(via edatrix)

littlelaur:

recent reads

i swore that this year i would make reading a priority. last year i was embarrassing when it came to reading, coming up with great reasons like “well, i mean i read enough for school” & “why read when i could just go to sleep”. so after finishing a grand total of probably 5 books, i realized that was just not going to cut it in the new year. in an effort to keep myself accountable, i’d like to start sharing my recent reads & quick thoughts. here are the 2 i’ve finished in january so far. 

one last thing before i go - rae said it was fantastic & when i commented on her post, she ended up shipping it to me (in a box full of candy, no less. girl knows the way to my heart.) it is a fun read that manages to look at some terribly difficult life situations with humor & love. you would think that a man committed to not having a surgery that will save his life (because he thinks he has ruined it) would leave you sobbing, but the book is so well done that you end up smiling & enjoying the ride through most of it (fair warning, tissues are needed for some parts).

wild - while i found cheryl to at times be a bit overwhelming, she is wonderfully refreshing & brutally honest. her journey into the wilderness was a life changing experience & one that she does a great job of sharing with the reader. it made me want to pack up a bag & hit the hills for a few days (& i’m not an outdoorsy person at all). the book is raw & insightful & an all around enjoyable read. 

i’m moving on to the language of flowers now but seeking more recommendations so i can keep up my reading flow. current favorites? old loves? new hates? recently read?

52books:

This post concludes 5 years of ye old blog. I know, I can’t believe I didn’t get a real life in that time period either! My time here has been spent with roughly 260 books, some music here and there, more than a few grainy iPhone pictures, plus a lot of grammatical errors. I may be getting lazy with updates but I love having an archive to see what was good and what could have been left out. Guess that means I’ll have to just keep going. I’m excited to see what 2013 will bring and keep sending me your recommendations!

December 2012

I think this was the first month in the history of forever that I only read books published this year. 2012 had some real winners so I’m glad they made it into the final tally.

#49: How Should a Person Be by Sheila Heti - Now I loved the first half of this book then became disengaged in the second half. I’m still not sure why that happened because I very much liked Heti’s writing style. It has been compared to Miranda July which I found to be accurate. What I still don’t understand, however, is how exactly a person should be.

#50: Broken Harbor by Tana French - There was a new Tana French novel available at the library so I had no choice but to check it out. This is number 4 in her loosely connected mystery stories and I would have to rate this one my 2nd favorite. It was dark and weird enough to keep me engaged without being too dramatic. Plus, I love the way French writes about Irish detectives. They’re so intense and unintentionally hilarious!

#51: Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple - While I was home for Christmas, my sister heard my mom and I talking about Bernadette as if she were someone we actually know. I don’t know any real life Bernadettes but she sure felt real to me in this book. It was probably my favorite book in the 2012 category of WHERE-DO-ALL-THESE-LADIES-GO-OR-HIDE-OUT novels. The characters were well developed, all had a funny streak, and I honestly thought none of them were crazy. This is also a great book for a sing-a-long, an activity I’ve never been able to resist.

#52: An Everlasting Meal  by Tamar E. Adler - Can I just say that it is very difficult to read about eating without having actual food in front of you? It makes one very hungry. As soon as I read the chapter on scrambled eggs, I made scrambled eggs because it seemed like the right thing to do. There was so much important information in An Everlasting Meal but I think my take home message was that you should always finish a dish by adding freshly grated Parmesan. I mean, it’s important to have goals for 2013 so…

#53: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters - As you can see, our family cat Otis was really pumped about this book. I was too but doesn’t really matter as much. Otis’s opinion is what really counts. I read Beautiful Ruins during a cursed attempt to get to Texas for Christmas and it really helped relieve the stress. The book weaves old Hollywood with modern love and then adds a hint of mystery. Thank you, internet, for telling me to read this one!

#54: The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman - Similar to the previous book, I read this one in it’s entirety on my way back from Texas. I’m beginning to find that I love digesting a book in a day then not reading at all again for a week. This obviously won’t work in real life, but it’s fun anyways. But back to the book! The whole time I was reading it, my eyes were wide because I just could not believe what was happening. Basically, a baby shows up for a couple who has been trying to have one but they don’t know what to do when they find it. Look for it’s parent’s or pass it off as their own? I’ll leave it to you to read the book and decide if you agree with their decision. This would make an excellent book club choice if that’s your thing.

paperbackgirl:

2012 was such an amazing year for fiction that it was difficult to narrow down what I loved to a compact list of favorites. If you’re interested in what I’ve read in 2012 and how I’d rate them, feel free to check out the Google doc where I track my reading—I prefer this doc to Goodreads, though I use both, because sometimes a girl needs to wield the power of half a star.

• The Fault In Our Stars by John Green: Teenage cancer patients Hazel and Augustus will make you feel things and take a hard look at your place in the universe. My review here.
• Heft by Liz Moore: A thoughtfully written book about the need for human connection and the attainability of redemption. My review here.
• Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton: Shapton’s book perfectly captures the religiosity of athletic discipline. My review here.
• The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg: A book about literal and figurative appetites. My review here.
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: Some works of art make you cry, while others move you to tears and this was the latter.

paperbackgirl:

Great list to 1. find new books and gift ideas and 2. measure how you did this year on the spectrum of bookwormery.

edatrix:

if you’re looking for something kind of different but quick, pick this one up.  really interesting story narrated by a girl looking back on her adolescence as the Earth goes through was is known as The Slowing, which is exactly what it sounds like (Earth’s rotation slows and days stretch into 70 hours, tides change, crops fail, new diseases pop up, etc.).  sounds sort of sci-fi-y, but it’s really a nice coming of age story about this girl, Julia, who just happens to live through a strange time period.

52books:

I’ve been meaning for weeks to tell you what I read in July…

July 2012

#26: Breaking Away by Anna Gavalda, translated by Alison Anderson - I was in Paris at the beginning of July and went to Shakespeare & Co. twice. The first time, I was completely overwhelmed and left with nothing. Knowing I wouldn’t forgive myself for not buying a French book, I picked this one up the second time I went. It is a small but fulfilling novella that was perfect for sidewalk cafe reading. There is also something great about being on vacation and really feeling like you’re breaking away from all the things you think you know.

#27: Any Human Heart by William Boyd - I knew Breaking Away wouldn’t last me very long so not knowing what else to pick out I did my usual game of asking the shopkeeper about the last good book they read. They guy at Shakespeare and Co. said this was it for him so I took his word for it. I started it in Paris then took it on to Prague and Amsterdam. It was perfect for that kind of travel because it follows a man throughout his life journeys and I felt like I was going with him. At some points I thought the book was a tad pretentious but never did it fail to keep me interested. I think I’ll always associate the book with my trip and reading along various European bodies of water.

#28: Persuasion by Jane Austen - I found this version of the book in Amsterdam and thought it was too pretty to pass up. I hadn’t read it before but I have to agree with my friend Stephanie here in that the book is just so silly. Everything about it! Why are all the characters sort of stuck up? Why don’t they just say what they mean? Why are there so many knowing glances? I don’t know, but I still liked it.

#29: People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry - True crime fiction is such a weird genre to say you like, but I really do like it and this one is particularly great. It’s about the disappearance of a young British woman in Tokyo and the events that followed. The author takes in every detail of the multiple people involved to where I didn’t feel left uninformed. This was a 2 day read for me (that interesting!) but I’m pretty sure I looked strange reading about a psychopath on the beach.

#30: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed - Just read it already. Everyone just buy it and give it to people you care about. I bought it for my sister, now you do the same. It’s one thing to read Dear Sugar online but it’s another to have the columns in your fingertips with frayed edges and underlined paragraphs. Just read it already.

mavieenrose:

i just finished reading the newlyweds. it’s the story of a woman from bangladesh who meets an american man online and moves to rochester, ny to marry him. complications ensue. i was very underwhelmed with this book. i didn’t really connect with any of the characters, and in the end i was just waiting for it to be over. 

2/5 stars.

i also read gone girl this weekend, thanks to all the tumblr recommendations. this is one of those can’t put it down/must stay up until the wee hours of the night to finish books. it was so good, and so so so so creepy. and let me just recommend that you NOT finish this book right before you go to bed. you’ll be up all night wondering if anyone is plotting your death.

4/5 stars.

next up: salvage the bones by jesmyn ward

vneckandacardigan:

What can I say about this book?

• Stephen King’s writing is absolutely horrible. It made me cringe on a daily basis. Several times I sort of threw my Kindle and just walked away. It is that bad. How is this man a famous writer? Are all of his other books like this?
• Despite this, the story was pretty interesting. I obviously finished it, which says something. 
• Was not a fan of the ending. Well okay maybe the ending was fine, but the last 50 pages I was not a fan of in general. 
• His writing. SERIOUSLY. If only you knew how many passages I bookmarked to read aloud to people.

Moving on.

monkeychow:

Currently reading.

“[Love, Life, and Elephants] is both an incredible memoir of a life and two romances. The first of these blossoms when the young author moves to Tsavo with her first husband and falls head over heels for the park and its famous warden, David Sheldrick. The second love story follows Daphne and David as they devote their lives to rescuing baby elephants from poachers and finding homes for orphan elephants, all the while campaigning against the ever-present threat of the ivory trade.”—GQ (UK)

Emphasis is mine.

I dare you to not want to read this book. 

P.S. Book Club, ladies?  Care to join me?