Now, as I had completed Chapter I, I decided to fully listen to an audioversion of it following the text. Here is the version, very good quality and clean: https://www.litteratureaudio.com/livre-audio-gratuit-mp3/gustave-flaubert-madame-bovary.html/comment-page-14
Chapter II started very promising! I managed to clear the first two sentences not having to look up a single translation or grammar rule. Then of course new words appeared
Nastasie descendit les marches en grelottant, et alla ouvrir la serrure et les verrous, l’un après l’autre. (Nastasie shivered as she walked down the stairs and went to unlock the door, one lock after another.)
Grelotter - to shiver. I am a summer person and can’t stand any winter or cold, so this is going to be a useful word for me. Je grelotte les hivers.
La serrure - a lock. Pairing it with a key by looking it up. Je trouve la clé de la serrure dans ma poche (I find the key from the lock in my pocket)
Il tira de dedans son bonnet .. une lettre (He pulled a letter out of his hat)
Dedans! It’s like dans but with de! I don’t want to think too hard about it, so I guess to myself that dans is like ‘in’ and dedans is like ‘inside’. Je ne ose pas oublier le poissons dedans. (I wouldn’t dare to leave the fish inside) ou dans le réfrigérateur (or in the fridge)
Words like “houppes” or “chiffon” I usually skip, as not only they are hyperspecific about clothing, they are hyperspecific about historical terms and things not used these days, people don’t dress like that. So this is basically like reading classics in my native language, there I also think to myself “Ah, alright, some clothes” and move on.