Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Middle Grade March Announcement and TBR 2017

Middle Grade March is a month long readathon happening March 1-31. It will be hosted by Katie @ Life Between Words  and Krista from BooksAndJams.
Katie's Announcement Video / Instagram 
Krista's Announcement Video /  Instagram

CHALLENGES (optional, of course):
1. Read an award winner
2. Read a book to movie adaptation
3. Read a children's classic
4. Read a childhood favorite
5. Read a diverse book

Instagram Lives:
February 28 @ 8:30 pm (CST) - What is Middle Grade
March 7 @ 8:30 pm (CST) - Our TBRs and Book Recommendations
March 28 @ 8:30pm (CST) - Girl Who Drank the Moon discussion

    I do not read too many so I put up quite a big TBR list so I can choose from depending on the mood.
1. First of all I would like to read The School for Good and Evil and A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani. I will start with the first book in the series and see if I like it enough to pick up the second one. I do not think I will read more the two books from this series, even if I would love it.

2. I want to check Jo Nesbo's series about Doctor Proctor. Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, Bubble in the Bathtub, Doctor Proctor Who Cut the Cheese?, The Great Gold Robbery are the four books so far and quite chunky, so it will be good to start and see if it any good.

3.  I would like to start A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I have heard so much about the series but never read it, so it is a big opportunity to begin. This books will also be a reply to challenge #2

4. For challenge #3 I will read a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett:  A Little Princess, The Secret Garden or Little Lord Fauntleroy

5.  For childhood favorite (challenge #4) I will re-read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling and for an award winner (challenge #1) I will most probably read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in this gorgeous Illustrated Edition.

I have not decided on last challenge and see what recommendations others will have.


Wednesday, February 21, 2018

WWW Wednesday and Library Loot, February 21th

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. A similar meme, This Week in Books is hosted by Lipsyy Lost and Found.
Description: WWW Wednesday is a weekly event where you share answers Below questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
  
I am currently reading 3 books:

1. I am listening to The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
2. I am half way through The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian
3. I am slowly reading The Accidental by Ali Smith

I have finished one book:
Last week I finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.


I am planning to start with the following books:
1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
3. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Hosted by: The Captive Reader and Silly Little Mischief
Description: Library Loot is a weekly event that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I got 3 books from the library this week:
1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
3. More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Cosy Reading Night #2

This Wednesday I am joining Cosy Reading Night hosted by lovely Lauren from Lauren And The Books, which is basically 3 hours dedicated to reading in cosy atmosphere with snacks, tea, blankets, candles and so on. This time it is Femmeuary Cosy Reading Night combined together with the Femmeuary, book and movies celebrating women.

I decided not only read but watch a movies as well:
I will start with We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  and The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen
Then I am hoping to finish The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian
and as desert I will watch  Hidden Figures  (2016), I never found time to go to the cinema, so it is high time to do it.
    As for snack I will stick to green tea and my favorite Raffaellos and dark chocolate biscuits.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Sunday Post #29, Femmeuary

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme. 

Outside the Blog
     We had guests for the first time in months and I forgot how difficult it is to organize. But anyway it was a pleasure to see friends and enjoy wine and food in a company.
    I am slowly making through Femmeuary, hosted by Lauren from Lauren And The Books channel.
I am reading The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian, a slow byt very enjoyable read and The Accidental by Ali Smith, about which I still do not have any opinion.
    It was kind of difficult to find a proper audiobook as I started 3 and put them away as I did not have mood for them.

 Last on the Blog
Next on the Blog
  • I will review Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
  • I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
Read and Watched
I finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy books last week, and started 2 new
  1. The Accidental by Ali Smith
  2. The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian
Newcomers on my Shelf
nothing this week.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Author: Arundhati Roy
Original title: The God of Small Things
Pages: 416
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: e-book
Genres: Historical Fiction
Goodreads

Blurb:    
    The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family. Their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu, fled an abusive marriage to live with their blind grandmother, Mammachi, their beloved uncle Chacko, and their enemy, Baby Kochamma, grandaunt. When Chacko's English ex-wife brings their daughter for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day, that lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river...
My thoughts: 
      This book literally broke me. I do not what happened and why this somehow ordinary family drama resonated with me so much. I cannot deny that the greatest impact was made by the author's style. The story unfolded in some sort of honey stream around me making me comfortable and sleepy, extraordinary description of ordinary things made me feel light and cheerful watching two small twins at their games.
    The story jumps from one situation to another in such a way, that a reader, enchanted by the lyrical style comes out to a bloomy clearing in the woods of life, he can see green grass flowers of various colors and bees. But something is not right, while walking through this flourishing lushness, we find different pieces of decomposing body, with all its ugliness and horror: envy, spite, hate, despair and loneliness. All those pieces can be placed together to form a body of blind fate that struck and smashed this family, leaving everyone with broken heart to linger out their lives.
      I had a great temptation to search for a guilty party: nothing happens without ignition, but being guilty of one thing does leave a person responsible for the events that gather speed fed by incidents, misunderstandings and small things. It is better to leave it alone and perceive it as random, chaotic as a swollen river, exhibition of fate.

Rating:  
    4,5/5 

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro 
Original title: The Buried Giant  
Edition Language: English  
Series: no
Genres: Fantasy  
Format: Audio book
Read by: David Horovitch  
Duration: 11h48m  
Goodreads  

Blurb:
    The Buried Giant begins as a couple set off across a troubled land of mist and rain in the hope of finding a son they have not seen in years. Sometimes savage, often intensely moving, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel in nearly a decade is about lost memories, love, revenge, and war.

My thoughts:
      I went into this novel blind and has no expectations whatsoever. I truly enjoyed through the first half of the book. Neither slow pace nor plot put me off. I was listening to it during long, slow walks and had a fascinating feeling that a new Hobbit-like story is unfolding for me. A big influence was the narrator’s deep and melodious voice as well. 
     However, while the story unfolded my interest started to fade. It was not going anywhere; only the atmosphere in the book started to be more delusive, characters more frustrating and plot more tedious. When I fell asleep 3times during the chapter prior the great battle, it was obvious the interest was gone. As the result the ending was disappointing in spite of all the allusions, hits and “hidden” meaning it could contain.
Rating:  
    3/5 

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Author: Hilary Mantel
Original title: Wolf Hall
Pages: 672
Edition Language: Russian
Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy #1
Format: e-book
Genres: Historical Fiction
Goodreads

Blurb:    
    England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
My thoughts: 
       This book was on my list for really long time. and all that time I heard only good things about it. Thus, unfortunately my expectations were really high and it was difficult to meet them. It does not mean that the book is bad - it is great, interesting and engaging -  it just did not blow my mind away.
   The story evolves around a well known and at the same time not so popular figure of Thomas Cromwell. It is always interesting to read about the life and thoughts of a real person even if it is fiction. I could not actually put away the book before finishing it, even knowing the basic events of the story I liked how the plot evolved and how the characters developed. By the way there are too many characters in the book, which sometimes makes it a bit confusing. The only shortcoming for me was prolonged relationship between Cromwell and More, a substantial amount of pages was devoted to it taking space of other possible plot twists.

Rating:  
   4/5 

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Sunday Post #28, Oh, Winter, Where are You?

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme. 

Outside the Blog

  I just realized that it is the middle of February now, but we did not have temperature below 0 during the day at all. Even during some rare moments of snow it was slightly above 0. I guess with this progress we will be showing not only white Christmas to our children but white winter on pictures.

 Last on the Blog 
Next on the Blog
  • I will review The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • I will review Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 
  • I will review The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
  • I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot 
Read and Watched
I finished 3 books last week, 2 of which I started in January:
  1. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro 
  2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 
  3.  I Was Here by Gayle Forman
I have seen one movie IT (2017)
Newcomers on my Shelf
nothing this week.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Author: Gayle Forman
Original title: I Was Here
Pages: 320
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: e-book
Genres: YA, Contemporary
Goodreads

Blurb:    
     When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody, her best friend, is understandably shocked and devastated.

My thoughts: 
  Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. It is a story about suicide and depression and one that doesn’t attempt to romanticize these things either. Suicide is a sensitive, difficult subject to write about and only a handful of authors can pull it off successfully. It’s raw and yes, very sad but also very relatable. I absolutely loved the handling and development of the relationship between Cody and her mum. It's a  troubled relationship being pulled apart by lack of communication and understanding. However, the relationship goes through many changes.   
 Rating:  
    2,5/5 

Thursday, February 8, 2018

January 2018 Wrap up

Read books: 
read: 3/ listen: 1/ pages: 1004/ hours listened: 13h22m
1. Isle of Dogs by Patricia Cornwell 13h22m - my review
2. The Curse of the House of Foskett by M.R.C. Kasasian p. 409 - my review
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson p. 336 - my review
4. Almost Famous Women: Stories by Megan Mayhew Bergman p.259 - my review


Movie watched: 
The Angry Birds Movie (2016)


Challenges overview:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 4/52
2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge 4/40
Pages Read Challenge: 1004/12000
Audiobook Challenge: 1/15
Russian Literature: 2/30
World of Literature: 14/50
Booker Prize Project: 4
Classics Club: 2/50

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

February 2018 TBR

 I was inspired to do a TBR for February by Lauren from Lauren And The Books channel who announced Femmeuary: books written by women or celebrate women should be read through the month of February. So I decided to join and read only books written by female authors this month.

So my list for this month is
1. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
2. The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian
3. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
4. The Accidental by Ali Smith 
5. I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Monday, February 5, 2018

Sunday Post #27, January is Gone

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Outside the Blog
    How it is always happening that when I want to sit down and do the recap of my week and publish the Sunday post I always occupied elsewhere? I blame the 3 week absent on a visit from my mother-in-law, someone needs to be blamed and this cannot be me.
January is over and I just finished my 2017 overview. I do not have posts best and worst of 2017 as I do not usually do it. Reading is a continues process and just time decides which book stay in our memory for whatever reason.
 Last on the Blog 
Next on the Blog
  • I will publish February 2018 TRB
  • I will publish January 2018 Wrap Up  
Newcomers on my Shelf
I have 2 books for the Goodreads clubs:

1. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
2. The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian