A traveller through time and space, whenever possible. A modern witch using books and other medias for her journey. Familiars and companions are from around the world, from different times or dimensions. Dreaded familiars or companions are those who value love over other things or are in their teens.
A whole chronicle of my book, music and film travels through world and time is called For Culture's Sake.
I moved away from Booklikes because I don't give a shit about a company that doesn't give a shit about their own country and looks blindly just in the USA direction.
If you want to see the books I'm reading, challenges and all other things, I invite you to check out my:
By the end of the year, I'm going to delete everything I have ever posted.
So far the book is much BETTER than the cover & description suggested. I like the social & political issues. I don't really know why the publisher is TRYING SO HARD to sell it as a cheap romance in African setting. The description on the back cover LIES about the plot.
Once again, like in the "Things Fall Apart" I think that the Europeans were really fucked up with their attitude. Loosers. ><
From time to time I'm getting lost in the plot and unsure of what really happens. Do I read that sloppily? :/
Wow! I've finished my first (in a long time) book in Russian. Ok, that was a graded reader (A2 level) but it's still an accomplishment. For around a decade and a half (yup, 15 years) I haven't been using Russian. I'm trying to refresh Russian, also by reading graded readers.
This is Russian science fiction from 60s. People are sent to different planets, less advanced than Earth.
I've got 12 books or so to read during the next month. :D
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Finally I wrote a review of this book. Political fiction in 25th century, mix of science fiction and fantasy with vampires inside. More science than magic.
Full review of the book is on: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/dzieci-nocy-review/
Enjoy reading! Or did you read it already? Then, what's your opinion of it?
So, I think I've closed my challenges by now. 9/10 are about books, 1 is about culture in general.
3 out of 10 are made by me:
If you still haven't decided on joining a challenge, check out the challenges I take part in. More info here: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/challenges/
I've reviewed 3 stories by Stanisław Lem, Polish sf author. I've read them for the challenge of reading Polish literature... and because I decided "It's time" to read Lem at last.
These stories are:
The review is on my blog, here: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/reading-stanislaw-lem-part-1/ but as you can see from rating, I've enjoyed all 3 stories. Btw, the covers I used in these posts, aren't the covers of the books I've read. I've read really old Polish pocket books, but no need to add it here. ;) At least these covers are more interesting. :P
Some days ago I wrote about the challenge for reading books from around the world. The goal of the challenge is to broaden up your knowledge about cultures and people, and to discover new authors different from those who you often/most usually read.
There's also a social mix to the challenge, as you should write a bit about the book you read during the challenge.
After completing the challenge in December 2014, you'll read at least 24 books. To complete the challenge you need to read 2 obligatory books. There is also a bonus task.
It's January already, so it's time to start.
The country you'll be reading about it... your own country! Before you go anywhere, you have to know your place.
The obligatory books for reading in January are:
You can choose any genre, author, just following these rules above.
Bonus task:
Again, you can choose the genre, author, however you like.
The general rules are written in detail here: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/a-to-z-2014-world-books-challenge/
The rules for January 2014 are here: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/january-2014-challenge/
I hope I'll be able to discuss our reading choices with you. Enjoy the reading.
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Hello!
I'm crazy lately about reading challenges, and I plan to take part in few starting next year. I'm mainly interested in world literature challenges. Maybe fantasy/sf too.
In my craze I decided to make my own challenge. The A to Z 2014 World Books Challenge. Every month I'll post rules to select (at least) 2 books from various countries. Everybody will be able to choose whatever books they want to read (as long as they comply with the rules). It starts on 1st January 2014, but you can join anytime. More details in the linked post.
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I've just got my giveaway book "Zaremba or Love and the Rule of Law". I'm excited to read it soon, for holidays. I've read a lot of good things about this book. A novel set in Warsaw by a person living in here, currently, with the references to the events that happened not so far ago... Just flipping the pages makes me even more interested. And it makes me interested in the author.
Dziękuję, Michelle.
Two great and entertaining stories. The Futurological Congress, an SF story, is still believable despite being written 40 years ago. Sometimes, the old SF may be feeling fake, but not this time. (un)fortunately. A lot of neologisms, making from time to time reading it difficult. This story was an inspiration for The Congress, a 2013 film directed by Ari Folman.
The Mask is a hunt story that isn't too dynamic and more filled with thoughts and thinking. But this is what makes it great.
A great read not only for SF fans but for those who're interested in human psyche as well.
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I started reading it on a sleepless night, which soon turned into a morning. I had wanted to read it because I was somewhat outside the whole deleting reviews and wanted to understand what happened. And that book explained all that I needed and more.
I joined GR few months ago, but I didn't engage in community too much. I remembered reading the announcement that GR'll be a part of Amazon and it was "oh noes" (tho I use Amazon sometimes). This whole issue that was written in the book just makes me convinced that the full-length reviews of the book I've read (either good or bad) should be outside GR. Like here, or on my blog.
I applaud the author for the hard word and an interesting writing. I laughed at the "Founding Fathers" part. I applaud the creativity of people who contributed to the content. The topic is very sensitive matter, and I'd advise to read it, think about it and have an opinion about it. I dislike the "must read" or "should read" types of opinions, so I won't do that. I can say it's worth reading and digesting whatever had been written there. Like the title suggest, it's not only about GR, it's about Internet and one's own place in the Internet.
I usually don't read crime stories. But this is an unusual crime story. More like drama mixed with crime story. Or six stories. Six suspects means six (sometimes interconnected) life stories with all roads leading to Vicky Rai, a young rich playboy with many sins on his account. All six suspects had motives and chance to kill him, but who killed him in the end? And why?
The book is not focusing on the work of police or a crime journalist the way we know it. We read life stories from few months earlier, all leading to the crime point. The main crime of the book is mentioned only in the beginning and at the end of the book, when all the suspects are "attending" the party held by Vicky Rai.
This type of storytelling is more interesting, than the usual procedural one. It gives more insight into the characters and the Indian setting. It may rely heavily on Indian setting, but it's also kinda universal.
I'm taking requests and suggestions for my blog (about books, music, films) For Culture's Sake on Wordpress.
http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/
During 2014, I plan to run 2 challenges - for reading books and enjoying the different cultures of the world. Drop me a line if you're interested.
The link above is for a full-length review of Polish book "Warszawa nieznana" (Unknown Warsaw) by Jacek Kasprzycki. Unlike the book, the long review is in English.
Krótka recenzja po polsku na Booklikes.
This review is a part of Polish literature reading review "Polacy nie gęsi, czyli czytajmy polską literaturę!"
This is my 3rd book-ish social site I'm trying out, after international Good Reads and Polish Lubimy Czytać.
My favourites genres are fantasy and science-fiction, but I'll read more than just those genres. Actually, I'll read almost anything except young adults/new adults/romances/chick lit.
I read books from different countries, not just necessarily from USA/Europe. For those who like to read on the global scale, I created "Around the World" group in booklikes. I hope we'll have a nice chat.
For Culture's Sake is the title of my blog in Wordpress. I write there about films (TV series), books (comics) and music. Check it out at: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/
W jedenastu krótkich rozdziałach tej książki są opowieści o Warszawie, która już przeminęła. Życie codzienne w dawnej Warszawie (XIX w.) przeplata się z nowszymi czasami, także bolesnymi wydarzeniami podczas II wojny światowej. Ale i powojenna Warszawa ma tu swoje pięć minut sławy. Odrzuca mnie nieco ostatni rozdział, "Symbioza", mówiąca o współistnieniu starego z nowym. Nie bardzo przychylam się do opinii autora, ale możliwe, że to po prostu wina "takich czasów".
Opowieści są lekkim piórem napisane, bogate w nieznane ciekawostki. Największy zarzut jaki mam to jej długość - zdecydowanie za krótka!
A longer review of "Warszawa nieznana" in English is available at: http://forculturessake.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/warszawa-nieznana-review/
