Third Crime is the Charm #10 : China, Britain and Ancient Egypt
September and October have been incredibly busy months at work and I turned to easy crime fiction for entertainment. Big TBRs are comforting, you know you’ll always find something that’ll suit your...
View ArticleClean Slate #7: Spain, Italy, Russia and Québec
After catching up with crime fiction, let’s do the same with other books. This literary journey will take us to Madrid and London, to a fictional Italian town, to Russia during the Bolshevik era and to...
View ArticleThose We Thought We Knew by David Joy – America needs his kind of writers....
Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy (2023) French title: Les deux visages du monde. “You know, it’s always torn me up how everywhere else in this country people want to act like the South’s got some...
View ArticleRazorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby – brilliant
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (2021) French title: La colère. Translated by Pierre Szczeciner I got my copy of Razoblade Tears signed at Quais du Polar in the Spring, after I was blown away by All The...
View ArticleLiterary escapade. From Missoula to Lyon: an evening with Pete Fromm at...
In French we don’t say TGIF, we say Vivement dimanche!, literally Finally Sunday! Isn’t it a great name for a bookstore since Sundays are wonderful reading days? Of course, Vivement Dimanche is also a...
View ArticleIf Not For This by Pete Fromm – my most ardent desire
If Not For This by Pete Fromm (2014) French title : Mon désir le plus ardent. Translated by Juliane Nivelt. The blurb of If Not For This by Pete Fromm is perfect and I wouldn’t write anything as good...
View ArticleNovellas in November – #NovNov24 : North Carolina, Québec and Paris.
I’m just on time to publish this billet about three novellas I read in November and participate to Novellas in November hosted by Cathy of 746Books and Rebecca of BookishBeck. I also read Oliver VII by...
View ArticleFlyover by Douglas Kennedy – a book and a rencontre
Flyover by Douglas Kennedy (2023) French title: Et c’est ainsi que nous vivrons. Translated by Chloé Royer. Douglas Kennedy is, I think, an author better known in France than in his own country. His...
View ArticleOliver VII by Antal Szerb – a timely and timeless tale
Oliver VII by Antal Szerb (1942) French title: Oliver VII Translated by Chantal Philippe. Oliver VII is my third Antal Szerb after Journey by Moonlight and The Pendragon Legend. We’re in Alturia, a...
View ArticleSukkwan Island by David Vann – when too many Nature Writing books clue you in.
Sukkwan Island by David Vann (2014) French title: Sukkwan Island. Translated by Laura Derajinski. Set in the Alaskan wilderness, Sukkwan Island by David Vann tells the story of Jim, a father who...
View ArticleThe Ploughmen by Kim Zupan – western Noir.
The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan (2014) French title: Les arpenteurs. Translated by Laura Derajinski. The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan is set in Copper County, Montana. It’s a fictional county, probably near Great...
View ArticleGreetings!
If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you wonderful moments with your friends and family. This end of year has been full of gloom. A string of catastrophes and bad news seems to have swept over the world....
View ArticleIochka by Cristian Fulaş – the old man and Romania
Iochka by Cristian Fulaş (2021) French title: Iochka Translated by Florica and Jean-Louis Courriol. I received Iochka by Cristian Fulaş in my Kube subscription and I was happy with the choice. It...
View Article2024 : My year at the theatre
Cabaret, circus, dance, musicals and shows Fat Men Know How to Skate by Martin Salvan & Pierre Guillois. Original French title: Les gros patinent bien. The subtitle of this play is “cardboard...
View ArticleBye bye 2024, hello 2025!
Before we go into New Year’s celebration, a quick picture of my bookish Christmas presents: books and… fishing flies! Many thanks to the Maine book bloggers and friends who sent me these books in...
View ArticleMy 2024 reading plans: how did that go?
I had a lot of reading plans for 2024, it felt quite ambitious at the time, so, how did it go? First, my Reading with Séverine readalong. This is where I read a book per month with my sister-in-law. We...
View ArticleMy best reads of 2024
Now that we’ve looked into what became of my reading plans for 2024 and before sharing my reading plans for 2025, let’s take a look at my favorite reads of 2024. I read and abandoned 89 books this...
View ArticleMy reading plans for 2025 – lots of fun and books
Now that 2024 is over and all the best-of billets have been written, it’s time to turn to my 2025 Reading Plans. Since it worked well in 2024, I’m still doing three of my previous readalongs and...
View ArticleClean State #8 : two abandoned books, a Christmas tale, New Year’s texts and...
You’d think I’d have enough time during the Christmas break to catch up on all the billets of the TBW pile. But no. So here I am doing another Clean Slate billet. Let’s start with two books I...
View ArticleThird Crime Is the Charm #11 : Women stories in Utah, in France, Britain and...
Somehow, I managed to read four crime fiction books, all different and all about women stories. The series started by Black Widows by Cate Quinn and it was very creepy and left me reeling. Blake Nelson...
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