With a long novel to translate in French – it’s available to pre-order, hint hint, great way of keeping up with your French! and lots of books to read for the IFFP Shadow Panel, I have not done a lot of active blogging, blog visits, and recaps these past 2 months. So here is to try to get back on track, though you may be happy to know that this Monday I will start the translation of the sequel of said translated novel!

Here is what I read in March:

12 books.
= 10 books with 3,218 pages, that is: 103.8 pages/day.
+ 2 audiobooks = 11:56 hours, that is an average of  53 mn/day

Here is what I read in April:

9 books.
= 8 books with 1,860 pages, that is: 62 pages/day.
+ 1 audiobook = 8:02 hours, that is an average of 16 mn/day

8 in  literary fiction:

1.  Suspended Sentences, by Patrick Modiano – audio
2. By Night the Mountain Burns, by Juan Tomas Avila Laurel
3. The End of Days, by Jenny Erpenbeck
4. The Dead Lake, by Hamid Ismailov
5. The Ravens, by Tomas Bannerhed
6. Bloodlines, by Marcello Fois – ebook
7. Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper – audio
8. F, by Daniel Kehlmann

6 in historical fiction:

1. The Keys of the Watchmen, by Kathleeh C. Perrin
2. Floats the Dark Shadow, by Yves Fey
3. The Figaro Murders, by Laura Lebow – ebook
4. The Dream Lover, by Elizabeth Berg – ebook
5. The Witch of Painted Sorrows, by MJ Rose – ebook
6. Mademoiselle Chanel, by CW Gortner

3 in mystery:

1. The Bullet, by Mary Louise Kelly – audio
2. Mayhem in Margaux, by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Ballen – ebook
3. Speak No Evil, by Tanya Anne Crosby – ebook

2 in science fiction:

1. Aoleon The Martian Girl – Illegal Aliens, by Brent LeVasseur – ebook
   
2. Aoleon The Martian Girl -The Great Pyramid of Cydonia, by Brent LeVasseur – ebook, review up tomorrow!

1 in play:

1. The Phantom of Menace, by Ian Doescher

1 in children book:

1.  The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald – audio

 

My favorites in March-April

   

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Reading Challenges recap

French Bingo: 14/25
Audiobook: 6/15
Ebook challenge: 21/25
Historical fiction: 10/25
My Kind of Mysteries: 10/21-30
New authors challenge: 22/50
New Release (2015): 21/16-30
Nonfiction challenge: 3/16-20
TBR challenge: 0/12
Books in Translation: 10/12
What’s in a Name: 5/6
Where Are You Reading?: 16/50 – to be finished in 2015?!
Japanese literature: 0/6 (starts in June)

Total of books read in 2015 = 40/100

Number of books added to my TBR in March-April = 29

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Blog recap

• 12 of the 21 books read were received for review.

• 29 reviews posted so far for my French Bingo 2015 Challenge, don’t forget to link yours with the mr Linky widget.

• I organized 11 giveaways these past 2 months. There’s always one going on at France Book Tours. Be sure to check the May Giveaway! 4 books offered!

• On April 23, France Book Tours celebrated its 2nd birthday, in a low key way with year, just a couple of recap posts and a giveaway

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Most popular book review in April

click on the cover to access my review

Most popular post last month – non book review

Literary Blog Hop Giveaway

Book blog that brought me
most traffic this past month

Susan Heim on Writing

please go visit

Top commenters of the month

Inspired by Becca at I’m Lost in Books!
and her Blogger Shout-Outs feature

= 1 point per month for the top 3.
The one who has the most points at the end of the year will receive a gift!
NB: just congratulating winners of giveaways does not count as real comment 😉

3: Katherine at I Wish I Lived In a Library
3: Martha at MG’s French Lit Page
2: Denise @DeniseDuvall2
1: Lucy at The Fictional 100

Blog milestones

1,121 posts
over 2,060 subscribers
over 88,000 hits

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Blog plans for May

• It was quite both fascinating and challenging to read many books for Independent Foreign Fiction Shadow Panel, with Tony at Tony’s Reading List and other really cool book bloggers! I’m in the process of reading the last one I planned to read. It didn’t make it in the shortlist, but it has to be the most hilarious literary novel I have read for a long time. Keep an eye for my review, as well as  a few more notes of other books read for the IFFP.
• Come back soon to see what other books I’ll be reading in May.
• And hopefully, I’ll make a dent in my review, especially reviews for audiobooks. Maybe through a video?
• I also would like to take time to visit again more regularly my favorite book bloggers.
• I still need to think of a good idea to resurrect the France Book Tours Newsletter.
• But with another novel to translate, starting tomorrow, not too sure how much I will be bale to achieve on the blogging front in May.

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How was YOUR month of  April?