Livre d'Or

I do read some chicklit, I'm in the middle of a Joanna Trollope at the moment. But you're right, it's the kind of genre where it has to be really good for me to get into it, not the kind where I automatically like most things that are not awful. Thank you for the rec, anyway.

Choosing something for you is going to be quite difficult, cos so far I don't get the impression our reading overlaps that much. Have you read Stendhal's La chartreuse de Parme (English title The Chapterhouse of Parma)? I suggest it because it's a French novel about Italy, and one I enjoyed very much, though it is very early nineteenth century. I liked it better than the more famous Le rouge et le noir, anyway.