Perhaps unsurprisingly, the number of French books surged in the Big Read 2018, thanks to the relatively digestible BDs. Nevertheless, I’ve not quite yet mastered the art of reading sufficient non-BDs in French. I’ll try to up the ante this year. How about a minimum of 20 French non-BDs, 20 French BDs, and 30 English books?

En français
Non-BDs
01 | Petites misères d’une (presque) trentenaire – Madeleine de Place
02 | Le vieux que déjeunait seul – Léa Wiazemsky
03 | Hôtesse d’accueil dans une tour infernale – Séverine Camus
04 | Demain j’arrête – Gilles Legardinier
05 | Ça peut pas rater – Gilles Legardinier
06 | Du plus loin de l’oubli – Patrick Modiano
07 | La classe de neige – Emmanuel Carrère
08 | Les enfants de l’aube – Patrick Poivre d’Arvor
09 | L’Amour, accessoires – Fleur Breteau
10 | Une sirène à Paris – Mathias Malzieu
11 | Mission hygge – Caroline Franc
12 | Les aventures de Donovan S – Virginie Nuyen
13 | Le liseur du 6h27 – Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
14 | L’Herbe des nuits – Patrick Modiano
15 | Opération Napoléon – Arnaldur Indridason
16 | Tension extrême – Sylvain Forge
17 | Marx et la poupée – Maryam Madjidi
18 | La Daronne – Hannelore Cayre
19 | L’Élixir d’amour – Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
20 | Terre des hommes – Antione de Saint-Exupéry

BDs
01-02 | 5 Mondes: Tome 1-2 – Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Isabelle Troin
03 | Un drôle de père, Tome 1 – Yumi Unita
04 | Du sang sur les mains – Matt Kindt
05 | Nous n’irons pas voir Auschwitz – Jérémie Dres
06 | Roller girl – Victoria Jamieson
07 | Premières vendanges – Wandrille, Anne-Lise Nalin
08 | Lâcher prise – Miriam Katin
09-10 | La boîte à musique: Tome 1,2 – Gijé, Carbone
11 | L’Homme aux bras de mer – Thomas Azuélos, Simon Rochepeau
12 | Culottées: Tome 1 – Pénélope Bagieu
13 | Mauvais genre – Chloé Cruchaudet
14 | Love story à l’irannienne – Jane Deuxard, Deloupy
15 | Sailor Twain – Mark Siegel
16 | Le Port des Marins Perdus – Teresa Radice, Stefano Turconi
17 | De Rien – Geoffroy Monde
18 | Est-ce qu’on pourrait parler d’autre chose? – Roz Chast
19 | Le Gourmet Solitaire – Jirô Taniguchi, Masayuki Kusumi
20 | Les Rêveries d’un gourmet solitaire – Jirô Taniguchi, Masayuki Kusumi
21 | Tsunami – Pendanx, Piatzszek
22 | La Croisade des Innocents – Chloé Cruchaudet
23 | Le sauveteur – Jirô Taniguchi
24 | Un ciel radieux – Jirô Taniguchi
25 | Petit-fils à l’Algérie – Joël Alessandra
26 | Coupures irlandaises – Kris & Vincent Bailly
27 | Quatre couleurs – Blaise Guinin
28 | Les Damnés de Paris – Michaël Le Galli, Marie Jaffredo
29 | Hotel Pennington – Ced, Ileana
30-32 | La Balade de Yaya, intégrale en 3 tomes – Jean-Marie Omont, Golo Zhao
33 | Goupil ou face – Lou Lubie
34 | Seule – Denis Lapière, Richard Efa
35 | À bord de l’Aquarius – Marco Rizzo, Lelio Bonaccorso
36 | Le Journal d’Anne Frank – Ari Folman, David Polonsky
37 | C’est aujourd’hui que je vous aime – François Morel, Pascal Rabaté
38 | Paris 2119 – Zep, Bertail
39 | La Princesse de Clèves – Madame de la Fayette, Bouilhac & Catel
40 | Charlie Chan Hock Chye – Sonny Liew
41 | La Cantine de Minuit, Tome 4 – Yaro Abe
42 | En attendant Bojangles – Ingrid Chabbert, Carole Maurel
43-46 | Les Enfants de la Résistance, Tome 1-4 – Bênoit Ers & Vincent Dugomier
47 | Bienvenue en Chine – Milad Nouri & Tian-You Zheng
48-50 | Un sac de billes, Tome 1-3 – Vincent Bailly & Kris
51 | Monet, nomade de la lumière – Efa & Rubio

In English
Written words
01 | Memoirs of a Eurasian – Vivian Yang
02 | All the Lives I Want – Alana Massey
03 | Unmasking Miss Appleby – Emily Larkin
04 | The Vintage Caper – Peter Mayle
05 | The Dry – Jane Harper
06 | Force of Nature – Jane Harper
07 | Second Chances – Mary Balogh
08 | L’Appart – David Lebovitz
09 | Murder on the Menu – Nancy Skopin
10 | Murden over Cocktails – Nancy Skopin
11 | The Train – Georges Simenon
12 | The Little French Bistro – Nina George
13 | Listen to the Marriage – John Jay Osborn
14 | Start with Why – Simon Sinek
15 | Becoming – Michelle Obama
16 | Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling – Emer McLysaght, Sarah Breen
17 | The Importance of Being Aisling – Emer McLysaght, Sarah Breen
18 | The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband – Julia Quinn
19 | The Other Miss Bridgerton – Julian Quinn
20 | The Bitchy Waiter – Darron Cardosa
21 | The Art of Not Falling Apart – Christina Patterson
22 | Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney
23 | The Bride Test – Helen Hoang
24 | The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
25 | Normal People – Sally Rooney
26 | Today Will Be Different – Maria Semple
27 | A Year of Love – Jessica Wayne
28 | The Way You Make Me Feel – Maurene Goo
29 | You – Caroline Kepnes
30 | The Translator – Leila Aboulela
31 | Small Change – Dan Ariely, Jeff Kreisler
32 | Brave Enough – Cheryl Strayed
33 | This is How You Lose Her – Junot Díaz
34 | This is Where I Won’t be Alone – Inez Tan
35 | Machines Like Me – Ian McEwan
36 | Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
37 | Regrettable Things That Happened Yesterday – Jennani Durai
38 | The Position – Meg Wolitzer
39 | She Went All the Way – Meg Cabot
40 | Painting Home – Erika Jolma
41 | Maybe in Another Life – Taylor Jenkins-Reid
42 | The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
43 | The Chocolate Maker’s Wife – Karen Brooks
44 | The Friend Zone – Abby Jimenez
45 | The Night Tiger – Yangsze Choo
46 | Impractical Use of Cake – Yeoh Jo-Ann
47 | The Ones We Choose – Julie Clark
48 | The Naked Truth – Leslie Morgan
49 | The Couple – Sarah Mitchell
50 | The Flight Attendant – Chris Bohjalian
51 | If You Want to Make God Laugh – Bianca Marais
52 | Tell Me Everything – Cambria Brockman
53 | Heartburn – Nora Ephron
54 | My Ex-Life – Stephen McCauley
55 | The Farm – Joanne Ramos
56 | The Mother-in-Law – Sally Hepworth
57 | Brunch at Bittersweet Café – Carla Laureano
58 | Chambermaid – Saira Rao
59 | Eligible – Curtis Sittenfeld
60 | You’ll Think It, I’ll Say It – Curtis Sittenfeld
61 | When in French – Lauren Collins
62 | The Chocolate Money – Ashley Prentice Norton
63 | Loving Sylvie – Elizabeth Smither
64 | The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins
65 | An Anonymous Girl – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
66 | The Chef’s Secret – Crystal King
67 | The Parisians – Marius Gabriel
68 | Seducing Ingrid Bergman – Chris Greenhalgh
69 | Never Tell – Lisa Gardner
70 | The Stranger in my Home – Manish Nandy

Graphic novels
01 | Market Day – James Sturm
02 | 5 Worlds: Book 1 – Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel
03 | Logicomix – Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos Papadimitriou
04 | Pashmina – Nidhi Chanani
05 | The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo
06 | American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang
07 | A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
08 | Bingo Love – Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, Joy San
09 | Through the Woods – Emily Carroll
10-11 | 5 Worlds: Books 2-3 – Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel

31 December 2019 : It has been a year of mixed fortune, so I spent much of my time reading while searching for a new self and rebuilding my life. I don’t remember a year where I went through so many books, for which I’m grateful for the company and solace they offered.