2014 Readings

I read 18 books in 2014. Some of them I really like and some I just wasn't that excited about.

Let's start with the not so thrilling books.

Tom Sharpe - The Wilt Inheritance: I read a couple of Tom Sharpe's before this one, and I don't know why I keep reading those. I mean it's kind of funny but I'm not a big fan. :s It was OK though, not the worse thing I read this year for sure. But not my thing.

Paul Auster - Sunset Park: I kind of liked it. Not a master piece but still a good book. I loved the atmosphere of the book and loved the setting.

Keith Badman - Marilyn Monroe, the Final Years  : Why did I ever buy this? What was I expecting? The only thing that really moved me in this book is a picture of Marilyn's backyard with a couple of stuffed animals lying around on the morning of her death because she played there with her dog the night before. The rest was pretty useless.

laura Moriarty - The Chaperone: A novel about a lady 'babysitting' Louise Brooks when she was a teenager going to New York to a dance school. Easy reading. Some nice twists. No big deal.

Adam Mc Omber - The White Forest: The second book I read in 2014 so my memory is quite hazy now. It's the story of a girl who can communicate with objects if I remember correctly. Once again, easy reading, not so great but not horrible either. 

Yeah, I read a lot of Crichtons. I love his style. Precise and clean, not a word is wasted. Everything is understandable. It's always like watching a block buster. Those are not my favourites in the end. Last year I got to read Airframe and the Great Train Robbery, and I enjoyed those much better. But still, very entertaining to read.

Patrick Rothfuss _ The Wise Man's Fear: I don't know why, because it's really not my kind of reading, but my friend Becca introduced me to the first volume and I got hooked. And I'm still very aware that this kind of litterature, fantasy, is not my thing, and the hero of the book really gets on my nerves but I just can't wait to finish the trilogy. Maybe I'm just interested in finishing a trilogy since it would be the only one I ever read. :p

We're getting close to the top 3. :) These three books are books I really enjoyed.

Stephen King - It: I read Misery last year and it was the first King I ever read. So it makes It the second. I'm not a big fan of his style but boy, he can tell a story and keep me interested till the end. I got so comfy with the characters, I was almost sad it came to an end after a whooping  1376 pages. I read very few books that are that long. We watch the TV movie afterwards. It was very faithful to the book. More precisely to the way I pictured the characters in my head and some scenes as well. It was definitely worth reading.

Julia Child - My Life In France : How fun! I got it in this awesome boostore in Chicago, Bookworks. I love this place. Last year they had Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia and I didn't buy it because we were already way past our weight limit for our luggage. I got a new version for my birthday though so that's all good. Ever since I saw that Meryl Streep/Amy Adams Movie about Julia Child, I fell in love!

The book itself was fun because she wrote about things I'm pretty familiar with since I'm French and live in France, FRENCH COOKING!!! and wine :p That was cool to read stuff about Paris from the time. I live in Paris now, it made me feel like a true Parisian. :p 

I started reading this book in Chicago and I couldn't help but feel like I was the reverse Julia. In a country where food is not that great (sorry, I really love it but a lot of French people would not be that fond of it), I had the urge to cook 'right'. Because yes, in the end I can cook. A lifetime watching my Mom and my grand parents cooking really got to me. I've got rather good instincts when it comes to cooking. Yeah I know, cocky right? :p

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby: My second reading of that book. I like it a lot. I love the characters, the intrigue. All very moving, makes me yearn living in the 20's!

Janet Frame - Prizes: This is a collection of short stories from an author I had never heard of before. I guess she never made it to France, like tons of people famous overseas. That's a shame. I realized that usually I'm not too crazy about woman writing. What a horrible thing to say right? Well, for my defence, I used to only listen to guy bands and read books written by women. Now it's the other way around. I only listen to girls singing and enjoy books by men. Captivating fact about me... Anyways, I loved the craziness of the author that perspired through the stories. I thought it was original, if not ground breaking, at least for me.

I picked this book just because I liked the cover, I know I'm not suppose to do that, in another bookstore in Chicago that I like. It was on sale and I like hardcovers. :p Reminds me of my Grand Ma's books from when I was a child.

Let's start the top 3.

Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat pray Love: I liked this book a lot. Who wouldn't love to live the life this woman lived? Travelling, eating, drinking great wine and doing yoga and meditation... I really wish I had the guts to enroll in a yoga class by the way. 

Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles: My second favourite book of the year. Kind of kooky and very poetic. I don't know if I liked it because it made me travel to Japan or if I just loved the story and the style. Probably both. It was mysterious and different from what I've read so far. So I bought another book by Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart. For some reason, it was a very soothing book.

And this is my favourite book I read in 2014.

Bret Easton Ellis - Amreican Psycho: Greg made me buy this book. I wasn't too sure about it. Greg has weird taste. He sometimes like some vulgar things that, in my opinion, are just meant to shock people. I don't like provocation.

This book was grand. I don't know anything about psychology byt the psychee of the narrator was just so well depicted, it seemed so real. From yuppie to psycho in one book. I couldn't stop reading. The most gruesome scenes were wriiten in as tasteful as can be manner. Loved it, shocking without being vulgar. And all to a purpose. Just genius.

And for once, I started books I couldn't finish. It's not what I do usually but I got really bored reading these :s Sorry to whoever's reading this and disagrees but that's just my opinion. I just didn't get into them.

So here are all the books I read in 2014. I bought quite a lot of books in Chicago and I have a big 'To Read' pile by my bed. That's exciting! Even though it means no book shopping for a while :'( Snif! I'll be OK. :)

In totally unrelated news, I got a new phone for Christmas. :) I finally put it to use today. It took me that long because old fashioned me didn't know there was such a thing as micro sim cards. So I had to get a new one for it to work. 

The main reason why I'm so happy about this new phone is because I'll be able to take pictures (good pictures, better than my previous phone anyway) anywhere! Because I don't always have my 'real' cameras with me :p

Wow, that was an awfully long post. It feels so good!!!! :D 

Oh, and Happy New Year!