Paris in July 2022
#ParisinJuly
Co-hosted by Readerbuzz and Thyme For Tea

Day 4

So far this year, I have read 24 books in French, plus two translated from the French.
So I’m going to take a few posts to talk to you about them, by chronological order.

Click on the covers to read my full review, or get more details on the book.

Read in January:

Red is My Heart was actually my very first read of the year!
VERDICT: If you want to begin 2022 with love and beauty, heart and art, run right away under the glow of Red is My Heart.

Gravé dans le sable :
I loved it all: all the historical and geographical details (from Normandie to several states in the US), the power of politics and money, daily life in a French village.
Great characters, more complex than at first site.
Also, how some very powerful women take fate in their own hands, and others end up victims.
And obviously an incredible suspense.

Les Fourmis :
Wow, impressive scifi by a new to me French author.
When we think scifi, we often think extra-terrestrial creatures.
But what about “infra-terrestrial” ones?
When Jonathan inherits a house form an uncle, he gets a letter from him, telling him never to go down to the cellar! Of course, one day, he does go down, I don’t think that’s a surprising spoiler. And then his wife does as well. When they don’t come back up, their young son finally calls the police…

Entre deux mondes :
Phew, what a punch in the stomach. Can I listen to a more powerful historical mystery in 2022? I doubt it.
This is about the terrible situation of migrants in our world today, from Syria to the awful Jungle, the Calais refugee camp in France, just before it was dismantled. With their dreams of crossing to the UK.
I read this in January and it is still very present to me.

L’Inconnue de la Seine :
It was ok. There were some interesting elements, especially related to the theater and to Dionysus, but some aspects I didn’t like too much, like three different variations on mental health.

L’Affaire Saint-Fiacre :
The first half of the book was excellent, with great atmospheric details, as Simenon knows how to do. It was also involving Maigret more personally, and painfully so, as the crime sends him back to where he lived as child.
An old countess is found dead at church shortly after Mass. But no one seemed to have come around her to kill her, so how was is done? By whom? Why?
Unfortunately, the plot got really muddled

Les Chemins du cœur :
The book is a collection of 15 articles on various topics. I shared lots of notes and translated them into English.

HAVE YOU READ THESE BOOKS?
OR BOOKS BY THESE AUTHORS?