Comment by lrc

I lived in France for a few years and wanted to become fluent in the language. One part of my strategy was just to try to brute-force through some novels with the aid of a dictionary and a conjugation chart. I started with _Les Trois Mousquetaires_ but found the diction too difficult to slog through. I made it through _Le Petit Prince_, but I really clicked with Simenon's detective novels. Since it was a familiar, modern form, it was easier for my brain to fill in the blanks through context. The dialogue, especially, was realistic and quite to the point ("Ici c'est moi qui pose les questions" sticks in my mind).