Bookshops in Memphis

At first I was very saddened not to find a bookshop in Memphis just roaming the streets without a real direction. 

In Toronto, a month prior, we came by so many bookstores just taking a walk. Memphis necessited a little research. And Memphis bookshops, once found, did not disappoint.

The two I liked best were in the same area. A very cute little part of town with a bunch of other shops and restaurants.

Here is Burke's Book Store.

Right accross the street from the bookshop there is  a cat adoption agency with lots of cats in the window. My brother and I went nuts for a few minutes. Yeah, we missed our cats back home.

Inside of Burke's. I told my brother to go sit down because he was behind me everystep I took and it was driving me crazy. :p

The owner of Burke's was very friendly and the selection overall was good. I found a few books.

But the real gem book-wise in my opinion is Xanadu Music and Books.

It's in an actual house and all the rooms are filled with books. I found many books at Xanadu's and I was very happy to find a whole section devoted to black writers and black history.

They have a huge selection of everything, some quite old editions for a cheap price, I really loved this place. 

Plus we chatted with the owners, they were adorable. They also have a very friendly cat. I loved this place so much.

Memphis was all about exploring, there is not much at first glance. Thank God for the internet so we were able to find places like this one.

This is my last post about this city. As a conclusion I'll just say that Memphis now holds a special place in my heart, I had the most thrilling trip I've had in a while going there. I think it really changed me. 

Motel Life

These four pictures pretty much sum up what life was like in our motel room.

First, my messy bed.

Our messy nightstand and beer.

Watching TV from the bed.

The Matrix this time, but also Impractical Jokers a lot and many true crime shows.

What is not pictured though: my brother eating tons of candy, me making tea A LOT, my brother watching South Park on his tablet and laughing out loud, the two of us washing our clothes in the bathtub... Good times! :p

Memphis 12XP

I'm not done with Memphis yet, I just got back the last two rolls from the trip.

These pictures were shot with my Zenit 12xp.

It kind of breaks my heart to see these today. I had such a good time in Memphis, it was such an overwhelming trip.

My brother is talking about going on another trip with me. Could 2017 have this in store for me please?

Downtown.

In 2017...

In 2017 I want to:

Travel

Read

Knit/Paint/Sew/Take Film Pictures.

That's as simple as that.

2016 Readings - Comics Edition

I discovered comics in 2016. And started a little collection of my own.

I'm not completely a stranger to comics, my dad owns more than 2500 and I read a bunch of them when I was a kid. He is more into historic stuff or comics like Tintin.

I started at the beginning of the year with these.

Nemi by Lise Myhre: It all started with this. I kept bumping into strips of this comic on the internet and read a whole bunch, I wanted to own the real thing. I'm not a big fan of virtual stuff when it comes to music or movies or books, I like to have the object in my hands. Nemi is OK, sometimes very funny, and I love the 'coup de crayon'(pencil work?).

The Worrier's Guide To Life by Gemma Correll: I had seen this book in a shop prior, and I have to say the titlle spoke to me of course. I was a little disappointed with how little material there actually is in this book. Lots of blank pages. But it over all it was cute.

Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen: I pre-ordered this one. Some of the strips are hilarious and oh so true!!! This one is my absolute favorite. Especially true for me in 2016.

My favorite of this batch was Soppy by Philippa Rice. I adored the drawings and the story, something so mundane and yet so beautiful. So simple yet I'm sure it came with A LOT of work. It's also very touching.

Then in June, my birthday came, and Greg had the brilliant idea to give me comics as a present. It was awesome. :p

Qui mange des couteaux by Zoé Jusseret: Kind of weird in the story, there is no dialogue.but the drawings are master pieces. Each one is a work of art.Very enchanting.  

Commando Culotte by Mirion Malle: Learning about feminism  through movies and TV shows. I liked it so much I bought a copy for my brother's birthday.

Kiki de Montparnasse by Catel et Bocquet: Very interesting biography of this parisian icon. I loved the black and white drawings.

Then came our trip to Toronto in September.

Black Hole by Charles Burns: I wanted to read this classic. I found it for CAN $8. I'm not a big fan of the graphic style, the story was intriguing but a little too dark for me maybe.

Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine: Probably my least favorite of all I bought in 2016. Didn't like it much. 

Wendy by Walter Scott: I loved it. The story of this quite superficial girl who wants to be an artist. I guess I really like everyday life stories.

The aftermath, back from Toronto.

Julia Wertz: I really love what she does. It's funny, it has no filter and above all it's autobiographical! Everything I think I love in a comic.

The aftermath part 2.

Patience by Daniel Clowes: Last year I read Ghost World for the first time, loved it and thought it would be nice to read a little more by Daniel Clowes. Well, this was completely different from Ghost World. I found it OK. I had a good time, but not quite my thing though. 

Back from Memphis, Greg strikes again. 

When I got back from a vacation in Memphis with my brother, Greg had got me these. For no reason. How thoughtful is this.

Culottés 1 by Pénélope Bagieu: Stories of different strong women through history. They are not particularly famous but they stood their ground on whatever was thrown at them. I loved it so much I pre-ordered the second volume that should be in my mailbox by February 2nd. :D

Le Féminisme by Thomas Mathieu et Anne-Charlotte Husson: Even though it was rather interesting, I wasn't thrilled by this one. Too dense, too much information in too little space.

Well, Greg clearly has a pattern, feminism!!!

To finish the year with.

See You Next Tuesday by Jane Mai: Even though this one was very autobiographical, I didn't quite like it. I couldn't explain why. Maybe because things were so disconnected from one another. I don't know.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel: I'm in awe of her work. Such an incredible graphic style, a touching story, so many references to books... This is such a precise work. I can't wait to read more by her.

Wendy's Revenge by Walter Scott: I'm very disappointed by this one. It lacked something the first volume had. I can't quite put my finger on it. I think the first one was more straightforward, maybe honest and this one was just quite the same story all over again but without spunk.

And the winners are...

My two favorites are:

This is probably why I am so disappointed in the sequel, this one set the standard pretty high for me. 

It was so entertaining and interesting at the same time. I can't wait to get the second one in the mail!!

With the money I got from my family for Christmas, I indulged myself in a little shopping spree. 

These are the first three books I received, I'm waiting on another half dozen to show up.

I'll probably die soon, when our appartment will collapse under the weight of our books, comics, CDs and DVDs... We live in such an old building...

Well, I regret nothing. Maybe that I didn't get into comics sooner.

2016 Readings 2/2

2016 readings, Part Two. 

Category Books I liked.

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings: After having seen the movies countless times, I thought it was time I gave the books a read. And it was so worth it!!! 

Jamaica Kincaid - Lucy: Loved the style and the story of this au-pair living with an American family.

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions: Very original and fun. I particularly enjoyed the story of the alien who communicates through tap dancing and farting. Still has me laughing like a mad person.

John Fante - Ask the Dust: Loved the story and the style.

Andrea Levy - Small Island: Except for the war time scenes (I really don't like anything about war stories or stories during war times), I really enjoyed this book and the relationships between the characthers that were beautifully written.

Carson McCullers - the Member of the Wedding: Love her style, love her stories. So much atmosphere, emotion and beauty in darkness.

Yvvette Edwards - the Mother: Her previous book was my favorite from 2015 so I was very excited when I learnt that she was releasing a book in 2016. The story of a mother whose son got killed, how she copes with it.

Jamaica Kincaid - My Garden Book: I've been very interested in plants and flowers this year. I spent a lot of time taking care of my little hanging garden at the window and was very happy to find this book. It was nice to read about somebody else's garden. The only thing I didn't like was her tendancy to collect flowers as if they were mass production goods, sounded like consumerism, not love of nature.

Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: Very carefully crafted story, Good time for me.

Andrea Levy - Fruit of the Lemon: Loved the story of this England born girl from two Jamaican parents who decides to go visit Jamaica for the very first time as a young adult.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah: Awesome read. Love the style. I guess I really like when authors oppose two different cultures.

Stefan Zweig - Chess game: Original story. Very well written.

John Steinbeck - The Wayward Bus: So many books... I'm almost done...I'm starting to lose it. Well, I loved this one. I don't remember why exactly, even though I didn't read it that long ago. I guess it's because it's a feel good book and I can't wait to read more of Steinbeck's. I have a couple in stock. 

Doris Lessing - the Grass is Singing: Once again I don't really remember a lot about this book. Just that I really liked it. Hum...

Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man: Kind of dense sometimes but a great read nonetheless.

Alice Walker - The Color Purple: What's wrong with my memory??? I know I liked it but I can't recall much.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - We Should All Be Feminists: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is F****** brilliant.

Bret Easton Ellis - Less than Zero: I love, love his style.

Carson McCullers - The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: Not my favorite from her, but still good, still good.

Maya Angelou - i know Why the Caged Bird Sing: I love how funny she can be. Her life clearly deserves to be told. She is strong and free.

Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha: This one really hit close to home. Findind your way in life, making your own path, even though that's not the road your parents wanted you to take. That's how I took it.

Maya Angelou - Gather Together in my Name: I was glad to find the sequel to I know Why the Caged Bird Sing in this one.

Two books I loved.

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange: It took me a while to grasp the depth of this one but in the end it blew my mind. I have never seen the movie and I'm glad the book was my first approach to this incredible story.

Richard Wright - Black Boy: I wasn't expecting such a tale. I can't explain why I loved it so much but I did. The story is poignant, the style is easy and yet interesting.

And these are my top 3 books of 2016, in no particular order.

Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: What a wonderful book! Full of rich characters. I loved it so much I bought my Mom a copy. I particulary enjoyed the character of the aunt. What a fun and free woman.

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: I trully discovered McCullers work in 2016, and this book is everything I was waiting for in a book. Deep characters, beautiful story, atmosphere. The ending, even though I didn't see it coming, was really something I wanted to read some day.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Purple Hibiscus: This book!! Kids living in a very strict and respectable family spend their vacation at their 'cool' aunt's home with her own kids. It was powerful and fresh. 

Well, that's it for the novels and autobiographies. I'll soon do a post of the comics I read in 2016.

Now I'll just go knit a sock to unwind after reviewing all these books...

2016 Readings 1/2

First of all, happy new year!!

Now that's out of the way ( :p ) on to the books I read in 2016. Reading as many books as I could was my resolution for 2016 and I can gladly say I achieved this goal. I read 63 books, I have never read that much in a year in my entire life. I have never bought that many books as well (novels, comics and photography), I would say I bought a hundred books in 2016.

I spent the summer months and beautiful spring days at the window reading and it's really something I would like to do again this year. It was simply awesome.

Today I said goodbye to this old friend, the big stack of books by my bed and I will try to review each one of them as well as I can, since it's been a while and I don't remember clearly all of them.

It shouldn't be a problem next year because I bought a tiny binder with index cards and I'm planning on reviewing each book I read in it as soon as I finish it.

It was quite a challenge to take a decent pictures of all the books together and I quite failed I would say. But it doesn't matter, this post is about books, not pictures.

Let's start with the ones I didn't like.

Murakami - A Wild Sheep Chase: I read a couple of Murakamis before and really enjoyed them. But this one felt redundant and not as beautifully written as the others. The plot was kind of like the other two I read, some kind of investigation, people disappearing, but this time I didn't buy it. I thought it was quite absurd and not in a good way.

Doris Lessing - Love Again: I found this book pretty dull. I have not much alse to say about it, it just didn't do it for me, too slow, too cheesy at times.

Sarah Marcus - Girls to the Front: I got pretty interested in the Riot Grrrls movement in 2015 and bought this book in Portland while I was there on vacation. Well, I didn't think it was very interesting. I'd rather watch the movie The Punk Singer, it's an awesome movie and has a clear angle on the movement through Kathleen Hannah's experience. Unlike Girls to the Front, it is straighforward and has rythm.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt: I don't remember much now but I know I was pretty disappointed with how this book turned out. I thought there would be more to the plot than what there actually was.

Graham Greene - The Heart of the Matter: Too dense for me.English is not my mother tongue and this one was pretty hard on me. Not that much because of the vocabulary but because of the synthax.

Simone de Beauvoir - La Femme Rompue: I HATED IT! If you want to feel bad and witness women going powerless and pathetic, well that's the book for you! I wanted to slap the characthers in the face.

Graeme Smsion - The Rosie Effect: I read the first one just before, and even though it was not a master piece, it was clearly not as corny and silly as this one. 

Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Quite like Graham Greene, too dense for me. But some beautiful things along the way.

Mark Helprin - Winter's Tale: Still my worst read of 2016. I did a whole post about it when I finished it here. I will not discuss it any further :P

Next category is Books-I-didn't-like-a-lot-but-had-something-very-interesting.

Muriel Barbery - L'élégance du hérisson: Nice read with a lot of beautiful little things that makes you feel good inside.

David James Duncan - The River Why: Unique and quite dense for me at times, but really funny now and then.

Edith Wharton - The House of Mirth: The style is always a little hard for me but I like her stories. I had read The Age of Innocence before and liked it. This one, in my opinion, is not as good but good nonetheless.

Jean-Paul Sartre - La Nausee: I'm glad I read it but it was kind of hard on my mood. It's all in the title, Nausea. Not a feel good book at all.

H.G. Wells - The Invisible Man: Pretty entertaining. And very clever.

Toni Morrison - Jazz: Once again, a little hard to follow for me but a few nice things. I bought a couple of other books by Morrison that I still have to read, because I want to see what else she can do.

Audre Lorde - Sister Outsider: A very hard read for me but very interesting. 

Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita: It was OK, only OK. 

Sandra Cisneros - The House on Mango Street: I read this one in college, sold my copy and had the urge to read it again, so had to buy it again. It's original and easy to read.

Iris Andreski - Old Wives Tales: I heard about this book in Sister Outsider, and wanted to read it to learn more. 

Category : Easy-read-not-so-interesting-but-still-had-a-good-time

Alice Hoffman - Pratical Magic: I love the movie. But the book, except for the main characters, has nothing to do with the movie. Yet, it was awesome to follow the same characters in different stories.

Stephen King - Thinner: Fun easy read.

Fannie Flagg - A Redbird Christmas: Cheesy AF. Not a very good story but easy read.

Stephen King - The Long Walk: Fun easy read.

Rani Manicka - The Rice Mother: Easy read. Some characters are unbearable but I think that was the point. Not so fond of the story.

Kathleen Stockett - The Help: I'm torn about this one. It was not a master piece but it was very entertaining but I was quite mad to see that it was yet again the story of a oh-so-kindhearted white woman coming to the rescue of black women.

Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child: Much better than I expected. Nice little story in a snowy and secluded little house.

Mineko Iwasaki - Geisha of Gion: After I read Memoirs of a Geisha and didn't like it, I read somewhere that the book by Iwasaki was accurate, and Memoirs was not. Geisha of Gion was a nice easy read, and very interesting to learn about geishas.

Edward Kelsey Moore - The Supremes at  Earl's All-you-can-eat: Fast, easy read. Not very good but fun.

PG Wodehouse - Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves: It was the first book I read in 2016. I don't remember much now. I only know it was funny at times.

Yangsze Choo - The Ghost Bride: I had a good time with this one and was pleasantly surprised by the end.

Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project: Quite corny but fun.

Stephen King - Desperation: Fun easy read.(yeah, I don't rack my brain too much when I talk about a Stephen King's book)

That's enough for one post. To be continued with the books I actually liked ;)