Paris in July 2022: Day 6

Paris in July 2022 (Bigger Sunset)

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

Day 6

Sharing more on the 26 French books I have read so far this year.
Actually a lot of these I have listened to.

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

Read in April-May:

Code Lupin Vanda

Code Lupin
The very first by Bussi. Not too good back then.

Vanda
VERDICT: Another powerful and very touching portrait of precariousness by Marion Brunet. She won’t let you be indifferent, and might even change your view of contemporary France.

Code 612 Nouvelle Babel

Code 612 : Qui a tué le Petit Prince ?
This one is a fun enigma trying to decipher a possible code hidden in The Little Prince, that would reveal what happened ultimately to its author – his body was never found.
I liked how Bussi managed to come up with so many ideas, based on true events, places, and texts.

Nouvelle Babel
Wow, another fantastic novel by Bussi, this time a mix of scifi, dystopia, and thriller. And a majestic reflection on totalitarianism, freedom, and globalization.
Plus a fantastic sample of the most amazing places on earth – not surprising from a geography teacher!
Technology now allows people to teleport wherever they want – almost. But at what cost?

L'Axe du loup La Nuit des temps

L’Axe du loup
Another brilliant book by Tesson. This time, he wants to walk in the footsteps of the 7 prisoners who escaped (maybe?) from the gulag, as retold in the fascinating book, The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, by Slavomir Rawicz.

La Nuit des temps
I loved how this scifi book worked on the tension between the very old and the new (some of the inventions described in that book exist now, but not when he wrote the book I believe).

  Les Dieux voyagent toujours incognito Le Pays où l'on n'arrive jamais

Les dieux voyagent toujours incognito
Like in Intuitio, Gounelle seems to enjoy focusing on some psychological dimension. At the beginning, this novel even sounds like a self-help book about self-confidence.
But it becomes much more than that, and goes from twists to more twists!

Le Pays où l’on n’arrive jamais
I adored it as a teen.
Just as sublime. Loved it so much, and I’m sure I appreciated even more the amazing descriptions of nature, of forests.

  Le voyage d'Octavio The Mystery of Henri Pick

Le Voyage d’Octavio
This is the delightful portrait of a both simple (illiterate even at first) and sophisticated man (a real artist) in Venezuela.

Le Mystère Henri Pick
Wow, how come I had never read anything by Foenkinos?
Really enjoyed this mystery/literary fiction focused on the world of books, libraries, authors, and publication.
I loved the characters, their stories, and how one plot leads to the next.

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

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2022: April wrap-up

APRIL 2022 WRAP-UP

April was a super busy month, tons of teaching hours and a lot of time in Church (Great Lent, Great Week, Pascha), which often would leave me very tired for my usual evening reading hours.
So this is the most pathetic month. I can’t even recall a month where I would have read so few pages… Though at least I have almost reviewed them all!
But my first three months were full of books, so I’m still 8 books ahead of schedule (39% done) to read 120 books this year.

I note that of the 7 books I read 3 are in French and 3 were translated from other languages. Quite characteristic.

I wasn’t able to participate in memes, but I hope to be restarting this coming week.

📚 Here is what I read in April:

7 books:
4 in print 
with 823 pages, a daily average of 27 pages/day
3 in audio
= 24H30
, a daily average of 49 minutes

5 in mystery:

  1. Death Going Down, by Maria Angelica Bosco – For the #1954Club
  2. Code Lupin, by Michel Bussi – French audiobook
  3. Vanda, by Marion Brunet – received for review
  4. Code 612: Qui a tué le Petit Prince ?, by Michel Bussi – French audiobook
  5. The Man in the Queue, by Josephine Tey – my Spin for The Classics Club

1 in science-fiction:

  1. Nouvelle Babel, by Michel Bussi – French audiobook

1 in literary fiction:

  1. Moshi Moshi, by Banana Yoshimoto

Yes, you read that right, 3 audiobooks by Michel Bussi!

MY FAVORITE BOOKS THIS PAST MONTH

Vanda The Man in the Queue

READING CHALLENGES & RECAP

Classics Club: 115/137 (from November 2020-until November 2025)
Japanese Literature Challenge: 9/12 books – During the year: 10
2022 TBR Pile Reading Challenge: 0/12 books
2022 books in translation reading challenge
: 16/10+

Total of books read in 2022 = 47/120 (39%)
Number of books added to my TBR this past month = 3

 NO OTHER BOOK  REVIEWED THIS PAST MONTH

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NO REVIEW COPIES AVAILABLE

BUT we offer a Book Box!

MOST POPULAR BOOK REVIEW THIS PAST MONTH

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

click on the cover to access my review

MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
– NON BOOK REVIEW –

My top 8 books for the 1954 Club

BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH

Stuck in a Book
please go visit, there are a lot of good things there!

TOP COMMENTERS 

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Come back tomorrow to see the titles I’ll be reading in May

How was YOUR month of APRIL?

2022-Monthly-Wrap-Up-Round-Up400

Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!

Book review: Vanda

Vanda

Vanda,
by Marion Brunet.
Vanda
was first published in 2020.
Translated from the French by
Katherine Gregor
Bitter Lemon Press
US release date 4/19/2022
Psychological thriller
Noir fiction
208 pages
Goodreads

Buy the book

According to my experience with Marion Brunet’s previous novel, Summer of Reckoning, I was not expecting a rosy novel.
Here again in Vanda, we find the portrait of life and misery in France, but this time in Marseille, and focused on a mother and her son, struggling to survive among many difficulties. Click to continue reading