My Favorite Books of 2014!

I was inspired by booksandquill's YouTube video "My Top 10 Books of 2014," to write this post on my favorite books of 2014. As you would of known from my post about my 2015 resolutions, I read 25 books in 2014 and here are my favorite ones.

First is This Star Won't Go Back by Esther Grace Earl. Esther died when she was 16 years old from thyroid cancer. This book is a collection of her writings, and things that her friends and family have written about her. I heard about this book from John Green because he knew Esther and wrote the introduction to this book. I read it in about a day and nearly cried at the end of it. In my Goodreads review I talked about how Esther is an inspiration and how I encourage everyone should read it.

The second book is William Shakespeare's Macbeth. I read this for my AP Literature class and it quickly became one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. My other favorite Shakespeare play comes later in the list. I would love to see Macbeth on the stage, whether it be a classic adaptation or a modern adaptation. I also want to read more Shakespeare plays in 2015, I think Much Ado About Nothing is first on the list.

I first "read" this book in audiobook form. Neverwhere is by Neil Gaiman and it tells the story of Richard Mayhew who is thrust into the world of "London Below." After listening to the BBC radio play (starring James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Anthony Head), I read the actual book. The radio play Neverwhere leaves some bits out from the book, but it is all in all a great adaptation.

Like Macbeth, I read Hamlet for my AP Literature class. Whilst reading the play, I also watched the BBC production of Hamlet starring Sir Patrick Stewart and David Tennant. Watching the play really helped my understanding of Hamlet. The soliloquies in Hamlet are beautifully written, especially Hamlet's "to be, or not to be" soliloquy.

The fifth book is Of Mice and Men. I read this novel after seeing the play on Broadway in July (you can read about it here) with James Franco and Chris O'Dowd. I loved the book as well as the play. When watching the play I did not know what was going to happen at the end, but when reading the book it was kind of nice to already know about the ending. I have read The Pearl by Steinbeck, but now I want to read his other novels.

This past semester of college I took a class about Jane Austen and how her six novels fit into their time periods regarding fashion, how they travelled, feminism, relationships between the sexes and between the classes, and the military. Two of my favorite books from this year were written by Austen: Persuasion and Mansfield Park. I like Persuasion because it is not about the heroine's "first love" and her "happily ever after." Anne Elliot lost her love and is past her prime age for marrying. It is like what would happen after the ending of Emma or Pride and Prejudice. It is also an insight on the year of peace (1814) during the Napoleonic wars. Mansfield Park is also a favorite because it is much more dramatic than Austen's other five novels. There are sexual innuendos, extramarital affairs, talk of slavery, and a look into the lower classes of the early nineteenth century. For homework we watched the Patricia Rozema film adaptation of Mansfield Park, which combined the novel's heroine (Fanny Price) with Austen herself. This made for an interesting between the film and the original novel. I love all of Austen's novels, but these two are the most interesting to me.

Fangirl and Eleanor & Park are both written by Rainbow Rowell, and they are both absolutely fabulous. They both sucked me into their worlds and they were almost impossible to put down. I read Fangirl first after buying it in Kramerbooks in D.C., and I read it in a day. I related so much to the main character, Cath Avery, and her struggles as a freshman at college and because of her love for fantasy novels. I saw Eleanor & Park in a bookstore in Newburyport (the same day Mom and I went to Ceia) and I knew that I needed to read it. Even though I was unpacking boxes, I still read the novel in two days. I cannot even describe how I needed to know what happened to Eleanor and Park. Rowell is a fantastic YA novelist and I now need to read Attachments, Landline, and her new book coming out in October called Carry On.

Last but not least is Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. While unpacking books from the den, I put aside all of the Anthony Bourdain books that we own. I love Bourdain's shows like No Reservations and Parts Unknown. This was his first nonfiction book and it is his stories of the restaurant industry. It is a gritty look into what happens in restaurant kitchens and the people in them. I found it really interesting and I think I will be bringing back some of Bourdain's other books to D.C.

What were your favorite books that you read in 2014? Any books that you want to read in the new year? As always, thanks for reading!

Love,
Kara

Museum, Cooking and Food!

Hello everybody! Here is another post of what I did this past week. Tomorrow Mom and I are flying to Washington, D.C. where we are going to meet up with Dad and Emma (my little sister). I am really excited to see them and hang out in the capital!

This past Monday I went to the Isabella Gardner Stewart museum, which is not like any museum that I have ever been to. It originally Isabella’s house where she arranged the art with how she liked it, the rooms are not necessarily organized by country, era or artist. The museum was also the site of one of the biggest art heists in history, when two men stole thirteen paintings and they haven’t been seen since. The museum was very interesting and unique. The Museum of Fine Arts is right around the corner so if you like art, that’s where you want to go.

After the museum I was starving so I looked on Urbanspoon for somewhere to eat and I found Il Mondo. It is a pizza, pasta and sub place. I got the chicken Parmesan sub. I know, very healthy. Anyways, it was very delicious!

Monday night I made dinner from another recipe from the Trader Joe’s cookbook, Curried Israeli Couscous with Apples. We also reheated some of the Piri-Piri chicken from last week for a protein. It was yummy and easy, like the Tortilla Soup.

On Tuesday I went onto Newbury Street to just wander around and read in a coffee shop. I went to Piattini, an Italian restaurant, for lunch. I got the Prosciutto Panini that was a tomato, mozzarella, pesto and prosciutto sandwich on ciabatta. I was surprised that it didn’t come pressed, as that what I think a panini is, but it was still yummy. Everything was fresh and flavorful.

I then walked to Newbury Comics where I looked around; the Game of Thrones merchandise looks amazing! After that I went to Pavement, a coffee shop that I love. I got a tea, sat by the window and read Of Mice and Men. I finished it that night, and really liked it. The play’s adaption was really close to the novel, but I don’t regret not reading it before seeing the play.

Tuesday night, Mom had a work event so I was home alone. I ordered Chicken Ramen from Wagamama and drove to pick it up. As any Wagamama meal, it was delicious and it was great for being home alone.

I again went into Boston on Wednesday for lunch and to read. I walked from Faneuil Hall to the Thinking Cup for lunch. I got a breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese and bacon with a fresh orange juice. Not as good as it could have been, the egg was not freshly made as I expected it to be.

After spending a while in the Thinking Cup writing letters and reading, I felt a bit of a chocolate craving that I needed to address. I knew that there was a bakery around the corner that I’ve been meaning to try, so I packed up and walked over to Bread and Butter. I got the Nutella cookie, which again wasn’t as good as it could have been. I have made Nutella cookies before much better than that one, maybe I’ll do a post on it! I sat by the Greenway, ate my cookie and read About A Boy.

That night Mom and I needed to go Father’s Day shopping, so we went to Burlington Mall. We ate at Bobby’s Burger Palace, and the Bobby is Bobby Flay. We ordered at the counter, took our seats and our food was delivered to us. I got the Brunch Burger (fried egg, bacon and cheddar) and Mom got the Dallas Burger (BBQ sauce, pickles, and coleslaw). Mine was delicious, but Mom said the BBQ sauce on hers was a bit overwhelming saw she took most of it off. We also shared some fries and onion rings . . . Delicious!

Thursday I just went to Wagamama for lunch, I know that I have an addiction to it. Bought ingredients from Whole Foods for dinner and chilled around the apartment. 

For dinner I made Bulhão Pato clams from a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, The Londoner. The clams were really easy to make and really yummy. Mom and I sopped up the delicious white wine and lemon broth using some warm bread until our bellies were full!

Last day, sorry this one was so long! Friday I just hung around the house again and went to Burrito for lunch. I was expecting something like Chipotle, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is different. At around three o’clock, Mom came home early from work and we headed down to Newbury Street. We went to Marshalls, H&M and Anthropology before going to dinner. We went to Piattini (where I went earlier in the week) for a relaxing meal.

First we split the prosciutto and mozzarella small plate. The salad was a bit overdressed, but still good!

Then we split a Caesar Salad that was really good! It had just the right amount of dressing. For my entrée, I got the spinach fettuccini with green beans, pesto and sautéed shrimp. It was different from what I usually order and really fresh tasting. Mom got angel hair pasta with tomatoes, arugula and scallops.

While it was a bit rainy outside, it was still beautiful. There was some fog, and it was cool to see some of the skyscrapers disappear as they got higher. It is also LGBT pride month and a bunch of buildings had rainbow flags or rainbows in the windows.

And that is what I did this week! Wow. That was a long post. I’ll try to keep the word count down! I’m still trying to figure out how I want to organize the blog and what I want to post. Any suggestions? Have a good weekend!

Bye! 

June Book Haul

So in my last post (you can read it HERE) I talked about the used book sale at the Concord Public Library that was amazing! And I wanted share with you what books I purchased there and at a bookshop in town.

The first book that I purchased was a nonfiction book called The Diary of a Soviet Schoolgirl: 1932-1937 by Nina Lugovskaya. It sounds really interesting and I want to learn more about the Soviet Union, so this looks like a neat way to learn about it. The version that I got is the abridged version, so I might want to get the unabridged version if I like this book.

About a Boy, by Nick Hornby, is a book that I have been meaning to read for a while. I want to read this before I see the film starring Hugh Grant and Toni Colette. It is only one of two fiction books that I bought.

The third book is American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood by Marie Arana. Again, this sounded interesting and I currently like to read books about different cultures, to broaden my understanding of the world.

I have just finished reading the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo for the Nerfighteria book club. I loved it and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. I also am fascinated by Indian culture. So when I saw India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India by Akash Kapur, I had to get it. The cover is beautiful and I can’t wait to read it.

The fourth book is the second novel and it is also about India. Back in junior year I won the Mount Holyoke high school book award and I received Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. I read it and immediately loved it. I then bought and read The Interpreter of Maladies, which is a series of short stories written by her. Again, I loved them. The Lowland is her latest book and I was so excited to see it at the book sale. I am positive that I will read it quickly and love it.

The next two books are cookbooks that I bought at two different shops in downtown Concord. The first one is a cookbook that I might own, but I cannot find. It is called Teen Cooks and it is by Megan and Jill Carle, two sisters. The recipes are easy and yummy, and I will definitely take this book to college.

I love Trader Joe’s. It is no secret, and this cookbook, The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook by Andrea Lynn, seems perfect to me. I have tried two of the recipes (tortilla soup and curried Israeli couscous with apples) and they were both delicious. Again, they are fast, easy, and they taste great. I cannot wait to try more of them at home and at college.

Those are all the books that I bought this past weekend! Have you read any of them? If you have, let me know what you think of them. I also have a Goodreads account where you can see what I’m reading, what I’ve read and what I think of the books that I have read. Please friend me if you have an account! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you later this week with another blog post.

Bye!