I tried to read 1,000 pages in one weekend

‘Hmm… okay Sophie, do you have too much time on your hands?’ I may very well do, but I thought it would be a fun way to challenge myself to read more. Recently, I’ve been very good at making time during the week for my reading but at the weekend, I just scroll on Instagram and Depop for hours without reading a single page. I would much rather read than scrolling aimlessly, but I’ve had troubles motivating myself so I thought this challenge would be perfect for me.

The aim is simple: read a thousand pages between Friday 7pm and Monday 12am. That’s what I did, and I kept a little diary meanwhile to keep track of my reading so here is my crazy weekend!

Disclaimer: Before I start, I would like to say that one of the books I’ve read this weekend will be problematic to some people and I completely understand. I do not wish to promote its author’s point of view in any way at all. This is just a series that has a special place in my heart (as many, I’m sure) and it helps me with the low mood I’ve been experiencing recently.

Friday, 7pm – TBR
I am currently in the middle of reading and/or want to read this weekend:

• Saltwater by Jessica Andrews ➡️ 100 pages left
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ➡️ 300 pages left
• The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark ➡️ 142 pages
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett ➡️ 343 pages
• Selection of short stories by MR James ➡️ 250 pages

Friday, 9.45pm
Had some dinner and watched The Office US, on page 210/295 of Saltwater – will try to finish tonight 🤞

Friday 11.48pm
Two hours later and I’ve only read 50 pages 😭 Saltwater is written in such a beautiful way that I really try to take my time and savour the author’s words. Some of the themes are difficult as well, so it’s not the kind of book you read quickly, I think. I should probably have gone for easier books but oh well! I will definitely not succeed in this challenge, but it’ll be fun to try anyway!

Saturday 12.18 am
I finished Saltwater and I cried because I lived very similar things to what Lucy is going through in the book. Andrews puts words on how I felt in such a beautiful way, I just couldn’t help crying (I need to add it was ugly crying, not a couple of dainty little tears at the corner of my eyes!). I will read a couple of chapters of Harry Potter in bed to feel a little happier now!

Saturday 1am
On page 376/636 of Harry Potter. I read 140 pages tonight in total – going to bed now!

You are allowed to laugh at my bookmark… I really need to get an actual one!

Saturday, 9.39 am
I had a full night of sleep for the first time since forever! Will read a chapter before getting up 😄

Saturday 11am
Had some breakfast and did some chores, now onto some more reading! Currently on page 398/636 of Harry Potter and I feel like the more I read this book, the less I move on with the story – there are some long passages that I just want to skim if I’m being honest!

Saturday 12.56pm
On page 504/636 of Harry Potter, yay! This one was never my favourite. Although it’s a little better than in my memory (in comparison to the mediocre film adaptation), I still find that some passages are dragging for too long and it’s a little annoying. It might also be due to the fact that there are more action scenes in this one (I like my stories slow and descriptive) and that I already know what’s happening. I feel like there are certain scenes that I’m looking forward to reading again and I’m annoyed that I have to read through everything else 🤦‍♀️ I will have a little pampering session and (finally) get dressed, and I’ll prepare lunch before another reading session!

Saturday 7pm
I had calls with relatives and baked some little bread loaves. Time went by so quickly! It’s already time to cook tea and I feel a bit guilty for not ready much at all this afternoon. I did some reading before baking though, but I can’t believe how fast time goes during the weekend!

Saturday 7.53pm
I’m now on page 559 of HP, the end is near 🙌 Now off to make tea and watch a film or something!

Saturday 10pm
Starting to read again! I knew I wouldn’t manage to read so much this weekend but I didn’t think I would be so far behind 🙈 for now, I’ve read 323 pages out of 1,000… lol. On the bright side, it’s a lot more than I usually manage to read in a whole weekend, so that’s pretty cool!

Saturday 11.45pm
Finally finished HP! It’s funny to read a book you loved as a child when you’re an adult. I remember thinking Harry was a bit annoying in this book, I was nine or ten then and now, I understand more simple things like being a teenager or being around death. These are not ideas you really get as a child, I think, or maybe but in a totally different way? I just remember thinking all teenagers were idiots when I was little! Also, I was ready to sleep but my bed broke… that certainly woke me up so I guess I’ll do some more reading then!

Sunday 12.28am
Tried to fix the bed but quickly gave up! Started The Girls of Slender Means but I feel so, so tired 😑 On page 26/142 and I read 426 pages so far this weekend, almost halfway through!

Sunday 9am
I just read for 30mins and I really like reading first thing in the morning, before getting up. Especially if the story is as nice as The Girls of Slender Means! It makes up for the terrible sleep I had last night. I only read The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie by Muriel Spark but I loved it so much, so I’m glad to be back in her writing – it’s so unique and funny, and it really makes you travel in time! On page 52/142

Sunday 1.39pm
I fell asleep while reading… the book is great but I was so exhausted! I couldn’t sleep because the slats of the bed underneath me were broken. It turns out that Ikea thought it would be clever to glue two scraps of wood together to make bed slats… IT REALLY ISN’T. Anyway, we fixed it and I feel a little better now. Getting some lunch before more reading – on page 120/142.

Sunday 2.50pm
Had some lunch and started to plan for my boyfriend’s birthday in September (exciting!). I also finished The Girls of Slender Means – I really liked it, it felt like opening a time capsule from 1945! Although I have to say I did feel uncomfortable when the narrator kept stressing that one of the characters was fat. As fat as she is, she’s still one of the main characters and goes on to do great things with her life, so I don’t think it was an actual mockery of fat girls. Probably just echoing all the other girls’ obsession with thinness. Nicholas reminded me of the writer in Auntie Mame, a sort of wannabe poet who’s better at seducing girls than writing.

Saturday 3pm
There’s a few things I need to do now – including writing my Sunday Post so I will stop reading. Started The Vanishing Half and I’m already hooked! On page 33/343

Saturday 6.35pm
I don’t know if my laptop is not good or if WordPress secretely hates me but it took me AGES to write my Sunday Post article and I had actually to write it twice 😭 anyway back to reading now!

This cover… seriously beautiful!

Sunday 9.45pm
On page 81/343 – I feel so into this book, I don’t want to stop reading! The writing is very atmospheric, and the premise is so engrossing. Bennett tackles loads of different issues really well, I can already say this will be a favourite at the end of the year! We had dinner and watched a bit of TV and now to do some more reading before bed… I won’t obviously get to the 1,000 but we’ll see how much I can read before my eyes can’t open anymore 😂 for now I’ve read 625 pages in total I think, so I’m actually very happy because that’s so much more than I usually read in a weekend!

Monday 12am
It’s over! I have read in total… 705 pages! 🙌 Obviously, I didn’t quite succeed but still pretty happy with my reading this weekend 😄

Well, that was quite an experience! I had a lot of fun trying to pack as much reading as possible in one weekend and I think this is something I will try again. It’s been tough finding motivation to just sit and read, when this is something that makes me so happy usually… so I’m very happy to have rediscovered the joy that it is to be completely engrossed with a story you don’t want to do anything else. I feel a lot more stimulated intellectually and creatively, and I think I fell asleep faster (apart from when my bed broke!). I’m not usually into challenges but this really was a lot of fun!

Do you think you could read 1,000 pages in one weekend? Maybe an idea for the bank holiday weekend! Let me know in the comments and Happy Reading x

Mid-Year Reading Wrap-Up

 

I have read quite a few books this year so far, and I’m very happy about it! I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find the time to read when I started my new job, but to be honest, this is what has kept me sane these past few months. Not all books are pictured as some were borrowed from the library, I am lending some others to relatives, and some I just donated.

 

 

Bill Naughton, Neither Use Nor Ornament (1995)

Bill Naughton was a playwright, his works include Alfie which was made into a film with Michael Caine (it’s really good, by the way, especially if you love the Swinging London era). This book is a volume of his memoirs where he retells a small part of his childhood, growing up as an Irish immigrant in Bolton, Lancashire. It’s a very sweet book and it depicts a very realistic image of working-class life in the 1920s, with endearing portraits of Boltonians.

 

Sophie Kinsella, I Owe You One (2019)

As I have already said, I’m quite partial to a good Sophie Kinsella book when life gets a bit too much. This book was exactly what I needed: a cute romantic comedy peopled with sweet characters that I really grew to love.

 

Candice Carty-Williams, Queenie (2019)

I have mentioned Queenie already, on an article about books that changed my outlook on race. It really opened my eyes on the added difficulties black women face each day – whether at work, on dates or in their daily lives. I didn’t find it particularly funny but Carty-Williams writes her main characters in such a way that you can’t help but feel for them.

 

M.C. Beaton, Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride (2010)

I’ve always wanted to read Agatha Raisin as it sounds like a very fun story, however I should probably have picked up the first book of the series… I felt completely lost in who was who, and I didn’t really enjoy the story because of this. Also, I think this is the kind of stories I enjoy to watch on TV after work, rather than something to read. It reminded me of Midsomer Murders, which I’ve always loved – although this is a source of fun for everyone as I’m apparently not the target demographic for this show.

 

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six (2019)

This book was cool. It tells the story of a fictional band in the 1970s through different interviews of its members in the present day, and the atmosphere in this book is absolutely amazing! I felt like I was around the pool of the Chateau Marmont, enjoying the Californian sun with psychedelic rock in my ears (when in truth, I was stuck on an immobilised plane during a storm). I love this period in terms of music and I was just so sad none of the music was real! But this is a great book, and an especially good thing to read during the summer.

 

Elena Ferrante, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014)

I have talked a lot about Elena Ferrante in an article dedicated to the Neapolitan novels, so I won’t repeat myself too much. I will just say that Ferrante’s writing is addictive.

 

Hallie Rubenhold, The Five (2019)

A series of portraits of Jack the Ripper’s victims to give back to Mary Ann, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane their voices – which have been long lost amongst various cliches and prejudices. It’s an excellent book that is very hard to put down, and it’s also very accessible – you don’t need to know much about the Victorian era at all to make sense of what’s explained. To be fair, nothing has really changed since the late nineteenth century when it comes to judge working-class women, I think. Something very positive is that there was a mural representing the five women in Whitechapel and Rubenhold is actively seeking to have their memories celebrated to counter-balance the grim appeal of Ripper tours.

 

Elton John, Me (2019)

I listened to Elton John’s memoirs on Audible at the beginning of lockdown, whilst I was working from home. I think this was everything I needed during this strange time as it brought me so much joy! There’s a lot of name-dropping and extravagant displays of wealth, but it seemed to me that Elton John had a very honest look on himself and who he used to be. If you’re a fan, you will love it. I listened to his music for days on end after finishing the book. Also, the audiobook is narrated by Taron Egerton, so it really is quite perfect.

 

Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle (1986)

I first read Howl’s Moving Castle when I was little and I remembered the book to be quite dark – much darker than the Studio Ghibli’s adaptation – which is a masterpiece by the way. So I was a little surprised to see that it was not very dark at all, just rather quirky and all-round lovely. It’s a great story, with absolutely amazing characters and I love them all. Of course, the fact that the main character’s name is Sophie only makes the book better.

 

Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child (2015)

Did I not say it was addictive? I finished the series earlier this year and I felt so sad to say goodbye to this world. I’m not sure why as the characters are not exactly lovable and it’s all very violent. I think I just loved Elena’s narration so much, it’s still with me months later.

 

Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl (2009)

As much as I love Elena Ferrante, I was very much in need of a happy story after that so of course, I turned to Sophie Kinsella. I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one as I didn’t think many of the characters were developed (I love how she writes parents, usually) and it was a bit too far-fetched for me at times. I still had a nice time reading it, but I think Kinsella has written much better books.

 

Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (1979)

I was so excited to read this book as I love metafiction and thinking about the act of reading and writing. The book starts by telling the reader that they are reading Italo Calvino’s latest novel If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, and what’s happening around them. It was not really what I was expecting as there were less philosophical reflections than strange and funny meta-scenes. Of course, the reader is a man so it all becomes very tricky to relate to him at one point, but it’s still a very enjoyable, clever book.

 

Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mame (1954)

I love eccentric older women from the past, so of course I love Auntie Mame. Little Patrick becomes an orphan at the age of 8 and he goes to live with his aunt, a wealthy single New Yorker. The story starts in the late 1920s and follows the adventures of Mame and Patrick throughout the years. It’s very funny and a very interesting thing to read at the moment because Mame is always standing up for the less privileged and against injustice – which makes her a very liberal woman for the time. I was so happy to find this early edition at Oxfam, because I find the cover absolutely gorgeous!

 

The School of Life, How to Overcome Your Childhood (2019)

I talked about this book in more details already, so you can just click the link if you’re interested in knowing more.

 

Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere (2017)

That’s a strange one. I absolutely loved that book and I couldn’t put it down, but I’m unable to say why. The story is great but it’s not ground-breaking, the writing is also very good but I’m not sure this is why I loved it so much. I’m currently watching the TV adaptation on Amazon Prime, and I might manage to be more eloquent on the topic of Little Fires Everywhere later!

 

Giovanna Fletcher, You’re the One that I Want (2014)

This was a book which had been in my TBR list on Goodreads for quite a while. As I was in need of a cute little romantic comedy, I picked it up and to be honest, I was very disappointed. First of all, I forgot how much I dislike love triangles but here, it was especially strange and the characters’ decisions were questionable to say the least. I’m not sure I understood why they did what they did towards the end, but also, I did skim some passages so that might explain a few things!

 

Yvonne Battle-Felton, Remembered (2019)

I mentioned this book briefly in this article. It’s a rather hard book to read as some scenes are quite violent and graphic, but I would highly recommend it. I think some stories need to be told as they happened, even if they are hard to hear.

 

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)

I’ve been slowly collecting the books in the Harry Potter series (some first and early editions!) during lockdown, and I’ve read the first tome for the first time in English. I decided to dissociate the author from the works completely because Harry Potter is for me a little therapy in itself! I felt so happy whilst reading this book, it was a very Proust’s madeleine moment for me and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series in English, now.

 

Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule (2014)

I wrote quite extensively about this one in this article, so please have a look if you’re interested in knowing more about this great little book.

 

Overall, I have read some very good books so far this year. Please, let me know what’s been your favourite book so far this year, I would love to know and find inspiration for my next read!

2018

Well, it was about time I did my annual summary of my readings on here! 2018 was a pivotal year for me; I recovered from a very dark time and I started my Masters degree in England – which I still can’t quite get my head around.

I thought I would reflect on the books I have read this year with the great Goodreads tools ‘My Year in Books’ as I did last year. I wanted to read 35 books in 2018 and I have read… 60. I haven’t read much at all between March and August if I remember well, but I have been reading so many texts every week for uni that I ended up reading about 40 books in three months. I am very happy with how much I have read because it means I have discovered many new stories and authors, which is my main motivation. However next year, I won’t set a very high number in my reading challenge either because I don’t want to feel pressured.

Anyway, let’s begin with the books. The shortest one I have read this year was Malachi’s Cove by Anthony Trollope (1857), which is about 40 pages long. So it’s not really a book but a short story, but in any case, it was very good. It’s set in Cornwall and Malachi is a young woman who pulls out seaweeds out of the beach in order to sell them. She lives with her very old grandfather, and this is their only income and way to survive. She’s a rough girl, in her manners and appearance, but she is also very endearing. It was a very nice story, but what especially interested me was the characterisation of the landscape. Very different from the Yorkshire moors but it was not that far from reading Emily Brontë.

The longest book was William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1847), which was 912 pages. I have already written on this one earlier this year, but I will repeat myself and say that it is a very hilarious read and although it’s quite long, it’s really worth the commitment – and it felt way less long that Trollope’s He Knew He Was Right (1869), my god.

I have read a few mangas this year, as well. I love to borrow from my sister’s shelves when I’m back in France for the holidays, it’s such a nice way to unwind. The one with the highest ratings on Goodreads is Fruits Basket Perfect Edition vol.1, by Natsuki Takaya (2016) – it’s a collection of the first 3 or 4 volumes of the series. Fruits Basket is the first manga I have ever read when I was 13 and I absolutely loved it. It was very nice to rediscover this lovely story of humans who can transform into zodiac animals.

 

As far as mangas are concerned, I read the six volumes of the Orange series, by Ichigo Takano (2012-2017), and this was one the best things I have read this year. A young high school student receives letters from her future self, giving her advice on how to prevent the death of one of her friends. It’s very moving but also very sweet, I just love everything about this series. And also, it’s not long at all so there’s no excuse not to read it.

 

Is it time for my favourite book of the year? I think it is. This will come as no surprise, I think. Obviously, Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853) is the one. I wrote about the power of this book on here, already, and that’s really the most important thing to remember about this book in my opinion. Lucy Snowe is poor, obscure, and plain (possibly more than Jane Eyre), but she has a will and an inner-power that I had never found in any character before.

2018 was a good year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2019 has in store for me. I know it will be a challenging one, but I have high hopes it’s going to be a good one too. I wish everyone the best for the year to come, no need for silly resolutions, just do you! x

2017

I am so glad 2017 is behind us, now! This year has been like the opening of A Tale of Two Cities for me: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ Sheer bliss and utter despair have cohabited this year and it did not feel amazing.

As for books, this has not been a fantastic year at all. In 2015 and 2016, I read a bit more than 50 books so I set my Goodreads challenge to 60 books for 2017… That may have been a bit too much for me, or that may just have been the wrong year to set such a challenge to myself. In the end, I read 32 books – which I know is still pretty decent. I also realise that it’s a bit silly to count your love of reading in books read, because it just depends on the size of it and the pace at which you read. I was just a bit disappointed because I know that I can do better than that…

But that’s exactly the point of 2018 for me: this year will be the year of self-love, or at least an attempt at being softer with silly old me. As a result, I decided to go easy on me and set my challenge for this year to 35 books whilst keeping in mind that the important thing is to read anyway. And if possible, to read fulfilling books that make me react and think.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a little summary of my reading year on here because I just love to read that sort of articles, and like to reflect on the things I read.

The shortest book I read this year was The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, which is 128 pages long. I don’t remember every detail but I still have the feeling of proper weirdness I had when I read it. It’s about a couple who’s on holiday and they meet a very strange man and the story becomes very weird, indeed. The sort of weird that you can’t really let go but that you can’t fully make sense of. The writing was beautiful, though!

The longest book, with 590 pages, was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. This book is absolutely amazing and whilst I was reading it, I thought ‘I can’t wait to re-read it.’ – which I’d like to do this year, maybe. It’s the story of this mysterious woman who arrives in a village with her child. No one knows who she is or where she comes from, but she seems to be over-protective of her child which raises the villagers’ curiosity. Especially that of Gilbert, the main narrator, which is one my favourite male character ever, hands down. I cannot recommend reading this novel enough, it is just perfect.

I re-read six books this year, including one of my all-time-favourites: L’écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream), by Boris Vian. This is the most poetic and creative book I have ever read, but it is also bleak and dreadful. Colin meets his wife, who quickly becomes sick and he has to spend all of his money in order to cure her. Meanwhile, his best friend Chick gets more and more obsessed with philosopher Jean-Sol Partre (yes it is a not-so-subtle reference to the one and only Jean-Paul Sartre) and spends huge amounts of money in fake relics. With a very jazzy soundtrack, there is also a vivid criticism of the world of work which Vian despised. I first read it when I was 14 and I am quite happy I have re-read it as an adult because I have been able to understand things a lot more and make more sense of the different messages Vian tried to convey.

It is quite funny because the book I read in 2017 which has the best ratings on Goodreads is also the book I enjoyed the least. I am talking about Coleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us. It deals with very serious issues like domestic abuse but I was just not convinced. First, I thought it was not really realistic and I could see the writer behind every plot twist or things like that. Besides, there were a few sex scenes which made me cringe a lot. I am not a big fan of sex in novels for I often find them unrealistic and just badly written, but here it was particularly the case. I went to the London Girly Book Club to talk about it in August, and I feel like most of the girls there thought about the same as me – which I found quite comforting.

My two favourite books of 2017 are Clair de Femme (Womanlight) by Romain Gary and How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis.

Romain Gary is one of my favourite authors and I remembered why by reading Clair de Femme. It’s about this man who runs away from home because his wife is very ill and has decided to commit suicide. He thus decides to stay away whilst she does that and reminds himself of all the time they’ve spent together whilst he slowly loses his mind. This a sad, sad story but this is beautiful. Sometimes, it doesn’t make much sense because the narrator is going absolutely nuts – and you can understand why – but it is filled with poetry. I saw there is a film adaptation with Romy Schneider and Yves Montand, so maybe that can be good, who knows!

 

Later on this year, I felt deeply in love with non-fiction thanks to Samantha Ellis’s book, in which she goes through the heroines she had when she was younger and re-evaluates them now, as an adult. It is fascinating, and very easy to relate to if you’re obsessed with books. But the reason why it made me fall for the genre is because I just loved hearing somebody’s story. Ellis comes from a very background and tells her story in such a natural and realistic way, I feel like I learnt so much with her. And she also provided me with a massive to-read list, which is always a nice bonus.

 

Anyway, 2017 was the year of massive ups and downs and I am very glad to start afresh with lots of things to look forward, and hopefully, many more fascinating books to come.