The Tolkien Tag 2016

Let's get the PARTY started!! A Tolkien Blog Party, no less! And although there's no "of special magnificence" tagline this year, it's still mighty exciting! Thanks for hosting, Hamlette!

So here's to Bilbo and Frodo, and here are my answers to the tag questions:

1. How many books by J.R.R. Tolkien have you read?

Ummm... all of them? Well, maybe except the latest Arthur translation. But I will, you'll see!

2. Have you seen any movies based on them?

And again - all of them. Although, as you can probably guess, I was not a big fan of the latest two.

3. Are there any scenes/moments that make you cry?

I'm an easy crier, so LotR gets me every time, especially with the ending and all of the deaths. Having a drink and some napkins for a LotR movie night is a must! Don't remember if I cried while reading, though, I haven't done it in a while.

4. Are there any scenes/moments that make you laugh?

Oh well all of them with Merry and Pippin. They are just so cute! Gandalf is also one for an occasional good joke.

5. Have you ever chosen a Middle Earth name for yourself? If so, what is it?

Well, it's still with me on every web page that requires a login. It's Arenel - a slightly modified version of Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, who has a breathtaking story in Silmarillion.

6. Who would you want to party with/marry/fight to the death? (pick three characters)

I want to party with the hobbits, obviously! They are the best at the business! For marrying none other than Aragorn is an option, I love him deeply! <3 I wouldn't want to fight anybody to death there, they are all so tough! I'm pretty sure it is my death we'll be fighting to, so what's the difference?)

7. When was the last time you visited Middle Earth, via books or movies?

I bought a beautiful illustrated version of LotR a couple of years ago, and I read maybe half of the first book then. 

8. Do you consider Gollum to be a villain? Why or why not?

It was obviously Tolkien's intention to convince the reader that he's not evil. So I trust the Professor on that one.

9. How would you sum up what Tolkien's stories mean to you in one word?

A safe place that's always there when I need it.

10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotes from the books or movies.

I'm the worst at remembering quotes, but I did learn some poetry from LotR by heart. Here's my favorite one:

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
 
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
 
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
 
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
 
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
 
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door

Not the "I'm Back" Post

Hi, wonderful people that are (hopefully) still here somewhere! No one will actually believe me if I say I'm back for good here this time. I've lost my credibility when I did exactly this a year and something ago, and then disappeared again what? 5 posts after? So let's just say that I'm not promising anyone (including myself!) anything and we'll see how it goes!

I'm at the point of life where I've again started to get excited about books, and I can see my friends and colleagues trying hard not to roll their eyes when I'm gushing about a new fave of mine. And of course, I can feel the itch to put my thoughts to a virtual paper in hope of finding like-minded readers out there on the vast Internet.

A lot has happened in my life since I wrote last. I climbed a volcano at night in Indonesia, visited a Google conference in London and circled Majorca on an 18th century rigged ship. I got depression, gained 10 kilos and now already lost 7 of them (fingers crossed to losing the rest, working on it!). I've started learning Arabic for no reason and got to really enjoy it. I'm nowhere close to even figuring out what I want my PhD to be about and whether I want it at all. I've started a webpage called 80 days & counting (get the reference, fellow book nerds?) about traveling with my best friend, and myriads of technical problems and writer blocks after we still don't hate each other. Maybe we should marry!

Although I still live in a rented flat that is actually on sale at the moment, I keep buying books, and 3 levels of my IKEA shelf are now occupied with paper happiness. Wherever I go, I leave some space in my suitcase, because I realize I'll definitely stumble on a bookshop on the first day of my travels and then will have to throw out toothpaste or something equally necessary to fit in just one more book. I may have a problem here. Especially London was bad, as you can imagine :) Anyway, here's my precious:

I know it doesn't look like much to happy house owners, for example, but the thought of transporting them to a new place when I inevitably have to move scares me.

Anyway, what I plan to do now is to just write about whatever great books come my way, without feeling compelled to catch up on last year reviews or anything. But I do want to catch up with my favourite bloggers that are still online, so expect a visitor) I've been participating in Emma Watson's feminist book club Our Shared Shelf since the beginning of this year, so probably some posts will be about books for it. Anybody else following their program? I've cleaned the challenges slate here on the blog and refreshed the design. Hopefully you like the new one more! Ah, and I'm starting The Well-Educated Mind reading as soon as my Don Quixote arrives. I even have a journal! :)

So that's that, thanks for still being here, let's see how this "homecoming" goes!

CYAN and Other Stories by Alina Cvetkova (Review)

Title: CYAN and Other Stories
Author: Alina Cvetkova
Rating: ★★★★☆

I now know a person who’s published a book! Exciting, right? The release party was two weeks ago, and it was also the first one I’ve ever participated in. I can confess I enjoy this kind of bookish socializing a lot! Drinking and readings and some performance - what can be better?

The book itself is a collection of short stories written in English and translated into Spanish, both versions included in the edition. Now, English is not Alina’s mother-tongue, but it’s so good it makes me green with envy, in a good sense, of course. I do know how hard it is to make what you write look effortless, and her writing is that and even more. I’m competitive as hell and always hate it when somebody wields a (foreign) language better than I do. Unless of course it’s a guy, and then it’s super-hot.

But I digress.

The stories are very short, sometimes only a page long, and vary in style on a range from Kafka to Nabokov in his German years. My favorite were the short Kafkaesque stories, weird and shocking. When you miss a metro stop not even because your are reading, but because you’ve just finished a story and are contemplating it, you know it’s a good one. The longer and more “normal” stories, even though sometimes a bit disconnected, parade a huge number of “Oh how true, I couldn’t have nailed it better!” moments. I really like these random observations, especially when they confirm your own and don’t sound banal at the same time.

I should probably mention that most of the stories are set in Barcelona and convey a rather specific mood prevailing in the city. I’m not a big fan of Barcelona right at the moment, because I got robbed on Saturday (a common thing here, but still you never think it’ll happen to you), but I expect this mood to pass and get back to a blissful feeling of love I normally have towards this city. Anyway, although some of the stories could have happened anywhere, for others Barcelona is a necessary and vibrant background, which adds a lot to the pleasure of reading them.

I must confess I was a little skeptical about the book, because it is of course a very amateurish crowd-funding endeavor and a first book at that. I was even prepared to (shock!) lie about how I liked it, because it’s a nice thing to do if an author is your friend. But really, I don’t need to, because the book is actually very good. So if you happen to be in Barcelona or just want to treat yourself to a piece of clever sunny weirdness, you can buy a copy HERE.

Hello again :)

Hello dear internet people if you are still here somewhere :) It feels like it’s time to start blogging again and it seems like I might have enough time and energy for it in the coming period of my life. I haven’t been here for half a year and A LOT has happened in this time, most of the changes being very welcome.

• I’ve finally started renting a room in the city instead of staying in the dorms. So yay washing machine, I hope I’ll never have to wash my clothes with my hands again. My neighbours are kinda crazy, but whatever, there is a park nearby and the city center is close. I’ve also bought a sofa and a table and feel very grown up now!
• I’ve fallen in love and it felt like getting back to life after a long period of being emotionally impotent. It didn’t work out and there were some bad feelings but I’m grateful anyway. I feel like my palate is cleaned now before the real stuff :)
• I’ve moved to the sunny Barcelona for a 3-month internship and I love it SO MUCH here!! The sea is a 5 min walk away from my new office, and the people here are so awesome and relaxed! Besides, my Spanish is getting better now that I’m actually using it. There's a pic of the awesome Costa Brava below to give you a glimpse of the awesome area I'm living in now <3

Of course I was reading during this time, but there was so much stuff happening in real life that more often than not I felt like I couldn’t concentrate on the things I read about and ended up not caring about stories which would otherwise have greatly intrigued me. But some great books have come my way since I last had enthusiasm to share my thoughts here, so it would be unfair not to share the experience with you dear readers. That’s why I already have a collections of mini-reviews prepared for posting in the nearest future, and I hope the local second-hand bookstore (Hibernian, if anyone is curious) will provide me with more awesome reading material soon :)

My Precioussss...

Hi sweeties! It has just arrived, and I want to share with you the best birthday present ever! I bought it myself, because if you don't treat yourself to awesome things, who would? :)

This is the 60th anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings in hardcover with illustrations by Alan Lee!! It weighs 2.5 kilos and is breathtakingly beautiful!

And here's how happy I am about it!

Happy birthday to me from me, hehe :)

Catching Up On 2014 Reviews

Hi everybody and congratulations on the New Year! :) I hope your holiday season was as fun as mine and you had a good rest and quality family time!

Today I've come back from my trip to Sofia to see a very good friend and fellow fantasy geek. It was awesome! We cooked, made cocktails, discussed everything in the world and binge-watched the director's cut of LOTR. What can be better? :)

Yes, there's Balrog on the screen :)

Now I finally have some time to wrap up year 2014, and I'll start with mini-reviews of the rest of the books I managed to read in the end of the year. Then I'll probably try to catch up on over-500 posts in my RSS feed... Oh well, maybe not :)

Title: Amsterdam
Author: Ian McEwan
First published: 1998
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

I started to read Amsterdam on my way to Amsterdam, but didn't finish it until a week after the trip. And it's OK, because it's not about the city at all :) I have always been curious about Ian McEwan, and I can say I've enjoyed his writing a lot. He is a great psychologist, and his descriptions of thoughts and feelings of the two main characters felt so real it was hard to believe it's only fiction. But as if to mock a reader who by this point already trusts McEwan as a great expert in human nature, there is such an unbelievable twist in the end of the novel that it left me embarrassed.  

In my book:
Great writing and character study.

Title: The Way of Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
First published: 2010
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

For the first 100-200 pages of this huge novel, which is part of even huger series, I had no idea what was happening and wanted to stop reading. I survived, though, and it appeared it was worth the time and struggle, as by the end of the book I was quite unable to put it down. The greatest thing about the book is the world-building. There's a totally different biology, physics and social structure, and it's all very fitting and works well together... but not before you really get into it. And this doesn't happen very soon. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't hurt if the book was shorter, but as I've said, in the end I came to appreciate it anyway :)

In my book:
Worth the time, but make sure you have a lot of it at hand before starting this mammoth :))

Title: High Fidelity
Author: Nick Hornby
First published: 1995
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

The intro, where the main character recaps his past heartbreaks is awesome! I've even read it twice. Then, however, some music records nerdiness starts (as the narrator is a fan and owns a record shop), which I can't appreciate due to my utter lack of knowledge or interest on the subject. Overall, the writing is great, and at times the novel is very funny, but when you think of it, the main character is really very sad and unlikable, and the ending is kinda... meh.

In my book:
Fun and entertaining, but makes you think nevertheless. Just skip the music parts :)

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Author: Alan Bradley
First published: 2009
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I think I might have loved this book if I read it at the age of 12 or so (I loved children's detective novels!), but for a grown-up there's not enough of mystery or character depth or humor. It's a sweet little novel, and the main heroine is pretty bad-ass, but it's not very gripping overall.

In my book:
Pick up for a total brain relax or as a present to your kid.

Hurrah!

I've just passed my Master's final exam! I'm free! :) *dancing*

Wazzup?

Hi everybody! It's I! Do you still remember me? :) A short update, mostly not about books. I know, I know, this blog is supposed to be about books, but lately books haven't been happening in my life as regularly as shit :)

1) I've just defended my thesis. It was good! Also, half an hour later, I failed the state exam. It was so bad, I can't even! I got the worst possible question. Apart from being ashamed as hell (my boss was in the committee), I'll have to do it all again in August. I realize that it's not the end of the world, but the perfectionist in me is crying and cursing. What's worse is that my mom is coming for graduation, and there will be no graduation for me. What a shame!

2) I've just got back from a great vacation at home! All my dear friends, small touristic trips, parties... Wonderful, just wonderful! I needed it! No surprise that I was not so well prepared for the state exam... One place we've visited was a marble quarry where they dug stuff to build all the pretty buildings in St.Petersburg. It's very beautiful!

3) I've got an invitation to a Cambridge research group for a couple of months. If they solve the visa problem somehow (and it's not that trivial with my nationality!) and if I finally pass this bloody exam, I'll go there. Maybe it's a sign that life is slowly becoming slightly better? :)

4) I haven't been reading a lot this month, if only you don't count lecture notes :) I'm nearly done with Outlander, and oh my god is it trashy! If I ever finish it, the review will probably be a huge rant, so get ready! I have no idea what to read next, maybe I'll pick up the Hitchhiker's Guide books - the "Don't panic" message would be really appreciated right now :) Or I might finally pick up a book in Czech!

On a more positive note, ...

Hi everybody! I'm back :) Well, partially back, at least. I thank you for your support shown in the comments to the previous post, that was so heartwarming! I love you all! It's really great that I feel comfortable speaking about something like this here.

My life is more or less getting back to normal, and although I'm not sure I'll have time for reviews soon, I thought I'd update you on what's been happening in my corner of the world while I was trying not to fall victim to a permanent depression :)

1) My freshly printed master's thesis is lying on the table in front of me! It's been a lot of work (especially during this last week before the deadline, of course :) I NEVER do anything in advance, I'm a typical student :) ), and I'm so happy I'll submit it tomorrow! Here, I've made a picture for you:

My phone takes crappy pics, but the binding does look serious, right? :)

2) I'm one exam, one thesis defense and one state exam from becoming a master! I really hope it all goes well, and of course I'm going to prepare like hell next month! This state exam is a serious thing :(

3) Family time is coming! I'm flying home for three weeks this Friday and then my mom will come to my graduation in July! There is at least one positive thing about crisis in Russia - tickets are very cheap now :) My mom has always wanted to see Czech Republic! We are both so excited!

4) I'm in the middle of my Ph.D. application, and although I'm far from being sure I want to actually BECOME a Ph.D., work here at the university is kind of fun, pays well and will hopefully provide me with more traveling soon! We'll see how it all goes, my life's a bit of a mess right now, so planning is difficult.

5) As for books, I've been reading a bit these past weeks, although my attention spun has never been so short! I've finished Watership Down (not impressed) and The Warden (blah), read The Republic of Thieves (I did like it, but far less than the previous books in the series. Although my mood did affect the reading), and nearly finished Starship Grifters, which even made me laugh sometimes. I think I'll made a mini-reviews post on them sometime soon, so stay tuned :) I've also started Outlander, but it's only irritating me so far, so I'll probably put it aside if this situation doesn't change in the next 50 pages.

6) I've been neglecting my own reading for Language Freak Challenge because of total lack of time and concentration, but I did catch up on my RSS feed, and I know we already have at least one review this month! Wait for the recap post in the end of the month and don't forget to post your review posts if you read something for the challenge!

Wish you all a nice end of spring and see you (hopefully) soon! :)

Liebster Award! (Complete With Some True Facts About the Real Me)

Andrea at Tasseled Book Blog nominated me for this award more than a week ago, and although you can imagine how flattered I was, I've had zero time to participate until today... I hope the award doesn't have an expiration date :)


The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Display the award somewhere on your blog.
3. List 11 facts about yourself.
4. Answer 11 questions chosen by the blogger who nominated you.
5. Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees.
6. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you think deserve the award and who have less than 1,000 followers. (You many nominate blogs that have already received the award, but you cannot renominate the blog that nominated you.)
7. Go to their blog and inform them that they’ve been nominated.

11 Facts About Me:

I don't usually share something about my real life here, I don't even have an about page... So I'll start with a photo of me as an introduction. Hi! Let's have a drink together and I'll tell you something about me :)

1. I'm in the last year of Master studies in informational technology. And most of the time I have no idea why I learn the stuff I learn...
2. That's because I have a bachelor in applied linguistics. I got there from physical-mathematical school. And there from an English school. I love switching from the humanities to the technics! It's dull to study the same stuff all the time, isn't it? :)
3. I'm from Russia, from St. Petersburg, but now I live in Czech Republic and love it here!
4. I work on automatic speech recognition, but what I like most about it is flying to conferences for free. OK, and telling people I'm a scientist is cool too.
5. Another cool thing is that I'm a natural blonde and people totally DON'T expect me to be a scientist. I hope I make them feel ashamed for their stereotypes :)
6. I love travelling. I've been all around Europe and I dream to explore the Americas now :)
7. I love languages too. I speak Russian, English, Czech, Spanish and German, although I'm forgetting the last two because of the lack of practice. I'd love to learn something eastern sometime, but right now Czech is taking all my time.
8. I sailed a replica of a rigged 18 century frigate when at school. We went around the Baltic, and it was one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to me. Here's a proofpic:

   

   Whenever my ass was not up on the yard working with sails, I was reading. A bookworm detected!

9. And now some bookish confessions, as this is a bookish blog :) I've read The Lord of the Rings about 17 times, half of them in English. I've also read all the other Tolkien books and I was studying Quenya for a while. It was not enough to talk in it, but enough to translate. *standing up* Hi, my name is Kate and I have a problem here...
10. I actually remember the first time I read something. I had a pack or A4 lists with xerocopies of some "learn to read" book, beginning with the separate letters and ending with a HUGE story occupying a whole page! And I remember this story! It was about a fox. I felt very proud when I finished it. My mom gave me some other children's book then and said that she's so happy she doesn't need to bother with entertaining me now :) That was a joke of course, nobody has ever spent so much time with a child as my mom did :) But it's true that from that time all I needed to keep me occupied was a book.
11. I also remember how my dad brought me a Harry Potter book. Usually my mom bought me books or I was taking them from the library, but my dad told me that all his colleagues at work said that their children were crazy about it, so he got me one too. I wasn't impressed, because the cover seemed stupid, but it was the beginning of a long-lasting love! It's possible I've read the Prisoner of Azkaban even more times than I did The Lord of the Rings, but I'm not sure.

11 Questions from Andrea:

1. What is your ultimate comfort read? What is the book/genre that you automatically turn to when lacking something new to read? The answer would be fantasy! What can be more comforting than escaping to another world? Also, see my confessions about HP and LotR above :)
2. Do you have a bookish pet peeve that drives you absolutely nuts? People reading books just to fill their social networks with "thoughtful" quotes. Awww, it drives me mad. Even worse if they haven't read the book at all though.
3. If you could meet one living author right this moment, who would it be? What would be the first thing you say to them? G.R.R. Martin. What would I tell him? "Write faster!!!". Duh.
4. Do seasons affect your reading choices? Do you tend to read more at certain times of the year? Being a student, I read much more during summer, as I don't have classes. Also, I never pick something sad when it's cold outside. I don't want to make it worse!
5. What is your number one reading goal this year? Read as much Arthurian books as I can.
6. If I asked you to recommend a book to a total non-reader in hopes of changing their blasphemous ways, what would it be? Why? It doesn't work like this, I'm afraid. I have a friend who is not reading at all, and I keep recommending him awesome books, but he never actually tries them... Because "where could he find time for it"? Indeed....
7. Where do you like to get majority of your books and why? Internet. Some ebooks (mostly classics) are for free, others are usually cheap. I'm also frequenting a book fare here, because I just have to own some paper books to feel comfortable in my room! 
8. Have you ever borrowed a book and never gave it back? Well... yes, I'm guilty. But it was mutual :) At school, we used to swap books a lot, and I have no idea how many of my books ended up in my friends' flats and how many books I've acquired :) But it was an awesome time :)
9. Turn to you bookshelf, look at second shelf, reach out to book number five. What is it? If you have no bookshelves where you are, what is the first book your eyes stop on? I'm a poor student living in the dorms, I have only a small pile of books on the corner of my table... I guess Wolf Hall stands out, because it has a bright white cover.
10. What was the last book you read last year? Do you plan any special conclusions to December, or leave it all to fate? Interesting question. I don't plan much for December at all, as it is the time I visit my parents and also all the New Year preparation madness... The last book I finished last year was Little Women, and it was a great timing!
11. If you could instantly know one language to read untranslated books, which one would you pick? Latin!

Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees

Em... My creativity was all used up yesterday on finishing my paper for the conference. So answer Andrea's questions, OK? I think they are pretty awesome :))


Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you think deserve the award

I read a lot of blogs (and very much suck at commenting on all of them, which doesn't mean I don't appreciate them!), but here I'll highlight blogs that are:

1. Focused on books
2. Review the type of books I'm interested in
3. Stand out in one way or another

If I haven't included you here, it's not because you are not awesome, it's just we probably read a bit different stuff, and not everything you review makes me want to read it too NOW! No offence, OK? :) Also, if you have already participated in the award, just ignore it :) Or not! I'll still highlight you!

1. Riv @ Bookish Realm
2. Jean @ Howling Frog Books
3. Emily @ Classics and Beyond
4. ebookclassics @ Honey, I'm Reading! - I'm highlighting her new non-classic blog, because you should already know her classics one!
5. Juliana @ Cedar Station
6. Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit
7. Ruth @ A Great Book Study
8. Melissa @ Avid Reader's Musings
9. o @ Behold the Stars
10. cleopatra @ Classical Carousel
11. Fariba @ Exploring Classics

I got to 11 without even reaching the middle of my feed list... So many great blogs out there! Go check them out!

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Review)

Title: Wolf Hall
Author: Hilary Mantel
First published: 2009
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

Last year when I was in Vancouver on a conference I stumbled upon a wonderful bookstore selling used books. I didn't have much money on me, but I still spent an hour there and bought three rather thick books. Then I walked about 15 km with this heavy parcel in my hand because my hotel was already far behind and I had big touristic plans for the day. I was so dead at the end of the day that I cursed my book-buying addiction. But I repented thinking so as soon as I looked at my precioussssses again (and took a bath!).

These three books were Titus Groan, Wolf Hall and Watership Down (which I haven't read yet, but will soon!). Now I can say that at least two of them were totally worth the effort :)

Sometimes I think that half of all the historical novels out there are about Henry VIII. But I doubt any of them are anything like Wolf Hall. The novel is written from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, one of the most powerful courtiers of Henry VIII's time. He is behind Henry's first divorce, the new legislation concerning ecclesiastical matters and foreign politics of the time, so his is a VERY informed point of view! He is also an interesting person himself - born a son of a smith, having served abroad for the most of his youth, learned not only in economy but also in theological matters, with wide correspondence abroad and an infinite influence at court, but still despised by every titled man of the realm for his descent... An outstanding person indeed!

The most striking feature of Wolf Hall is its writing. It is sometimes hard to get into it after a long pause, but as soon as you do, it doesn't let you go. And I mean, literally! I physically couldn't stop reading, I didn't notice how many pages ago I should have put it down to go do something useful (like getting food! Once I missed the shop's closing time and had to order a pizza.) Mantel doesn't give you the story in chunks, set in different places and peopled with different characters, divided by cliffhangers. Instead, she somehow makes you turn the pages even though the narrative is very calm and meditative, and nothing sudden happens.

The only problem I had with the writing was that Cromwell was always referenced as "he". Although the narrative is totally first person. Does it have some clever name? Help me out here, English majors! Anyway, I found it really confusing, because sometimes it was difficult to understand who is speaking or doing something. Imagine a passage like this: "Sir BlaBla remarks: "blablabla". He goes to the window". You would think that the "he" here refers to Sir BlaBla, but it doesn't! It's actually Cromwell who is doing it. So confusing.

In my book:
A beautifully written and haunting novel! Recommended even to those who are sick and tired of Henry VIII and his public family life.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Review)

Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Author: Charles Dickens
First published: 1854
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

I must confess I haven't read enough Dickens in my life. I read Oliver Twist when I was a child and I remember it was gloomy and depressing and rather dull. In my teens I read an adapted version of Nicholas Nickleby for my English classes and all the while I was reading it I was wondering why write two books with the same plot. In my defense I can only point out that it was again all about a small boy against the world and that I wasn't paying much attention. In the university I pretended to read only highbrow stuff and gave The Pickwick Papers a try. I struggled through the first half of it and then gave up. It was funny in the beginning, but then it became repetitive and unbearably detailed. Or maybe I was just impatient due to my flourishing and complicated private life at that time :)

The first Dickens I actually liked was A Christmas Carol, which I read a year ago. I could finally appreciate the writing, and the story was not overly long. Then was an unhappy choice of The Old Curiosity Shop, which left me totally frustrated when I finally finished it after dragging through it for three months.

So overall my experience with Dickens was not very enjoyable. However, I am happy to announce that I've finally found a Dickens novel I LOVE, and this is of course A Tale of Two Cities. I was expecting a difficult read, and it was rather difficult in the beginning, but then I got used to the writing and I totally loved it! The descriptions are very vivid and metaphorical, the narrative flows in and out of places and people's heads, and oh the repetitions! How I loved the repetitions! There is something from music in them...

Apart from choosing a setting which cannot be dull per se - the French Revolution, Dickens has knitted (yeah, this word!) a wonderful and gripping plot for his book. Parts of it don't make sense in the beginning, but then everything falls into place. Some things are of course predictable, but that makes them long-expected rather than boring. And the ending is just... Well, you need to read it yourself, because my writing is unequal to giving it the credit it deserves.

I'd like to particularly note female characters in this novel. Usually Dickensian women are either saccharine and useless or mad and evil. Here, however, they have more depth. OK, Lucie IS stereotypically sweet, but she also has quite some courage and is surprisingly tough. But think about Therese Defarge! I don't think I've seen anybody quite like her in literature! "A great woman, <...> a strong woman, a grand woman, a frightfully grand woman!" And consider Miss Pross with her brave "you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman". Overall, according to Dickens, women made revolution. They suffer, but remember, persist, support their husbands and never give up. That's quite impressive! 

In my book:
An exceptionally well-written novel! My favourite Dickens so far! :)

Book Market Spoils

There has been a book market in my town today! They were selling used books in English for reduced prices! I though I'd share the books I've adopted today :)

I've heard a lot of good things about all of them, so I'm really happy to have found them. And look at this cute vintage postcard they gave me as a present! Very appropriate!

Sooo guys and gals, which one do you think I should start with? (As soon as I finish the stuff I'm already reading, of course) :)

Russian War Literature

After informing you about Russian Children's literature and Russian Sci-Fi, I'm now going to make a list of Russian war literature. Judging by what I see people read about World War II around blogosphere it's as if Russia was not taking part in it, or Russia don't have writers, or people just don't know about all the wonderful books on the topic! Being a clever girl, I ruled out the first two possibilities and was left with a sad fact that readers are not acquainted with Russian war literature enough. (UPD: while searching for translations I realized that it's actually the publishers that are not acquainted with it enough. If you happen to know a publisher, please do everybody a favour and show him this list!)

So I've decided to list all the awesome books that tell first hand about the terrible period of WWII in Russia. But I needed some help myself remembering everything, so I asked my mom during my Christmas trip home, and being a seasoned bookworm, bookhoarder and an expert in Soviet literature, she was eager to help. Then I consulted my very well-read BF, who also added a couple of books. So here is the result of our combined efforts. I've sorted it according to the authors' last names and provided the most common translations of the titles.

1. Abramov, Fyodor Aleksandrovich: Brothers and Sisters (1958) WWII from the point of view of a small village that needs not only to take care of its own needs, but also provide for the war in the absence of all its men.
2. Bondarev, Yuri Vasilyevich: The Battalions Request Fire (1957), The Hot Snow (1969), The Shore (1975) The last one is a bit philosophical and very heartbreaking. The other two are extremely famous and tell about some of the hottest WWII battles in Russia.
3. Chukovsky, Nicolay Korneevich: Baltic Skies (1955) The story of the pilots defending Leningrad during its siege.
4. Fadeyev, Alexander Alexandrovich: The Young Guard (1945) An account of the actions of a youth partisan organization. Idealized, of course, but really engaging.
5. German, Yuri Pavlovich: The Cause You Serve, My Dear Man, I'm Responsible For All (1958-1965) Although only the second book is about war, it’s a trilogy, so you’d better start from the beginning. It’s about a doctor who worked in the East before war and then became a war surgeon.
6. Granin, Daniil Alexandrovich: A Book of the Blockade (1979) A chronicle based on interviews, diaries and personal memoirs of those who survived the siege of Leningrad during 1941-44. It’s very difficult to read because of all the horrors of the time, and I confess I’ve read only parts of it. But I promise I’ll do better, because it’s essential. My Lieutenant (2011) is one of his later works, and I haven’t read it yet, but my mom says it’s good. Basically, grab any book by him if you see it, he’s great.
7. Grossman, Vasily Semyonovich: Life and Fate (1959) An epic novel focusing on the battle of Stalingrad
8. Ilyina, Elena: The Fourth Height (1945) It’s my favourite childhood book which I have re-read several times. It’s a biography of a war hero Gulya Koroleva from her childhood to her heroic death in a battle.
9. Kataev, Valentin Petrovich: Son of the Regiment (1945) About a boy adopted by a regiment. I have wonderful childhood memories of it!
10. Kaverin, Veniamin Alexandrovich: The Two Captains (1944) An awesome novel about polar exploration, love and treason, which ends in the period of WWII.
11. Kurochkin, Viktor Aleksandrovich: At War as at War (1970) How a young war academy graduate gains appreciation from his older and more experienced subordinates and becomes a real commander.
12. Matveev, German Ivanovich: Tarantul trilogy (1945-1957) It’s about boys against saboteurs in a sieged Leningrad! Suspense, adventure, mystery, danger! 
13. Medvedev, Dmitry Nikolaevich: It Happened Near Rovno (1948) A story about a special troop of scouts and saboteurs working in the rear of German army.
14. Nekrasov, Viktor Platonovich: Front-line Stalingrad (In the trenches of Stalingrad) (1946) A first-hand account of one of the most bloody battles of the war - the battle of Stalingrad
15. Panova, Vera Fyodorovna: The Train (1946) About a medical train and its nurses.
16. Pikul, Valentin Savvich: The Requiem for Convoy PQ-17 (1970), Boys with bows (1974) The first is a “documental tragedy” of one of the Arctic convoys, destroyed by German submarines and aviation. The second is autobiographical and tells about a sea cadet’s school.
17. Polevoi, Boris Nikolaevich: Story of a Real Man (1947) The book is about a pilot who started flying again after the amputation of two legs. Mostly about strong character, and very impressive!
18. Semyonov, Yulian Semyonovich: Seventeen Moments of Spring (1969) and all the rest of The “Isaev – Stierlitz” Series. Spy fiction, guys! And watch the mini-series of the same name, it’s awesome.
19. Sholokhov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich: They Fought for Their Country (1969) A novel about the first, the hardest and the bitterest period of war – the period of retreat. Sholokhov won a Nobel prize for literature, so don’t miss on him!
20. Simonov, Konstantin Mikhailovich: The Living and the Dead (1959) Simonov was a war journalist, so not only has he been everywhere and seen everything, he also really can write.
21. Tvardovsky, Aleksandr Trifonovich: A Book About a Soldier (Vasili Tyorkin) (1942-45) A humorous and optimistic poem about an ordinary soldier, resourceful and plain, going resiliently through the everyday hardships of the war. A streak of comedy in all the tragedy!
22. Vasilyev, Boris Lvovich: The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972), Not on the Active List (1974), Tomorrow There Came War (1984) or really anything you can find by him. He’s awesome. I was crying like mad while reading The Dawns Here Are Quiet.

I hope this list will encourage you to pick some of the books that are not only great sources for learning about the Russian take on WWII, but are also literary and psychological masterpieces.

P.S. Special kudos for those who know what ribbon is used as a bookmark in the picture :) For those who have no idea, here's the link.

The First Post of the New Year

Hi everybody!

Congratulations on all the past holidays! I haven't been around much since December 20th, as I went home for Christmas holidays, so I had too much real life to spend time online. Then my BF and I did a bit of travelling together, and yesterday I came back to my dull student life full of exams and deadlines :) Which means I'll probably not be very active in January too, but at least I'll catch up on all your posts. There are 300 unread items in my RSS! That's a lot of work!

Soon I'll post some more sign-ups that I haven't had time to do before and then I'll get back to normal reviewing routine. Also, my mom, my BF and I have prepared a list of must-read Russian war books for you, so I only need to find English translations to present it. I hope you are excited :)

Meanwhile, I have finished The Mysteries of Udolpho, which was not very rewarding, and now I'm reading The Shore by Bondarev, which is quite good. The reviews will be up soon!

And here, the cute one is serving as an apology for my long absence:

Have a nice day!

SOS - Help Needed!

I need your help, my dear friends, so solve a very difficult problem that I'm facing with the approaching December. Winter is coming, and there are 4 read-a-longs of some daunting books that I really want to read, plus a Sci-Fi event that I will be participating in, and I totally don't know which to choose! The problem is, as usual, the lack of time: December for me is not only the end of the semester, it's also a long-expected visit home for the time when Catholics have Christmas and a high time to start preparing for the January exams. So I HAVE to choose ONE of these difficult chunky classics, because I will not be able to read more. So how about I list my options here and you tell me what you think I should choose? I'd so appreciate it!

Option 1: Middlemarch readalong at Too Fond, running from December 1st to 31st

Pros:
- is on my Classics Club list
- it was my Classics Spin title, so it's kind of... destiny?
- I've already started it in March and read the first part
- there's a clear weekly plan for the readalong. I love schedules!
- it's supposed to be very satirical, multi-layered and enjoyable... hm..

Cons:
- there's a reason I abandoned it after the first part, and I'm not sure I will not be suffering the same this time
- it's 900 f***ing pages!

Option 2: A Tale of Two Cities readalong at An Armchair By The Sea, running from December 1st to 22nd

Pros:
- I've meant to read it for a long time
- December kind of suits for reading Dickens
- I like the button
- it's only 400 pages

Cons:
- it's not on my Classics club list, but I guess I can add another book there. *sighs* It keeps growing...

Option 3: Little Women readalong at Unscripted, running from December 1st to 29th

Pros:
- it's on my Classics Club list
- it's supposed to be a sweet and easy book, suitable even for children, although full 500 pages long

Cons:
- I just have this strange feeling I will not like it very much.. But I suppose it's not a valid reason :)

Option 4: Ulysses readalong at Roof Beam Reader, running from December 15th to January 5th

Pros:
- I'm so afraid of this book I'll never start to read it on my own. Srsly, I'm panicking even when I just think about it. I need an event for this!
- it's the best book for boasting that you have actually read it
- it's also on my Classics Club list

Cons:
- the timing couldn't be worse: out of 21 days for the readalong, 16 I will be enjoying my visit home, refreshing my distance relationships, buying gifts and then traveling. Not even the relatively calm beginning of December to get me started...

Sooo.. guys, what should I do? I'd really appreciate your opinions on the above-mentioned books to help me decide which one to choose! :)

The Castle of Otranto Non-Review + General Ramblings

I haven't been here for a long time, and, as usual, I apologize. I'm always wondering how people can post every day and not get tired, especially if something is happening offline? As for me, 2 things have been happening which distracted me from blogging:

1) The semester started on Monday! I have 6 subjects, and it's 50/50: half of them are OK, and another half is total crap. Well, at least it's better than the previous winter semester :) First week is always crazy, because you need to get signed for everything you want, and it involves either queuing at the students department or participating in "clicking battles" during online sign-ups. Very nervous, all of this.

2) I had another fit of Heroes of Might and Magic V. This doesn't cease to surprise me, but every half a year of so I spend around a week playing it nearly non-stop. The game is like 2 boyfriends old, but seriously, have you seen how cool it is?

Meanwhile, I have 3 books that I've read and not reviewed, and they are The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I'm going to write a proper review for the last two (and hopefully soon!), but Otranto is not something I'd like to spend much time on, so here is a non-review in just one paragraph:

The Castle of Otranto is a weird book, with no logic, where "gothic" things just happen one after another without any connection. It features enough women in distress, noble gentlemen, rude villains, superstitions, fainting, deaths, lost sons etc... That's pretty much all that can be said about it, and if it was not so short (less than 100 pages) I'm not sure I would have finished it. But if you are in the right sarcastic mood, it can be really funny. Last year Jean posted about it and it made me smile a lot, although I haven't read it then. Now I understand, although sometimes I wish I didn't! :)

I'll finish with a picture that gives you some clue as to what is happening in The Castle of Otranto. See?

Things I Have Learned Since I Started Blogging

I've successfully missed my 1st blogging anniversary. Last August I was taking Coursera Fantasy and Science Fiction course, and some amazing discussions were happening on personal blogs, because course forums were sometimes not very friendly. I wanted to be part of it, so I started a blog and began posting miscellaneous things about books we read for the course. I made some friends and I liked it so much that I stayed and here I am a year later still writing stuff about books I read :)

A lot has changed in this year, not only online, but today I was thinking about things I got to know through blogging, and there happens to be a lot!

1) There are blogs out there that are not about politics/author's misery and loneliness/author's numerous kids or cats. Who would have thought?

2) TBR. YA. NA. BEA. SEO. It took me some time to figure out what all this stuff means. Moreover, I had never had a TBR pile before. How did I choose books? Oh, I don't remember. Somehow.

3) Read-a-thon. Read-a-long. Bloggiesta. Blogoversary. These are more self-explanatory, but they drive my spellchecker crazy.

4) There are such things as young adult, new adult, paranormal, dystopian and many more. The term literary fiction still kills me. Before I thought books were just books. Of course I made distinction between children's and adult books and between Fantasy/Sci-Fi and all the others, but that's pretty much all! If somebody told me he was reading mainly YA paranormal, I wouldn't have understood. Besides, I thought "mystery" meant something paranormal, not detective. My fault.

5) The lists! Soooo many bookish lists I haven't heard of. And the challenges! I've learned that I'm a hopeless addict of both.

6) Twitter and Google pages. Discovered them through one Bloggiesta challenge. I use them only for sharing though.

7) HTML. Blogger compose is sometimes driving me crazy, and then I open some guide and write the bloody HTML code myself. Comparing with different programming languages, it's surprisingly easy.

8) USA people are just more religious than Europeans. So if a blogger mentions God and blessings in his posts, or starts his "about" page with a statement that he's a Christian, this doesn't necessarily mean he's a crazy religious fanatic. In fact, he can be a really nice and interesting person. BTW, Christian fiction is another type of literature that I would have never guessed exists.

9) Homeschooling. I was wondering for some time, and then Jean explained it to me. I thought one can only avoid going to school if he/she has a condition.

10) There are places where seasons change on the 21st of each month. I've seen it on some blog very recently and I still need somebody to explain it to me. Volunteers? :)

11) Book promotion: tours, interviews, even book trailers!! I never thought books needed any promotion at all and was never exposed to any.

12) There are people who are actually interested in your thoughts about a book. My BF is very well read (and no surprise, considering how fast he reads!), but he usually becomes bored when I start talking about books unless we've had some alcohol before :) People at work are too busy to read a lot, my parents wear glasses and so also shun from straining their eyes, and friends are too distracted by the Internet and also don't read enough to make a bookish conversation interesting for me. Knowing that there are people for whom reading is as important as for me makes me feel less a freak :)

I guess there are much more things I learned through blogging, but that's all that came to my mind today. I'm thankful for the blogging experience, and I must also thank everybody around here for enhancing it! Thank you! :)

Erzählungen by Heinrich Böll (Review)

Title: Erzählungen
Author: Heinrich Böll
First published: 1973
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★☆☆

As a challenge host, I'm not setting a good example by writing my review on the last day of the challenge. But the good thing about being a host is that you have PRIVILEGES, so I've decided to give everybody a grace period until September 8. to finish all the writings for the challenge. See the finish line post for details.

As for me, I could have written this review earlier this week, but I had two reasons for lingering. First I was arguing with myself if I want of if I don't want to write something in German, and after some frustration about not being able to formulate a simple sentence, I decided that a review in German is too much stress. Second, this week I was nervous about an upcoming minor operation, and just couldn't concentrate enough to write something reasonable. I've had the operation today, and now, as I am lying at home and "enjoying" the feeling of not being able to handle my lower body well because of the anesthesia, I have some calm time for writing all the reviews I want.

This is an adapted book, only 80 pages long. The back states that its vocabulary is only 2400 words, but either there are more, or all of them are some words I don't know, as I had to look up approximately every 5th word. I wanted to take a photo of the notes I was taking in the book just to show you how much I needed to write there, but of course I've lost the device which I use to transfer photos from the telephone to the computer, and I'd prefer to regain control of my legs before undertaking a search-and-rescue expedition under my bed, so this is not going to happen.

Obviously, I've lost the skill of dealing with German word order fast, because there were sentences that I had to re-read up to 10 times to understand the structure of their numerous subordinate clauses. But sometimes after an hour or so of reading I reached some "German Zen" and was able to read whole paragraphs without opening the dictionary. Unfortunately, this state of mind never lasts long :)

There are 5 short stories in the book, bound with the shared topic of justice. Two of them I really liked: "Der Lacher" and "Mein Onkel Fred". One, "Die Waage der Beleks" is beautifully written in the style of a folk legend, and I generally enjoyed it, but for the moralistic ending. And the last two ones, "Wie in schlechten Romanen" and "Daniel der Gerechte" were not such a good experience, the last one because of a lot of confusing flashbacks, and the first one because I just didn't get the point of the story, even after making sure I fully understand it. The stories can't be called optimistic, but even in the adaptation the superb writing style of the author is visible.

In my book:
It is a good book for refreshing your German skills, because it consists of short stories and because the writing is good in spite of it being an adaptation.


This is my last book for my own Language Freak Summer Challenge. I've completed my goals by reading one book in Spanish (review), one book in German (this one) and two instead of one books in Czech (review 1, review 2). I'm pretty proud of myself, and I think this summer has not passed in vain!

The One With Photos

Hi everybody! I've just come back home after a day-long flight from Vancouver, where I was for the conference. Needless to say, I love the city! And I have two photos for you! First one is of me and the city (forgive me the quality, the camera in my phone is really crappy):

And the second one is my loot from Vancouver bookshops:

Unlike any normal girl, these were practically the only shops I visited, and they were amazing!

I'm hoping to get back to normal reading and blogging soon. I still have a Gatsby review to write, and I'm finishing Good Omens and Mutiny on the Bounty. So see you soon!