WWW Wednesday and Library Loot, July 31

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?

This month I am reading through my Russian and classics lists, that is why some of the books do not have an English translation.

I am currently reading 1 book:

1. Engineer Garin and His Death Ray by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy

I have finished:
1. Scarlet Sails by Aleksandr Grin
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
4. Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

I am planning to start with the following book:
1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

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 no books from the library this week.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Author: Liane Moriarty
Original title: What Alice Forgot
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Contemporary
Format: Audio book
Read by: Caroline Lee
Duration: 15h34m
Goodreads

Blurb:
    Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

My thoughts:
       Alice has a fall at the gym and loses her memory of the last 10 years. I really enjoyed how the story was told through Alice's eyes as I learned how she has changed and also the people around her as she pieces the events of the last 10 years together. She remembers the people around her and their situations as they were 10 years ago and given little clues which creates the mystery of how the events of their lives have changed and shaped into who they are today.
    This fiction covers a broad array of topics, including divorce, death, infertility and a complete breakdown of the family unit. Actually, I liked how the infertility topic was dealt with. I never questioned this issue and had a vague idea what women are going through. In the book I saw a scary picture of obsession that shapes your life in all aspects starting with your sexual life and finishing with your perсeption of the world itself, splitting it into two militant camps. Very complicated and disturbing topic.
      The whole "Alice situation" made me think a lot, how we give in to the flow of time and get lost in everyday life, getting far and far away from us - young and purposeful, ambitious and full of great plans. It is not that we are pathetic nowadays, but how life changes and how it shapes up our demands and expectations. The main challenge here is to look at yourself with your younger eyes and say truly if you are happy with what you see. So those kind of questions were popping up in my mind, while I listen to this book, which is a very nice and funny read with a lot of dramatic turns, but still quite enjoyable.

Rating: 

         4/5 

Sunday Post #50, Crazy Weather

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. 

 Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together-at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones-and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. See below for how to join the Salon.
   

Something new

      This week the weather was playing tricks again, we had thunderstorms 3 days in a row, all the time, day and night... I do not remember such weather in the mountains, usually there are one-two thunderstorms during a season not more.
      I did not like participating in Reading Rush 2019 readalong, but there was so much fuss about it, so I wanted to try. When it is too much information and community involvement it is not so good for reading. I was checking the site and news, and watch my favourite booktubers, then I was checking challenges and was upset that I cannot produce such nice content and photos. It is not what I search in reading challenges. So I guess next year I will not bother. I did finish a couple of books though, but I did not post too much on the blog, unfortunately.

Last on the Blog 

• On Monday I reviewed Into the Water by Paula Hawkins 
• On Tuesday I published June 2019 Wrap up
• On Thursday I reviewed The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Next on the Blog

• On Monday I will review What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
• On Wednesday I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
• On Thursday I will review 3 books by by Arthur Hailey
• On Friday I will publish Friday in Memes #13

I am currently reading 1 book:
1. Engineer Garin and His Death Ray by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy

I have finished:
1. Scarlet Sails by Aleksandr Grin
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
4. Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

 Newcomers on my Shelf

I am not buying or taking any book this summer, in order to reduce my physical TBR)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Author: John Green 
Original title: The Fault in Our Star
Pages: 456
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Format: paperbook
Genres: Contemporary
Goodreads

Blurb:    
   Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
     Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

My thoughts: 
    The story centers around a young girl named Hazel, she is suffering from terminal cancer. Hazel meets a boy named Augustus, he also has cancer. The connection between these two main characters is wonderful. They grasp the meaning of death and are yet still fearful of it, they know they will eventually die but then so does everyone.  Hazel and Gus are actually great characters, I really liked them and I liked their conversations. John Green does have a way with dialogue, that is where his strength lies.

There is only one thing in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you are sixteen, and that's having a kid who bites it from cancer.

     I cried like a baby while reading it and gave it 4 starts. I though realized the point of the book and generally I do not like tearjerkers.  It just was very obvious from chapter one that there was one purpose, and one purpose only to this plot. To be sad. Take away the emotional aspect, and there really isn't a lot left. It was about cancer, so you knew it would be sad. There were no twists, no mystery, nothing out of the ordinary. Even if you just really love tearjerkers, there are many other sad books out there that are written to provoke more emotion. But there was nothing creative about the story. I do not like cancer being exploited for entertainment and profit... but still...this book hit me hard on an emotional level.

 Rating:  

    4/5 

June 2019 Wrap up

Read books: 
read: 13/ listen: 0/ pages: 4899/ hours listened: 0
1. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus p. 336 ***
2. The Wicked King by Holly Black p. 448  ***
3. Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø p. 256  ***
4. Scythe by Neal Shusterman p.448 **
5. The Captain's Daughter by Alexander Pushkin p.138  ****
6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline p. 480 ***
7. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff p. 602 ****
8. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab p. 256 **
9. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman,  Meagan Spooner p. 384 ****
10. This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips p. 432 **
11. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire p. 224 **
12. Квест by Boris Akunin p. 656  ***
13. Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer p. 239  ***

Movie watched:
1. Ready Player One (2018) re-watch ***
2. Echelon Conspiracy (2009) re-watch **
3. Men in Black: International (2019) **
4. Happy!  Season 2 - TV Series (2017–2019) ****

Challenges overview:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 40/52
2017 PopSugar Reading Challenge 30/50
Pages Read Challenge: 16028/24000
Audiobook Challenge: 5/15
Russian Literature: 4/30
World of Literature: 18/50
Booker Prize Project: 7
The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019: 12/20
Classics Club: 7/50

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Author: Paula Hawkins
Original title: Into the Water
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery
Format: Audio book
Read by: Imogen Church, Sophie Aldred, Daniel Weyman, Rachel Bavidge, Laura Aikman
Duration: 11h31m
Goodreads

Blurb:
      In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool

My thoughts:
       Firstly, this book is very different from The Girl on the Train. The ads that keeps saying "If you liked The Girl on the Train, you'll love Into the Water" are really far streched. Into the Water does not  focus in-depth on any character, but rather moves between the perspectives of many people.  It took me a while to wrap my head around this book. All the POVs made me confused for the first third of the book, I was trying to remember how they all fitted together.
     Secondly, while both books contain themes of memory and the limitations on its reliability, the mysteries feel very different. The mystery in Into the Water is not as susspense as in The Girl on the Train. It's more like a domestic thriller, with less tension and excitement. It was more of an examination of various ties between people in a small town, and how everyone was in some way linked to the woman found dead.
       I think this whole book was quieter, on the whole, than The Girl on the Train. The people were unlikable, and yet the stories were less dramatic; the climax less reveling. I never felt any excitement at the end, the book just drew gently to a close.
       All of that said, I had a hard time putting this one down and flew through it. It was a decent, worthwhile read, and I can’t say I wouldn't recommend.

Rating: 

         3/5 

Sunday Post #49, Quiet Summer retreat

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. 

Something new

      This week was quiet and slow in all spheres. I have not read lots giving in to the general sleepy mood caused by rainy weather. Most of the time I spent at my parents' summer home, picking berries, my favorites were gooseberries and black-current, so I guess my required level of vitamins is refilled.
The whole week internet was full of Reading Rush announcements and excitement that I finally gave up. I did not pick up all the books yet, but I am working on it. I will start with some novellas, that I was planning to read anyway and will see how it'll go on. Are you participating or just do not care?

Last on the Blog 

• On Monday I reviewed Looking for Alaska by John Green
• On Tuesday I published May 2019 Wrap up
• On Wednesday I published WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
• On Thursday I reviewed Inkspell|Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
• On Friday I published Friday in Memes #12

Next on the Blog

• On Monday I will review The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• On Tuesday I will publish June 2019 Wrap up
• On Wednesday I will publish WWW Wednesday and Library Loot
• On Thursday I will review Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
• On Friday I will publish Friday in Memes #13

 Newcomers on my Shelf

I am not buying or taking any book this summer, in order to reduce my physical TBR)