book reviews: books read in september
I din't read much this month! Too much went on in my life I guess... No it's just excuses... I've been bad! I concentrated too much on music videos and the TV season started again... But I regret nothing LOL!
Also, the second book I read was VERY long and dry so I won't be too hard to myself... After all I've read 865 pages this month!
Here's what I've read this month:
Beautiful Ruins
Originally published: June 12th, 2012
Author: Jess Walter
Genre: Fiction / Romance
(reading time: Sept 01 - Sept 10)
★★★★★
This is one of the best books I've read this year. If I could give it more than 5? Stars I would!
It's a book that touches me deeply as I am from
Genova, and I know the places Jess Walter describes so wonderfully... and the way my people thinks and looks at the World 59 years ago and now still... Genova (and the Ligurian Riviera) is so old and timeless... Gorgeous and unique like the people who lives there. I - unlike Pasquale - married my American and I left my home behind (he became my home) but every time I came back here, is nice to see that everything is still the same, and I love it, even more than before, now that I can't take it for granted...
This book is magnificent. I picked it up because of its cover (wait a minute... A picture of one of the Cinque Terre on a book I found on an American book store? And the book is written by an American? And the story is partially set less then an hour from where I live and where my husband and I go hiking often?) and I was so scared to start reading it because I was already having way too high of expectations for it... But the book was so great! I cried my eyes out on the final chapter (WHAT A MASTERPIECE IT WAS)!
My husband is going to read it next and hems already excited about it... I can't wait for him to love it as much as I did, because with a book like this, there's nothing else you can do but love it and carry it in your heart forever!
The Post Birthday World
Originally published: March 13th, 2007
Author: Lionel Shriver
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary
(reading time: Sept 12 - Sept 23)
★
There are two things you need to know about me
1) If I start a book I finish it... No matter how bad it is.
2) I really don't like not liking a book.
Starting a book and not finishing it is like to leave someone in the middle of a conversation without notice. No matter how dull that conversation is, you can always learn something about the other person, or about yourself! It has been VERY difficult not to leave this conversation.
I liked the idea behind it: the life of this woman that finds herself at a crossroad and we're allowed to see where every road takes her, but the book failed too keep up to its promise of a good read.
The chapters are WAY too long and they cover A LOT, so every time you read - let's say - chapter 3 in the first AU, you have to read chapter 3 for the second AU, so that you don't forget what you just read. I think it would have worked with shorter chapters better.
The periods are way too long and complex, and you find out the subject of the paragraph after tons of commas and dashes, so that you have to go back read it again. There are 2 big historical moments that are mentioned: The death of Lady D. and the Attack at the Twin Towers, and you need to read the paragraphs at least twice to understand what she's talking about. Also TOO MUCH Bla Bla Bla about politics and an ABUSE of the italic.
The characters are completely unlikable! I can't stand Irina, even if in the last chapter she finally admits to herself and the readers, what one of her problems is...( because she has MORE than one!), I hated Lawrence from the beginning, I couldn't stand him in either one of the parallele universes. Ramsey was the less unlikable, but I couldn't stand the dialogues he was in. I just hated all the errors and the constant slang. It was painful to read and Lionel Shriver painted him like this dumb guy that only had his d*ck to offer.
I've heart "Let's talk about Kevin" is a good book, but I won't read it! I'm not going to read anything from this author anymore, because I fear I will end up having to read 500 pages of nothing, because in "The Post Birthday World" nothing happens... and not only that, but by the middle of the book you know already how's going to end.
The only thing this book left me with is the relief I'm nothing like Irina, I won't look back at my life constantly wondering "what if" and I won't try to keep all the doors open (when it comes to relationships) because I might need to step into another one some day!
I'm now reading A Place for Us by Harriet Evans I'm enjoying so far, but books like this can turn in a moment! :D
TOTAL of BOOKS READ 2016: 30 / sept: 2
TOTAL of PAGES READ 2016: 10116 / sept: 865
Also, the second book I read was VERY long and dry so I won't be too hard to myself... After all I've read 865 pages this month!
Here's what I've read this month:
Beautiful Ruins
Originally published: June 12th, 2012
Author: Jess Walter
Genre: Fiction / Romance
(reading time: Sept 01 - Sept 10)
★★★★★
This is one of the best books I've read this year. If I could give it more than 5? Stars I would!
It's a book that touches me deeply as I am from
Genova, and I know the places Jess Walter describes so wonderfully... and the way my people thinks and looks at the World 59 years ago and now still... Genova (and the Ligurian Riviera) is so old and timeless... Gorgeous and unique like the people who lives there. I - unlike Pasquale - married my American and I left my home behind (he became my home) but every time I came back here, is nice to see that everything is still the same, and I love it, even more than before, now that I can't take it for granted...
This book is magnificent. I picked it up because of its cover (wait a minute... A picture of one of the Cinque Terre on a book I found on an American book store? And the book is written by an American? And the story is partially set less then an hour from where I live and where my husband and I go hiking often?) and I was so scared to start reading it because I was already having way too high of expectations for it... But the book was so great! I cried my eyes out on the final chapter (WHAT A MASTERPIECE IT WAS)!
My husband is going to read it next and hems already excited about it... I can't wait for him to love it as much as I did, because with a book like this, there's nothing else you can do but love it and carry it in your heart forever!
The Post Birthday World
Originally published: March 13th, 2007
Author: Lionel Shriver
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary
(reading time: Sept 12 - Sept 23)
★
There are two things you need to know about me
1) If I start a book I finish it... No matter how bad it is.
2) I really don't like not liking a book.
Starting a book and not finishing it is like to leave someone in the middle of a conversation without notice. No matter how dull that conversation is, you can always learn something about the other person, or about yourself! It has been VERY difficult not to leave this conversation.
I liked the idea behind it: the life of this woman that finds herself at a crossroad and we're allowed to see where every road takes her, but the book failed too keep up to its promise of a good read.
The chapters are WAY too long and they cover A LOT, so every time you read - let's say - chapter 3 in the first AU, you have to read chapter 3 for the second AU, so that you don't forget what you just read. I think it would have worked with shorter chapters better.
The periods are way too long and complex, and you find out the subject of the paragraph after tons of commas and dashes, so that you have to go back read it again. There are 2 big historical moments that are mentioned: The death of Lady D. and the Attack at the Twin Towers, and you need to read the paragraphs at least twice to understand what she's talking about. Also TOO MUCH Bla Bla Bla about politics and an ABUSE of the italic.
The characters are completely unlikable! I can't stand Irina, even if in the last chapter she finally admits to herself and the readers, what one of her problems is...( because she has MORE than one!), I hated Lawrence from the beginning, I couldn't stand him in either one of the parallele universes. Ramsey was the less unlikable, but I couldn't stand the dialogues he was in. I just hated all the errors and the constant slang. It was painful to read and Lionel Shriver painted him like this dumb guy that only had his d*ck to offer.
I've heart "Let's talk about Kevin" is a good book, but I won't read it! I'm not going to read anything from this author anymore, because I fear I will end up having to read 500 pages of nothing, because in "The Post Birthday World" nothing happens... and not only that, but by the middle of the book you know already how's going to end.
The only thing this book left me with is the relief I'm nothing like Irina, I won't look back at my life constantly wondering "what if" and I won't try to keep all the doors open (when it comes to relationships) because I might need to step into another one some day!
I'm now reading A Place for Us by Harriet Evans I'm enjoying so far, but books like this can turn in a moment! :D
TOTAL of BOOKS READ 2016: 30 / sept: 2
TOTAL of PAGES READ 2016: 10116 / sept: 865