A chaotic and stressful move, the heatwave and an almost broken rented van. The Sacré Cœur, Eiffel Tower and Panthéon. Walking along the Canal St Martin or La Villette. Finding new friends and seeing older ones. Léo, early mornings and lots of tea. Grumpy faces in the metro, late trains and strikes. Lots of walking along the Seine, sight seeing and touristic visits. The stairs of Montmartre, late summer pictures and love. Lots of love.

 

Today, I took the tube and I got out of the metro at Opéra. I went out, and the Opéra Garnier was just sitting there, right in front of me. I’ve seen it plenty of times now, but I was still amazed. Me, I was standing in the middle of Paris. I city I now call “home”. I still smile and have those big bright eyes whenever I see something as majestic as this. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Sacré Cœur. It’s magic. Today has been one year since I live in Paris, since I’m part of those grumpy French. It’s been a year since I live in this beautiful city and can now call it home. It feels right, I am exactly where I need to be, with whom I want to be.

 

But bloody hell, I miss fresh air!

I’m doing this blog post because I took this picture the other day of the second book of the Game of Thrones series and I thought, wow, that’s a book I thought I would read straight away. It’s now been sitting in my bookshelves for two years. And I still haven’t read it. Yep. So, it got me thinking of all the books I started to read without finishing them, even though I really thought I would have enjoyed them. Oh and by the way, I’m learning to stop reading a book when I don’t enjoy it. I don’t want to waste my time if I can read something more interesting. Yet, it’s way harder for physical books. I can’t have a bookshelf and see books that have not been read. Is it just me?

The Schindler’s list

Because I loved the movie and I just love history books in general, I thought this one would be a winner. I was prepared for a heavy read and … nothing. I did not finish it, well I even stop quite at the beginning. The fact that it was just about (or at least starting with) the entrepreneur part of the character, how he created his successful business was just deeply boring to me. I don’t know if I should have continued a bit more to have the full story. Please tell me if I should keep going or not if you have read it.

The heart goes last

Atwood is a genius, and I thought this book would be amazing. I read about half of it and I started being bored. The beginning was quite promising and interesting, but it just got too long. I could not see the end of it so I just stopped. I did like the story, the sort of dystopia where there is something not quite right. So, I guess I needed something more?

Little women

Well, this one. I have a complicated relationship with classic books. I can like them, or just be bored by them while thinking I just don’t get them. They are seen as great books by so many people over many centuries, therefore I have to like them, right? I started the book before seeing the movie (which I loved), but I was quite intimidated by the number of pages. And then, I was not really interested. I honestly don’t know what to do with this one because I see that it’s everyone’s favourite at the moment. I don’t normally like a book because everyone else did but I feel like I’m missing something with this one. What do you think?

There are many more books that I just stopped reading, but I don’t want to put too much over here. I don’t know, I might finish them one day! But now tell me, which books have you stopped reading because you didn’t like it even though you thought you would?

When you study or have a full-time job, reading a lot can be quite challenging, but not impossible. However, if you’re not used to reading a lot or nothing at all, I’m not sure this post would be relevant to you. You might want to start off with 20 books a year, and see how you go. Reading a lot is not a race nor a challenge. I personally read that much because I love that and it’s basically what I love doing the most.  Today, I will only give you my tips who have worked for me, but might not work the same for you.

1)      Invest in a kindle

I know it’s quite a huge tip to give and not everyone can do that (I couldn’t, I was gifted one). I only say that to those of you who read a lot already and want to read more. If you’re been thinking of investing in one, just go for it. I already talked about it here, but to me it’s the best thing I could have to read more. 

2)      Read everywhere

On the tube, waiting for an appointment, before bed time, in the morning, on your lunch break, … I take the metro on a daily basis for work or university, and at least for more than 20 minutes. This gave me plenty of time to read and not just scroll my phone. I’m also use to read before sleeping and in the morning with my tea (if I’ve got the time). And basically, I always have a book (or my kindle) with me everywhere I go, just in case. This is probably when I can read the most during the day. 

3)      Prioritize

If you allow yourself to only read the books you have to read or finish, you’ll not get a lot of reading done. But if you read the books you really want to read, then you’ll read a lot more. Reading something that is really interesting will make you read it faster and then read more books in the end. However, when you force yourself to read something you’re not interested in, it will just wait until you just forget about it. I know it can be hard for some people to not read a book entirely, but there is absolutely no pressure to read the whole thing just because you think you have to.

4)      Switch things up

I used to hate reading more than one book at a time. But sometimes, I got stuck even if I liked the book. Therefore, I read something else. Your mood change, and I guess you don’t feel like reading the same book all the time depending on how you feel. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to read multiple books at the same time, but it might work for you.

I hope those few tips will help you if you want to incorporate more reading into your daily life. Most of them can be achievable quite easily, especially if you want to take the time for that. You also have to acknowledge that you won’t read just amazing and interesting books because you read more. No, you’ll also have less interesting or quite boring ones. And that’s okay.

The reading slump during quarantine hit me pretty hard. I thought I would use this time to read way more than before, but I didn’t. I almost read anything at all until “Grown ups” for the Zoella’s book club. It was not the sort of amazing book you could imagine getting out of a reading slump, but it was good enough to put me back into reading again. And actually, may was a good month in terms of great discovery. Let’s talk about it.

Grown Ups by M. Keyes and The Nightingale by K. Hannah

You can find my review here and here

Nine perfect strangers by L. Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is a great author, and with this book she proves how great her writing can be. Well, this book was not my favourite, but I still enjoyed reading it a lot. The first half was great. You can feel that something strange is going to happen. I thought it would remind me of one of Agatha Christie’s novel, but it did not in the end. That’s what was missing to me, a bit more mystery. The second half was just too long and probably pointless. Yes, you get to know a bit more the different characters, their background. But they are simply not interesting enough to make that useful. It was just too long. The actions that took place were taken ages and apparently, nobody saw the point of it. I thought it wasn’t getting anywhere and something else could have happened instead, something way more intriguing.

I actually hated all the characters. Masha with her little pet, Yao, is ridiculous. Frances is the most annoying and quite stupid, Ben and Jessica are embodied stereotypes and that made me angry. The other, except the family, are just pointless. But still, I enjoyed the book. I know it’s strange given the thoughts I shared by the whole book was nice enough to read in just a few days. It’s quick, easy and light.

Men without women by Haruki Murakami

I had this one waiting to be read for months, and I finally took the time to do so. And it was a waste of time, sadly. I enjoyed the fact that it was little stories but they were just boring. That’s it, the book was boring. I know the author is quite famous, but I don’t understand why through this book. Men without women is just a book about men, about them understanding how self-centered they are even if they think their love is stronger than anything. It’s just a book about men talking about themselves.

I hope you managed to read everything you wanted in May. What's been your favorite?