os melhores de 2013 :: the best of 2013

O ano de 2013 foi um ano extraordinário no que toca a leituras, principalmente porque consegui não só atingir o meu objectivo de livros a ler (80) mas ultrapassei bastante esse número (num total de 123 livros !).  Aqui fica um breve resumo dos livros a destacar (lista detalhada no Goodreads) ...

Dei 5 estrelas a 12 livros :

- Este foi o ano da descoberta do Rafael Sabatini adorei o Captain Blood e o Scaramouche, ambos em audiobook.

- Trilogia Lumatere, Melina Marchetta

- High Wages da Dorothy Whipple - cada vez gosto mais dos livros dela (lentamente ando a aumentar a minha colecção de livros Persephone)

- The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

- Bring up the bodies, Hillary Mantel

- Days of blood and starlight, Laini Taylor

- The scapegoat e Jamaica Inn, da Daphne du Maurier (este foi um grande ano para os audiobooks !)

- The glass lake (re-leitura do meu livro preferido da Maeve Binchy)

De 4 estrelas, destaco os seguintes:

- Trilogia Flora, da Ysabeau S. Wilce

- Mais 2 Daphne du Maurier: Frenchman's Creek e My cousin Rachel

- Seraphina, Rachel Hartman

- Wool Omnibus, Hugh Howey - não costumo ler muita ficção científica, mas este despertou-me a curiosidade e acabei por gostar bastante

- Me before you, Jo Jo Moyes - perfeito para comfort reading, e fiquei com vontade de ler outros desta autora

- Like this for ever (Lacey Flint #3), S. J. Bolton - também não leio muitos policiais, mas esta autora tem sido uma boa surpresa, e este último volume recomenda-se

- The snow child, Eowyn Ivey

- #2 e #4 da colecção Ashbury/Brookfield (young adult) da Jaclyn Moriarty

- The age of miracles, Karen Walker

- The light between oceans, M. L. Stedman

- Where'd you go Bernardette, Maria Semple (mais um audiobook)

- My most excellent year, Steve Kluger (young adult)

Em português:

- 3 livros da Alice Vieira: Ursula, a maior, e duas colecções de crónicas: Pezinhos de coentrada e O que se leva desta vida

- O Retorno, Dulce Cardoso

Não-ficção:

- Quiet, Susan Cain

- The solitary summer, Elizabeth Von Arnim

- The art and science of low carbohydrate living, Jeff S. Volek and S. Phinney

E que tal o vosso ano em termos de leituras ?

2013 was an extraordinary year when it comes to books, especially because not only did I reach my goal of books read (80) but surpassed it completely (123 books read in total !). Here's a brief summary of the best reads this year ...

I gave 5 stars to 12 books:

- The discovery of the year was Rafael Sabatini, I loved Captain Blood and Scaramouche, both in audiobook format.

- Lumatere Trilogy (fantasy), Melina Marchetta

- High Wages by Dorothy Whipple - I've been loving her books more and more, and slowly I've been adding to my collection of Persephone books.

- The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

- Bring up the bodies, Hillary Mantel

- Days of blood and starlight, Laini Taylor

- The scapegoat and Jamaica Inn, Daphne du Maurier (also in audiobook format)

- The glass lake (re-read of my Maeve Binchy favourite)

With 4 star rating:

- Flora trilogy, Ysabeau S. Wilce

- Two more books by Daphne du Maurier: Frenchman's Creek and My cousin Rachel

- Seraphina, Rachel Hartman

- Wool Omnibus, Hugh Howey - I don't usually read a lot of SF, but this one made me curious as I kept reading good reviews and I really liked it

- Me before you, Jo Jo Moyes - perfect for comfort reading, and I'll probably try others by this author

- Like this for ever (Lacey Flint #3), S. J. Bolton - I also don't read a lot of crime/murder mysteries but this author has been a good surprise and this last volume was very good

- The snow child, Eowyn Ivey

- #2 e #4 of the Ashbury/Brookfield series (young adult), Jaclyn Moriarty

- The age of miracles, Karen Walker

- The light between oceans, M. L. Stedman

- Where'd you go Bernardette, Maria Semple (another audiobook)

- My most excellent year, Steve Kluger (young adult)

In Portuguese:

- Three books by Alice Vieira: Ursula, a maior, and two short story/chronicles collections: Pezinhos de coentrada and O que se leva desta vida

- O Retorno, Dulce Cardoso

Non-fiction:

- Quiet, Susan Cain

- The solitary summer, Elizabeth Von Arnim

- The art and science of low carbohydrate living, Jeff S. Volek and S. Phinney

And how was your year in terms of reading ?

book review: romancing miss bronte

I've always been a Bronte fan, so when I stumbled upon this book it made me curious. I was half expecting it to be a sort of "Becoming Jane" kind of story, but about Charlotte Bronte instead. See, the romancing word on the title can be a bit misleading. It does have romance in it, but just the right amount and only at the end. The rest is a fiction novel about the Brontes' sisters life and of Charlotte Bronte in particular. Although it is fiction, it is based on the real facts that are known about them, so it reads like non-fiction or more like a biography sometimes.

What did I think of it ? I loved it. I enjoyed it so much I couldn't stop reading it. It was a busy week and I had a certification exam on Saturday morning but still I stole a few moments every day just to read another chapter. The book starts quite slowly, introducing us to the Bronte household, the different characters of the three sisters and their brother, their relationship with their father and their friends, their studies in Brussels and their solitary life in Yorkshire. I loved Emily's portrayal, it is exactly how I would picture the author of "Wuthering Heights". I have read "Villette" a few years ago and although I can't remember much of it now (time for a re-read perhaps ?) it was very interesting to learn how much of Charlotte's novels are autobiographical. I loved to read about the interaction between the three sisters, and how they decided to publish their own novels under the name of Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell. I also enjoyed reading about how the inspiration for "Jane Eyre" came about. After it gains public recognition the story starts to pick up a bit more of pace and things start to happen for Charlotte. At the insistence of her publisher she goes to London for a while and gets to meet Thackeray, for example, and becomes a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell.

The book has a lot of sad parts, of course. I mean, if you know a little of the Brontes' life, you'll know they died quite young, so there are no surprises there. I was curious to know a bit more about their brother Branwell. He who was supposed to be the talent in the family, the one that everyone had such high expectation from, and was actually such a failure.

And about the romance part ? Well, at the start of the book we are introduced to Arthur Nicholls, a curate who comes to work for Patrick Bronte, the girls' clergyman father. He seems to be quite the boring character at first, but little by little he seemed to grow on me. He's stubborn and quite obstinate in his views, and sometimes his opinions just seem too intolerant and bigoted. But we catch glimpses of his good qualities and how he starts to care for Charlotte. That he finally falls so passionately for her is a bit of a surprise, but Gael makes it feel true. Charlotte doesn't feel the same way but thinks it's the last opportunity she'll have of getting married and not ending up lonely and resigns herself to a loveless marriage. I was a bit angry when I read this, since I do love my happy endings, but the last couple of chapters about their honeymoon and the start of their married life made up for it afterwards.
So if you're a Bronte fan or are just merely curious about their lives I would definitely recommend reading this. I have a strong urge to re-read "Jane Eyre" now, and see if knowing a bit more of Charlotte's life will give me a different impression of her books. I've never read "Shirley" either, so that goes on my to be read list soon.

(Charlotte Bronte's portrait by J.H. Thompson. I was really curious to see it after it was mentioned in the book)

book review: the devil in the white city

My first read-along of the year, and a non-fiction book as well, so I thought I'd make a proper review. Also, this book was quite a surprise, in a good way, and deserves to be recommended.

The book is question is "The devil in the white city", by Erik Larson.

The book interested me at first because it was about the World's Columbian Exhibition, something I'd never heard about before. This was organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the New World, and it took place in Chicago in 1893. Throughout the book there are several comparisons to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889, where the Eiffel Tower was unveiled, and that one I knew about, of course, so it's really mystifying I'd never heard of this other so important world fair. It was called the White City due to the color of its buildings, and in contrast to the Black City, which was Chicago itself (and the pollution surrounding it). It was considered the grandest exhibition of its time, and it drew close to 26 million visitors, which is a staggering number for that period.

There are two parallel stories going on throughout the book, and although you'd expect them to intertwine later in the future, the fact is they never do, except for the fact that they take place in the same location and during the same period, and one can be considered a direct consequence of the other. The main story is about the construction of the exhibition, and later on its opening and daily operation till it closed down 6 months later (it ran from May to Oct. 1893). The parallel story is about H.H. Holmes, an alias for Herman Mudgett, later known to be one of America's first serial killers. He built a hotel which was very close to the exhibition's grounds, with certain singularities that made it easy for him to commit his murders. 

There's also a third story, although shorter, about the mayor Carter Harrison and his murder by a fanatic called Patrick Prendergast.

So, what I loved about this book: the whole architecture discussions and details, not only of the exhibition's buildings, but also of the architects involved. I was very sorry that there were no photographs accompanying this book (I read it the digital version, so maybe the printed version has them) because it would've made the reading even more interesting. And the way these buildings are discussed and described by the author, it really made me want to see them for myself. For a non fiction book it almost felt like reading a novel. Daniel Burnham and Olmsted, the exhibition main directors and central characters in the book (Burnham was responsible for the architecture, and Olmsted for the gardening and landscaping), were sympathetic enough and their stories interesting to read about, but didn't quite get my attention entirely. The description of their works were much more fascinating to me. Also, I loved the part about the Ferris Wheel.


On the other hand, the people on Holmes story made more of an impression on me. The victims' loneliness and vulnerability, all those young single women that arrived in Chicago hoping to build a better life, they were such an easy target for Holmes. He reminded me of a giant venomous spider, with the hotel as the center of his web. He's described as being an extremely charismatic man, full of personal charm and able to convince anyone that he was someone to be trusted. It did scare me a bit, since it makes me wonder how many Holmes might be out there, and are never found out.  

I was quite sorry to learn at the end that the much of exhibition's grounds were burnt in a fire that occurred a few months later. Although the architects decided earlier on (due to time constraints) that the main buildings were to be temporary and therefore not built to last, I think it would've been a wonderful sight to see, even by today's standards.