Monday, April 30, 2018

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

Author: Jenny Lawson  
Original title: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things Edition Language: English  
Series: no  
Genres: Memoir  
Format: Audio book
Read by: Jenny Lawson  
Duration: 8h20m  
Goodreads  

Blurb:  
 FURIOUSLY HAPPY  is a book about mental illness, but under the surface it's about embracing joy in fantastic and outrageous ways-and who doesn't need a bit more of that?  

My thoughts:
      It is a good book to read and a great one to listen. Jenny tells about her life and how she is experiencing it.  She also tells about her illness and how she came to turns with it. The book is full of stories about her struggle with the illness: sometimes funny and sometimes depressing. I must say this is the first time I encounter such an honest view on yourself and your instability. At the same time, this is the first time the illnesses like depression were explained in an easy and understandable way, so a person,who is not familiar with it, did not mistake depression for mood swings.  
    I admire the author for courage, because it is not so easy to talk about such personal things. No one can imagine how difficult it can be to be to fight with yourself for “normal” life. And though Jenny describes some scenes, say when she fell and her body was numb, with a lot of humor, I can imagine how helpless she might have felt and how much frustration that added in everyday family life.  Anyway the book is very educating and positive about not so positive things and I believe I will re-read it quite soon.
Rating:  
    4,5/5 

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Sunday Post #33, It Is Sad Without Rain

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
It is already the second week we have sunshine. And again I am complaining. It is so hot and dry that I have headaches almost every day. You need to drink a lot, but during the winter I got used to drink only hot beverages and the change to summer was so rapid that I cannot make myself to switch to water. Besides for two hot weeks we have only one rain and it it really sad without it. I like the smell of dust, when the first drops hit the ground, and the smell of fresh, you can actually feel how the leaves and grass drink the water and breath the clean air back.  Additionally, it is no fun to read in the sun, I need some coziness and in the sun I feel like melted cheese.

 Last on the Blog
Next on the Blog
  • I will review Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
  • I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
  • I will review More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
  • I will review Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Read and Watched
     I have finished Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel and novella The Grownup Gillian Flynn, which I did not particularly enjoyed. It was classic Gillian Flynn's writing and plot development, but I was never a big fan, so I am not going to review it.
    This week I watched such a great match between FC Liverpool and Roma, in which Liverpool almost secure its place in the Finals and then blew it away! But the match is still something to remember.

Newcomers on my Shelf
I got 2 books from the library this week:
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, which I have already DNFed and by which I am extremely disappointed. I actually am going to write a review on a DNFed book.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

The School for Good and Evil/ A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

Original title: The School for Good and Evil Pages: 544  
Edition Language: Russian
Series: The School for Good and Evil #1 Format: e-book 
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Goodreads

Original title: A World Without Princes  Pages: 576  
Edition Language: Russian  
Series: The School for Good and Evil #2 Format: e-book 
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy   

Goodreads

  Blurb:   
      Best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
   After saving themselves and their fellow students from a life pitched against one another, Sophie and Agatha are back home again, living happily ever after. But life isn't exactly a fairytale.

    My thoughts: 
    I was eyeing the first book for a long time: I liked the name, cover and concept. The only issue was the book was for children, so when Middle March happened, I had a valid excuse to read the book. I enjoyed it and thought it was quite a funny, entertaining twist in fairy land. I feel that not all ends meet in the story, but overall it was a good journey.
     My only complain is about body shaming concept. As all canon witches are ugly, Sophie started to become ugly when she was close to become a witch. I would rather read about the witch which is still beautiful and shiny but with the dark soul, to make the message - there can be evil under a nice cover and pure gold behind the ordinary outer - more powerful and noticeable.
     In the book the main topic is friendship that can withstand all temptation and difficulties. It is obvious that true friendship is not an easy thing, but a relationship which demands mutual concessions and even sacrifices.  
     The sequel book is about the world where girls do not wait for princes to save the, but take live in their own hands. Agata is some kind of symbol of female independence, and now girls can take care of themselves. Which is kind of cool, but in reality the idea is twisted so badly, that this lead to the war between both sexes as princes are now out of work and since they are not needed they going to fight girls.
      This book seems like a parody of the world, where extreme feminist ideas prevail and males are thrown over boat of society. It was a funny metaphor, but I did not liked the book itself. It is meant to be a nice story about female friendship and started to be strangely complicated without purpose and it lost its appeal to me. I actually struggled to the end of the book and decided not to continue with the series. It might have been better if the first book was a stand alone novel.
Rating: 
    2,5/5 

Thursday, April 26, 2018

March 018 Wrap up

Read books: 
read: 22/ listen: 1/ pages: 7011/ hours listened: 8h20m
A Series of Unfortunate Events:
    1. The Bad Beginning p. 192
    2. The Reptile Room p.224
    3. The Wide Window p.256
    4. The Miserable Mill p.240
    5. The Austere Academy p.272
    6. The Ersatz Elevator p.320
    7. The Vile Village p.304
    8. The Hostile Hospital p.280
    9. The Carnivorous Carnival p.320
    10. The Slippery Slope p.419
    11. The Grim Grotto p.416
    12. The Penultimate Peril p.416
    13. The End p. 416
14. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett p.320
15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling p.398
16. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by John Tiffany (Adaptation), Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling p. 337 - my review
17. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie p.52
18. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle p. 288
19. Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson 8h20m - my review
20. The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani p.544 - my review
21. A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani p.576 - my review
22.  More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell p.121 - my review
23. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett p.300 

Movie watched:
1. Dark (2017-)
2. Wonder Woman (2017)
3. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
4. Happy! (2017-) 

Challenges overview:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 35/52
2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge 18/40
Pages Read Challenge: 9695/12000
Audiobook Challenge: 6/15
Russian Literature: 2/30
World of Literature: 16/50
Booker Prize Project: 7
Classics Club: 2/50

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

WWW Wednesday and Library Loot, April 25th

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 Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
2. I am stuck with The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian which I love but cannot finish for some reason.
3. I have started The Hidden Light of Objects by Mai Al-Nakib 

I have finished:
Last week I finished Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel and The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

I am planning to start with the following books:
1. Saturnin by Zdeněk Jirotka
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. Beartown by Fredrik Backman

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 2 books from the library this week:
1. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
2. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, which I have already DNFed and by which I am extremely disappointed.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Sunday Post #32, Sunny week

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
 This week was such a blessing weather-wise.Sunny all the time, but a bit windy which made the heat more pleasant, random rains but mostly during might, so no negative impact on the day. The city changed throughout the week: everything is green and blooming, nice combination of white, pink and green. So, it is difficult to sit at home and read much, and I can see my reading is stagnating as I have finished only 3 books so far. 

 Last on the Blog
Next on the Blog
  • I will review Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
  • I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
  • I will publish March Wrap Up
  • I will review some books for Middle Grade March 
Read and Watched
I have just finished Vicious by V.E. Schwab. 
This week I finished 4th season of Shetland 

Newcomers on my Shelf
Nothing this week

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

WWW Wednesday and Library Loot, April 11th

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 Vicious by V.E. Schwab
2. I am half way through The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
3. I have started The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, Terry Denton (Illustrator)

I have finished one book:
Last week I finished Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel


I am planning to start with the following books:
1. The Hidden Light of Objects by Mai Al-Nakib
2. Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
3. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

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 4 books from the library this week:
1. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. Beartown by Fredrik Backman
4. Saturnin by Zdeněk Jirotka

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

February 2018 Wrap up

Read books: 
read: 4/ listen: 4/ pages: 1680/ hours listened: 45h16m
1. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro 11h48m - my review
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel p.608 - my review
3. I Was Here by Gayle Forman p.320 - my review
4. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy p.416 - my review
5. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 15h56 - my review
6. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware 11h25 - my review
7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 16h07m - my review
8. The Accidental by Ali Smith p.336 - my review


Movie watched: 
1. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017)
2. Sharpe's Gold (1995)


Challenges overview:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 12/52
2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge 11/40
Pages Read Challenge: 2684/12000
Audiobook Challenge: 5/15
Russian Literature: 2/30
World of Literature: 15/50
Booker Prize Project: 6
Classics Club: 2/50

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Sunday Post #31, Too Much Middle Grade

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 did not publish anything during March as I was reading a lot. Most of the books were middle grade and I have too much of it. I have read 21 books I have read the whole A Series of Unfortunate Events, I have never read it before, so it was quite a journey, but finally I got tired of its gloomy atmosphere and mood, especially since the winter seems to be over.

 Last on the Blog
Next on the Blog
  • I will review Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
  • I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
  • I will publish February Wrap Up
  • I will publish March Wrap Up
Read and Watched

The first book this month I have read is Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. I watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Happy! (first season, I am not sure if there will be other)

Newcomers on my Shelf
Influenced by Middle Grade March I've bought the second book in Inkworld Series Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Author: Ruth Ware
Original title: The Woman in Cabin 10
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Mystery
Format: Audio book
Read by: Imogen Church
Duration: 11h08m
Goodreads

Blurb:
   Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
My thoughts:
     This book is another proof why I should dive into the book without any idea about its popularity and liking of others. It was too hyped and my expectations were high and I was disappointed when I finished with the mediocre mystery story with another unreliable narrator with some mental issues.
   My biggest disliking was the actually the narrator. The writer went into great details to portrait the main character's mental health issues and her instability and why we should not trust her. I have nothing against; it is always good to read a book from the more diverse point of view, but I do not like when the main character behaves like an idiot and makes stupid assumptions, which should not be done by a journalist.
     Example: Lo suspects that she saw a crime on a luxury liner, in closed environment she decides to lead investigation of what happened and  her primary suspect are the passengers. I do not see the logic here, usually the crew have access almost everywhere, someone has the master key, that can be stolen and used in the crime, but no!, the most logical way is to suspect the guests like herself, who do not have access anywhere and are not familiar with the ship. From this point I was not taking this book seriously and could not enjoyed the unveiling of the mystery.

Rating:  
    2,5/5 

Saturday, April 7, 2018

The Accidental by Ali Smith

Author: Ali Smith
Original title: The Accidental
Pages: 336
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: e-book
Genres: Contemporary
Goodreads

Blurb:    
    Amber—thirtysomething and barefoot—shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner.
  

My thoughts: 
      I really do not know... This is my second book by Ali Smith and again I am not impressed. I did not DNF it only because I was hoping there would be some logical closure or reveal of deeper level, but nothing extraordinary came up. Either I did not grow up enough for this kind of literature or Ali Smith is just not my type of writer.
   The book is essentially about the mysterious Amber, who gets into the life of of Smarts and make them doubt everything they are so confident about. This doubt, together with hope that Amber has a better understanding of life messes with their minds and strangely enough pulls the family back together. This all makes the Mrs Smart a better person, a truer person, an Amber in some other family.
    The story line is great, but the writing style does not sit well with me. I would say I "enjoyed" it more than Hotel World, but Ali's books would not be my first choice.  

Rating:  
    2,5/5 

Friday, April 6, 2018

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Author:  Sarah J. Maas
Original title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Edition Language: English
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Format: Audio book
Read by: Jennifer Ikeda
Duration: 16h07m
Goodreads

Blurb:
   Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...
    Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest.

My thoughts:
    I have heard so much bad reviews about the book. So many younger readers were raving about it, but "older" bookish generation had really low opinion about it. So my expectations were lower than low and I was waiting when I would be inevitably disappointed and can continue with the second book, about which everyone is ecstatic.
    But I was NOT disappointed. I quite liked the story, it was easy going, captivating and entertaining. Maybe it was due to the audio format, maybe I was tired of serious books, but the book left unexpectedly good impression.  It was also quite rich on important topics and I liked the family dynamics and relationship between sisters and their father. The only "meh" part was the steamy sex scene at the end of the book, it felt a bit out of place, since the rest of the book had quite modest atmosphere.
Rating:
    4/5