2017 was a tumultuous year. Unfortunately, reading-wise, it was also a very mediocre year for me. I only read 33 books instead of my usual 52+. That is probably due to a perfect storm between personal issues, school work and my addiction to Netflix. Furthermore, 18/33 books I read were not chosen by me, meaning that they were either for school, for book club (Prix littéraire des collégiens) or for my IB memoir. Those books often a hit-or-miss, with mostly misses. It is simply not the same level of enjoyment when you have to read for class or just for pleasure, as I am sure most of you are aware. Also, true to my reading resolutions of 2017, I challenged myself to read more adult books which are is usually not my favorite genre. Nonetheless, I figured that since I am now 18 I should veer away from Young Adult novels. However, I often still cannot relate to the problems of adult novels like marriage or raising children. So for 2017, I just want to read more of the things that I love, and cut down my use of Netflix to return to my reading roots. That being said, I managed to find 4 incredible books that marked my reading year. Most of these were already in my Holiday Gift Guide because they are just so good. Without further ado, let’s get into it! 4. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Summary Barcelona, 1945 - just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly. My review A couple years ago I read Marina by Zafón and absolutely fell in love with his writing. It is rich, eerie and a little bit magical. I kept being recommend The Shadow of the Wind but I kept pushing it away, scared that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations and therefore ruining Marina with it. However, even if it took me around two months to finish it, The Shadow of the Wind only reinforces Zafón’s reputation as a modern literary genius. You experience Daniel’s life with him, from his first love, to the hardships of being a teenager and the harsh reality of a post-civil war conflict. As usual, Zafón includes an odd element, the disappearance of Carax's books, and transforms it into a multigenerational mystery. Bit by bit, the dots start connecting to create an intricate web of lies and secrets. Even the mundane details become important plot points. Zafón really is the master of suspense. The Shadow of the Wind is the perfect mix between more traditional themes like love and family, and mystery and creepiness. Unfortunately for us, the second novel in the series is hard to find in stores since it did not have the same success as the first volume, but it can be ordered online on most platforms. 3. Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette Summary Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette never knew her mother’s mother. Curious to understand why her grandmother, Suzanne, a sometime painter and poet associated with Les Automatistes, a movement of dissident artists that included Paul-Émile Borduas, abandoned her husband and young family, Barbeau-Lavalette hired a private detective to piece together Suzanne’s life. Suzanne, winner of the Prix des libraires du Québec and a bestseller in French, is a fictionalized account of Suzanne’s life over eighty-five years, from Montreal to New York to Brussels, from lover to lover, through an abortion, alcoholism, Buddhism, and an asylum. It takes readers through the Great Depression, Québec's Quiet Revolution, women’s liberation, and the American civil rights movement, offering a portrait of a volatile, fascinating woman on the margins of history. And it’s a granddaughter’s search for a past for herself, for understanding and forgiveness. My review Surprisingly enough, I had to read Suzanne for my Quebec literature class. I would never have expected to enjoy so much a book I had to read for school. For those of you who are not from Quebec, I would not recommend this book since I feel that you need to already know a lot about our culture to have a full picture. The author briefly mentions many important historical events that need further researching to fully comprehend the depth of the story and the consequences of such events on Suzanne’s life. However, for the rest of you, Suzanne will tear you apart, there is truly no better way to describe it. When I was reading it, a ball of disgust, anger and anxiety formed in my stomach. Obviously, it is the story of a woman leaving her family to pursue her own happiness, it is bound to make you feel emotions. While I may not agree with the principles behind Suzanne’s actions, I couldn't stop reading. If literature is about making you feel something to the deepest part of your soul, Suzanne triggers something in all of us: the family instinct. Suzanne is maddening, frightening and incredibly sad. Personally, I found no happiness reading this novel, but it touched me so deeply that I cannot silence its power. A good book does not mean it is a happy book, and Suzanne is a masterpiece piece that hopefully will transcend both generational and geographic barriers. 2. Tolstoy, Rasputin, Others, and Me by Teffi Summary Early in her literary career Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya, born in St. Petersburg in 1872, adopted the pen-name of Teffi, and it is as Teffi that she is remembered. In pre-revolutionary Russia she was a literary star, known for her humorous satirical pieces; in the 1920s and 1930s, she wrote some of her finest stories in exile in Paris, recalling her unforgettable encounters with Rasputin, and her hopeful visit at age thirteen to Tolstoy after reading War and Peace. In this selection of her best autobiographical stories, she covers a wide range of subjects, from family life to revolution and emigration, writers and writing. Like Nabokov, Platonov, and other great Russian prose writers, Teffi was a poet who turned to prose but continued to write with a poet’s sensitivity to tone and rhythm. Like Chekhov, she fuses wit, tragedy, and a remarkable capacity for observation; there are few human weaknesses she did not relate to with compassion and understanding. My review Tolstoy, Rasputin, Others, and Me (TROM) was the only book in this list that I did not put in my Holiday Gift Guide. Honestly, I cannot explain why. Maybe it’s because it could be in so many categories. I picked this one up by pure chance. I asked the book seller from Hullabaloo Books (Brooklyn, NYC) what I should read that was “Russian, but not 1000 pages long”, and that’s what he recommended. There is something about Russian literature that just grabs me and pulls me deep in its complex and rich history. The overwhelming sadness, the somber writing style, the deep irony and sarcasm… are all traits of Russian lit that naturally draw me to it. However, Teffi’s writing style makes you feel right at home. TROM is incredibly sarcastic and ironic, but it doesn’t have all the typical Russian drama. The reader dives right into her life in the form of various short stories. It feels somewhat comforting to know that a highly regarded poet like Teffi is just a normal person with relatable struggles. TROM is refreshing and incredibly funny which contrasts with Teffi's hardships of living in exile. I highly recommend this to anyone who’s scared to dive into the menacing-looking Russian literature world (which is, turns out, really not that scary).
Sorry English folks, still no translation announced for this one. Therefore, the rest of the review will be in French. Bon, j’ai déjà énormément parlé de ce livre sur Libellus, alors je vais faire bref. Si vous voulez une chronique plus en détail, cliquez ici : http://libellus.weebly.com/blog/november-21st-2017 Résumé Ces femmes ont bien appris la leçon. Les règles, elles les connaissent. Est-ce donc leur faute si, au dernier moment, ça coince? La ligne de khôl, les vœux du Nouvel An, un coiffeur qui vous prend pour Courtney Love, une fin de soirée sans condom, ce plan si simple pour faire renvoyer la vendeuse détestée de toutes… Prises entre désir de plaire et souci d’authenticité, les femmes et les filles mises en scène par Chloé Savoie-Bernard se délectent de leur solitude jusqu'à l'écoeurement. Quelles parts de soi faut-il enjamber pour atteindre l’autre? Certaines arriveront à faire le grand écart, d’autres non. Habitées par les sons et les langues de Montréal, par la musique pop et la poésie, ces nouvelles sont portées par un souffle aussi lyrique qu’impur. La contamination est amorcée. Ma chronique Comme j’ai dit dans ma chronique pour Suzanne (La femme qui fuit en français), le but de la littérature est de nous faire vivre des émotions fortes. Des femmes savantes est un recueil brutal et cru. Il externalise et amplifie toutes les petites injustices et insécurités vécues par les femmes. Chloé Savoie-Bernard ne mâche pas les mots, elle est brutalement honnête et parfois violente. C’est l’histoire de la jeune adulte moderne : fatiguée, tannée et brûlée de vivre et de se conformer. Je peux comprendre les gens qui disent que c’est trop étrange ou trop intense comme recueil, mais je crois fermement que c’est en choquant et en exposant les gens à la vérité que les mœurs peuvent changer. Des femmes savantes fait exactement cela.
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