This month there really is something for everyone. We have a selection of exciting new translations of French philosophy, literature, francophone novels, and poetry!

Lets begin with the serious stuff: In Number and Numbers (Polity Press, 2008, translation by Robin MacKay), Alain Badiou does no less than “announce a new epoch in philosophy”(Slavoj Zizek). In the highly anticipated second edition of Derrida's The Gift of Death (The University of Chicago Press, 2008), the philosopher's most sustained consideration of religion is not only greatly enhanced by David Wills's updated translation, but also includes the first-ever English translation of Derrida's Literature in Secret.

For something more contemporary, we have three new, and innovative novels by young French writers. Kick The Animal Out by Véronique Ovaldé (Portobello Books, 2007, translated by Adriana Hunter) has been described as “astonishing”, and Siddhartha Deb believes that “not since The Cather in the Rye has a novel featured a more compelling young narrator”. Similarly glowing praise has been dished out for Dreams from the Endz by the young and very talented Faïza Guène (Chatto & Windus, 2008, translated by Sarah Ardizzone). Can Laurent Quintreau's new book compete? You decide. Gross Margin (Harvill Secker, 2008, translated by Polly Mc Lean)examines the despair and fantasies induced by the daily contemporary office life.

If you're in a poetic mood, a delicious bilingual edition of Charlestown Blues; selected poems, by Guy Goffette ( The University of Chicago Press, 2007, translated by Marilyn Hacker) should fit the bill.

An exciting new insight into the mind of Samuel Beckett has been revealed to us in the form of Beckett before Beckett: Samuel Beckett's Lectures on French Literature by Brigitte Le Juez (Souvenir Press, 2008, translation by Ros Schwartz). This gem of a book is based on a student's lecture notes which Le Juez discovered in Trinity College Library, Dublin, during the course of her research for her thesis.

Finally, for the digitally-literate among you, pick up Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge by Jean-Noël Jeanneney (The University of Chicago Press, 2007, translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan) and get to grips with the web! If film is more your bag, The New Face of Political Cinema: Commitment in French Film since 1995by Martin O'Shaughnessy (Berghahn Boks, 2007) suggests that there is a resurgence of commitment in the medium, unmatched since the turbulent days of 1968.

Like we said, there is something for absolutely every taste there! So get reading!

The Book Office London

Rachel Page, Sophie Moreau and Paul Fournel