I read Le Gone du Chabaâ about a year ago, to decide which book to choose for the 2nd year A-level. I read 6 novels, all brilliant. But quickly stopped looking up every word I didn't know, instead getting a sense of the meaning from the context. I therefore missed some of the finer descriptions, but instead was able to progress with the storyline. I look up important words when you clearly realise it's important to the story. Before this batch, in A-level year 1, I read through the FFL series Monde en VF published by Didier, starting at international A2 level and finishing with the B2 books (A-level French and L211 level). They are all brilliant, except I couldn't get into Un Cerf d'Automne. I have since reread quite a few of them, getting more out of them!! www.mondesenvf.com. I particularly liked 'Papa et autres nouvelles'. All available on Amazon.fr which uses your UK login and payment details. My French level is just that of just completed A-level French and I understand L211! But my spoken French is tiresome to a French listener, I watch their eyes glazing over as I stumble along :)  I started private convo lessons at the start of the year at Inlingua, they are brilliant, before that I could only say boo in French. Money well spent I think, mon enseignante tells me she sees or rather hears results. The 20 words a day was a goal, achieved only occasionally! But those days felt great hehe.

Antidote we were encouraged to use during a summer French language course at the University of Lausanne, attended predominantly by prospective students. So I reckoned it must be good and it is! It automatically checks emails and internet (except I haven't got the latter to work) plus anything else you write in any programme, if you highlight it then click on the green tick in the floating Antidote bar, or on the Antidote icon. It presents your text in a separate window. Just double click on a red underlined word to correct it. Orange underlined means beware, this word has different sounds/spellings. Squigly lines: you're not making sense. So you play around a bit to see if it will accept your new phrase :) Agreement, add an 's' with one click. Also a verb in any tense, highlight it, click on the dictionary icon, and its entry pops up, with all the other options such as Conjugation, Antonymes, etc etc. Well worth the outlay. The corrections are automatically and simultaneously made in the original doc. 

Yes the online Oxford Hatchett's is now called Oxford Dictionaries. I prefer online because of the larger text, and the super fast search/find within the entry.

I listen to French radio at every opportunity via TuneIn Radio app and Sonos wifi speakers, and in the car. You can set up TuneIn online I think. I didn't understand anything just odd words two years ago, but painfully persevered, it was so boring, and one day I suddenly realised I understood nearly all of it. So that really works.

As an aside, other French literature I really enjoyed reading was La vie devant soi by Romain Gary, Voltaire's Candide in dual language version for fast vocab check, this book's content is 18th C at its most shocking! L'Etranger by Camus (my exam choice), La gloire de mon père and Le chateau de ma mère by Marcel Pagnol, La place by Annie Arnaut, Un sac de billes by Joseph Joffo. For each one I also had the GB version for fast vocab checking when really necessary.

Looking forward to other people's favourite, most useful apps etc. Possibly will be the same?...