T5W March 29, Future Classics

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Future Classics 

      For this topic, I need to compile the list of  books I think might be considered classics one day. So I guess Harry Potter will be in everybody's list, so I will skip it as it is already on the way to become classic.
     So my list is below. This is my personal view on those books and maybe any of you might be surprised at the candidates, but some today classics were also once cheesy love stories, so why, say Chocolat, cannot become classics one day as well?

• Cider House Rules by John Irving
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris

T5W March 8, Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

  The theme this week is: Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

I must admit I am not a big fan of fantasy and science fiction. I used to be when I was a teenager and read quite a lot, but gradually I fell out of it as there were not enough books of those genres in our library and I made no effort of my own to develop my horizons. So my top 5 will be closely connected to what i have read before and most of them are Russian books. I am afraid I will have quite an unsuccessful list as most of the bloggers will not have idea about those books below.

1. Sannikov Land by Vladimir Obruchev  

       There were five of them. Courageous travelers, they set out to find a mysterious island that was seen for the first time amidst the ice of the Arctic by Yakov Sannikov. After crossing interminable ice-fields, they at last found Sannikov Land, "discovered it for science." This land, or rather the crater of a huge volcano, was the home of the flora and fauna of a remote geological period. There the travelers met men of the Stone Age and their contemporaries, mammoths, cave-bears and other animals. The expedition unriddled the island's secret, elucidated the reason for the disappearance of the Onkilon tribe, which at one time lived in North Siberia.  

2. Duology “Cold Coasts” and “Morning Nears”  by Sergei Lukyanenko

Cold Coasts
    In this world Jesus has not come to us - instead, there was the God's Stepson with his magic Word. Besides, iron in this word is more rare and precious than gold, with inevitable consequences to the technology, economy and etc. The mighty Power, heir to the Roman Empire, shares the world with China, Russian Khandom, Ottoman Sultanate and a dozen or so of small countries. This world seems more placid and in a way more comfortable than ours, and it seems very stable and unwilling to change. But one day Markus, a bastard prince of the Ruling House discovers an ancient book which could change the world, for better or worseю

Morning Nears
    Ex-gravedigger Ilmar, ex-cop Arnold, ex-nun, ex-pilotess (they fly planers there, not planes), ex-jailer, ex-bishop... twelve companions of the fugitive Prince Marcus, all in all... have to decide, whether Markus is a long waited Messiah, or an equally long-expected Tempter; they have to decide it quick, because the strange boy is being hunted by the police and the church, by foreign spies and every loyal citizen. 

3. Professor Dowell's Head by Alexander Romanovich Belyaev

     The entire scientific world mourned the loss of Professor Dowell. It was said that just before his death he was on the verge of a breakthrough in the transplantation of human organs.
     Marie Laurent felt privileged to work for the professor’s brilliant associate, Professor Kern. But her feelings turned to shock and revulsion when she entered Kern’s laboratory and discovered—sitting on a table, surrounded by tubes and tanks, its eyes blinking and lips moving—Professor Dowell’s head!

Thus begins a classic tale of horror and suspense by Alexander Beliaev, the bestselling Soviet science fiction author of all time, whose work is considered by many readers the equal of Wells’ and Verne’s.

4.  Wolfhound by Maria Semyonova

       Wolfhound is a series of a Low Fantasy novels by a Russian fantasy and Historical Fiction author Maria Semyonova.       Wolfhound  was condemned to death, but survived to wreak revenge for the murder of his clan. The last member of the clan of the Grey Hounds became a fearless warrior by the name of Wolfhound. After cheating death in the mines, Wolfhound sets out on a journey with his constant companion, the Earthbound Bat. Wolfhound has but one desire – to destroy the Maneater, a merciless warrior who slaughtered the village of the Grey Hounds. 

5. Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

       Set in contemporary Moscow, where shape shifters, vampires, and street-sorcerers linger in the shadows, Night Watch is the first book of the hyper-imaginative fantasy pentalogy from Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko.
     This epic saga chronicles the eternal war of the “Others,” an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. The agents of the Dark – the Night Watch – oversee nocturnal activity, while the agents of the Light keep watch over the day.  When a mid-level Night Watch agent named Anton stumbles upon a cursed young woman – an uninitiated Other with magnificent potential – both sides prepare for a battle that could lay waste to the entire city, possible the world.

T5W February 22, Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump

Here I need to tell you that I never paid any attention if I was in a reading slump or not. The only 2 exceptions I can tell for sure are after I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and after I read two novels in a row by Erich Maria Remarque (Arch of Triumph and Three Comrades). Those put in terrible mood and I did not want to read at all. I did not remember how I was fighting it then, but for sure I can find a couple of books that I can read in any state, even if my reading attitude is down.

1. Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

       A beloved childhood favorite; the tale of the poor but virtuous Dutch family. An inspiring story that teaches not to give up and not loose your human face. 

2. Any book of  James Herriot, especially those  Dog Stories, All Creatures Great and Small,  All Things Bright and Beautiful

3. Any book from Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple' series by Agatha Christie

 4. Any detective book without much plot and ideas (examples Lee Child, Jeffrey Archer and others)

5. Or I just watch romantic comedies till I am sick with its sweetness and run for a good and serious book.

T5W February 8, Book Trends You're Tired Of

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Book Trends You're Tired Of

          This week was difficult for me as I do not collect features I do not like in the books. If I do not like the book it is usually not because one particular part was wrong or one character was lame, but I just start disliking the book as a whole. But still I was able to find some hate points in current trends))

1. Movie covers on the book. Really hate them. I do understand that you need to promote the movie, but is there not a more sophisticated way to do so? Especially if you hated the movie and love the book!

2. Stickers on the book covers, the ones you cannot remove, especially if the book has a gorgeous cover. Especially the ones that has no information value: “Now a major movie”, “Coming soon in the cinemas” and so on.

3. Series longer then 2 books. I know it is so good not to part with the characters you got in love with, but man..! waiting 3 years just to know what is going to happen... too hard for me. I prefer standalone books. At least the sequel will not ruin the impression of your favorite book.

4. Books based on one exceptional quality of one character. I understand there is always someone more capable than others, but what I mean here is that you are a really weak and initiative character and then all of the sudden some unique quality is discovered in you, and then everyone is expecting this character to be a hero but he/she is still crappy and initiative person with destiny/prophecy issues.

5. Instant love story lines. I get it in YA, but still this should not be so misused. It can be the whole range of feelings from hatred to sexual attraction, but the most frequent I come across in the books now is instant love.

T5W February 1, Current Favorites that Aren't Books

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Current Favorites that Aren't Books

In this topic I can talk about any non-bookish things happening in your life. It turned out to be quite a lengthy post.

1. TV series
Death in Paradise (2011-)
       Scotland Yard DI Humphrey Goodman is sent to the Caribbean island of Sainte Marie to solve a fellow policeman's murder. Having done so, he finds himself seconded to the local police force as the dead man's replacement. Humphrey proves to be a brilliant detective, solving several complex murders.
       This is not highly intelligent TV series; I admit it, so not judgment. But the settings are so great: a tropical island, views of ocean, sand, heat and beautiful mountains. The pace of each episode is slow like the pace of life on the island.
     So this is a good type of relax after hard working week, when outside is - 15 and snowing, and you enjoy the movie with summer and exotic music and accents of the main characters.

2. Music
Currently I am listening to multiple singers, which are on radio all the time, but my 3 favorites are below:
      Leslie Feist (born 13 February 1976), known professionally as Feist, is a Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene.
      Jo Harman is a British singer, songwriter. In 2014, she and her band mates in 'Jo Harman and Company' have nominated for seven British Blues Award. She also appeared at the Foyer of the RAB where her performance was recorded by the BBC and released as an live album.
      Katie Melua (Ketevan "Katie" Melua) is a Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's best-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist.
Her voice is so soft and calming, real enjoyment; just listened to her Nine Million Bicycles song from Piece By Piece album.

3. TV Sport
    I am quite fond of sports and love to follow sport events on TV. During winter I am always
following such sports as biathlon, hockey and football. Apart from regular matches of English Premier League and "Kontinental Hockey League" two major European events took place.
      From January 25 to January 29 2017 IBU Open European Championships took place in Poland. Unfortunately the biggest starts of world biathlon did not participate as they save strength for World Cup rounds, but still there were spectacular races to follow.

     From January 25 to January 29 the 2017 European Figure Skating Championships took place in Czech Republic. It was absolute pleasure to watch Evgenia Medvedeva, the young and petite star from Russia. She defended her European title finishing first in both the short program and the free skate. She also reset the free skate world record (previously held by herself) with a score of 150.79 and became the current world record holder for the ladies' combined total score (229.71), which was previously held by Kim Yuna.  It is so amazing when a child makes you forget that figure skating is a difficult sport, it seems so easy and light, and you can hardly call it “sport” anymore, it is pure art on ice))

  4. Food 

    Winter is a difficult time when I always want some fresh fruits and vegetables. This winter I am however is highly hooked on Asian food. Every time I smell the spices my stomach rejoice in excitement)))

     My absolute favorites this winter are Pad Thai (Thai salad) and Pho Ga (Vietnamese chicken soup)

 5. Tea

     Absolute favorite for 3^rd winter is genmaicha green tea. Here below I found some information about this tea, and it was interesting for me as well to know something new.

Genmaicha (玄米茶), also called brown rice green tea, is the Japanese name for green tea combined with roasted brown rice. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as "popcorn tea" because a few grains of the rice pop during the roasting process and resemble popcorn. Although today it is consumed by all segments of society, this type of tea was originally drunk by poor Japanese, as the rice served as a filler and reduced the price of the tea; which is why it is also known as the "people's tea". It was also used by those persons fasting for religious purposes or who found themselves to be between meals for long periods of time. The sugar and starch from the rice cause the tea to have a warm, full flavor that is similar to that of nuts. It is considered easy to drink and helps one's stomach feel better.

T5W, January 4, 2017 Goals

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: 2017 Goals 

I deliberately trying to avoided making definitive reading plans knowing that a lot of changes are expecting me this year and do not want look miserable at the end of the year. Instead I opt for something more general thinking it will give me more flexibility and increase the chances of success.

Bookish goals: 

1. Try to read at least 50 books and watch 80 movies during the year

2. Read 50% of the books I currently own. Thus come number 3

3. Reorganize my books, create catalog, and separate the "already read" pile from the rest

4. Set up 3 projects (the idea I shamelessly steal from one of my favorite blogger Booker Talk): the Booker prize project, Classics project and Literature of the World Project. This I consider not 2017 goal but almost lifelong goals)))

5. Participate at least in 3 massive reading challenges (I have not decided yet, but have some ideas: POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, Pages Read 2017, Goodreads, Retellings Reading Challenge 2017, 2017 Audiobook Challenge, The World From My Armchair Challenge, Russian Literature Reading Challenge 2017,  2017 Victorian Reading Challenge)  

Blogging goals:

1. Create a good schedule and hold on to it: at least 2 posts per week

2. Blog ahead - most of the memes can be done in advance, so I need to set certain time for this to be done.

3. At least 2 book related posts on Instagram per week.

4. Write at least SHORT review on every book read, movie watched and theater visited.

5. Comment more on other blogs – let’s face it, not very easy task, but will try.

T5W December 14, Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season

I guess this is inevitable to every long TV or book series. Since i do not read much of book series as i do like the first book, I do not contunue with the series my list is TV series mainly.

Due south (1994–1999)

      An upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable Fraser and the American police detective Ray Vecchio are working together to make the streets of Chicago safer. Those are two different characters in looks and behavior. Mountie Fraser opens doors and helps old ladies cross streets. He always goes the extra mile for everyone he knows. He might be claimed cartoonish, but this shows the unlimited possibilities for goodness. How it changes people and help them. Ray is on the other hand is cynical and self-centered person who know best that helping others is not always a grateful thing. So different and still so effective together this team accompanied by a deaf wolf is solving little and big crimes in Chicago.

       I must confess this is my favorite TV series and I believe it to be the greatest, since it has so much good relieved in people relationships, but eventually it was going a little down to 4th season. Though I still consider that the show should never be canceled, it is difficult to imagine how they would exploit Fraser's character further on. 

Sliders (1995–2000)

        Another my favorite TV series from 90s. 

        A boy genius Quinn Mallory, while working on an anti-gravity machine, accidentally creates a portal to a parallel universe. Eventually, his friend, a teacher and an unwilling participant accidentally get stuck traveling (sliding) among parallel earths in alternate dimensions, trying to survive and to find their way back home.

         Surely it was not much realistic show, but it was so fascinating to see alternatives to the existing present. Sliding into a new and unknown world was exciting and the fantasy was really wild at the beginning. The cast was wonderful and I enjoyed a terrific chemistry between them. Sadly, as the show went on the scripts were losing in quality and actors started to leave the show. By the end of the show, only one actor was left from the original cast. They do replace the actors, but could not recapture the magic of their relationships. It was a disappointing end to what began as a fascinating show.

 

Good wife (2009–2016)

       Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former state's attorney for Cook County. He has been imprisoned after a sex and corruption scandal. Alicia must deal with the public humiliation and financial crisis. She must provide for her two children. After years of being a housewife and mother, she returns to work as a litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. She must now prove herself in the courtroom. This is really a good show and I enjoyed it so much. The talented cast and not predictable plot together with great script made a show worth watching. It is all good, but really... How much longer a person can have an upper hand in everything they try? Sounds like a superman reality, so at the end of the show I was really tired of the main heroine and her supremacy in everything. 

Grimm (2011 - )

 Nothing prepares a Portland detective Nick Burkhardt for the strange visions he begins seeing: seemingly regular people momentarily transforming into hideous monsters. A visit from his only living relative reveals the truth. Nick has inherited the ability to see supernatural creatures, and as a "Grimm," he is tasked with keeping the balance between mankind and the mythological. A reformed "Big Bad Wolf" becomes his ally and confidant.  

       This is also the great way to revive the fairy tales and make correlations with the real world. Magical creatures are among us, but they are not always as nice as the fairy tale tells us. I really enjoyed the fantasy of the movie and unpredictability of this or that character, but eventually without much development of the Nick story, the series starts to get boring and not exciting.

 Once Upon a Time  (2011 - )

      I really loved this show and I think I enjoy it more than original story. But I must confess that I truly enjoyed only 1st season. Stories are getting old and characters are not so fresh and enchanting any more. I don’t enjoy them anymore. Say Rumpelstiltskin has been going from bad to good, from morally unstable to definitely bad since the first episode and it is not catching anymore. I believe I was done with the show amid 3rd season, and not think I will be back to it.

T5W December 7, Books You Want to Finally Read in 2017

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Books You Want to Finally Read in 2017

I have recently wrote a post on books added to my "to-read" list in Goodreads for Top Ten Tuesday, but these mostly short TBR. There are stories I want to read for ages and still do not when I will get my hand on them.

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 

David Copperfield is the story of a young man’s adventures on his journey from an unhappy & impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist.  

2. Ulysses by James Joyce

 It seems everybody is talking about this book and every respected book lover should read it, but judging by the description I might never cope with it. Joyce divided Ulysses into 18 episodes.Every episode of Ulysses has a theme, technique and correspondence between its characters and those of the Odyssey. The original text did not include these episode titles and the correspondences.

 3. Shōgun by James Clavell.  

 This is a known book about a bold English adventurer, an invincible Japanese warlord and a beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power. There is a very good mini-series adaptation (1980) Richard Chamberlain and John Rhys-Davies but I've always wanted to read a book.

4. 1984 by George Orwell

The dystopian novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the government's invented language, Newspeak) under the control of a privileged elite of the Inner Party, that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as "thoughtcrime."

5. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys   

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 postcolonial novel by Jean Rhys.The novel is written as a prequel and response to Charlotte Brontë's noted novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to the marriage that Jane learns about after going to work for Mr. Rochester. It is the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress, from the time of her youth in Jamaica, and of her unhappy marriage to a certain English gentleman—he is never named by the author.  

November 30, Top 5 Wednesday

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Favorite Villains 

1. Long John Silver from Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson

One legged manipulative and fearful pirate, Silver gains the trust of protagonist Jim Hawkins, only to reveal himself to be the leader of a mutiny, planning to murder the ship's officers once the treasure is found. I actually like the guy. Not his cruelty and blood thirst, but his imagination and wit. He was one head above most of the pirates not only because he was feared, but because he dared to do things no one done before.

2.  Count Dracula by Bram Stoker 

  
A picturesque figure of the gothic-fiction world. Bram Stocker sets rules about what a vampire should be and was followed by many authors in gothic-fiction and vampire topic. But only reading the book I realized, how twisted modern vampire fiction has become. So for me Count Dracula is the father of all Gothic villains.

3. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 

He is not 100% villain as in most of the books. Life makes him such a heartless and vindictive person and he is like a demon for this area and most of his deeds cannot be called anything but evil. He does not show any mercy in his revenge,  but still he encourages sympathy. 

4. Annie Wilkes from Misery by Stephen King

Anne Marie Wilkes, better known as Annie Wilkes, is the main antagonist in Stephen King's 1987 novel Misery. Annie is a severely mentally ill, demented and obsessive nurse and the self-proclaimed biggest fan of her favorite author, Paul Sheldon. This character is so sick and freighting that I like her so much for that.

5. Woland (Satan) from The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Woland is the mysterious foreigner and a professor who is "in Moscow to present a performance of 'black magic' and then expose its machinations". This exposure never occurs; Woland instead exposes the greed and bourgeois behaviour of the spectators themselves. His visit to Moscow sets the plot rolling and turns the world upside-down. This is the most honest and worthy devil I have read about.