2017 has been a good year bookwise.
I read 56 books and a bunch of them were really awesome. But Let's start with the 'not so good' IMO.
These just didn't do it for me.
Some more than others.
Some were cute and corny (Wating to Exhale), some were plain corny (Here on Earth).
Some were too dense for me (Heart of Darkness), some were a disappointement (the Orchid Thief).
Some bored me (Orlando, The Corrections).
The rest was just ok -.
I was very disappointed by The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. I had seen this book everywhere and it had such good reviews. It turned out I didn't like it at all. The main character was far from likeable, and the story, just meh.
Ballard's Crash was another book I didn't like. 250pages of sex and cars, cars and crashes and sex... Enough already.
Another pile of books I didn't really appreciate, or didn't appreciate at all.
Corny to death: A Reliable Wife, One day, the Door to December, The Little Friend.
Boring to death: Henry and June.
I wish I had enjoyed Beloved by Toni Morrison but the style was too dense for me, the story was awesome though.
The God of Small things was not too bad.
The Killer inside Me was a weird one, I was pretty disappointed. I couldn't help comparing it to American Psycho, a book I love, and IMO it didn't hold a candle to it. :s
The Tales of the City: I tried reading it a decade ago and got so bored after a hundred pages. Same thing, it bored me a lot but this time I finished it.
I don't even remember The Autobiography of my Mother by Jamaica Kincaid. :s
These I liked better.
Books I liked pile #1
Fun, easy reads: The Shining, Mama, The ABC Murders, Dumb Witness, The Virgin Blue, And Ten There Were None.
Interesting reads: Cat's eye, The Fire next Time, Girls visions and Everything, Reflection in a Golden Eye, of Mice and Men, East of Eden, I Put a Spell on You.
The thing is I sorted out my books into piles. I am going to sell the first two piles of books since I didn't like them. The rest (the other three piles) I will keep.
I didn't quite like How to Kill a Mockingbird, but I can't sell my copy because it is covered in notes in ever colory of the rainbow.
Books I liked pile #2
Fun easy reads: Halloween Party, Murder on the Orient Express, Garden Spells, Dancing Shoes, The Girl on the Train (made me want to read more thrillers in 2018).
Interesting reads: The Remains of the Day, The Handmaid's Tale, The Edible Woman, Eileen, The Luminaries.
Books I loved. (In no particular order)
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood: This book unsettled me, I felt so weird after reading it, very ill at ease. It made me want to read more Margaret Atwood, which I did. It's probably the author I read the most in 2017 :p
Rebecca by Daphné Du Maurier: I loved it so much!!!! The atmosphere, the style, the characters, the suspense... There's nothing to throw away in this one... This book kept me awake twice till 3AM. Can't wait to read more du Maurier.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler: When I finished it I was a little disappointed by the apparent simplicity of the plot. But it is not so much the plot, but the idea of the plot that gave me much food for thought. Another author I want to read more from in 2018.
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada: I don't know why I bought this book. Anything with a remote link to war is a no-no for me. I loved this book. It was beautiful. The story is grasping and the characters fascinating.
The Glass Castle par Jeannette Walls: What a captivating story of this weird family. I loved the style and the characters. Awesome!
Things Fall Apart par Chinua Achebe: Very fluid read about a boy in his African village.
Martin Eden by Jack London: Didn't think I would like this one for some reason but I loved it. The story speaks to me since Martin Eden is basically my BF. :D
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall: I really loved the part where Stephen is a kid. After that it was good but not as good. Very interesting read nonetheless.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: What a beautiful book. This one touched me to the core.
The Imperfectionnists by Tom Rachman: Found this book on the street in Toronto, didn't think it would be any good, well, it was!!! Such a gripping story of all these characters linked together somehow. The story unfold in a series of short stories about each character. Very well done.
At the very end of 2016, I started using index cards to write a little something about every book I read. 2017 was my first whole year doing this and I enjoyed it immensely.
I don't write about the books exactly but more about what I felt reading them, what I was doing (mostly eating or drinking). I talk about food a lot, reading these cards made me hungry.
A mess of books.
Sorry for the crappy tablet pictures.
In 2018 I'll try to make a monthly article of my readings, because reviewing 50+ books in one post is just not working for me anymore.
2018 is going to be a good book year I reckon. I found a very cheap bookshop online (The monster Bookshop on Amazon, it calculates the shipping fees!!!) and got a little crazy, buying 80 books :/
Oh well, I don't even regret it the tiniest bit. On the contrary :)
