Félicitations!

Pourquoi ne pas lire le journal de Samuel de Champlain? Vous pourriez découvrir une nouvelle perspective sur les premiers contacts en Amérique (en autant que ça vous intéresse).

Alexis de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique is an important and fascinating document of the US in the 1830s as seen by an outsider. Free French version here (that's book 1, but the others are all on Gutenberg as well)

Wouldn't it generally be a good idea to add non-English sections to the (absolutely brilliant) book list? So many great history books haven't been translated yet deserve more attention.

If you want to read a well known writter you can try La chartreuse de Parme and Vie de Napoléon by Stendhal.

If you want something more recent Max Gallo writes a lot of books about history, that's the four about Napoléon:

Tome I. : Le Chant du départ (1769-1799), Robert Laffont,

Tome II. : Le Soleil d’Austerlitz (1799-1805), Robert Laffont,

Tome III. : L’Empereur des rois (1806-1812), Robert Laffont,

Tome IV. : L’Immortel de Sainte-Hélène (1812-1821), Robert Laffont

I think André Castelot may be the reference for Napoléon with his two books: Bonaparte and Napoléon.

If you want to read about any topic in French you can easily use the French version of wikipedia and search the source and ressources that an article linked.

Without a doubt one of my favorite primary/secondary sources- he can really be both at times is François-René Chateaubriand's [Mémoire d'être-Tombe] (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23654)- Free online. He put together this biography towards the end of his life and it covers everything through the French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Restoration. Chateaubriand has a wonderful style- easy to read (IMO) for someone new to reading long French works- there are also free translations available online if you want to double check a section and make sure you got it. He has an ironic tone and a wonderful sense of humor.

I've used his "Mémoire" many times for the narrative of a French noble who initially supports the French Revolution, but begins to sour on the affair when he sees the heads of people he knew being paraded in the street, and ultimately loses nearly his whole family- and the estate he grew up on- to the revolution. His discussion of Napoleon- there is literally a biography of Napoleon within Chateaubriand's own Mémoire- is excellent. Chateaubriand helped Napoleon acquire the title of Emperor from the Pope with his publication of "Génie du Christianisme" and was an early supported of Napoleon, his reforms, and the end of Revolutionary violence that Napoleon represented. Of course Chateaubriand sours on Napoleon as well, because the violence doesn't end and Chateaubriand sees Napoleon as obsessed with glory and fame. The biography of Napoleon is in some ways a parallel to Chateaubriand's own life; the search for fame- to accomplish something lasting- and the ultimate disappointment. After all, Chateaubriand witnessed a great deal of turmoil and revolution in France only to see a Monarch back on the throne when he died.

If you're up for a long, and fascinating, read you could try reading Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations by Voltaire.

This is a massive piece, trying to present the known history of his time (late 18th century). While I cannot speak for its validity, it's still a really interesting read. It's pre-revolution work, though it seems that you can read about some of his opinions about the current situation.

I still haven't finished reading it, but it's a personal goal for me to get through it. It's also available for free on Wikisource.

Historians of the French Revolution working today still refer back to Tocqueville's L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution (published 1856), which is still one of the best 19th century studies attempting to explain the origins of the French Revolution. Definitely a must-read if you want to understand the historiography of the Revolution in French. Pay particular attention to the way Tocqueville describes the ancien régime and how its role shifted in the lead-up to the Revolution, which I think is still an apt analysis of the social transformations embodied in that event.