| LET’S TALK | WHY I AM READING IN ENGLISH

Hello everyone ! Today I wanna talk about something I’ve been asked pretty often : why I’m reading in English. You’ve certainly noticed that it’s not my native language !

It started when I was 18. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows came out and I needed to read it ASAP. Since it was hyper hyped, the English version was available in every good book shop ! Picture me on my bed, this big book right in front of me and a French/English dictionary next to me. I devoured it, finishing it in less than 24 hours (to avoid being spoiled by a so called friend). I realized then that I enjoyed reading it English and that it wasn’t that complicated after all.

But I never picked another book in English until several years later. I have read several YA books that were really badly translated in French. I felt it was rushed, and justified by “oh well it’s YA. Young readers won’t notice.” I HATED it. Spoiled my reading.
At that time I also started to think about what is now my life goal : moving to London and work as a community pharmacist there.
Which means that I needed to improve my English ( I felt like watching TV show in their original version wasn’t enough)So I started to read more in English. The Fault In Our Stars, TMI series, Ruby Red etc… And I realized that I preferred the original versions to translated ones because they were the author’s words, after all.

A few months later I got introduced to the bookish community thanks to Booktube. Which means that I found out about books that weren’t published in French yet. So I tended to buy more English books than French ones.

And now here I am, reading almost exclusively in English except for books I’m sharing with my parents, or from French authors !

And you ?
Is English your native language ?
If not, why are you reading in English ?

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| LET’S TALK | BOOKSTAGRAMMER, BOOK BLOGGER OR BOOKTUBER ?

Hello everyone ! Today I want to discuss something that has been nagging at me for a long time : the book bloggers and the booktubers.

The first book-related social media I had was Bookstagram. I grew very fond of this awesome community. It amazes me how some people are able to take stunning shots of books. I don’t remember exactly when I changed my page to a bookstagram one but I really  don’t regret it. I love taking photos of books, searching for new trinkets, new ideas etc. It really grew on me. I “met” amazing people thanks to bookstagram !

Then I created this blog after I passed my thesis because I wanted to share my reviews somewhere else than on Goodreads.Slowly I started to post other book-related stuff, such as tags, awards, TV adaptations etc. I also learned (and still am !) how to create basic adornments for my blog. I’m trying to improve my blog step by step ! I really enjoy posting here ! I also discovered an amazing community and love to read posts every day.

But I have been watching Booktube for years now. In fact, it was my very first glimpse of the bookish community. And I’ve always wanted to start a booktube channel. In fact, my blog was supposed to be the first step before creating my channel. (and now I can’t imagine NOT posting here haha !)
There were two things that refrained me :

• the camera (and I still need to buy a fancy one, and it’s not just for booktube)
• my French accent

Now, there is another thing : the fact that I don’t know if I’ll have time to do everything : taking photos for instagram, writing blog posts and recording videos. It seems impossible ! And even though I would really like to own a booktube channel, I don’t want to neglect my blog nor my bookstagram page !

What about you ? Do you post on other social medias ? If so, how do you manage to do everything ?

 

| LET’S TALK | DNF BOOKS

Hello everyone ! Today I’m gonna inaugurate a new category that I named Let’s Talk. Discussions posts are posts that I enjoy reading. I have wanted to start writing for a long time now. In fact, this particular post has stayed in the draft section for weeks (yeah, weeks, I’m that lazy haha).

Today I want to talk about DNF books and the shame that can come with it. Just in case  : DNF = Did Not Finish !

In my case it concerns only three books :

•  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• Dragonfly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon.

The reasons I DNF these books are different for each one of them.
For The Book Thief, I found that the POV was too cold (and for a good reason!) and I had troubles to get into the story. The story is beautiful, there’s no questioning that, but I need to be able to get into a story to truly appreciate it.

For All The Light We Cannot See, it was the lack of action. I read it during when I was craving fantasy stories, which wasn’t the best time to pick it, right. I plan to pick it up again, when I feel like it, because the writing style is really beautiful !

For Dragonfly In Amber, it’s the vocabulary added to the political side that got the best of me. I meant to pick it up again multiple times, but didn’t. I know I will pick it up again soon though, because I want to read it before watching the second season of the TV show.

Now, I think it’s okay not to finish a book, regardless of the reason. But, I try my best not to, because I feel it like I fail. I know this is stupid, because you can’t like every book you’ll read. But these 3 books are hyped, AND adult books, not YA. I tell myself that being 27 years old, I SHOULD like them. That it’s more of my age than YA books, that I read easily and like a lot. (Here, I think I just found my next discussion post ! haha). Plus, since they’re hyped, I keep telling myself that I’m missing something.
But for two of them, the vocabulary used isn’t the one I’m used to, and since English is not my native language, it makes the reading less fluid. Because I’ve always read non YA books in French, so I know it’s not really an issue.

So lately, I’ve been trying my best not to feel ashamed because I DNF a book. Reading should ALWAYS be a pleasure, not a struggle.

 

What about you ? What do you think of DNF books ?