2014 is
officially over and the GoodReads Reading Challenge from Goodreads.com made its
final balance.
My goal for 2014
was to read 20 books and I managed to finish it, with extra 4 books! Here they are,
with some things I would like to tell about them:
-El corrector by Ricardo Menéndez Salmón
I have to admit
that I only read this book because I had an interview with my Uni in Spanish
and I would like to familiarize with the language a little bit more before the interview.
However, I enjoyed the book due to its simplicity and truthful writing style.
Rating: 2/5
Extra: book in
Spanish
-The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa
Gregory
What an
exceptional book! For those of you who don’t know this is the 4th
book of The Cousins’ War series. The White Queen TV series is based on these
books. I have to admit that I was little bit reluctant about this book because
Anne Neville wasn’t one of my favourite characters but after reading the book
she earned my admiration and respect.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: it’s on
my Favourite’s list
-A Ilha das Três Irmãs by Nora Roberts
A little novel.
For Heaven’s sake, this book was so addictive that I finished it in three days.
Like Nora Roberts has got us used, it has adventure, romance and very strong
characters.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: book in
Portuguese
-Um Estudo em Vermelho by Arthur Conan
Doyle
As a Sherlock
fan, I had to read at least the first mystery that Holmes and Watson solved
together. I have to admit that it is very interesting and I loved comparing it
to the Study in Pink episode of the
series. Big fan, even bought the book with the short stories (but it stayed in
Portugal because it was too heavy).
Rating: 5/5
Extra: book in
Portuguese
-An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
After TFIOS I
have to recommend this book because it looks alike but it is also very
distinct. We have this boy who has dated 19 Katherines and all of them broke up
with him. So, he tries to create a theorem that will tell us who is going to
break up in a relationship and how long it is going to last.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: it’s on
my Favourite’s list
-A Fúria dos Reis by George R.R. Martin
A book
from the Song of Ice and Fire series,
what else can I say?
Rating: 5/5
Extra: book in
Portuguese
-Divergente by Veronica Roth
The only book of
the series that I read in Portuguese. I finished it in 2 and a half days
because I just couldn’t stop reading it. If I could, I would have read while
sleeping.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: it’s on
my Favourite’s list
Extra 2: book in
Portuguese.
-Juramento do Dragão by P.C. Cast
What I like to
call a good spin-off of the House of Night series. The series itself was
becoming cloying and vulgar but this mini-book that I read in only one day was
a breath of fresh air. Well written and with amazing descriptions it tells the
story of Dragon and Anastasia.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: book in
Portuguese
-Shadow Souls by L. J. Smith
I have never
like these books bery mush because the series took the characters for herself
and adapted everything in a way that my brain was modified for the TV series.
The previous book of this saga is The Return (which means, the series that
comes after TVD) was a little bit expressionless but this book caught the rhythm
and was very interesting! I was surprised, and I love when books surprise me!
Rating: 5/5
-City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
I must confess
that it is not one of my favourites. The author tries to be funny and fut
comedic scenes when the scene requires a moment of seriousness. However, the
ending represented a great cliffhanger which makes me go and buy the 3rd
book as soon as I think of that finale so... worthy of 4 stars.
Rating: 4/5
-Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Aff, after
Divergent I was expecting a better book, but I think that such thing is not
possible. In this book Tris is so annoying and traumatised that is seems that
she watches the scenes as if she was a mere viewer. I didn’t like this book
very much.
Rating: 3/5
-Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
What a cute and
beautiful book to read! Cath is a fanfiction writer of a saga that looks a lot
like Harry Potter and she is on her first year of Uni so trying to balance
these two things is not easy but she can do it. Timid, she has a roommate that
is absolutely “I don’t care” and is even a little arrogant but full of
personality and solidarity towards Cath. When I was starting I wanted to read
faster than ever, but when I got to the half of the book I wished it could
never end!
Rating: 5/5
Extra: it’s on
my Favourite’s list
-The Selection by Kiera Kass
Great book!
Imagine Big Brother but in a princesses version, with a few intriguing secrets
and you get the synopsis of the series. America is such an excellent character
and the mysteries that the palace holds are intriguing to say the least.
Rating: 5/5
-Looking for Alaska by John Green
I haven’t read
all of his books yet but without questions this is on my list of books who will
stay on a corner with will accumulate dust because they will never be read
again because... well, after two exceptional books I was with big expectation for this book
but it turned out to be such a disappointment! John Green didn’t do a great job
here.
Rating: 1/5
-Allegiant by Veronica Roth
It was an excellent
way to finish the trilogy. Some readers didn’t like the ending and I can see it
why but it was the only path that the story was leaning towards to. One of the
things that the book didn’t achieve was the fact that we had Tris and Four’s
POVs. In my opinion, the way they think wasn’t that big.
Rating: 5/5
Extra: it’s on
my Favourite’s list
-Cinder by Marissa Meyer
I, person who
doesn’t understand a thing of technology, got very confused at the beginning
with that description of the shop but when the story developed, it was a
perfect BANG! However, I wasn’t able to attach to characters, I even considered
the villain worthy of my respect.
Rating: 3/5
-Richard III by William Shakespeare
I love to read
plays but I don’t find it easy to get them so easily as I would like. I read
this book thinking that I would be able to see it on stage but such thing didn’t
happen, which left me with a big hole in my heart because I considered that it
was such an excellent play. Besides, reading Philippa Gregory gave me an
advantage because both works happen on the same historical era and focus on a
character, but in different ways.
Rataing: 3/5
-The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
It’s not one of
my favourite books. I think that the book was tiring but very interesting.
However, Elizabeth of York is a character that was always on the backstage,
observing everything. Her thoughts were interesting, so was the way that she
saw things, but her actions didn’t match her personality.
Rating: 3/5
-We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
This book is not
one of my favourites: the story is irritating, we always know that something is
missing and the end is only revealed to us literally in the end, which didn’t
make me love the book. This family of wealthy people hides a secret from one of
the members of the family which is something really cliché. However, the end was
surprising.
Rating: 4/5
-Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
I had seen the
movie last year (2013) and I wanted to read the book so much, but I only got my
hand on it in 2014. The mythology is interesting but in the end there is a
scene that I fear when it comes to this fantasy books that want to finish a cycle
but they still have so much to tell that the only they find is to shovel the mythology
and secrets and disagreements down our throats which leave me with a huge headache. However, it
was a surprising ending.
Rating 4/5
Extra books:
-O Despertar da Magia by George R.R.
Martin
Again I say: it
is a book from the Song of Ice and Fire series, there’s not much to tell.
Rating: 4/5
Extra: book in
Portuguese
-Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Fortunately I
read Fangirl before this book otherwise I would have been extremely
disappointed with the author.
Rating: 2/5
-How to Write for Television by William
Smerthurst
This is a very
technical book that allows us to take a look at how the small screen industry
works.
Rating: 5/5
-Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters by
Rick Riordan
Once upon a time
I read the first book of the saga and a friend of mine reminded me that I had
made a promise to finish this saga. In on track!
Rating: 5/5
Extra: I finished
this book on the 31st of December! The last book of the year –
literally.
PS – this is a
translated entry from my Portuguese blog. I hope you like it, after all, it’s a
little training for what I want to be – a translator.
