52 Books in 2014

Last year I set myself the challenge of reading 52 books (so, one a week) and I actually managed it (with one extra, though many were plays/poems/etc...)! The books, in order of date read are: 

1) Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe - Jenny Coglan 

2) Les Amours - Pierre de Ronsard

3) Le Bel Inconnu - Renaut de Beaujeu 

4) This Star Won't Go Out - Esther Earl 

5) The Happy Housewife - Heleen van Royen 

6) Thursdays in the Park - Hilary Boyd 

7) Le bleu est une couleur chaude - Julie Maroh 

8) Frog Music - Emma Donoghue 

9) Central Cambridge: A Guide to the University and Colleges - Kevin Taylor 

10) A Little Love Song - Michelle Magorian 

11) The Fault in Our Stars - John Green 

12) Let It Snow - John Green 

13) All My Friends are Dead - Avery Monsen 

14) My Mother Said I Never Should - Charlotte Keatley 

15) Phaedra - Jean Racine 

16) Bluestockings - Jane Robinson 

17) Kimberly's Capital Punishment - Richard Milward 

18) Fifty Shades Darker - E.L James 

19) Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - Helen Fielding 

20) A Tiny Bit Marvellous - Dawn French 

21) Oh Dear Silvia - Dawn French 

22) You're the One That I Want - Giovanna Fletcher 

23) A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf 

24) The Infinite Gift - Charles Yang 

25) Tiny Sunbirds Far Away - Christie Watson 

26) Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella 

27) 1000 Years of Annoying the French - Stephen Clarke 

28) Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth 

29) Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf 

30) Ourika - Claire de Duras 

31) Where Have All the Boys Gone? - Jenny Coglan 

32) The Complete Maus - Art Speigelman 

33) Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding 

34) Atonement - Ian McEwan 

35) French Lessons - Ellen Sussman 

36) A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride 

37) Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides 

38)  Christmas with Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher 

39) Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher 

40) La folle journée ou le mariage de figaro - Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 

41) Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates 

42) The Christmas Truce - Carol Ann Duffy 

43) Mrs Scrooge - Carol Ann Duffy 

44) Bethlehem: A Christmas Poem - Carol Ann Duffy 

45) Not That Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham 

46) The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder 

47) L'éducation sentimentale - Gustave Flaubert 

48) Wenceslas: A Christmas Poem - Carol Ann Duffy 

49) Another Night Before Christmas - Carol Ann Duffy 

50) A Child's Christmas in Wales - Dylan Thomas 

51) Le barbier de Séville ou la précaution inutile - Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 

52) Pugs in Costumes 

53) The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmas - Tom Fletcher 

Top 13 Books of 2013!

As I have a short period of time before the latest episode of the new series of Sherlock comes on the TV, I thought I would do something useful. What better to do than procrastinate from doing some actual uni work, by writing a blog post!

In 2013, I read a whopping 42 books! (Not quite 50, but edging closer!!) Here are my top 13 of 2013:

1. Why We Broke Up - Daniel Hadler - 5/5 stars. Absolutely beautiful with absolutely beautiful images in it. Also Daniel Hadler is Lemony Snicket's real name!

2. Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction's Most Beloved Heroines - Samantha Hahn. 5/5 stars. An absolutely gorgeously fantastic book of delectable watercolour portraits of some of the most fantastic women in literature. And some lovely quotes as well. 

3. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green. 5/5 stars. It feels a bit cheeky putting this in my top 13 for 2013, because I actually re-read it this year. However, it definitely stood up to being re-read and even made me cry again! I might re-read it in 2014 as well...

4. Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosh. 5/5 stars. A lovely Christmas present to receive (even if I did get two copies!). Painfully funny, yet hilariously true and filled with excellent cartoons. 

5. The Story of English in 100 Words - David Crystal. 4/5 stars. I tried reading more non-fiction this year and was pleasantly surprised. This was very interesting and well worth reading from cover to cover. 

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. 4/5 stars. Beautifully written and again, painfully true. Some wonderful YA. 

7. How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran. 4/5 stars. The first piece of feminist non-fiction I have read and very impressive it was! Funny and insightful, though I couldn't give it 5 stars, because I disagreed with some of her ideas and she seemed to be suggesting everyone had to have the EXACT SAME opinions as her. 

8. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides. 4/5 stars. Very interesting to read, although frustrating at the end!

9. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë. 4/5 stars. Again, feel like this shouldn't be on the list because it was a re-read. Nonetheless, it was still a pleasure to read again, although I did feel that the prose was a little stodgier than I remembered. 

10. Married by Christmas - Scarlett Bailey. 4/5 stars. Fun fluff. 

11. The Bookshop Strikes Back - Ann Patchett. 4/5 stars. An interesting story about a women trying to save books by setting up a bookshop in her home town. 

12. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris - Jenny Coglan. 3/5 stars. More fun fluff, though this is surprisingly well written and not too cliché. 

13. Sushi Slim - Makiko Sano. 5/5 stars. Despite having such a high rating, as it is a cook book, one debates how well placed it is on the this list. I do love sushi though! ^^    

Enlightenment of 2012

Books

The Man of Mode
The Fault in Our Stars
As You Like It
The Knowledge
How Not to Talk Like an Arse
Room
The Lovely Bones
Pride and Prejudice
The Taming of the Shrew
Lighthousekeeping
History of a Pleasure Seeker
Love Letters of Great Men
Twenties Girl
A Murder is Announced (play)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Fifty Shades of Grey
Love Hina Volumes 1-8
Fahrenheit 451
Imadoki (Nowadays)
The Lady of Rivers
A Murder is Announced (book)
Fifty Shames of Earl Grey
Ouran High School Host Club
French Letters and the English Canon
Macbett
Thérèse Raquin
Playhouse Creatures
100
A Christmas Carol
Bad Behaviour

Total: 37

Films

 Carnage
American Pie 1-4
American Pie Presents Beta House
Water for Elephants
The Help
War Horse
The Muppers
The Woman in Black
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
21 Jump Street
The Room
Cool As Ice
Surburban Commando
The Apple
Double Dragon
Fat Slags
Mirror Mirror
Avengers Assemble
Mona Lisa Smile
The Edge of Love
Atonement
Hamlet
(500) Days of Summer
50/50
The Boat That Rocked
The Little Mermaid
Down With Love
The Duchess
The Notebook
My Sister's Keeper
The Time Traveller's Wife
Knocked Up
The 40 Year Old Virgin
10 Things I Hate About You
Music and Lyrics
Toy Story 3
Midnight in Paris
Over the Hedge
Wild Child
Lolita
P.S. I Love You
Tangled
The Ugly Truth
Bolt
No Strings Attached
The Libertine
I Love You, Man
The Princess and the Frog
Jane Eyre
Kung Fu Panda
Limitless
An Education
A Dangerous Method
Easy A
Hairspray
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
The Five-Year Engagement
The Change-Up
Ted
Wanderlust
Potiche
Brave
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Role Models
Back to the Future 1-3
Three Men and a Baby
La Vie en Rose
The Producers
The Princess Bride
Some Like it Hot
Atlantis
Anna Karenina
Glorious 39
One Day
Going the Distance
Horrible Bosses
Eat, Pray, Love
Looper
Liberal Arts
Skyfall
Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog
Mulan
Groundhog Day
Rust and Bone
The Artist
My Fake Fiancé
My Year Without Sex
The Back-Up Plan
Love Actually
Secretary
Silver Linings Playbook
Jesus Christ Superstar 2012 Tour
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Total: 98

Plays
Blue Remembered Hills
Twelfth Night
Letter of Intent
Faustus
Spring Awakening
Company Along the Mile
Holmes and the Ripper
The Winter's Tale
Henry V
Brighton Beach Memoirs
We Happy Few
She Stoops to Conquer
The Alchemist
When We Are Married
The Comedy of Errors
Daisy Pulls It Off
Railway Children
 
Total: 17

Top 10 Books of 2012

Inspired by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIwBUqIoqvo

In no particular order...

1. Bad Behaviour - Mary Gaitskill (4/5)
Chosen after watching Secretary, I was pleasantly surprised by the other short stories in the collection, though confused as to why Secretary was made - it did not seem to me like there was a whole lot to be gleened from the 20 page story of the same name.

2. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (5/5)
uoIAHdouhasfk I adore John Green's work. More coherent review to follow (possibly.)

3. 100 - Christopher Heimann (4/5)
Fantastic play based off of an interesting concept.

4. Thérèse Raquin - Émile Zola (4/5)
 My first stab at a French novel. I was surprised by how accessible the language was, given the age of the book.

5. History of a Pleasure Seeker - Richard Mason (4/5)

6. Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L James (2/5)
Hilariously bad.

7. Love Letters of Great Men - Ursula Doyle (4/5)


8. Room - Emma Donoghue (4/5)

9. The Knowledge - John Donnelly (4/5)

10. Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella (4/5)