What I Read in 2018

As an avid reader, I’ve been taking part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge for two years now. On my first year, I had set my goal to a small twelve – one book per month – and exploded that goal as fast as Usain Bolt on a running track. By July, I was off the charts. In 2018, I felt bolder and more confident in my ability to read a lot, so I set my goal at 30… but I didn’t take into consideration that my situation would be completely different. In 2017, I lived on my own, had a steady 9 to 5 job and barely anything to do on the weekends. For the last half of 2018, I was back at my parents’ place and hustling to find a job and make that bread. Which means less time for reading, and ultimately a bare 18 books read. Here’s a short list of these books.

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

Actually started in the last days of 2017, but finished in January 2018, I still wanted to mention that book because of how important it is. Yes, I was influenced by the tv show of the same name, but I actually read the book before watching it. We all know the book is almost always better. I wasn’t disappointed at all. (Although the show is great to watch too, the second season goes completely off book since it continues the story where the book stops.) The Handmaid’s Tale is everything I love about dystopian stories and made me discover the author Margaret Atwood, whose works have all been added to my to-read list.

À Ton Nom – Damien Saez

Damien Saez is a well-known French singer-songwriter and a true poet. This book is a collection of short essays and poems that are often harsh to read but there’s no denying this man’s talent. My only disappointment is that it reads very fast – I was done in half an hour!

Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge – Mark Yarm

For anyone really interested in the Grunge era, this book is a Bible. It tells the story of “Grunge” before and after the Nirvana years through real-life accounts of people involved in the scene back then. If you have absolutely no interest and/or no knowledge of the era, this book will bore you to death, I have to say. But if you’re like me, you’ll learn a lot and will discover enough bands to get you through the whole year!

I was very into biographies and 90’s music last year, and it shows. After this book, I also read Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times and Music of Green Day by Marc Spitz, Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross (which was SO interesting!), Foo Fighters: Learning to Fly by Mick Wall and on a whole other topic, Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama.

Helmet Boy – Mark Maggiori

I have already read this book multiple times over the years, but I just can’t get enough. First things first, the author, Mark Maggiori, was the singer of one of my favorite French bands, fifteen to ten years ago, called Pleymo (check them out!). The story behind Helmet Boy is deeply disturbing yet fascinating (killer children, drug abuse) and the book was published with the band’s last album ever, Alphabet Prison. Songs from this album also portray the story from the book so you can enjoy a good read AND good music all at the same time.

The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas

Troubling story here, of a bunch of friends and family gathering for a birthday party when the inexcusable happens: one of them slaps another’s kid. I binge read this book in a couple days and couldn’t put it down. After that, I tried watching the American version of the tv show based off the book… and I couldn’t finish (despite the wonderful Zachary Quinto). There’s also an Australian version of the show, so maybe I’ll try that one since the events of the book are happening in Australia.

On Writing – Stephen King

If you know me, you’ll know I love Stephen King with a burning passion although he’s responsible for my unreasonable (or not) fear of clowns. The very first article of this blog was actually a top 5 of my favorite King books (check it out by clicking on the link, ya goof!) and my ultimate reading challenge is to read every book he has ever published. In 2018, besides this one, I’ve also read Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Gerald’s Game and The Tommyknockers. On Writing stands out from this list because it’s not fiction but, as an aspiring writer myself, I have learned a LOT on do’s and don’t’s and King’s own editing process.

Fairfield, Ohio – Mia Topic

It pains me to write this, but not as much as it pained me to read this book: from this list, Fairfield, Ohio is the only book that I would NOT recommend. I picked it up because it seemed to tell a cute love story between two guys, and yeah, sure, it did, but not in a way that mesmerized me. To be completely honest, I spent more time rolling my eyes than enjoying the story. It’s full of clichés and goes by so fast that by page 20, the protagonist, former Don Juan sleeping with whoever crossed his path, was already completely in love with a guy he had just met five minutes ago. So in order to prevent you from wasting time: they fuck (a lot) and then get married. The end.

Although my reading list gets longer and longer everyday, I’m always open for suggestions so if you have any, feel free to let me know! What have you read last year?

 

TOP 5: Stephen King

If you know me, it comes as no surprise. If you don’t, you will learn it soon enough: Stephen King is one of my all-time favorite authors in the whole world. I have been reading him for as long as I can remember, and yes, I was reading him when I was still a child, or barely a teen. Stephen King has played a major part in my love for literature in general, and for the horror genre in particular. To me, and to many, he is the master of this genre, and as I’m currently reading Finders Keepers, right after I devoured Mr. Mercedes, I thought a TOP 5 of my favorite King novels would be a perfect way to start this blog.

(NB: Although it is in my plans, I haven’t read ALL Stephen King novels yet, making this list susceptible to changes.)

5 | The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower is a series of eight books. Choosing one of them to rank in this top would be like asking me to choose my favorite Harry Potter book (answer: allofthem). Although it doesn’t properly fit the horror genre, as it is more of an epic-fantasy-Western story, it is King’s magnum opus (or masterpiece) and even incorporates and links together many of his other novels.

A movie is coming out this August, which is a very good excuse to re-read all the books, and if you haven’t read them yet, now is a good time to do so! Check out the trailer here.

4 | Misery

You can imagine the worst monster ever, come up with the scariest, ugliest, most disgusting beast, but there will never be anything or anyone more frightening than a crazed fan that has just lost her mind.

I remember watching the movie as a kid, right before I read the book (don’t blame me, this is a childhood mistake I tend to avoid nowadays), and being completely speechless at the horror of that young woman, seemingly very nice, turning into a proper devil. Horror is scarier when it is that close to reality.

3 | Dreamcatcher

I remember it clearly: my dad once bought me this book unexpectedly. He had just come home from work and had set the book on the table in front of me without saying anything. I was reading something else at the time – can’t remember what – but let me just say I quickly forgot about it. I already knew Stephen King was a master of his kind, and I couldn’t simply let this book waiting for me to finish another mediocre teenage novel, as good as it was. I needed to read this.

I spent the next few days reading as much as I could after school. My dad was reading it at the same time. In fact, he had started before me and couldn’t wait for me to read more so we could talk about it. I remember him urging me to continue because it was going to get “horribly disgusting”. He didn’t need to say anything else: once I read that certain point, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

See, Stephen King holds so much power in his words he’s capable of making you FEEL them – not only the fear and anxiety that seeps into all of his novels but much more than that. There’s a point in Dreamcatcher where King depicts an odor, a foul one, and let me tell you I could smell it through the words, it almost made me nauseous. So far, I have yet to find another author who is THAT good at descriptions. (This one has a movie as well!)

2 | The Shining

Who doesn’t know The Shining? Whether you have read the book or seen the movie, everyone has heard about it, and I dare you to find me someone who hasn’t! I can’t even begin to explain what I feel when I think of this book. It has inspired me in so many ways, pushed the boundaries of what I like and what I fear and what I write. This book, in my opinion, encompasses the best of Stephen King’s talent and brings out all the feels in me.

1 | It

There is absolutely nothing I could say to depict the horror, the anxiety, the fear that lies in that book. In fact, I don’t need to say anything: you’re already convinced that this is the book that has sparked an immeasurable fear of clowns in most of the kids on this planet. If you’re not convinced, read it, and you will be. And if this still doesn’t suffice, I dare you to watch the movies. Yes, movies, plural, because It is just that good that It has a remake now, coming out soon! (Watch the horrific trailer over here.)