75 Books...More or Less! discussion
Archive (2011 Completed)
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Aga is reading also in 2011
2. The Book Thief by Markus ZusakWhat an incredible book! What a style, narrative, characters, "spare" words and in the same time richness of meaning! I can't think clear still to write about it ;)
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Andrea, I'm not surprised at all by that :D I love it too!
3. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick - it was an OK book :) I like the idea, it is pretty interesting and not so much used in books (as far as I read until now), but probably I'm a bit too old for all this teenager problems and fascinations ;) So, I made a middle grade - between my impressions and between the grade which I think I would give if I would be 14-15 :D
4. Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson - second book of the Wind on Fire trilogy. Still a good level of fantasy book for young adults (at least in my vision of the target group). Interesting plot and characters, many relations with public, political and social live and many, many questions related with values in between the lines, especially related with a freedom, of human, of society. I do hope that the publishing house will published the third book in Polish this year!
5. Dzisiaj narysujemy śmierć by Wojciech Tochman - - it's a reportage by a Polish journalist about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It's not a first source of info about this genocide, but for sure the most direct and the describing its' cruelness in a most touchy way. In one world: extra-shocking. Reading it hurts a lot...
6. Podróże po Azji Środkowej by Bronisław Grąbczewski - incredible story of 3 long travels around Middle Asia, which were organized by a Polish officer under Russian government in times when travelling was difficult, challenging and was giving a lot of opportunities to discover new places, societies, animals, habbits etc. Interesting read.
7. Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick - very similar opinion as the one with book No 3 ;) Slightly better than Hush, Hush
8. Wampir z M-3 by Andrzej Pilipiuk - it's a really cool example of literature which gives you a good laugh :) Author is one of the famous Polish fantasy writers, but also a good observer of reality around us, fashions and trends. A good satire related with Poland under socialism combined with a satire related with vampires (yes, also Eclipse ;p), mass culture etc.
9. Obrazy z życia na Wschodzie by Anna Neumanowa - next old times traveler book. This time - surprise - a lady, Polish wife of an Austrian consul. Together they were in Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt (the longest stay - 8 years) and Greece. Interesting point of view, there were not so many female travelers who could see so much as so privileged lady. A lot of interesting stories about these countries, cultures, history, politics, people etc. One advantage - as a lady she could visit women and be guest in harems.
Wow! You are doing great on your challenge so far this month!!!
Thanks Joy! I'm doing my best :)
Your books so far sound very interesting. It make me wish they also had an English translation (or, you know, that I could speak Polish!)
Stacie - thank you very much for this nice comment :) Indeed, I also think I have a really good start of 2011 :) Well, I would love to see all good Polish books translated into English, but it's not so probable :/ So, better learn Polish, then I can send you all good books :D
10. Dziewczyny z Rijadu by Radża as-Sani - really good book about girls and young women living in Riyadh. Story about the fight for freedom, for making own choices, for their lives, for friendship, for love.
11. Ogród Afrodyty by Ewa Stachniak - really an interesting and nice read. Story of life of countess Zofia Potocka, who was famous in all over the Europe from her beauty and charm, but who also was a reason of many scandals. It's not a formal biography, rather a story based in her life.
Hi Aga!!I will follow your books! They sound quite interesting. I love Polish story and Polish language sounds really great to me (though I just know a few sentences:)) Regards from Spain!
Marta - I'll be happy if you will do it :) I'm always happy when people from abroad are interested in my country and culture :) Greetings!
12. O radości by Leon Knabit - - a short, little book, a conversation with a famous in Poland monk. The topic is a joy of life, how to get it, how to sustain it, what is it exactly. Interesting read, food for thought.13. The Captain's Daughter by Alexander Pushkin - a nice short novel, which confirmed just my love to Russian authors from more less this historical time :)
14. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin - in the category of chick-lits it's a pretty good one - interesting characters (once I liked them, then I didn't like, then again I liked them ;p), well builded plot and well written.
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15. Mariola, moje krople... by Małgorzata Gutowska-Adamczyk - light, nice amusement, served in a colorful sauce of very characteristic figures and events, for every person living in Poland and being older than 25 it will be a reminder of the previous political system, but prepared in a funny way. Satire, but satire giving inspiration for reflection. Andrea - which one did you read?
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16. Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur - strange book, full of magic realism, many different cultural references, in the same time there is something absorbing and rebarbative in it, at this moment I still don't know what to think about it. Andrea - I don't think that "Love the One You're With" was translated into Polish, can't recognise it. I read "Something Blue" and it was a nice read :)
17. The Plague by Albert Camus- uffff... it's hard to write something meaningful about this book. It's an specific and bitter read, but it was tiring read. I'm not sure if I liked it much, it was rather ok.
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18. Nakręcana dziewczyna / Pompa numer sześć by Paolo Bacigalupi - until now I don't have a big experience with reading SF, fantasy - pretty much, but SF is a new land for me. And even though I'm not a big fan of reading about technologies etc. I liked this book. There is an interesting and multileveled world there, a crazy vision of future (I hope it will never come true!), but dreams of people are still the same, no changes. Andrea - I finally checked it in details. And it's available in Polish (I even have it on my shelf, waiting to be read!), but I did not get it from the Polish version title which is: "One hundred days after the wedding" :S I plan to read it asap, but with hundreds of books on my TBR pile I don't know when it'll be. That's the last book which I haven't read.
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I know just what you mean about having so many books and then not ever making a dent to get to some of the others. I look at my stacks and wonder if they will ever go down instead of up!
19. Ucieczka z Auschwitz by Andriej Pogożew - an interesting read from a new - for me - point of view: Russian soldier of so called "Red Army". A specific way of telling the story, but interesting and at the end - process and visiting Auschwitz again - very touchy.Yeah, that's a pretty common problem of bookworms :D
20. Świat według psa. Opowieść jamnika Bolka by Dorota Sumińska - In English the title would be more less "World by a dog. Story of dachshund Bolek". It's a really nic story about people and animals. The view of the story, the teller is one of the dogs and it's funny, scary, naive, moving. It's a wise story about the relations between people and animals, how we treat them. Probably it'll be read mostly by a dog lovers, but it should be read by the people who don't like and don't respect animals.
21. O psach, kotach i aniołach by Jan Strzałka - "About dogs, cats and angels", collection of interviews, mostly with artists, considering their life shared with animals. A really nice set of conversations - wise, touchy, funny, interesting. It's good to see that at least some people have really good attitude according animals, respect and love them.
* O aniołach by Andrei Plesu - I couldn't read it. I don't know why I've got an idea (based on description) that it will be kind of popular quasi-scientific book for amateurs. But it's a book for specialists or at least people with other mind than mine ;) It's full of philosophy, logic, high level concepts etc.
* Badania terenowe nad ukraińskim seksem by Oksana Zabuzhko - I don't know what is wrong with me today, but I also gave up reading this one ;) I read more less 1/4 of the whole book and can say: it's simply not for me and I don't wanna "waste" my time on reading it. It's not for me on the same level like the most of the modern art is not for me ;p
Agnieszka T. wrote: "* Badania terenowe nad ukraińskim seksem by Oksana Zabuzhko - I don't know what is wrong with me today, but I also gave up reading this one ;) I read more less 1/4 of..."I'm sure you will find other good books and we will read your interesting reviews. It has also happened to me recently with 2 books. They are now in the library again, without having read more than a few pages...
22. Niepełni by Pawel Pollak - I'm starting February with a strong accent! It has been long time since I was finishing reading a book crying and that's the case. Great plot, strange, unusual characters, a lot of emotions. Even with a small shortcomings I can't rate it differently than the highest grade! I wish you would be able to get it in English, but the chances are basically not existing, because it's an author not really known even here :/Marta - yeah, usually I have no problem with abandoning a book, but it just happened 2 times in one day, which gave me a strange feeling. Also because the first one was the one which I've got for reviewing and it was first time when I abandon such a book. But it was just a short moment of wondering what is going on and now I'm back on my reading track ;)
23. Pocałunek Fauna by Iwona Banach - second part of the book saved it from total disaster. While reading the first part I was close to leaving it and finding other book - chaos and very annoying main character. Later it was a bit better, sometimes even quite good, but in general: without delight. 24. Zrób sobie raj by Mariusz Szczygieł - a really well written reportage, I did not know Szczygieł from this site. Fascinating picture of the Czechs, nation so close to the Poles geographically, but apart in "light years" in the case of the lifestyle and believes.
25. Die Judas-Papiere by Rainer M. Schröder (The Judas Papers?) - a really nice, light entertainment. Engrossing adventure book, something in style of group Indiana Jones ;) Cool references for example to Hercule Poirot, vampire Count Dracula.
26. The Alchemaster's Apprentice by Walter Moers - in the case of this author I can't be objective ;) More seriously - I love his creativity, imagination, malleable(?) language - that he is almost painting each scene, his playing with words, creating new words. This book is more gloomy, but still fascinating ;)
27. How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišić - this book gave me a real tangle in my mind! I would never think that such a style of writing will conquer me, I will be thrill to this book. Incredibly written and composed novel about such a hard time. Very well described the realities of the war, horror of this time and a great absurd of this war. For such a young author I think it's a reallllly good novel!
28. Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann - it's ok, but without "fireworks" ;) Quite compelling story about a girl with two forms - a human being and a wolf, that love and forgiveness will defeat all barriers ;)
29. The Alienist by Caleb Carr - an interesting story about crime, human mind, old NYC, relations between people, methods of investigation. Dirt, dangerous city in a rough time, hard characters, society with closed eyes. Not easy, but interesting read.
30. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - wow, I don't know what to say, I have a reaaaaly mixed feelings. It was interesting to see how deeply people can mourn someone, but in the same moment it was though read. And I also have mixed feelings about creating such book, I know she is a writer, but still. It's like shouting publicly deepest thoughts. I need to think over this book to have the final image of my feelings ;)
31. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - it's a pretty good debut of Zafon, you can feel that it's not "smooth", but he is showing an interesting imagination and did played a bit on my feelings. At least enough to keep my interest in the book while travelling in 3 buses and waiting for the forth one ;)
* A Good Place to Die by James Buchan - another book which I stop reading after 50 pages. It is boring for me and is not catching my attention, not involving my emotions in the story.
Agnieszka T. wrote: "31. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - it's a pretty good debut of Zafon, you can feel that it's not "smooth", but he is showing an interesting imagination and di..."Hi Aga!
I have heard about Carlos Ruiz Zafón, he's from Barcelona :) He has a really famous book that is called The Shadow of the Wind. Have you heard about it? I have never read it myself, but it has good opinions. Maybe one day I will read it. Regards!
32. Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt - I liked this book more than the first one. Better plot, further development of characters and also better translation. But the ending of "romance" part drive me crazy. That's called ending??Hi Marta!
Carlos Ruiz Zafon is pretty well known between readers in Poland. And have a lot of fans :) I have "The Shadow of the Wind" on my shelf already, waiting and waiting ;) Maybe this year I'll finally read it :) Greetings!
33. Pechowy fart by Andrzej Klawitter - - something like "Unlucky luck" - I really like the plot in this book, it's pretty crazy :D And it's an easy read, entertaining. It would be a good book, if author would use a better language - a lot of really simple sentences, a lot of not needed descriptions and mistakes in sentences which even such a layman like me saw clearly.
Agnieszka T. wrote: "32. Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt - I liked this book more than the first one. Better plot, further development of characters and also better translation. But the ending..."That's good to know!! I didn't know Ruiz Zafón was famous in Poland.
I read "Unspoken" this month. I was so dissapointed by the murderer's identity!, but I liked the quantity of characters and the mixture of different stories. I will probably read the next ones. Regards!
34. Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon- surprisingly good and reaaaly addictive. I would even rate it higher, if I wouldn't feel flooded with erotic scenes ;) It could be easy 100 pages less of them ;p
Agnieszka T. wrote: "31. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - it's a pretty good debut of Zafon, you can feel that it's not "smooth", but he is showing an interesting imagination and di..."I have actually read The Shadow of the Wind i will have to say its the best book that he has wrote. I am currently reading the angels game so well see its alright and like you said not so smooth. But i gave the shadow of the wind 5 stars. Check it out
75 Books...More or Less!
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In this year I'll try to write a few words about each book which I'm listing here. Maybe in this way more people will observe this list and comment on it?
EDIT: As I've reached my goal in May ;) I would like to move it to 200 books in 2011.
So, starting a year with a Polish book (which makes it a bit more hard for you to comment on ;p):
1. Ksiądz Rafał by Maciej Grabski
A lovely story about a young priests being first time a rector in a small rural community. As the story is goes on during the time of socialism in Poland it's even more intesresting. It's full of emotions, idealism, important questions for each of us. I would love to see it translated into English, but I'm affraid it wouldn't be so "rich" reading for people who weren't living under the same circumstances.