Hi, aren't you in Austin? I would get around actual French speakers, there ought to be some sort of Cercle Français semi-attached to UT or similar where you can get a belt of wine in you and listen to real people jabber, and jump in yourself as old memories come back to life.
These guys need volunteers so if you did anything for them, and told them you wanted to speak French, I bet you'd be in like Flynn.
https://www.afaustin.org/volunteer
They would also know about any events you could attend.
For books I'd suggest getting into French comic books. Most of them are written for adults, and even if the language isn't dumbed down, you have a picture right there to give context.
One of my favorite author/artists is Jacques Tardi. If you want wrist-slashing grim, get one of his WW1 comics like C'etait la guerre des tranchees (it was the war of the trenches) now also in English so you could get doubly-depressed reading both versions. A little lighter, still very noir, are his adaptations of Leo Malet's jazz-age detective Nestor Burma. Great atmosphere and street-by-street detailed views of walking around Paris puzzling out mysteries.
Another favorite is the Louis La Guigne series, about a guy who lives on the margins from WW1 to the 1930s, traveling around the world getting in and out of trouble. From maybe the 80s but probably easy to find.
The language in these two is not simplified, but you can pick up some good stuff and the stories are interesting.
My last method of getting decent at a language is to have the radio banging in that language all day in the background. People don't seem to believe me on this, but it helped me "walk through the wall" in Spanish*. No doubt there are an infinite number available in all styles online.
So tldr, Canecutter Conversation Method = Get around French people, read good French comic books, and play French radio in the background.
*The "walk through the wall" moment is when you wonder why everybody suddenly switched to English, but they didn't. Usually follows several months of random unplanned exposure.