Cinema, painting, photography, literature. .. Marseille is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many artists. For this ranking, we’ve decided to let you (re)discover some of the books that have graced the city of Marseille. Novels, Coffee Table Books, recipe books. .. So many pages to devour without moderation.
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The novel “Corniche Kennedy” by Maylis de Kerangal
How could we not start this ranking with this novel? Author Maylis de Kerangal takes us through a Marseilles summer in the shoes of teenagers who spend their youth diving off the Corniche Kennedy – from which this novel takes its name this initiatory novel. Adapted for the screen, this story is as much to read as it is to see.
🤑”Corniche Kennedy”, Maylis de Kerangal – €6.90
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I’ll Make a Man Out of You” by Rebecca Lighieri
The pages of this devourable novel quickly set the tone: “The life expectancy of love is eight years. For hatred, count twenty. The only thing that lasts forever is childhood when it’s gone wrong.” We are in the 1980s, in the Artaud housing estate in Marseille, and we follow the character of Karel who’s afraid of one thing: looking like his father.
🤑”Il est des hommes qui se perdront toujours”, Rebecca Lighieri – 9,20€
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The novel “Romance in Marseille” by Claude McKay
This gripping book, written in Tangiers in 1932, tells the story of Lafala, a West African dockworker who returns to Marseille after being robbed of all his money by the beautiful Aslima. Continuation of the Banjo book, we meet again in “Romance in Marseille“The “Pit”, Marseille’s reserved quarter, is a teeming world. After a few misadventures and a trip to the United States, where he made his fortune, he returned to the “Port of Dreams”, a place where he found the uprooted people of the Jetty and his lost illusions.
🤑”Romance in Marseille by Claude McKay – €8
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Cap canaille”, a Marseilles crime thriller by Christophe Gavat
Did you know that the Marseille crime thriller was a literary genre in its own right? Blossoming over the last ten years, it uses the city’s sometimes explosive reputation as the backdrop for its breathtaking story. In “Cap canaille” – Prix du Quai des Orfèvres 2021 – Christophe Gavat unveils an investigation that leads us to the pursuit of fictitious drug dealers in the real streets of Marseille.
🤑”Cap canaille”, Christophe Gavat – €8.90
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The journalistic investigation “Marseille, the true story”
Marseille is well worth investigating. In “Marseille, le roman vrai“journalist Marie-France Etchegoin reveals a side of Marseilles we don’t talk about. It may come as a surprise to you, but there’s a real link between the inhabitants of the northern districts and the bourgeoisie of the southern ones. Drugs, violence, corruption… thrilling.
🤑”Marseille, le roman vrai”, Marie-France Etchegoin – €20.99
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Philippe Pujol’s journalistic investigation, “La fabrique du monstre” (The Monster Factory)
For 10 years, Philippe Pujol – Albert-London Prize 2014 – has been investigating the northern districts of Paris. Sometimes on the side of the drug dealers and in the cellars, sometimes on the side of the BAC Nord investigating the murders of young kids. He thus attempts to understand the origin of the making of this monster born of organized crime, corruption, clientelism, conflicts of interest….
🤑 “La fabrique du monstre”, Philippe Pujol – €20
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The cookbook “Marseille cuisine le monde” by Vérane Frediani
We couldn’t resist the temptation of including a book about gastronomy in this ranking. In a book as beautiful as it is appetizing vérane Frediani gives us a taste of Marseille through interviews and recipes for everything that’s good to eat in this Mediterranean city: pieds paquets, panisses, 13 desserts as well as pizzas and couscous… One of the most mouth-watering books ever!
🤑”Marseille cuisine le monde”, Vérane Frediani – €29.90
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The book of culinary addresses: A day without hunger
In this book by Zerah Ezéchiel, the author takes us on a culinary tour of the city. Recipes, good addresses portraits, reports… A day without hunger takes us on a journey to meet the people who feed the people of Marseilles, helping us to discover the best of the city ‘s cuisine and its thousand flavors.
🤑 “A day without hunger”, Zerah Ezéchiel – €45
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A Week Abroad publisher’s guide to Marseille
This beautiful book will blow your mind! Specializing in travel guides and beautiful photos, publisher A Week Abroad has dedicated a complete book to Marseille. In this book, we discover the city of Marseille through its landscapes, but above all through its faces. There are some great interviews with long-standing and adopted Marseillais.
🤑”Marseille”, A Week Abroad – €19
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The coffee table book “Marseille je t’aime” by Jacquemus
This book sounds like a declaration of love. And indeed it is. In love with the Phocaean city that adopted him, in “Marseille je t’aime“the designer Jacquemus shares his personal photos of the city and its many faces.
🤑Marseilleje t’aime”, Jacquemus – €40
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Photos from “Marseille Instantanés
Want to take a different look at Marseille? The former Côté Sud Caroline Guiol and communicator Sophie Sutra-Fourcade have compiled the most beautiful snapshots of the Phocaean city. Far from clichés, Marseille reveals all its beauty in photos that are as motley as they are colorful. Just like the city.
🤑”Marseille Instantanés”, Caroline Guiol, Sophie Sutra-Fourcade – €22.50
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Alexandra Apikian’s drama “Pour l’Amour de Marseille
In the “Pour l’Amour de…” series, here’s a book dedicated to the city of Marseille. Written by Alexandra Apikian, a native of Marseilles, this book takes us into Marseilles’ secret places. Thanks to a fictional dialogue she tells us about the splendor of Marseille, but also its contradictions. Everything that makes her invariably drawn to the city where she was born.
🤑 “Pour l’Amour de Marseille”, Alexandra Apikian – €10