Sixty Million Frenchmen and One Petaluman

The author couple of this volume (Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French by Nadeau & Barlow)had a grant to live in Paris to research and write the manuscript. If that statement makes you jealous, this is the book for you.
They explain everything from the reason French stores have sales (les soldes) only twice a year (dates back to Middle Age guilds) to the school system (and as a result you'll better understand how the head scarf ban relates to the Revolution and égalité). Each page is dense with discoveries about the culture and society. I read a borrowed copy but now want my own book to re-read and keep as a reference.