Well, I may suck at updating this journal on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis, but I'm still going strong with my goal to read 100 books this year. I didn't get to as many this quarter as last, but much of my spare time was spent writing, of course. I also spent time beta reading two of my friend's completed manuscripts.
Still, I fell behind on my pacing, but the last week of this quarter was spent at the beach which allowed me to make up for some of the speed that I lost. I'm just happy that I'm meeting the halfway mark here, and I'm one book ahead (woo-hoo!). Here are the standouts of this quarter, along with my complete list at the bottom.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
This retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a mixture of several different folk tales from England, Norway, and France - placed in a dangerous world of faeries. Feyre, our heroine, is a mortal who kills a fae and then must pay the price. But the fae who comes to exact revenge doesn't kill her, he takes her to his world where she must learn to navigate the dangers and intrigue of a volatile world that is falling apart. I was really hooked from the beginning. Maas does such a wonderful job of creating a visually stunning world. And the last hundred pages were un-put-downable. ACOTAR is the first in a series and I am counting down the days til book 2 is released.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
I wish I had read this book when I was younger. If I had, this reading might be my fourth or fifth now, instead of my first. Maya Angelou wrote many memoirs, each focusing on a different chapter in her life. This was her first memoir, and it followed her from her childhood years to early adulthood. I listened to the audiobook version and Ms. Angelou narrated it herself, voice trembling with age and the weight of her words, still heavy after all these years. She definitely has a way with words, and she had me laughing and crying throughout. I highly, highly recommend this book.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Well this is the book of the year so far. It has been a monumental success and, after a self-imposed moratiorium on book buying, I had to wait for a library copy. And I had to wait a very long time. When I finally got my hands on it, I read it in one sitting. That's right. I cannot remember the last time I read a book in one sitting. Hawkins has a gift for building suspense and knowing when to answer questions and when to let them marinate. She also has a gift for making the reader second guess themselves. It reads fast and it reads furious. There are numerous comparisons to Gone Girl, but personally, other than a trio of highly unlikeable (and unreliable) narrators, I didn't see them myself. I think The Girl on the Train stands up to the scrutiny.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
An American girl spends her senior year at a boarding school in Paris. She's not happy about it (what is your deal Anna?!?), but then she meets St. Clair, a British student with a sexy accent, and suddenly Paris doesn't seem all that bad.
I am going to be perfectly honest with you, this book was total wish fulfillment for me. I would have given anything to have been able to spend my senior year, or any year in Paris, cute British boy or not. It's Paris! Museums, pastries, trains to the country - or to another country for that matter, theatre, art, architecture, clothes, food, culture. Forget boys, Paris would have been my love affair.
Anna and the French Kiss is the first book in a trilogy, each book taking place in a different city (I believe New York and San Franciso). All the books are published so you won't have to wait around for the next one to release. I'm hoping to get to the next two soon.
Those were my favs this quarter and here is the whole list.
33. The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro
34. The Longest Ride - Nicholas Sparks
35. It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War - Lynsey Addario
36. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
37. Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming
38. Octopussy and the Living Daylights - Ian Fleming
39. Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins
40. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven
41. The Grace of Kings - Ken Liu
42. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
43. The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr.
44. The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Anderson
45. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
46. At the Water's Edge - Sara Gruen
47. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
48. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
49. Paper Towns - John Green
50. Ink Mage - Victor Gischler
51. Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard