I Love Books // Summer 2014

Here's a little bit about what I have been reading this Summer. I'm always looking for some good books so feel free to share your favorites in the comments :)



THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME - Biz Stone

Biz Stone is the co-founder of Twitter (get the book title now? ^^), also worked on Blogger when it was first launched (!!) and likes to call himself a creative genius, which is not far from the truth I think. He's also really good at writing, so the book is a pleasure to read and almost feels like a novel. A very smart and funny novel. I don't think you need a Twitter account to enjoy the book. We're humans in a world that evolves around technology and that's what he talks about. He is also seriously inspiring and has a very positive attitude very different than like Zuckerberg (i'm strongly considering deleting my Facebook, but that's not the point). The book is brilliant, read it!

Fave quote: "You are writing the story of your life. Edit it as you go. (...) What's worth saying?"

THE GOLDEN COMPASS TRILOGY - Philip Pullman

After Harry Potter, this is probably my favorite book series from my childhood, so I decided to read them again this Summer. It's a kids story, told by a kid, but so well written and rich in its style and subjects that I could still be 70 and want to read it. It's moving and funny and smart and magical, everything I love.

Fave quote: “We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that.” 

THE MAGICIANS - Lev Grossman

I read that book 4 years ago I think and I only really remember the first part. I know why now. It's a BIG book, divided in several equally BIG parts and I strongly feel that it actually should have been divided in two separate books. I'm probably sure I would take a lot more pleasure reading the second part, which is REALLY different from the first one. My second issue is with the main character, which I don't have a lot of empathy for, and the writer doesn't make much effort in making us care for him I found. The result is that I didn't cry when someone died or something sad happened.  But maybe that's just me! However, the book is really really well written, and much more adult than HP (they get compared a lot), and the story is like a book inside a book which is awesome. I've just discovered there are two more books in the series and I think i'm going to give them a try!

Fave quote: "It's like he's opening the covers of a book, but a book that did what book always promised to do and never actually quite did: get you out, really out,  of where you were and into somewhere better."

LOVE, ROSIE - Cecelia Ahern

So I actually discovered the book after watching the trailer for the movie based on it. Started to read it the next day. It's about Rosie and Alex who have been best friend since the age of 5, and we follow their life till age 50. It's also about love, and how life sometimes gets in the way. In an epistolary format. Well, more like a 21st century version, emails, chats… Which is actually perfect for the story! It's really (really) sweet, and funny and I loved reading it. Until the last few chapters. I'm not super into the way it ends and what I think is the moral of the story. But i'm still very excited for the movie to come out!!

Fave quote: “You deserve someone who loves you with every single beat of his heart, someone who thinks about you constantly, someone who spends every minute of every day just wondering what you’re doing, where you are, who you’re with, and if you’re OK. You need someone who can help you reach your dreams and protect you from your fears. You need someone who will treat you with respect, love every part of you, especially your flaws. You should be with someone who could make you happy, really happy, dancing on air happy.” 

PS: If you are following me on Instagram, I use the hashtag #LeaLovesBooks to document my readings!