My Best Books of 2013

Happy New Year!

I hope you've all had a lovely time over the Christmas period and are ready to tackle this new year! I have just started reading The Luminaries and after a few pages of getting into the Victorian writing style, I can't stop reading it! It is extremely fast-paced and gripping.

I have posted this on Twitter but I thought I'd do a formal blog post as well as an update with a book I had forgotten and the last book I've read in 2013 (Graceling). Here is the list of my favourite books of 2013:

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Comforters by Muriel Spark

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

   

A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

The Son by Philipp Meyer

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Blue is the Warmest Colour by Julie Maroh

~~~

Interestingly, 8 out of 11 books were written by women and more than half of them are backlist titles. The titles range from YA and fantasy to historical and literary fiction as well as a graphic novel. Only one is a translated/foreign language book which isn't too surprising as I've mostly read English-language novels this year but it's an area I definitely like to explore further. There is only one YA novel and that's mostly because I haven't read many YA books this year. 

One of the books which I loved but didn't make the list was May We Be Forgiven. I loved it when I read it (5 stars and all) but I realised that I had very little of it left with me 6 months later.

My absolute favourite this year has been The Son by Philipp Meyer. I heard a lot about this book before reading it and I saw the author at the Edinburgh Book Festival talking about it and his writing process. The book literally blew me away by the sheer scope of it. If there is such a thing as perfection in a book, this is it.

For 2014, I'm planning to continue reading in a variety of genres/age groups and I'm also aiming to read more Classics and more foreign language books/translation. I will also continue my Muriel Spark reading challenge!

That's it for me. What was your favourite book last year and do you have any bookish resolutions for 2014?

Back to basics

I seem to want to get back into this blogging madness so I thought I'd change everything and start again.

This time around, I'm planning to talk about what I really want to talk about: books and films and other things I love without any obligation or stress. I also want to talk about what inspires me, what makes me want to be a better person and so many other things that simply catch my eye. I want this to be as fun and inspiring as it was when I first started.

So I am back, but not exactly the same... hope you'll stay for the ride.

Cx

I am quoted in a book!!!! :D

... well, not exactly me, but one of my reviews is!

*hyperventilates*

 Okay, okay, I need to calm down but... 

THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!

So a few days ago I received an email from Melanie Welsh (M. L. Welsh), the wonderful author of Mistress of the Storm (my review here). She was telling me about the release of the paperback of the book and *cue hysterical screams* that I was quoted inside the book!

I really love this book and I think that Verity Gallant's story is one of the most adventurous and original stories I have read this past year! I can't wait to read the sequel, Heart Of Stone, which will be out in 2012! And if you buy the paperback edition of Mistress of the Storm, you can read a sneak preview of Heart of Stone!!

A million thanks to Melanie for sending me the book!

*squee*

Blogoversary: Portrait of a Woman is one year old!!!!!

well, technically, Portrait of a Woman is 14 months old but let's not dwell on details :)

(yes, it had to be a chocolate cake with pink stuff on it!)

Hi all!

I am celebrating my first year as a book blogger and organising a big giveaway of signed books and swag to thank you for following this blog and bearing with me on my bookish obsession!

I started blogging in December 2009 because I have always loved reading and I had never met anyone who had the same tastes in books as I had. I wanted to share my thoughts on books (as well as keep track of what I read!) but also meet with new people and talk about books!

I started by writing reviews (which were hardly read by anyone at the time!) and then by looking for other blogs. One day, I found Becky's blog (The Bookette) and I really loved what she was reading/reviewing as well as her articles on broader subjects (libraries etc.).

Since I didn't really know how blogging worked, I emailed her asking questions on blogging and how to mingle more in the blogging community. She gave me the best advice at the time and she has since then become the best of friends with whom I share a passion for books, tea and chips :D 

This blog would never be anywhere near what it is today had it not been for Becky who is not only a very talented and dedicated blogger but the most adorable human being there is. Thank you so much Becky *beams*

After a few months of getting the hang of blogging, I finally met (for realz) many UK bloggers in our now quite regular meet ups! I think it is the best thing ever to be able to engage in conversations with people who love reading as much as you do and who evidently share your book buying problem. I really love all my blogging buddies and I have now come to consider all of them as friends (especially that UK book blogger crew - it's like a real family!). A special thanks to the wonderful Lauren @ I Was A Teenage Book Geek and Emma @ Asamum Booktopia for being amazing and big shout outs to my blogger buddies Jo @ Once Upon A Bookcase and Ink and Paper, Lynsey @ Narratively Speaking and UK Book Tours, Sammee @ I Want To Read That, Kirsty @ The Overflowing Library, Sarah @ Feeling Fictional, Carly @ Writing From The Tub, Vicki and Lyndsey @ Heaven, Hell and Purgatory Book Reviews, Jessica @ Nayu's Reading Corner, Michelle @ Fluttering Butterflies, Liz @ My Favourite Books, Luisa and everyone else  @ Chicklish, Jenny @ Wondrous Reads and everyone else I am missing!

A huge thank you to the publishers and the fantastic publicists I am in contact with and who are made of awesome! I have really loved getting to read books I probably wouldn't have picked up myself, discover new authors and to have been able to broaden my book tastes. Big shout outs to the ever-wonderful RHCB team and Liz Scott!

A big and straight-from-the-heart thank you to all the authors I have had the chance to meet this year, in "real life" (Charlaine, Harris, Delphine de Vigan, Melvin Burgess, Cressida Cowell, Terry Pratchett, Cat Clarke, Kaz Mahoney, Maggie Stiefvater, Lynda Waterhouse, John Boyne, Kazuo Ishiguro, John Green, David Levithan and others!) and all the others I have talked to through various social media outlets (okay, Twitter) and I can't wait to meet in real life (Luisa Plaja, Keren David, Keris Stainton, Gillian Phillip and many others!).

Thank you beloved writers for writing such wonderful books and making me laugh, cry, dream and travel through the realms you create in your imagination and share with the rest of us in your books! I have always been a dedicated reader (growing up in a bookshop really helps!) and I have really loved everything that came up with blogging, especially getting to meet author and tell them how much I love them :)

A big hug and a thank you to all the people reading, following and commenting on this blog. I really have no idea why you put up with me but I am glad you do and we can share bookish obsessions together :)

So without further rambling:

Giveaway!!

So this giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and only people above 16 years old (if you are under, bring a parent/guardian to fill in the form below) who are FOLLOWERS of this blog. You can facebook/blog/tweet about the giveaway but it won't add any points!

I have a few signed books to give away and some swag, you may choose to enter to all of them or just one, I will randomly choose a winner for each.

For entering the giveaway of one book, you need to answer a question about the author of the book (and they are not tricky, you may easily find the answers on internet). Yes, I like making things complicated!

Since I have both Shiver and Linger signed by Maggie Stiefvater, there are two questions to answer: you need both answers right to get a chance to win them both. If no one has the two questions right, I will pick a winner for Shiver and a winner for Linger! The second Maggie Stiefvater question is a bit tricky and I have one very clear answer in my mind so think well before you answer!

If you have any questions or doubts, don't hesitate to comment or send me an email.

Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog!







I bought all books myself except for Noah Barleywater Runs Away, many thanks to RHCB for this!!




Love,


x Caroline

Merry Christmas!!

Hi all of you!

I thought I would be able to read and blog as usual but work and Christmas shopping got the best of me! I am (hopefully) leaving for France to see my family on the 24th and come back beginning January.

I will write reviews and talk about my awesome Anne McCaffrey Reading Challenge next week!

A zillion thank you to you dear followers, you have made 2010 one of the best years I ever lived, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

May 2011 be full of amazing books for you and I wish you all the happiness in the world!

Have a lovely time (and try not to eat too many chocolates!),

Best,

Caroline x

Portrait of a Woman

The title of this blog comes from a poem I studied in high school and whose beauty and ideas imprinted themselves on me from the very first time I laid my eyes on it. The poem was written by the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. Many translations exist of the poem, and you can find them all over the internet, but I personally prefer this translation, probably because it was the first I read. I find that it perfectly embodies the difference between women's characteristics and the characteristics applied to them by others. The ambivalence between the weak, naive and submitted woman and the stronger, independant and educated one shows just how much contradictions exist in women (and human beings in general) and how much is lost and forgotten by over-simplifications.

I haven't set a specific goal to this blog, nor do I intend to. I would just like to share with others some pieces of art, whichever they might be, or some essays, on whichever subject I fancy reading and writing about. I hope that at least some of it will be remotely interesting or useful.

Portrait of a Woman

Wislawa Szymborska - 1976

She must be willing to please.
To change so that nothing should change.
It's easy, impossible, hard, worth trying.
Her eyes are if need be now deep blue, now gray,
dark, playful, filled for no reason with tears.
She sleeps with him like some chance acquaintance, like his one and only.
She will bear him four children, no children, one.
Naive yet giving the best advice.
Weak yet lifting the weightiest burden.
Has no head on her shoulders but will have.
Reads Jaspers and ladies' magazines.
Doesn't know what this screw is for and will build a bridge.
Young, as usual young, as always still young.
Holds in her hands a sparrow with a broken wing,
her own money for a journey long and distant,
a meat-cleaver, poultice, and a shot of vodka.
Where is she running so, isn't she tired?
Not at all, just a bit, very much, doesn't matter.
Either she loves him or has made up her mind to.
For better, for worse, and for heaven's sake.