March-April 2016 wrap-up

March has been quite eventful and full of cold showers, in the weather and in life. Celebrating half a century one day, experiencing my father-in-law’s passing, at almost 102, the next!
Even though it happened in great peace, with no pain, no struggle, and in a prayerful way, still it was exhausting emotionally and physically, and it took us a while to get back to our routine.
April has been busy too with Lent and we just celebrated Holy Week and our Pascha on May 1st (so many wonderful and long services in church)! Yes, this year we Orthodox Christians had a very late date for it. Next year, we will all celebrate Easter on the same day.
But I did read!
Hence this recap for both March and April.

Here is what I read in March:

6  books
=  with 1,534 pages, that is: 49.4 pages/day

3 in nonfiction:

1. Toward the Endless Day: The Life of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, by Olga Lossky
2. How to Talk About Places You’ve Never Been: On the Importance of Armchair Travel, by Pierre Bayard
3. In Other Words, by Jhumpa Lahiri

1 in historical fiction:

1. The Sword of the Maiden, by Kathleen C. Perrin

1 in literary fiction:

1. Mon amie américaine, by Michèle Halberstadt

1 in mystery:

1. Too Close to the Edge, by Pascal Garnier – ebook

And what I read in April:

8  books
=  with 2,449 pages, that is: 81.6 pages/day

3 in literary fiction:

1. Le temps retrouvé, by Marcel Proust – ebook
2. L’étranger, by Albert Camus – ebook
3. Meursault, contre-enquête, by Kamel Daoud – ebook

3 in historical fiction:

1. The Rivals of Versailles, by Sally Christie
2. Sent to the devil, by Laura Lebow
3. Le collier rouge, by Jean-Christophe Rufin

2 in mystery:

1. Pars vite et reviens tard, by Fred Vargas
2. The Girl Who Stayed, by Tanya Anne Crosby – ebook

A few notes:

1. With Le temps retrouvé read this month, it means that after 3 years, I finally finished reading the 7 books of In Search of Lost Time. More about my impressions on that work later
2. I reread another French classic, L’étranger, because I wanted to read Daoud’s recent spin on it, and I read the book by Camus about 35 years ago! I needed a refresher!
3. I read 2 other books in French, as I experimented with the equivalent of Netflix for books in print and in French!
4. Do you notice the big absent from these recaps? No audiobooks!! I don’t have much time for audiobooks right now, and the one I’m listening is dragging. Great topic, but not the most exciting audio rendition! Looking forward to going back to Louise Penny!

My favorites in March

       

My favorites in April

   

Reading Challenges recap

French Bingo: 16/25
Audiobook: 3/15
Classics Club: 3/50 (until end of 2018)
Cloak and Dagger (Mysteries): 11/30
Ebook challenge: 14/25
Historical fiction: 6/15
Japanese literature: 3/5
New authors challenge: 14/50
New Release (2016): 10/30
Nonfiction challenge: 4/15
Books in Translation: 7/12
What’s in a Name: 1/6
Where Are You Reading?: 19/50 – to be finished in 2016??

Total of books read in 2016 = 27/100

Number of books added to my TBR in March and April = 53

Blog recap

• I hosted 6 guest-posts or interview these past 2 months, and was myself interviewed, as a literary translator
• 6 of the 14 books I read were received for review

• French Bingo 2016 has 17 participants. It’s not too late to join. Don’t forget to link your reviews!

• I organized 7 giveaways in February. The one for May at France Book Tours is here. Be sure to follow through email not to miss the weekly ones.

Most popular book review in April

click on the cover to access my review,
written in 2012!

Most popular post last month
– non book review –

Spotlight on Pigeon-Blood Red

Book blog that brought me
most traffic this past month

Italy Book Tours

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 a real comment 😉

4: Lucy at The Fictional 100
3: Freda at Freda’s Voice
3: Karen at Booker Talk
2: Katherine at I Wished I Lived In a Library

Blog milestones

1,347 posts
over 3,690 subscribers
over 111,500 hits

Plans for May

Well, the BIG plan is of course BEA! For once, I will not be participating in the Armchair version, as I’ll be able to go to it in person, being basically organized in my backyard. Looking forward to seeing many of you, especially on the first day focused on bloggers.

Come back tomorrow
to see what I plan to read in May!

How was YOUR month of  April?
And to a wonderful reading year to you!

Kathryn at The Book Date
has created a Month In Review meme
I’ll now be linking my monthly recap posts
Thanks Kathryn, great idea!