Oh - combining the two previous topics (French culture and books) a book which caused quite a ruckus here in France is getting an English translation soon, and it is certainly worth a look.
Bonjour Laziness : Jumping Off the Corporate Ladder
by Corinne Maier is all about working in a large French corporation - where nothing ever gets done, but everyone is well paid. She lost her job over the book (obviously, some would say). Every now and again you still hear jokes about some of the stories she tells - wandering the halls with a clipboard, to look like you're working, for example.
The other book I'm reading (I know - I've got a lot going) doesn't have an English translation. The title would be Paris is not France: the countryside fights back, and it's a rather entertaining tale of a moderately well known reporter who goes to live outside Paris, and is promptly forgotten by everyone inside the beltway, as it were.