Year End Blurb

Holy crap, did I only read four* goddam books in all of 2016?! 

An all time low since I started this blog.

This has got to end!

 

*Update July 30, 2021: total is actually FIVE books because I had to retroactively add High-Rise!

5. My Brilliant Friend

By Elena Ferrante

This was a gift from my SIL from the Xmas before last  (she gave copies to both myself and her mom, she loved the books so much).  I'm glad she did because I don't think I would've caught on to Ferrante until much later.  

I had started reading MBF in April and finally finished it.  It wasn't because I didn't like it, rather it was something I couldn't read in big gulps.  Even though I took little sips here and there for the past several months, it was an immersive reading experience. 

That being said, since I was slow to move on this book, my SIL got the rest of the quartet to her Mom this past Xmas.  So at least I'll get to borrow the rest when I'm ready!

4. Into the Forest

By Jean Hegland 

 

3. High-Rise

 By J.G. Ballard

2. Call of the Wild

By Jack London

I saw this charming Puffin Classics hardbound at the BMV in Toronto.  I think it was only $5 (why I love love love BMV).  There were other titles, like The Little Princess (in pink) and Robin Hood (in green), but The Call of the Wild (1903) was the one I wanted to read.

What can I say that is new about this well-loved classic?  It lived up to the hype.

1. Tipping the Velvet

By Sarah Waters 

Another great Victorian romp by the talented Sarah Waters, but it didn't blow my mind like Fingersmith.  

Tipping the Velvet (1998) was Waters' debut novel and Fingersmith (2002) was her third and last novel set in the Victorian period.  So I need to find her second novel, Affinity.  I feel that the quality of her work had gone down since Fingersmith (which I count as an all-time favourite), as The Night Watch was rather meh.