Jennifer
I don't know if this review should be rated basing it on this year's average rating (it's of 3.4 and this is so disappointing nghhhh) or how I feel about my reading experience/goal/life.. Please let me know!! :)2016 has been a great year for reading to me. I really read a lot - 80 books (I know, my standards are pretty low lmao);I know there are plenty of people who read like 7283879202 books in 2016, but I'm soooo proud of myself!! I became a serious reader five years ago and I started from the very bottom reading something like 16 books (unfortunately that year I had serious problems with my job that caused me health issues too, so I honestly did my best, considering the fact I spent some years without reading. And THAT is such a shame because I've always loved books since I was a child).I'm so happy seeing that each year I improve myself and get to read more and more!! I honestly hope to keep up this positive thing and get to read 100 books in 2017 (NO WAY, not even in my dreams ahah) :DOn a personal level this has been such a disastrous year like #fuckmylife lolSaying it has been like a roller coaster with its ups and downs is an euphemism, so I honestly hope that 2017 will be a positive year for myself and my family because I can say we honestly deserve it <3On the other hand, I have met some new virtual friends (in and off GR) and this makes me feel really happy because I feel linked to them on a spiritual level <3~ The funny thing is I had NO IDEA about what to write, like I was sure I only would have made a little list without saying anything at all, but I'm too talkative and I should have predicted I'd have wrote a whole book (nobody's going to read this anyway, so I think it's ok lol)Boring enough!! XDLet's talk about the interesting stuff that nobody even cares: my opinion about the books I read this year lolI wanted to make something like a top 10 of the best and worst reads, but it looks like I don't have enough five stars ratings, so I will make a top 5 U_____U;;;So, let's go~~~~~ Let's start from the infamous ones.WORST READS OF THE YEAR:5. [b:Story of the Eye 9961057 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1292778120s/9961057.jpg 616919].Like ugh, bruh. What's wrong with these people?? I get paranoid with this kind of books, I always feel so.. normal compared to them? And what if these people could make ME something like THAT??? I don't know, just let me be because this scares the hell out of me :'D4. [b:Curse of the Alpha: Episode 2 23011645 Curse of the Alpha Episode 2 Tasha Black https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408918514s/23011645.jpg 43982358].Trash filled with opinable sex (?). Just NO.3. [b:La farfalla con le ali di cristallo 25919364 La farfalla con le ali di cristallo Demetrio Verbaro https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437036759s/25919364.jpg 45809221].I don't even know if there's an english edition of this little pearl, but I hope there wasn't even an italian one. I felt the good vibes of the title (that could be translated as “The Butterfly with the Crystal Wings”) that seemed to promise me a good story, but at the end I had such an hard time to read this one.2. [b:The Plague Doctor 17201538 The Plague Doctor C.P. Sennett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357054026s/17201538.jpg 23677209].So, so, SO DISAPPOINTING. This summer on Amazon I found the paperback for something like €2,50 , so I gladly bought it because the plot seemed to be pretty good, too. I was so sad when I realized it was extremely boring and full of pointless facts. I didn't even like the ending that was full of action, so you can get the idea.... I'm afraid the next one is a big fat ultra mega unpopular opinion, but I couldn't make it, sorry..1. [b:Me Before You 15507958 Me Before You (Me Before You, #1) Jojo Moyes https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357108762s/15507958.jpg 17763198].Overly hyped imo. I wanted to give it a shot, but it turned out it bored me to death and it took me MONTHS to finish it. Just get out of my life and never come back.*********BEST READINGS OF 2016:5. [b:Insanity 18910286 Insanity (Insanity #1) Cameron Jace https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385232610s/18910286.jpg 26915698].I REALLY loved this book and the plot! Cameron Jace is hands down becoming one of my fave authors ever (this year I read [b:Figment 15698596 Figment (Insanity, #2) Cameron Jace https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417114547s/15698596.jpg 21356307] and 10 of the Grimm Diaries' prequels, too. I will try to go on with these series asap, like I HAVE TO DO IT!)4. [b:The Courtesan and the Samurai 10423241 The Courtesan and the Samurai (The Shogun Quartet #3) Lesley Downer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348331900s/10423241.jpg 11605665].Lesley Downer has always been one of my fave authors EVER. She can mesmerize me like a few other people can. WRITE MORE BOOKS, PWEESE!!! ♥ (still hoping to get her latest book :'C)3. [b:Cinder 11235712 Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) Marissa Meyer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470056948s/11235712.jpg 15545385] & [b:Scarlet 13206760 Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) Marissa Meyer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470056982s/13206760.jpg 18390691].What can I say??? I honestly love this series and I promise I will read the other books very soon (I already started [b:Cress 13206828 Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3) Marissa Meyer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470057005s/13206828.jpg 18390772] but I wanted to finish the books I already started before jumping on this one u.u) <3332. [b:The Lightning Thief 6676603 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) Rick Riordan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388262641s/6676603.jpg 3346751].WHY. DID. I. WAIT. SO. LONG. TO. READ. THIS. SERIES????? Like, mamma mia!!! I wanted to read it only because they were going to broadcast the movies on TV and for once I wanted to know the story before getting on the film lmao OMG THIS TIME I WAS SO RIGHT!! (The movie sucked tho)AAAAAAND HERE'S THE BEST OF THE BEST aka THE BESTEST (ahahah):1. [b:Illuminae 23395680 Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1) Amie Kaufman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443433956s/23395680.jpg 26653661].THIS BOOK. OMG THIS BOOK KILLED ME. AND I'M SO HAPPY IT DID. I still can't get myself to review it, honest.*********Ok, I swear it's over and if you got to read all of my BS I ask you to msg me because I want to personally give you my congrats and love you eternally ahahah <3I hope you had a good year and that 2017 will get even better!! xoxo ♥♥♥
《Like the pine and the chrysanthemum that bloomed in winter when other flowers had died, a courtesan's charms endured for ever.》
Once again Lesley Downer proves to be one of my favorite authors EVER.
I don't even know why this book's ratings are so low, honestly.
The accuracy of the facts that are told, the details and the story itself totally mesmerized me.
Two thumbs up!!
During the last years I've seen many of these strips on Facebook and I always thought they were hilariously amazing because, let's be honest, they totally tell the truth about our lives.
Like, yeah, I'm not lying.
It's been great to see them all together with others I've never seen before!! :)
I WANT MOARRRR!!
I usually don't rate a book with one star, but, honestly, I can't find a single thing in this book that I may like.
In my humble opinion, the punctuation is totally and unnervingly random, 200 pages are almost useless and overall I find it boring.
I'm really sorry, but I had a hard time reading this book :/
Honestly, I don't know what to do with this book rn. I'm not sure about the rating and I don't even know what to think about it. For now, I'll drop a neutral rating here and I'll leave for some time lol
BUT. Obviously I don't want to go away without a quote, so here it is - BAM!
《Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.》
《The universe owes you nothing, Kady. It has already given you everything, after all. It was here long before you, and it will go on long after you. The only way it will remember you is if you do something worthy of remembrance.》
First read 24~28/11/2o16 (ebook):
Should I rate it four or five stars? MMMMMH. IDEK, my brain doesn't work anymore. I need some time, duh.
(but at least I should say this book is a precious pearl tbh)
Purchased the paperback edition 14/o4/2o17:
Ok, when last week I bought Gemina I found out how good was to hold it and how crappy the ebook was compared to it, so I HAD TO buy Illuminae too. I felt that kind of urge of re-reading it so I couldn't keep myself from ordering it from Amazon ♥
SO, you guessed it: tomorrow I will be starting it right away and I can't wait!!! ♡
(Yeah, I don't even know why I was struggling so much deciding how to rate this omg IT'S A FIVE STARS BOOK, SHAME ON ME!!)
Second read 15~17/o4/2o17:
I'm still unable to write a decent review even if the surprise of the plot twists is gone, bear with me.
Tomorrow I'll try to take a grip on myself trying to write something that would look coherent or interesting, at least (I hope so) :P
Third read o3/o2/2o18:
* Buddy read with Raspberry 💜
I'm trying to combine the book and the audiobook, by the way 🤔
* Finished the book (from page 360) during my 24 Hour Readathon ✌🏻
《The two of us were – by our own admission – proficient and shameless liars of long standing. It's a wonder either one of us believed a word the other said.But we did.Or so we told each other.》
I really like how the author weaved the story (pun intended) with the addition of the twelve maids' choruses, they gave it a really nice touch.
《My name is Percy Jackson.I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid? Yeah. You could say that.》
Ok, tell me WHY I waited so long to read this series.
I mean, this is SO my style. Witty comments, an action-packed story, Olympus gods and whatever ♥
In my defence I should say that I got deceived by other people's comments like “this is a mess/it's a retarded version of Harry Potter/blah blah blah”. WHAT? Anybody could agree on the fact that the movie sucked [I watched it a month ago while I was in the middle of the book (I wanted to read it before the movie aired on tv but I failed, obviously) and I needed some time to recover from the shock. It was so... Different and boring, duh.], but the books are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Honest, I can't wait to read the next one (in the mean time I'll read another compendium book, just because).
★★★½☆
《Perhaps goodness and evil weren't attributes. They were jobs, and I sucked at being good. It's easy claiming you're good. The hardest part is to have the heart to live up to it. The line between good and evil is fuzzy, and you could easily drown in the oblivious grey in between. Grey is only a shade lighter than black; it neverleads to pure white.》
《We've all tried to be good and failed. There's nothing new to that; it happens every day. Blame it on Mama and Papa, who insisted the world was good when we were kids. But you'd be a fool if you don't try to be bad for a change. Who knows? You could be good at being bad, and it could be your destiny.》
《I didn't know if he was a murderer, but I knew he had a bottomless void inside him. And that void was what made him lie. I've been there. Compared to where Frank was at, it may have been like a Hello Kitty version, but I've been there.》
THIS. BOOK. IS. SO. DISTURBING.
Oh my- At some point I was going to throw up the hell out of me, seriously.
... But I have to say that from 80% on (I was reading the ebook version, of course) I was kinda bored, but obviously I wanted to know how it ended so I tried my best to finish it.
A final comment? I feel so paranoid right now. Just let me live in my bedroom and don't let me see the sunlight ever again, please.
• Charles Perrault - I Racconti di Mamma l'Oca
~ Cappuccetto Rosso ★★★☆☆
~ Barbablù ★★★★½
~ Il Gatto con gli Stivali ★★★★★
~ Cenerentola ★★★★☆
~ Le Fate ★★★★☆
~ La Bella Addormentata nel Bosco ★★★☆☆
~ Pollicino ★★★½☆
~ Enrichetto dal Ciuffo ★★★★☆
~ Pelle d'Asino ★★★½☆
• Madame d'Aulnoy - Le Fate alla Moda
~ Il Nano Giallo ★★★½☆
~ Il Ramoscello d'Oro ★★★½☆
~ La Principessa Rosetta ★★★½☆
~ Graziosa e Persinetto ★★☆☆☆
~ La Principessa Bella-Stella ★☆☆☆☆
~ Il Principe Cinghiale ★★★☆☆
~ La Gatta Bianca ★★★☆☆
~ L'Uccello Azzurro ★★★☆☆
~ Il Piccione e la Colomba ★★★☆☆
• Mademoiselle de la Force - Racconti dei Racconti
~ Mulinello ★★½☆☆
~ La Brava Donna ★★★★☆
~ Verde e Celeste ★★★☆☆
• Madame de Murat - Nuovi Racconti delle Fate
~ Anguilletta ★★★☆☆
~ La Dolce Pena ★★½☆☆
• Le Chavalier de Mailly - Le Fate Illustri
~ La Regina dell'Isola dei Fiori ★★★★☆
• Madame le Prince de Beaumont - I Racconti delle Fate
~ La Bella e la Bestia ★★★★★
~ Belloccia e Bruttina ★★★★★
~ Desiderio e Vezzosetta ★★★☆☆
~ La Vedova e le sue due Figliole ★★★½☆
~ Il Principe Avvenente ★★★★☆
~ Infausto e Fausto ★★★☆☆
~ Il Principe Amato ★★☆☆☆
• Le Comte de Caylus - Nuovi Incantesimi
~ L'Incantesimo Sbagliato ★★☆☆☆
~ Rosellina ★★★★☆
~ La Principessa Minuzia e il Re Fioredoro ★☆☆☆☆
• Charles-Antoine Coypel
~ Eagle o Sgorbietto ★★★☆☆
