The Reading List:: 2014 Edition

I've been a life long admirer of the art in which we call cinematography. Books are a whole other thing, I fell in love with them only within the last decade. I started to realize as my primarily fictional education bloomed that a lot of those movies were in fact adapted from novels. This was slightly perturbing at first. I would think to myself- Is there no such thing as original thought left in our world? I quickly realized that was ridiculous and immediately let it go. These stories speak to people and deserve to be on as many platforms as they can reach. That's why this year my reading goal has a more centered purpose.

Confession:: If I see a movie and then find out it was a book I won't read it afterwards. Not on purpose of course I just never get around to it.

Below I have listed my top 8 books that I'm going to read this year before I see the films.I'm very excited- lets have a look, shall we?

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

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Synopsis:: 

One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, August: Osage County is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest—and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. 

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomn Northrup

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Synopsis::

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup is a memoir of a black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped, sold into slavery and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before the American Civil War. He provided details of slave markets in Washington, DC, as well as describing at length cotton cultivation on major plantations in Louisiana.

The Book Theif by Markus Zusak

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Synopsis::

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

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Synopsis::

As the end of summer approaches and a long, hot Labor Day weekend looms, the life of lonely thirteen-year-old Henry Wheeler is irrevocably changed when he and his emotionally fragile mother show kindness to a stranger with a terrible secret. 

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

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Synopsis::

At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais

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Synopsis::

Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

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Synopsis::

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

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Synopsis:: 

SUTTER KEELY. HE’S the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He’ ll get everyone in your parents’ pool. Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O., life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.


**Please be aware that all the synopsis's were borrowed from amazons publisher summaries. They said it so much better than I, so why mess with it. Am I right?? I think so. 

I started August: Osage County the other night and was immediately taken in. I believe it to be a quick read, but its chalk full of goodness. Tell me, is there anything that I missed that must be on my list? Im always looking for recommendation. Has anyone else already read these? What did you think? No spoilers please. X

xO-Etheline