2014 in Books

I knew up front that 2014 was going to be busier than the year before, so I set my reading goal at 35 books, instead of 50. I actually managed to surpass that by reading 7 more, which makes for a total of 42 books in 2014!

You might wonder why one pile is facing the wrong direction… Well, I got a library card this year, and those are stand-ins for the books I borrowed and returned. If you're really curious you can check my goodreads for all titles.

As for favorites, there is one book I really loved that I'll share with you later on in the year (as I have yet to give a copy to a friend of mine and don't want to spoil the surprise), but there's another one I adored too, and that is Lost Cat by Caroline Paul.

It is a non-fiction book about the author's cat running away and her trying to track it down. There's a lot more to it actually, but that should give you an idea. It is illustrated by Caroline Paul's partner, who experienced everything first hand as well. Anyway, it was wonderful! Funny, touching and a little sad at times. I'd recommend it to any cat lover!

How did your reading go in 2014? Was there any book you particularly enjoyed or would like to recommend?

Lovely Movies: Only Lovers Left Alive

This movie is something special. Something really, really special. I had actually nearly missed it at the cinema, but managed to catch it on the very last day. But I might just get the dvd on the release-date to make up for that.

Holy guacamole, I don't even know where to begin… The first shot was freaking gorgeous and it had Wanda Jackson's song "the Funnel of Love" to give it this eerie vibe. I was sold within the first couple of seconds. And I really knew I had found a new favorite when the blood popsicle-scene came. Tilda, way to go!

Anyway, this film is full of pretty guitars, amazing apartments and fantastic actors. I love that it was calm, yet exciting and just unlike any film I'd ever seen before. I even loved the romance in it, which I often don't in contemporary vampire stories. Also, it was really funny at times, had a nice dose of mischief and I love how they dealt with death too. Oh, and it wasn't even that gory.

You should really just skip the trailer and trust my judgement, but here we go:

Just go see it, ok? GO! You won't regret it. And you might just want to change your hairdo after... why was Tilda's hair so intriguing?!