in my mailbox (7)

source

the last time i wrote an in my mailbox post was this, over two weeks ago. since then i've been trying to read like mad, getting lost in between the lines, gorging on as many words as i possible can.
but you know, with such an abundance of volumes, with so many books around and so little time, what i have been mostly doing is starting more and more books, diving into newer and newer stories. then a couple of days later i feel like reading something completely different and i can't help starting yet another novel. and all of a sudden i find myself reading six books simultaniously, and not being able to make much progress with any of them.

anyway, what i managed to finish in these past couple of weeks are:

• anna and the french kiss by stephanie perkins - an excellent young adult book that i enjoyed immensely, and will definitely reread sometime soon.
• dash and lily's book of dares by rachel cohn and david levithan - also a highly recommended young adult book, though not as great as anna and the french kiss. still, it's a must read for it's festive atmosphere, and because it's set in snowy new york city, it's utterly bookish, and centered around a red moleskine notebook and new york's most famous book store the strand.
• a good year by peter mayle  - being a big fan of its movie adaptation, this book was a bit of a disappointment. the whole provence atmosphere and the busy london businessman settling into a laidback french country life theme work so much better on the screen. (and that pulpable chemistry between russel crowe and marion cotillard appears nowhere in the book.)
• coco chanel by alex madsen - ahhh, i finally finished this enormous biography. nahhh, i am lying, i'm afraid. i did not finish it, because actually there are still about 50 pages left unread, but i've been reading (or at least trying) it since mid september, and halfway through the book i lost all interest in all the pointless details of coco chanel's life. i just feel like i cannot drag on this volume with me any more, so i'm just going to declare it read and then quickly forget about it. (and maybe - and that's a very faint maybe - i'll try to finish it during the holidays, reading a couple of pages at a time.)

what i am currently reading: 

• lola and the boy next door by stephanie perkins - it's not even half as good as perkins's first novel anna and the french kiss, but i am halfway through already, so i might as well finish it. 
• the causal vacancy by j.k. rowling - i started it at least 3 weeks ago, but it's filled with so many different storylines and such an abundance of characters, and yet there isn't really a main plot. i don't really feel i am - or the novel itself - making any progress as i proceed in the book. i should pick it up again, and give it another go.
• a szent johanna gimi by leiner laura - being utterly popular and a bestseller among young adult readers recently, i wanted to find out what the whole hype was about. it is neither better nor worse than what i ahd expected: a quick and easy read for teenagers with loads of pop culture references (but also filled with excellent book recommendations, so that's surpirising, but definitely positive), narrated in first person diary style, without any kind of real plot or character development. it's no surprise that it doesn't project any literary value, but at least it persuades the teens to pick up a book and read the printed word.

what i am planning to read:

the last time i was in the library was about a month ago, and i took out about a dozen books then. well, i still haven't read most of them. unfortunately semmi by joanne teller is due back today (well, was due back days ago, so i am paying a fine on returning today), as well as egy budai úrilány by lángh júlia. the latter would have been a reread, it's such a shame i never managed to get to it. i guess i'll have to borrow it yet again, in a couple of weeks. however, i still have finding flow by mihály csíkszentmihályi, szerelemféltők by ugron zsolna and meskó zsolt and ethan from by edith wharton. these are not due back until january, so i am determined to read them in december. being in a fairly festive mood, i am eager to read a few christmas books, starting with the classic christmas carol by charles dickens (will be my first dickens. it's high time, being an english major and all), then continuing with john grisham's skipping christmas. i am also yearning for some hungarian classics, so i might just take szabó magda's régimódi történet and kaffka margit's színek és évek off the shelf. 

what have you been reading lately? do share!

and what are your favorite christmas/holiday themed books? all recommendations - both english and hungarian - are more than welcome.

in my mailbox is a weekly meme originally hosted by the story siren, in which book bloggers post about the books they have bought, borrowed or received in the past week. since it began it has become fairly popular, and numerous book blogs post their weekly in my mailbox meme.