Pretty Books

I like books that have pretty covers. These are some of the books that I own that have pretty covers. Let us just bask in the beauty of these covers.

1. This is where I leave you by Jonathan Tropper

Yes, this is the book that this movie is based on. I still haven't watched the movie yet but it's suppose to be pretty funny. I didn't love the book that much. It's about this family that comes together for their dad's funeral and stuff ensues. It's suppose to be a funny book but I didn't think it was really all that funny. Don't get me wrong, this book isn't bad or anything it just wasn't my cup of tea.

The cover on the other hand is totally up my alley. I love sans serif fonts. And like typography and minimalism are my aesthetic. So yeah, this fits the bill. Also, I like bright colours. 

2. The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Again, sans serif font + minimalism + bright colour = something I find visually pleasing. I'm not going to go into the plot of this book because it is fa-mooooose. But this is the book where the quote "We accept the love we think we deserve" comes from.

3. Room by Emma Donoghue

So I clearly have a type going on here haha. I tend to lean towards covers that don't have any photographs on them, illustrations are a maybe but if it's just text on the cover -I'm probably getting it.

This was my favourite book when I was 14, so that would've been 5 years ago...so 2009. I like the idea of this books. If I remember correctly, I think the first half of the book is told from the point of view of a little boy and the other half of the book is told from the point of view of his mother. I like the first half of the book a lot more. Donoghue really captured the innocence of kids and just their ability to absorb and notice everything. Also, because of that, Donoghue really hooks the reader in because you're in the kid's shoes and kids can see what's going on but they don't understand what's going on. That technique creates a lot of suspense.

Truth be told, I would never have picked this book up if it wasn't for the cover. As I've said, I was 14 and adult fiction didn't really interest me that much.

4. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

I remember there were different colours of this book cover and I went for the hot pink one. I think the translation is just beautiful. I hate it when you read a translated book and you can just feel that the translation doesn't quite capture the eloquence of the original. *cough cough*battle royale*cough cough* I think everyone should just read this book, the writing is prettier than the cover and made me feel things in my ice cold heart.

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This was my first ever F. Scott Fitzgerald book. Anyway the edition I have is a collection of short stories. The other stories in this book is: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bernice Bobs Her Hiar, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.

Again, this book cover fits my aesthetic -typography, minimalist, colourful!

6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

This is the pretties book I own hands down. This edition caused me like $30 okay. That's a lot of money for a book in my opinion. This edition of Lolita spent months in my wishlist. I literally had a tab of this book opened in my browser for months because I just enjoyed looking at it so much. About a month ago, I caved and shelled out the $30 and bought it.

Anyway, I love Lolita and again, the writing is just sooooooo soo soooooo good. I stopped many times while reading it just to read certain paragraphs again. Honest to God, Nabokov just writes so well. He writes so you symphatise with Humbert Humbert but Humbert Humbert is, to simply put it, plain nasty. He is obsessive, delusional, manipulative and wallows in self-pity.

I love this book but as of now, I've only read it one time. It's a pretty hard read even though the writing is beautiful. I reiterate, Humbert Humbert is nasty. It just creeps me out how he sexualizes children and it's hard to read as he tries to justify his actions.

7. Jane Austen collection

Why you should buy this book:
a) This cover is freaking gorgeous. Just look at how classy it looks.
b) Jane Austen is awesome. Come on, who doesn't love Jane Austen?!?!
c) Do we even need a third reason?
d) What are you still doing here reading this list -go and buy this book it also comes with Lady Susan. Lady Susan, though unfinished, is and will always be better than anything I write.
e) Jane Austen.

One little con to note is that this book is huge and heavy. It's not a book you would read on the train to work/school/wherever. However, a pro is that the paper of this books is so smooth.

8. Through the Woods by Emily Carroll.

This is a collection of stories by Emily Carroll. I've always loved Emily Carroll since I first read His Face all read which you read online for free over here. Also, to save time, while you're already on her website just go ahead and read everything by her because her drawings are amazing. Her stories have a very twisted fairy tale feel to them. As soon as I heard that Carroll was releasing a book, I knew I needed it in my life.

Not only are the illustrations in the book beautiful, the cover is freaking beautiful as well. Below is one of the pretties page in the book!

The stories are kinda creepy and if you are a scaredy-cat like me then don't read it in the dark or do if you want to scare yourself. You do you and I'll do me. 

9&10) The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer

I can't decide which of the two I like better. On one hand The Iliad is so action packed and gory. On the other hand, The Odyssey is such an adventure and that whole scene with Polyphemus made me laugh so much. If you feel intimidated to read these books -don't be. They are easy to read. However, I think The Odyssey is easier to read than the Iliad because The Iliad had so many 'son of....', it was really hard to keep track of who was who and I had to keep referring to this handy summary at the front of the book.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a retelling of The Iliad. If you want, you could start with the retelling then go on to try The Iliad, followed by The Odyssey. The Odyssesy is kinda like a sequel to The Iliad but you don't have to read The Iliad if you want to start with The Odyssey. The timeline of The Odyssey is after The Iliad. While The Iliad follows a myriad of characters, The Odyssey follows the journey of the arrogant but clever Odysseus.

Now on to the covers, these are the Black Penguin Classics. My dream is to own a whole stack of these Black Penguin Classics because just imagine how pretty they'll look on the shelf [wistful sigh]

So those are the books that I find pretty! Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Books I grew up with

Hi, I just started a blog [waves nervously].  I guess I should just start by introducing myself. My name is Christine and I just turned 19 last October. I like reading quite a lot, enough to start a blog about books.

I spent many nights in bed thinking what should my first post be. Something cool, something edgy so that I'll make a good first impression. However, I am neither cool nor edgy. So, I decided to just make a list (does anybody here love making lists as much as I do?) of books that, as you can guess from the title of this post, 

I grew up with.

My parents really encouraged me to read as a kid. My parents took turn reading bedtime stories to me. I remember sitting in my pink egg chair with either my mum or my dad and they would read to me until I fell asleep. Till this day I still love when people read to me. I get this warm tingly feeling all over. The weird thing is that my parents only ever read bedtime stories to me. My younger siblings did not get that experience. #firstkidprivilege

1. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Almost everyone I know grew up with these books. I'm pretty sure you know about these books. My favourite is Chamber of Secrets. Which of the seven is your favourite? I love finding out peoples' favourite Harry Potter books and the reason behind it. Sometimes finding out why someone loves a particular book makes me love it even more.

My childhood was definitely Harry Potter centric. I was introduced to this series by the movies. I remember watching the second movie so many times, I can pretty much recite the entire script from memory. And then I found that the movies were based off books and I devoured the books. I was and am still so into Harry Potter. I ....kinda had a crush on Harry for the first two books...I was quite alone in my crush because all my friends had a crush on Draco. Poor Harry only had me haha! Another embarrassing HP related story is that I wrote HP fanfiction before I even knew what fanfiction was. Remember that bit in Chamber of Secrets where Dobby kept Harry's letters from him and JK Rowling never revealed what Ron or Hermione wrote to Harry. I wrote those letters. I still have the book I wrote them in but the fake letters will never be read by anyone other than me. They are so cringe worthy I'm not even kidding.

2. The Witches by Roald Dahl

First, can I just say how much I love Quentin Blake's illustrations?

The Witches was the first Dahl book I ever read and I think it's my favourite. It's so hard to pick a favourite Roald Dahl book because there are so many and they are all so good.

The Witches is, as the title suggests, about witches. And these witches are not the Harry Potter kind of witches, they are the turn-you-into-mice-while-stirring-their-cauldron-filled-with-some-sort-of-foul-smelling-green-concoction-inside kind of witches. I had nightmares about the witches in this book which is not a testament as to how scary this book is but more of a testament to what a scaredy-cat I am.

If you haven't read any Dahl yet and want to start, The Witches is a great book to start with. However, if witches aren't your sort of thing then The BFG or Matilda are great too. The BFG is about a Big Friendly Giant who goes around collecting dreams. The story is really cute. Matilda is about a little girl who is a voracious reader and has superpowers.

3. Ellie the Elephant

This was my favourite book when I was a kid. Just look at how tattered my copy is! I've had it since I was like 2 or 3 years old! I'm not sure if this book is still in print but I just thought I would put this in here as well. Did anybody else read this book too? I've asked my friends and none of them have even heard of this book. I ask my parents where did they pick the book up and they can't remember.

Ellie the Elephant is about the adventure of an elephant (duh) named Ellie (double duh). She has a caterpillar friend and the illustrations are just so gorgeous. This one is my favourite:

4. Any book by Enid Blyton

I started with The Faraway Tree and my obsession with her books just spiraled from there. I didn't read everything of hers. Mostly it was her mystery series that I skipped because little me wasn't really into her style of mystery stories.

My favourite Enid Blyton books are The Faraway Tree Series (seriously how awesome is the idea for a magical tree - genius!) and the Malory Tower series (made me really want to go to a boarding school).

5. Olivia Kidney series by Ellen Potter

Olivia Kidney is a girl who can speak to ghosts and the books follow her adventure all over New York City. I'm not too sure if she remains in New York for the subsequent books, I read these books ages ago and I don't have a great memory.

Honestly, what a cool ass name is Olivia Kidney! And Olivia Kidney is a seriously cool chick. I remember her being very brave and adventurous. Plus, the book is set in New York City!!! If New York City was a sign, it would be a flashing neon sign. New York City is just so cool. Have I mentioned how cool Olivia Kidney is? Basically, little me tried really hard to emulate Olivia Kidney.

I think 5 is a good number to end a list. Plus, 5 is my favourite number. Yes, I'm a dork who has a favourite number. Tell me, what are the books that you grew up with? I would like to check them out. I love me some children fiction!