to the present day. This book features key personalities of the century and rarely seen photographs of major events.

The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism edited by Olivier Roy and Antoine Sfeir. The dictionary features more than two thousand entries on the history of Islamism. Roy and Sfeir, sensitive to the difference between Islam and Islamism, bring us a balanced account of this ideology, looking at it from geographical, sociological and historical standpoints. They broadly examine the subject by considering the roots of Islam, as well as related events, organizations, thinkers, activists, and prominent figures.

Democracy Past and Future by Pierre Rosanvallon. Columbia University Press publishes the first English-language collection of Rosanvallon's most important essays on democracy. The author, who is one of Europe’s leading political thinkers, explores the subject of democracy from a historical perspective, examining its contemporary difficulties as well as its future prospects.

And lastly,Novels in Three Lines by Félix Fénéon, New York Review Books Classics. Fénéon, an editor, writer, anarchist, and art critic during the late 1800's, began anonymously writing three-line news items (fait divers) for the French daily Le Matin in 1906. Over the course of six months, more than a thousand items were published and are now available in a translation by Luc Sante. Fénéon recounts stories  -reduced to minimal length - of accidents, robberies, fires, murders or labor strife. As disturbing as those stories may be, the shortcuts imposed by the narration’s format make this book very amusing.

We hope you will enjoy this selection,

Fabrice Gabriel, Anne-Sophie Hermil, Anne-Sophie Simenel, Anne-Sophie Rosell.

A special thanks to Amaury Laporte.