Happy New Year from France!
2015 is over and it started and ended with terrorist attacks in Paris. It gave us the opportunity to see how united we can be around our core values, with the massive and peaceful march in January and all the gestures towards the Parisians last November. I hope it will be enough. Sometimes I really wonder about the world we live in. I hear racist and anti-Muslim comments around me from people I’d never expect to badmouth other French citizen for the colour of their skin or the curls in their hair; the last elections left a bad taste in my mouth. I wonder where we’re headed and I’m a bit worried. I hope that fear won’t get the better of us in the long term. The billets I published about these events are the ones that got the most comments and likes, thanks for the support. Let’s be optimistic and say that in 2016, the most commented billet will be about a book.
2015 was also the #TBR20 challenge year. What do I make of it? I’m rather proud I finished it but it really feels like I’ve been on one of these unhealthy diets where you only eat pineapples for weeks. Now I’m on the edge of a book buying binge and I’m not sure I learnt moderation. For 2016, I plan on reading at least one or two books per month which are already on my TBR. And I’ll try to read the new ones not long after I bought them.
Thanks to all the readers, commenters, passers-by and likers (does that even exist?) of Book Around The Corner. I am truly grateful for the time you give me. We all have busy lives. One thing I regret most is not having enough time to explore other blogs and I wish I could follow properly a lot more blogs than I actually do. The trouble is I need to be in front of a computer to read and comment because I always end up needing the dictionary at some point. And the more it goes, the harder it gets to start a computer at home after a day in front of one in the office. I’ll try to do better in 2016.
I hope you’ve had, you’re having or you will have a fantastic New Year’s Eve. I wish you the best for 2016, health, love, money, a lot of laughter and of course lots of wonderful books.
Book Around the Corner 
Happy New Year, Emma, and best wishes for 2016 and beyond.
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Happy New Year to you too, Dagny.
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Happy new year, Emma and happy posting
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Bonne année! I will follow your reading adventure with interest, even if I don’t always comment or read everything.
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what a lovely post, Emma! I love your work. Happy New Year to you!
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Thanks. Happy New Year to you too.
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Bonne année, Emma, j’aime bien votre blog. Merci pour tous les billets réfléchies. Cette année je *vais* lire André Gide, à coup sûr!
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Bonne année Lisa!
Je commence l’année avec The Hands de Stephen Orr. Il est long, j’en ai pour un moment. Il a fallu que j’aille sur internet pour voir des images de “ute”, je ne connaissais pas ce mot.
Quel Gide? J’ai Les faux-monnayeurs sur ma PAL. On peut le lire ensemble?
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Ah oui, le ‘ute’ est une abréviation pour l’utilité (comme pickup truck aux États-Unis).
Gide: j’ai Strait is the Gate et The Immoralist en anglais et aussi L’immoraliste sur mon Kindle en français. Je pense que je pourrais lire un chapitre d’abord en français, puis en anglais donc il va me prendre un certain temps. Et d’abord je dois finir Indiana…
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J’ai essayé de prononcer le mot, et je me suis effectivement dit que ça venait de “utilitaire”.
L’immoraliste est un beau livre. Je ne suis pas fan de George Sand en tant qu’auteur. Je n’ai pas lu Indiana.
Est-ce qu’il existe des éditions bilingues? Page de gauche en français et page de droite en anglais? Ici, ça existe de plus en plus. Je viens d’acheter un recueil de poèmes de Keats avec les deux langues face à face, c’est super.
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Oui, c’est vrai: ‘Ute’ is pronounced ‘yoot’ to rhyme with ‘boot’, ‘fruit’ or ‘lute’. The ‘y’ is voiced , as in ‘you’. Some Australians might not pronounce the ‘t’ distinctly.
Hmm, des éditions bilingues ici? Je ne sais pas. La prochaine fois que je suis dans la ville je vais aller à The Foreign Language Bookshop – peut-être?
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J’espère que tu vas en trouver. C’est très pratique, ces éditions bilingues.
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Thank you for being such a thoughtful blogger and a warm-hearted person – I really enjoyed meeting you in person as well this year and hope we’ll get to meet again before I leave France!
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Thanks Marina. I had a great time with you in Lyon as well.
Want to play hooky from work and family and spend a day in Lyon together? When do you leave? email me if you want to do something.
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Happy New Year, Emma, and very best wishes for 2016!
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Thanks Anthony.
Happy New Year to you too. I like your blog, it’s different from the others.
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Happy New Year to you too, Emma! Hope your year is filled with lots of wonderful books and book-ish treasures 🙂
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Thanks Vishy.
Happy New Year to you too. I wish you the best for 2016 in your personal and bookish life.
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Thanks Emma 🙂
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Happy New Year Emma.
Hopefully in 2016 we will see a lot more peace.
I also find that I need to be in front of a computer in order to read and comment on other peoples blogs. It seems too difficult on mobile devices.
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Happy New Year Brian.
I hope you’re right and that 2016 will be better.
So, I’m not the only one needing a computer!
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Happy New Year to you too, Emma! Let’s pray that people will surprise us spreading love and peace instead of hatred and war.
I share your regret about not having more time for reading and following blogs. It’s true that after a whole day in front of a computer at the office, it costs quite an effort to start the one at home…
To a fruitful blogging year!
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Happy New Year, Edith.
I really hope I’ll do better with following other blogs. I enjoy reading about someone else’s reads and discovering new books.
Happy new blogging year!
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A happy new year (also from France!) to you too, Emma!
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Happy New Year to you too and have a safe trip home.
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For some reason WP turned OFF all e-mail notifications of new blog posts. Here I was thinking that everyone was off on holiday or something….
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Happy New Year, Guy! And I hope WP will stop the pranks! 🙂
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Bonne année, bonnes lectures, et bons voyages Emma! Enjoy your binge buying if you succomb, and I hope you’ll be able to follow it up with some binge reading! Moi aussi je passe tres peu de temps sur les blogs (ceux des autres et aussi le mien) apres avoir passé toute la journée devant l’ordinateur. C’est trop fatigant pour les yeux, et puis c’est déja dur de trouver du temps pour lire ses livres sans avoir en plus toutes les tentations qui viennent de la blogosphere! Donc je me limite aux blogs que je connais et apprécie déja, comme Bookaroundthecorner.
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Bonne année à toi aussi.
Un de mes prochains billets sera sur Sindbad ou la nostalgie. Note Book Blub lit Szerb en février. De la littérature hongroise en perspective!
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J’ai Sindbad ou la nostalgie sur mes étageres, je serai curieuse de savoir ce que tu en penses. Quel Szerb pour février? Je pourrai peut-etre me joindre a vous?
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Sindbad: ça va être très dur d’écrire un billet en anglais là dessus. Je n’ai pas le vocabulaire et je ne sais pas s’il existe. Il me faut le vocabulaire amoureux français et je ne connais pas son équivalent en anglais. (je me demande s’il existe) Du coup, je ne sais pas quoi faire. Peut-être que ce sera un billet en français.
Szerb: On lit Le voyageur et le clair de lune. Ce serait sympa de le lire ensemble.
On a également Couleurs et années de Margit Kaffka en avril.
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Bon courage pour Sindbad, je suis maintenant encore plus curieuse de live ce livre!
Pour le Szerb, je me joindrai á vous avec plaisir. Vous avez une date. Pour Kaffka, je crois que je vais me le garder pour une autre occasion.
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