I just read him in portuguese, so can't help with the first question. As place to start, I would recommend either Thais or Pierre Noziere as a start, depending on which style you prefer. There are supposedly two stages of his work, the first one, which Pierre Noziere is part, is his more conservative phase, it is heavy on nostalgic memories about early 19th century france; from Thais onward, begins his more progressive phase, heavy on critics on religion and society.
Pierre Noziere is about the memoirs of a french man, spanning from his childhood to his travels throught france. It is heavenly if you are into France. His knowledge of french culture, both erudite and popular, is unmatched. The book is kind of an aggregation of stories about french families, both poor and rich.
Thais, which may be my favorite book of all time, is about a monk who decides that his mission is life is to convert (pre-fall of Rome) Alexandria's most famous courtesan to christianism and, again, his knowledge of both the erudite and popular culture is amazing.
Anyway, after either one, I totally recommend starting the 4-book series "contemporary history", which is about a Latin scholar of the 19th century who get's invovled in the
Dreyfus Affair.
And that's it for what I know about Anatole France.
Other then that I just read a little "horror" story of his that is actually a very beautiful christian tale that I think it would be impossible for any other human being to write, can't remeber the name now tho.
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Also, speaking of french literature, I read (again, in portuguese) three short stories by Balzac, which I can only find the title in english for The Deserted Woman. Very good, too, kind of different, but kind of like Anatole in the sense that by focusing on the drama of particular families, it paints a picture of French in general (different times and different focus tho).
