France's top books
Fiction
Dome 1 (Under the Dome), Stephen King: Small town in Maine is surrounded by an invisible force field, with gruesome consequences.
Faute de preuves (Caught), Harlan Coben: A crusading female reporter investigates missing teen and a social worker is arrested as a sexual predator.
Le Caveau de famille, Katarina Mazetti: Librarian and farmer give each other three chances to make a baby. Funny and life-affirming, apparently.
Non-fiction
Indignez-vous!, Stéphane Hessel: Slim call to arms from 93-year-old former resistance hero. Surprise hit of 2010, in part because it costs only €3.
Métronome illustré, Lorant Deutsch: Illustrated version of bestselling history of Paris told through its metro stations.
Sauvez votre argent!, Marc Fiorentino: How not to lose your shirt in a post-crash environment.
Source: Le Nouvel Observateur
France's top songs
Celui, Colonel Reyel: Popular Guadeloupe-born dancehall, reggae and zouk artist hits No 1.
Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: The angelic-voiced (now sadly deceased) Hawaian finally makes it to France.
Sun Is Up, Inna: Romanian-born dance singer with five successive top-10 hits in France.
Ambiance à l'africaine, Magic System: Hugely successful Ivorian dance group.
Who's That Chick?, David Guetta featuring Rihanna: Latest hit from Grammy-winning French house producer and Barbadian superstar.
Source: MCM
France's top TV
The most-watched programme in France last week was long-running CBS series Criminal Minds (Esprits Criminels in French), which follows the fictional activities of FBI profilers. Aired on TF1, France's main commercial channel, it won 27% of the audience.
Encouragingly, the second most popular show, with a 12% share, was the first part of a home-produced drama series for France 2, the main national public service broadcaster. Les beaux mecs (Handsome lads, roughly) is a story of two jailbreakers: Tony, a veteran mobster, and Kenz, a younger, small-time hood. Loathing each other at first, the two are drawn together in a tale of betrayal and revenge dating back to Tony's youth.
Third was France's answer to Kirstie Allsopp, Stéphane Plaza, an irrepressible estate agent with a chirpy patter and advice on how to flog your house (Maison à vendre, on commercial channel M6), and fourth was an episode of Des racines et des ailes, a popular travel documentary on state-owned Frace 3 that explores the hidden treasures of France; in this instance Corsica. Fifth with a 4% audience share was a live gig by popular stand-up comedian Gad Elmaleh.
Generally, the French-language versions of familiar reality show formats fare well in France, as – for some reason – do three-hour Saturday-night variety shows starring famous faces from the 80s.
Source: Médiametrie
