Here are
The top 8 books
I plan to read in September 2020
Click on the covers to know more
CURRENTLY READING
📚 The French Widow (Hugo Marston #9) (September 15, 2020), by Mark Pryor
Received for review
I have really enjoyed previous books by Mark Pryor, see for instance my review of The Sorbonne Affair, so I accepted this one for review.”
“A young American woman is attacked at an historic Paris chateau and four paintings are stolen the same night, drawing Hugo Marston into a case where everyone seems like a suspect. To solve this mystery Hugo must crack the secrets of the icy and arrogant Lambourd family, who seem more interested in protecting their good name than future victims. Just as Hugo thinks he’s close, some of the paintings mysteriously reappear, at the very same time that one of his suspects goes missing.”
📚 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994), by Haruki Murakami
Reading with the Haruki Murakami Online Book Club (on Discord)
“Japan’s most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.
In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife’s missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan’s forgotten campaign in Manchuria.”
📚 Le Livre de Perle (2014), by Timothée de Tombelle
Reading with another of my French students.
YA, fantasy, and historical fiction. Yes, all of that together!
This author is very well know in France.
It’s very beautifully written.
📚 L’Énigme de la chambre 622 (2014), by Joël Dicker
Reading in French with the French Book Club (on Discord) – let me know if you want to join. Besides me, the participants are French second language, we do’t correct the mistakes, we just enjoy reading and sharing in French.
The book has been translated in several languages, but not yet in English, I think.
Dicker is the author of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.
“Une nuit de décembre, un meurtre a lieu au Palace de Verbier, dans les Alpes suisses. L’enquête de police n’aboutira jamais.
Des années plus tard, au début de l’été 2018, lorsqu’un écrivain se rend dans ce même hôtel pour y passer des vacances, il est loin d’imaginer qu’il va se retrouver plongé dans cette affaire.
Que s’est-il passé dans la chambre 622 du Palace de Verbier?”
READING NEXT
📚The Readers’ Room, by Antoine Laurain
To be published on September 22, 2020 by Gallic Books
Received for review.
I really enjoy Antoine Laurain’s books, such as Vintage 1954, so I’m thrilled I received it for review.
“When the manuscript of a debut crime novel arrives at a Parisian publishing house, everyone in the readers’ room is convinced it’s something special. And the committee for France’s highest literary honour, the Prix Goncourt, agrees.
But when the shortlist is announced, there’s a problem for editor Violaine Lepage: she has no idea of the author’s identity. As the police begin to investigate a series of murders strangely reminiscent of those recounted in the book, Violaine is not the only one looking for answers. And, suffering memory blanks following an aeroplane accident, she’s beginning to wonder what role she might play in the story…
Antoine Laurain, bestselling author of The Red Notebook, combines intrigue and charm in this dazzling novel of mystery, love and the power of books.”
📚 The Sleepwalkers, by Hermann Broch (1932)
CURRENT AND NEXT AUDIOBOOKS
📚 Pandemia, by Franck Thilliez (2015)
This French author knows how to write thrillers! There are some pretty horrific details at times, but man, this guy knows how to write!!
I decided to read this one, as the details are so so close to what we have been going through with Covid-169, yet he write it 5 years ago!!
Julie disappeared when she was 17.
Twelve years later, her dad, a cop who investigated a lot to find her, wakes up in a hotel room, not remembering anything from the past 12 years, and with ID papers bearing another person’s name. Why? What happened? Who is he? Where’s Julie?
This plot is unbelievable, so clever, with books within the book.
📚 Vesper Flights, by Helen Macdonald (August 27 by Vintage)
Ebook received for review through Netgalley
And I just received it in audio through Libro.fm!!
If you have a blog and love audiobooks, you should check that link to their Influence Program. They have amazing titles this month!
I actually listened to her previous book, H is For Hawk, she’s a great narrator, so I’m really excited about this one.
“From the internationally acclaimed author of H is for Hawk comes Vesper Flights, a transcendent collection of essays about the human relationship to the natural world. In Vesper Flights Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved pieces, along with new essays on topics and stories ranging from nostalgia and science fiction to the true account of a refugee’s flight to the UK. Her pieces ranges from accounts of swan upping on the Thames to watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary to seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, what we do when we watch wildlife and why.
This is a book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make the world around us, by one of this century’s most important and insightful nature writers.”
CURRENT GIVEAWAYS
List of books I can swap with yours
Review copies (historical novel and horror) available at France Book Tours
And another one will be posted today or tomorrow,
in Middle Grade Historical fiction!
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER
📚 Now the big news for September 29 is my 10th blogiversary!!!
I want to do something special, but don’t know yet exactly what, so come back on September 4 to help me plan this big event!
HAVE YOU READ
OR ARE YOU PLANNING TO READ
ANY OF THESE?
WHAT ARE YOUR READING PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER?
I’m enjoying our French book club. I think a mystery was a good choice, though this one is a bit long! Hopefully we can make it all the way through.
I’ve enjoyed other books by Laurain and Helen Macdonald too. I didn’t know they have new books out, these look great.
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I’m glad too we can share about French books. I have great hopes for this new Laurain
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I was so excited for Vesper Flights and then I couldn’t quite get into it once I started reading it. I think I would return to it though if I was more in the mood for it. I’m looking forward to what you think of it, maybe will be enough for me to pick it up again 🙂
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oh oh, now you are scaring me!
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It was just very quiet and meditative and my mind was constantly racing because I needed to travel internationally last month and I was completely stressed about it. This wasn’t the material I could focus on in that moment at all! But I think if you don’t have any concentration issues like that then it’s probably wonderful 🙂
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yes, sometimes, the time is just not right for a specific book. I should be fine with that. And now I can play between audio or ebook
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Great TBR! I hope you will enjoy these. xx
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Thanks, so far so good. What are you reading now?
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You have got some great books coming up. I have had the Wind-up Bird Chronicle on my shelves forever. I think one of my daughters-in-law gave it to me. I must get to it. I could use some Murakami right about now.
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So far, I really like this one by Murakami. Typical of his
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Some nice books coming up! I haven’t read anything from Joël Dicker yet, but his books get some good reviews. Incl also curious about the one with Versailles on the cover 😍
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You should definitely try Dicker!
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Ten years is a long time for a blog, I think. You will have to celebrate big.
I just got Vesper Flights in for me to read. I hope to get into it today. I saw a great interview with the author at the Edinburgh Book Festival. She’s completely different than I expected her to be.
Hope your September is lovely. I guess you are starting to get some cooler weather.
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I wish I had had times for the Edinburgh festival. Now I’m curious, I’ll look for some other interviews with her.
Yes, cooler, which is not too great for me, I love the heat, and dread the upcoming cold.
Yes, a big ten years, so please give me ideas, I’m sure you have plenty
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L’Énigme de la chambre 622 sounds good and mysterious! 10 years for a blog is a great achievement, well done – a special celebration is definitely called for. I have another blog on wordpress dedicated to films, and that one will also celebrate 10 years – but in 2021 (I regret now that I have been on and off it for years).
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wow, very nice! I wonder how you will celebrate
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One of these days I will read Murakami! This is a great list of books!
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Yes, you should definitely try him
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