A practical primer on what to say and when to say it, The Bonjour Effect should be required reading for American expats in France. You can’t play the game of life in France if you don’t know the code. Read this book with a highlighter in hand, and commit its “rules” to memory. The main takeaway is that you should say “Bonjour” liberally: to the butcher, the baker, the roomful of people in the waiting room of the dentist’s office. To fail to “bonjour” anyone in the service industry or groups of people in a closed space–such as an elevator–is a grave error that will instantly mark you as uncouth. To fail to say bonjour is to fail to recognize the equality of those around you. When in doubt, say “bonjour.”