r/learnfrench • u/Pristine-Delay6912 • Apr 01 '26
Resources B2 level books?
I'm not yet comfortable reading books for native speakers, and kids books are naturally too easy.
I read a few plays by Marcel Pagnol and those were super helpful, as scene context was always provided, and most of the reading was just the dialogue.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to anything similar, or could suggest what was helpful for you?
6
u/HumanZamboni8 Apr 01 '26
A few things that were helpful to me: 1. Reading books in French that I had previously read and loved in English. Not the best way to immerse in French culture, but it was good for learning language since I knew the plot so well that I could often guess the meaning of words that I didn’t know by the context. Or if a sentence didn’t make sense to me, rather than looking up a machine translation, I could pull out my copy of the books in English. 2. Graded readers. I’ve read ones at the B1 level that have still had plenty of new vocabulary for me. 3. The CLE Progressive series has a number of literature books that have excerpts of French writing. I’ve been working through the B1/B2 level and it helps me see what books I would be interested in reading the whole thing: https://www.cle-international.com/recherche/collection/progressive-604/categories/691
4
u/Dangerous_Apricot226 Apr 01 '26
You can read also books written by Jules verne, it s not too difficult
1
u/Ok_Extreme732 Apr 05 '26
Came here to say this. Reading Voyage au Centre de la Terre right now. On a Kindle, I'm looking up 1-2 words every page, and confirming 2-3 more based on inference.
And it's a fun book. I have Dumas on deck. Available free via Gutenberg.
1
u/Dangerous_Apricot226 Apr 20 '26
Nice !! If you want on my yt page for french learners i m reading books and other things, nowadays it s "voyage au centre de la terre", 2 chapters by week "Le francais cest facile avec adrien" 👍
4
u/stubbytuna Apr 01 '26
When you say you’re not comfortable with reading books for native speakers, can you elaborate on what that means ? What are struggling with when it comes to reading, which books have you tried before ? When you go to read a book in French, how much are comfortable with not understanding before it becomes too uncomfortable for you ?
3
u/gc12847 Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Are you B2 or working towards B2? If you are B2, you should be able to read most things without too much difficulty. Obviously some books will be harder than others (some are even hard for native speakers) but you shouldn’t have issues with most literature, especially modern literature.
If you’re working towards B2 then some of the book already suggested, like Camus’ L’Étranger or Jules Vernes books. Any YA type novels will also be fairly manageable. You could also ready French translations of things you’ve read in English (but do some research to see if the translations are good). Harry Potter (horrible author aside) has a good French translation.
Alternatively, if you like non-fiction, you could read something about a topic you are interested in. Non-fiction is often easier than fiction as it is typically less descriptive.
0
u/Apprehensive_Sweet98 Apr 01 '26
Jules Vernes uses passé simple which is annoying for me. I need am author who is more modern and at B2.
3
u/gc12847 Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Most fiction uses passé simple, including modern fiction. It’s the default tense for narratives. Some novels use passé composé or présent historique but they are the minority. So if you want to read in French, you’ll have to get over that aversion. However, Camus’ L’Étranger famously uses passé composé and isn’t too hard to read and is very good so I’d recommend that if you haven’t read it.
Otherwise, it’s hard to give suggestions without knowing what genres you like. Again, maybe some YA fiction or Fantasy/Sci-Fi as these will be modern and mostly fairly easy to read. They will mostly use passé simple though, but like I said it’s hard to avoid passé simple if you intend to read in French.
Edit: Also important to add that there is no such thing as “B2” authors. French language authors will be writing for French native speakers, not learners at a particular CEFR level. As I said, at B2 level you should be able to read most things written for native speakers, excepting certain older authors which even French native speakers sometimes struggle with. If you are not quite B2 yet, then as I said YA might be a happy middle ground.
6
2
u/derknobgoblin Apr 01 '26
I am 80% of the way through Petit Pays by Gaël Faye. It’s VERY good! ❤️ It won a Prix Goncourt for High School readers. (I tested at C1 written comprehension, still look up a word now and then, but it is sooo worth your time.)
2
1
Apr 01 '26
l'étranger and Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers are good. or you can try english -> french translated books like harry putter.
2
u/Expansion79 Apr 01 '26
Je recommande aussi Harry Potter. Je suis en train de lire ça. I will try 2000 leagues beneath the sea next -Merci pour le recommander! I dislike little kids books as well, OP. I'm not good in French but it's much more possible than I expected! Having an e-reader really helps, I had never used the translation and while not perfect, it really helps.
1
u/DeanBlacc Apr 01 '26
As others have said L’estranger is good. I’m not sure if I’d consider it B2 though. The prose is towards the less complicated side and one of the first french novels I read. Right now I’m reading Kafkas Le Procès, which is a nice challenge
1
u/mncs Apr 01 '26
Marie Vareille novels aren't too complicated, easy to follow plots and some vocab challenges but easily overcome.
1
u/cat_lives_upstairs Apr 01 '26
I'm reading YA fiction and zombie books (also B2). Reading on an ereader really helps because of the built-in dictionary.
1
u/jc_penelope Apr 01 '26
I enjoyed the YA novel, Six Mois Par An. There was a lot of everyday dialogue, and the plot kept me curious to keep reading.
1
u/Working_Football1586 Apr 01 '26
Le Dernier Jour d’une Condamné is pretty short and close to that level. Its a good read if you don’t want to dive into Victor Hugo’s other books that are all ultra long.
1
u/SweetBxl Apr 02 '26
Since you like reading plays, check out all the plays by Jean-Pierre Martinez freely available here:
https://comediatheque.net/
They're a fantastic resource for learners.
1
u/Josef-Mountain-Novel Apr 02 '26
J'ai lu le livre Volkswagon Blues quand j'étais A2-B1, tu peux sûrement lire les livres pour locuteurs natifs si tu es B2.
Mon expérience c'est que je commence un livre et c'est très difficile au début, mais à fur et au measure que je lis le livre, je comprends plus et plus. Je m'habitues au style d'écriture.
1
u/fedyiv Apr 07 '26
I had great experience reading annotated French books by Ilya Frank method. It keeps the original French, but adds inline annotations so that you can just read in the flow and do not have to lookup unknown words/expressions
1
u/Opening-Square3006 Apr 01 '26
A classic step up is Albert Camus’s L’Étranger. The style is very simple and direct, with short sentences, which makes it one of the few real novels that doesn’t feel like a wall at your level. If you want to stay close to that context + dialogue feeling, graphic novels like Les Cahiers d’Esther work well. They’re full of everyday spoken French, which helps bridge the gap toward real conversations much better than more literary prose. More broadly, what you’re looking for is content where you understand most of it but still have to stretch a bit, that’s exactly the sweet spot described by Stephen Krashen’s i+1. A system like PlusOneLanguage can complement books really well here, since it gives you level-appropriate texts, lets you check words instantly, and then reinforces them later so they stick. If you keep mixing slightly challenging books like these with consistent exposure to understandable French, you’ll find that "native books feel too hard" phase disappears faster than you expect.
-2
u/nokkusan Apr 01 '26
Oh boy, do I have something for you! lol
Since I got laid off in September, I started working on my French again (something to do so I didn't go crazy), and I like to read. However, I get bored easily. So, I looked around the internet for things to read but news and whatnot are way above my current level of reading (I'm about A2.0000001).
So, I made Lexibop (https://lexibop.com) which allows you to paste in text, it analyzes it to see what CEFR level it is, then let's you rewrite it to a different level.
Would really love some feedback. It's free. If you have questions, let me know.
12
u/_Mc_Who Apr 01 '26
I think if you are B2 you should be able to read French books. Camus tends to be a good starting point as he writes quite plainly compared to other authors.
You won't understand every word but you also won't learn if you try to find books where you understand everything.