April - May - June - July Readings

 

These are my last four months readings.

Let's get down to business.

 

 Crappy photo alert.

Insomniac City by Bill Hayes: I really liked this book. I really don't like New York but somehow I always love its rendition in movies and books. I also loved the little details in this book. The very mundane and yet extraordinary sweet situations.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris: Since Girl on the Train, which was probably the first thriller I ever read, I'm having a hard time enjoying the others. It's like every single thriller I read where a woman is the main character/narrator, there is domestic violence involded. This book was no exception. Not a big fan.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier: I love her style so much! She manages to set such eerie atmospheres. The story wasn't much when I look at it, but the atmosphere was killer.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: What a gutwrenching book. I loved it. Loved the style, the simplicity of it and yet the powerful messages she conveys. It hurts to read sometimes but it is so good and meaningful.

Out by Natsuo Kirino: I kind of enjoyed this book. I love how Japan is depicted. The story was quite original. I'm not thrilled though.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: A little corny for my taste. Even though I'm well aware it is a kids book.

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs: I loved this one. Loved the crazy dysfonctionnal family Burroughs was raised into. Reminded me of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, which I really loved.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett: Didn't do it for me. I didn't quite grasped the humor of it I guess.

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser: Against all odds I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't expecting to. It's funny how people seem to love it or hate it. No in-between. Dreiser's style is often vividly criticized in the negative reviews I read. I don't quite understand why.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon: This book was fun and super fast to read. I read it by my window drinking very good beer and eating smoked mozarella. I have a very vivid and awesome memory of the good time I had reading this book in these conditions. :)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson: Didn't like it at all.  Stories of people on drugs are not fun if you're not on drugs yourself I suppose.

Alys, Always by Harriet Lane: Ok, not great.

Judgement Day by Penelope Lively: Couldn't get into the story for the life of me. Didn't like the style at all and found the overall book very boring.

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata: Mmm... I don't remember much about this one and how it made me feel... I think it was OK but not great.

Native Son by Richard Wright: The first half of this book blew my mind. It was still good after that but I was a little less into it. I don't remember why now. I read this book at the end of may so my memory is a little hazy now. But Richard Wright is such a solid writer...

The Ballroom by Anna Hope: Meh. Corny. 

 

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt: Very decent read with a good story. 3 stars.  :)

Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki: I wanted to read this book so much. I spent more money that I usually do for it. And I was disappointed. The pitch of the story ( a couple on the rocks) really left me wanting to know the whole story but I didn't get much into it in the end.

The Lake House by Kate Morton: I brought this book on vacation reckoning it would be a nice vacation read. It was. Not great, a little corny but page turner nonetheless.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa: It took me a while to get into and get the point. I'm not over the moon with this book but it was definitely interesting. Loved how the different stories were linked to each others.

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer: Loved this one. Perfect example that children litterature doesn't have to be corny. Kids are not morons.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill: I regret that I didn't read this one in the winter by candle light. :) It was exactly what I was expecting and it was good. Cool.

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler: Sequel to parable of the Sower. I was not disappointed. Can't wait to read more Octavia Butler. (This book is a birthday gift from my brother :) )

The Witches Of Eastwick by John Updike: Didn't like this one much. Didn't find the witches relatable. Maybe I missed the point. I thought they were all phonies trying to pass as free spirits and free women, they were just mean and obsessed by a man that could do to them pretty much whatever he wanted. Yak.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier: Nice and easy read. This is the second book I read by Tracy Chevalier and I enjoyed both, but there is something missing. Maybe in her style, I can't explain.

Histoires Vraies 1 by Pierre Bellemare et Jacques Antoine: I'm a big fan of French legend Pierre Bellemare. He passed away very recently. In honor of his passing I read this book. It's always fun. And despite the fact that the title says 'True Stories', they sound so fake and you can't find anything about the events and people they talk about on the internet. Weird!

The Mortgaged Heart by Carson McCullers: I started this collection of short stories a couple of years ago, I finally finished it! God, what a writer McCullers is!!! Such beautiful prose. Her words unwind like a movie in my head everytime. I very much enjoyed Who Has Seen the Wind.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates: Latest heartthrob. The characters were so realistic, it hurt. I finished the book with a knot in my belly and nausea. 4 stars. Maybe 4 and 1/2. :)

This is it for the last four months. :)

Can't wait to read more!

Here is the blog post I did for January February and March Readings.

Cheers!

January - February - March 2018 Readings

 

This year I won't wait till January 1st of next year to start reviewing the books I read.

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh: I have never read many thrillers and I'm finding myself craving for them lately. I didn't really like this one. It was quite predictable.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim: I really liked the beginning and for some reason I kind of lost interest after a while.

Roots by Alex Haley: It was a beautiful story. So rich. I still can't believe it is the story of Alex Haley's ancesters, that he found traces of them centuries later.

The Liar by Stephen Fry: I really wanted to read some Stephen Fry, that is now done and I'm wondering if my English is good enough to aprehend everything in a Stephen Fry Novel. It was really dense for me to read but there was some very entertaining passages.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll: Another one of my attempts at reading more thrillers. I liked it better than I Let You Go. I found the subject (school shooting) quite refeshing (the other thrillers I've read so far are all about domestic violence to some extend). It was quite well done, a little predictable too. :/

No Longer At Ease  by Chinua Achebe: Last year I really enjoyed Things Fall Apart, the first tome ofthe saga. No Longer At Ease being the second. I liked it when the boy was just a boy but in this one he's a grown up and I found it not as interesting.

Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser: I picked this one at random. The cover appealed to me and there was a good review by the staff of the bookshop I bought it from. I didn't like the story much and found it far fetched.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: I really wanted to read this one. It was a fun read but I wasn't expecting this. I thought it would be a little more 'exciting', a little more 'thriller'. :p I still want to read Celeste Ng's first book though, Everything I never Told you.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving: Wow, wow, wow... I read a bunch of John Irving's books before but this one really made me realize how brilliant this man is. Anecdotes after anecdotes, he retraces the life of Owen Meany through his best friend, the narrator. It's witty, it's sad at times, it is just beautiful!!

My favorites reads for the first trimester of 2018 are Roots by Alex Haley and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

Flowers and Books

 

Just a couple of pictures to say I fell in love with Irises this winter...

Being bulb flowers, it means I should be able to enjoy them next year also. Yay!!! :)

 These are my favorite readings of 2017.

 

and these, all of my readings from 2017.

I have so many books to read now. About a hundred.

The bookcase I got in october is already full... and most of my to read pile is not even in it..

2017 Readings

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 :)

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. 

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 ;)

Books In Toronto

Haha! Poor Greg, I took him to a bunch of bookshops, multiple times, bought quite a few books and stuffed his luggage with them...

But boy, how I enjoyed book shopping in Toronto!

Especially at Eliot's book shop on Yonge, but also Doug Miller's on Bloor, as well as BMV on Bloor as well. 

I can gladly say that my new year's resolution of reading a lot is still going strong, well maybe not right now, but in Toronto I found the time to read and found great books. And I'm planning on resuming my reading frenzy as soon as I come back from Memphis on october 4th.

Here are a bunch of the books I brought back.

Here in Memphis, I haven't find a bookshop yet. And I can't even find one on google that's not really far away from our hotel. Good thing I loaded up in Canada.