literary.feline's 2014: A Year Long Read-a-Thon

Hoping to get to 75 books again this year in between my PhD studies and general life stuff.

I've also started listening to audiobooks for the first time in my life so I'm curious to see how much that will impact my reading totals this year. So far, I'm finding audiobooks fantastic for those morning commutes where I'm too sleepy to read.

So far...

January 2014
1. The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett and Amanda Pressner
2. Balzac et la petite Tailleuse chinoise by Dai Sijie
3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
4. Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
5. Le grand troupeau by Jean Giono
6. Sévère by Régis Jauffret
7. Le dernier des Justes by André Schwarz-Bart
8. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
9. Wheat Belly by William Davis
10. Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
11. Idiot's Delight by Robert Sherwood

February 2014
12. La dot de Sara by Marie-Celie Agnant
13. Inferno by Dan Brown
14. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson
15. The To-Do List by Mike Gayle
16. Paper Towns by John Green
17. Allah n'est pas obligé by Ahmadou Kourouma
18. Quand on refuse on dit non by Ahmadou Kourouma
19. Un habit de lumière by Anne Hébert

March 2014
20. La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu by Jean Giraudoux

April 2014
21. Le livre des fuites by J.M.G. Le Clézio
22. A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff

May 2014
23. The Passage by Justin Cronin
24. The Twelve by Justin Cronin
25. 3096 jours by Natascha Kampusch
26. Being Binky by Binky Felstead
27. Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

June 2014
28. Weekend in Paris by Robin Sisman
29. The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek
30. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
31. La Mémoire des murs by Tatiana de Rosnay

July 2014
32. Getting In by Karen Stabiner
33. Le thé au harem d'Archi Ahmed by Mehdi Charef
34. Un aller simple by Didier van Cauwelaert
35. Le petit Malik by Mabrouk Rachedi
36. Boumkoeur by Rachid Djaidani
37. La vie est brève et le désir sans fin by Patrick Lapeyre

August 2014
38. Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing by Alan Paul
39. Banlieue noire by Thomté Ryam
40. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
41. Le poids d'une âme by Mabrouk Rachedi
42. Supplément au roman national by Jean-Éric Boulin
43. En attendant que le bus explose by Thomté Ryam

September 2014
44. Zone cinglée by Kaoutar Harchi
45. Azima la rouge by Aymeric Patricot
46. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
47. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
48. Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
49. Matched by Ally Condie
50. Les boucs by Driss Chraibi
51. Le docker noir by Ousmane Sembène
52. L'aventure ambiguë by Cheikh Hamidou Kane
53. Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
54. Oscar and the Lady in Pink by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
55. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
56. Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
57. Dans l'enfer des tournantes by Samira Bellil
58. Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen
59. A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham
60. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

October 2014
61. A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
62. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
63. Radio Shangri-La: What I Discovered on my Accidental Journey to the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli
64. Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Girl Tells You What She's "Learned" by Lena Dunham
65. Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco
66. The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel
67. Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min
68. It's Now or Never by Carole Matthews
69. L'Adversaire by Emmanuel Carrère
70. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

November 2014
71. Candy Girl by Diablo Cody
72. The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
73. Shopgirl by Steve Martin
74. Market Street by Anita Hughes
75. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
76. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
77. A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic
78. It by Alexa Chung
79. Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark
80. The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going
81. Miss Hempel's Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
82. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
83. L'ostie d'chat, Tôme 1 by Iris and Zviane
84. Nord perdu suivi de "Douze France" by Nancy Huston
85. Waiting by Ha Jin
86. The Walking Dead Book Nine by Robert Kirkman
87. Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
88. The Walking Dead Book Ten by Robert Kirkman
89. Shenzhen by Guy Delisle
90. Falling is Like This by Kate Rockland

December 2014
91. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
92. Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella
93. Globalization and Its Discontents by Saskia Sassen
94. Sashenka by Simon Montefiore
95. The Giver by Lois Lowry
96. Multi-Ethnic France: Immigration, Politics, Culture and Society by Alec Hargreaves
97. The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
98. L'ostie d'chat, Tôme 2 by Iris and Zviane
99. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
100. Childhood by Nathalie Sarraute
101. Truth or Dare by Ella Monroe
102. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
103. La Préférence Nationale by Fatou Diome
104. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
105. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
106. Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi
107. By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
108. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
109. La vie devant soi by Romain Gary
110. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
111. Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal
112. Zeida de nulle part by Leila Houari
113. Declining the Stereotype: Ethnicity and Representation in French Cultures by Mireille Rosello
114. The Marauders by Tom Cooper

114/75

Best of 2014
Le dernier des Justes by André Schwarz-Bart
Un habit de lumière by Anne Hébert
A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff
Un aller simple by Didier van Cauwelaert
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
Nord perdu suivi de "Douze France" by Nancy Huston
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
Sashenka by Simon Montefiore
By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
La vie devant soi by Romain Gary

Welcome back!

Thanks :)

First audiobook finished!

3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Whoever did the audiobook reading for this had the voices and accents down pat which really made a decent novel that much better. I don't know if I would have enjoyed this book as much had I read it on my Kindle...

I was never able to reach 75 books while working on my PhD, so good for you and good luck!

Thanks! I don't know if I'll make it this year, but I want to try and keep reading for pleasure while I continue on this crazy PhD journey. That being said, my PhD is in French literature so I do have to read quite a few novels for my coursework and upcoming exams so that will help me reach my goal too.

Well, that does help, doesn't it? What's your research about? (Feel free to decline to answer; I'll completely understand if you're tired of answering that question!)

Haha, I don't mind at all. I'm working on the contemporary French "banlieue" novel. Basically, the "banlieues" are suburban neighbourhoods associated with low-quality social housing that are inhabited predominantly by immigrant and other disadvantaged populations. (They were all over the news after some major riots back in 2005.) People from these neighbourhoods are generally typecast as unemployed immigrants, violent criminals or juvenile delinquents. The novels I look at focus on the social issues that French youth are facing growing up in these neighbourhoods, including questions of French national identity. Most of these writers are second-generation immigrants and have lived their entire lives in France but continue to struggle with not being perceived as French and attempt to present alternate portraits of these regions... My project is determining if these novels constitute a genre and differentiating it from postcolonial literature. Anyway, as I'm sure you know, summing up your research in a few sentences is always a feat in and of itself, but hopefully I managed to give you a sense of my work!

What about you? What was your PhD in?

Oh, that's fascinating! I know nothing about modern French lit, so I can't carry on a conversation with you about it, but wow, it sounds really interesting! And yes, hone that 1 minute blurb about what you do - you'll need it on the job market! Ha! (What you have typed in #8 is a very good one, too!)

I'm a classicist; my PhD research was on the Roman Triumph and how it was used by Roman authors for various means. It was such an integral part of their culture than it pervades all aspects of the literary scene, too, and was used to ingenious ends. I also looked at it in Cicero's letters, where we get a bit of a behind the scenes look at what the triumph meant to the Romans, how it was a performance of self long before the parade itself actually took place (for example, a general had to ask the senate to vote for a triumph for him, but one of the huge unspoken rules concerning the triumph was that you absolutely could not be seen as wanting it too badly. So how in the world did these generals manage to canvass the members of the senate for a triumph without seeming actually to want the thing?). The poets, then, appropriated the language of the triumph toward their own ends, serving their counter-revolution very nicely. And so on...

I'm getting all too familiar with having to describe my project in just a few words. I do all my work in French so it's nice to actually describe my research in English for once.

Your research sounds fascinating too. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Ancient Rome is limited to one course from way back in high school. I did watch that HBO show from a few years ago and while it was entertaining, I'm assuming that it wasn't very historically accurate.

I moseyed over to your profile (your son is adorable) and I really related to your comment about being nervous at other people looking at your books. I think because we're all big readers here, sometimes the books we read seem almost intermingled with our identity. I sort of debated about having a public library too because I really enjoy a fluffy chick lit or YA novel on a lazy Sunday and I felt shy about my penchant for reading things that don't necessary fit in with my PhD student image. I'm realizing how silly that is as I write this!

Oh, I *love* the HBO show! They took liberties with the storyline of the two main characters, of course (they're only mentioned in a short episode of Caesar's Gallic Wars), but it's historical fiction done well with good research. I love it, too, for the scenery - they did a great job re-creating an accurate-looking Rome!
And you're right about books being a sort of statement about who we are, although I see no reason to be worried about showing your love off a little fluff here and there. I'm no book snob, and I think you'll find that the 75ers in general aren't either.

I'm vastly impressed and intrigued with both dissertation topics especially Amber's since I used to teach high school Latin. Anyway, it's the little upstarts like me (if we're so inclined) who have to worry about the impression left by fluff that we read. I'm no longer worried that way, having a little Popeye in me.
So read or listen on, Ms. Feline. We'll be happy to hear what you think.

Well, fluff has its place! I don't think I could stand to read serious tomes all the time. My current fluff is Batman: Odyssey for when I'm not in the mood for Death Comes to the Archbishop. :)

>9 scaifea: I binge-watched Rome on Netflix just last year and I was so sad that there weren't more seasons. I really liked Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar as well. I'll probably re-watch it someday because I feel like I would be able to appreciate a lot more of the details the second time around.

>10 literary.feline: Thanks, Lizzie :) You're right, none of us should worry about what we're reading as long as we're enjoying the book.

Quick reviews of two books that I finished up over the last 24-hours:

4. Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

This book chronicles Jim Gaffigan's misadventures as the father of five children. I listened to him read the book and I would recommend listening rather than reading it because I think his narration adds something. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I just feel like I wouldn't have wanted to read this... If you're already familiar with his stand-up comedy, you might find some of the material repetitive, but it's still quite cute and funny at moments. 3/5

5. Le grand troupeau by Jean Giono (English translation: To the Slaughterhouse)

This novel was inspired by Giono's experiences during WWI and forms part of his pacifist writings. It has a propagandistic feel to it and I didn't get very attached to any of the characters. Nevertheless, Giono provides some of the most visceral descriptions of trench warfare that I have ever read. I'm reading this in the context of a course on the novel as social critique so I definitely got a lot of out of it but I think that people interested in this period would definitely find the novel interesting. 3.5/5

>13 drneutron: After hours of struggling through French literary theory, there comes a time to throw Derrida out the window and bask in some fluff. My current fun read is Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, the new David Sedaris book. So far, I'm quite enjoying it. But does Willa Cather really count as fluff though? Just joking, I think the mutability of the "Fluff" label is part of its charm.

>14 literary.feline:: Yes! He was excellent as Caesar, especially since JC was quite sickly, and I think he was good as looking peaked. Ha!

>15 literary.feline:: I saw the Gaffigan on the New Audiobooks shelf at the library this week...I'm not sure that he's my type of humor, but I think about giving it a try.

>17 scaifea: Maybe try listening to a couple of minutes on YouTube, his book is really quite similar to his stand-up.

I was looking through my bookshelves today and I realized that I have a bunch of unfinished books that I haven't gotten around to finishing. Some of them were assigned readings for courses and I just never managed to finish them and others were books I started for fun and just never got around to finishing. So, my new goal this year is to start working my way through these unfinished books.

Some of these books have been lying around for ages so I'm sure I'll end up having to skim the beginnings again, but it would sure be nice to knock some of these off of the continually growing TBR mountain.

Here's the list that I'm starting to compile which I'm sure will end up getting a bit bigger as I find more unfinished books lurking around the house but I think fifteen is a nice number to start with.

1. Think... by David Lodge
2. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
3. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
4. The Coming Community by Giorgio Agamben
5. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
6. The War of the End of the World by
7. Vodka by Boris Starling
8. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
9. The Unknown Gulag by Lynne Viola
10. Representing the Holocaust by Dominick La Capra
11. Rue Saint-Denis by André Carpentier
12. La mort exquise by Claude Mathieu
13. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson Finished February 2014
14. Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman Finished June 2014
15. Exercises de style by Raymond Queneau

There's a pretty random assortment of books here and some are a bit chunkier than others, but there's quite a bit of variety here so depending on my mood throughout the year, there should be something that I'll feel like picking up again.

Oh, the problems of book addicts...

Just a couple of quick mini-reviews...

8. First off, I recently finished Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. I'm not sure why but I didn't find this book as funny as some of his other books. Maybe I've just read too many of his essays... Anyway, I would say that I was entertained but I wasn't laughing out loud like I was with some of his other books. 3/5

9. I finished listening to Wheat Belly by William Davis. I feel like nutrition advice is constantly changing so I don't generally reach for these books. I feel like a lot of the time they just support whatever is the latest fad. I think the last book on nutrition that I read was Food Rules which was enjoyable because it was short and simple. Besides, most of Pollan's arguments are common sense based, like eat more plants and less processed foods. Anyway, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Wheat Belly. While I don't see myself completely cutting wheat from my diet, over the last couple of weeks, I did cut my wheat consumption down substantially and I have been feeling better. That being said, it's hard for me to chalk it all up to reducing wheat because I have also been cutting back on caffeine and trying to get proper sleep as well. I think Wheat Belly was a bestseller last year, so I would be curious to know other people's thoughts on the book if anyone else has happened to read it. 3/5

I finished listening to Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg last night and I enjoyed it. Whenever someone is discussing controversial issues like gender, there are always lots of moments when you feel like, "Hm... I don't know if I agree completely or that doesn't really seem to apply to most people." Overall, though, I think the sentiment of her book is positive and it definitely made me rethink some of the times I haven't wanted to speak up in the workplace as well. 3.8/5

I just can't bring myself to give the book 4/5 because I just don't think it deserves that and it does get a little preachy at moments but 3.5/5 just seems a little too low because I think it is contributing to an important conversation...

I'd be curious to know what other people thought of this book.

Just a quick comment on two of the books that I recently finished: Inferno by Dan Brown and The To-Do List by Mike Gayle. Both books started off well, but about a third of the way through became real struggles to finish.

I haven't read anything else by Mike Gayle, so maybe his fiction is better, but this book had a great premise but the execution really left a lot to be desired. Both books barely get a 2/5 from me.

Anyway, this sometimes happens when I get busy reading for school and then try to find lighter things to read in the evenings and end up just coming across a couple of duds.

Wish me luck over the next few reads!

Luck! I hate it when I hit a few duds in a row...