Bout of books 14: Fictional World Travel Challenge

Currently I live in Norway, so this location is out of reach :) 

I chose books with an actual countries, that you can find on the map right now. They just vary from historical period to nowadays. 

1. The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill, book location Ireland.

2. The Quarry by Johan Theorin, book location Swedish island Oland.

3. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, book location England.

4. The list of my desires by Gregoire Delacourt, book location France.

5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, book location Russia.

6. Daughter of Smoke and Bones by Laini Taylor, book location Czech Republic. 

That's it for now :) Happy bout of books readathon!!!

Bout of books 14 readathon

It is that time of the year again. Time for bout of books readathon which will last from August 17 until August 22. And I'm definitely participating in it :) I don't know if I will be able to do all the challenges (because there will be some), that creators of this readathon organized, but... I will try to reach my own goals:

a) I'll try to accomplish 4 parts of my yearly       reading challenge, by reading 4 particular books.

b) I will try to read as much as possible and also have fun by doing that, because that is the main point of Bout of books readathon. 

c) Everyday I will try to do an update about my reading progress and maybe do some creative challenges here.  

I'm planning to start my reading week, with accomplishing "read a Pulitzer- prize winning book" challenge. For that one I chose to read: 

Title: The Old man and the sea

Author:Ernest Hemingway

Pages: 95

Cover: Paperback

Published: 2007 by Žaltvykslė

Edition language: lithuanian

This is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal - a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.

Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss.

Hemingway's story will take only few hours to read maximum, because it is so short. That's why on the same day I'm thinking to start another book, which will fit to "read a popular author's first book" challenge:

Title: Looking for Alaska

Author: John Green

Pages: 272

Cover: Paperback

Published: 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers

Edition language: english 

Miles Halter's whole life has been one big non - event, until he meets Alaska Young. 

Gorgeous, clever and undoubtedly screwed up. Alaska draws Miles into her reckless world and irrevocably steals his heart. For Miles, nothing can ever be the same again.

I don't expect to get much from this book, but at least it will help my brains to relax between reading classic books that I've chosen this week. And that bring us to another reading challenges " a book your dad or mum loves" and "a book with antonyms in the title": 

Title: War and Peace

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Pages (book 1): 480

Pages (book 2): 480

Cover: Hardcover

Published: 2010 by Obuolys

Edition language: lithuanian

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed.  

The prodigious cast of characters, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underline them.

And if I read something else I will write it in my updates.

That's it for now...Happy reading :)

July monthly wrap - up and August tbr

Well hello everybody :) I know I'm so late with this post, but sometimes life gets in a way. The same goes and with a reading. I confess, that my July tbr was too ambitious and I choose to many books.

Books I've read: 3
Pages in total: 1640

All of those three books belong to a worst trilogy I have ever read. And this series, written by E. L. James,  consists of:

1. Fifty shades of Grey 
2. Fifty shades darker
3. Fifty shades freed

I don't have much to other than I was cringing the all time. The main female protagonist was absolutely childish and ridiculous. That lip biting and blushing from everything, and I mean everything, made me almost mad.  And I don't even have words about that "inner goddess" thing....what the hell was that ?! At first I even tried to count how many times she bites her lip while blushing and thinking about her inner goddess, but I lost the count in the middle of a first book. 

And what can I say about Grey... well that dude need serious mental help.

Also writing style was less than mediocre, and the story line was meh... so I gave this trilogy only 2 stars out of 5.

After that I got into a reading slump, I started other books, but couldn't finish them in time. So I will finish them next month. And that bring us to the August tbr. As you know I planned to read 6 books in July, but that didn't happened. So I will read remaining three this month and those books are: 

1. The storyteller's daughter: a retelling of the Arabian nights, by Cameron Dokey
2. The Devil's star,  by Jo Nesbo
3. Angels, by Marian Keyes

I'm thinking, that I will be able to read them in the beginning of a month, and only then I will choose what to read next. By the way this month will be a "Bout of books readathon" and I will try to participate in it. I will do separate tbr for it later on. 

Short review of Mistborn trilogy

Mistborn is an epic fantasy trilogy and a heist story of political intrigue, surprises and magical martial - arts action. The saga dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of  prophesy fails ? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge ? 

Mistborn series, written by Brandon Sanderson, consists of three books:

1. The final empire 

2. The well of ascension 

3. The hero of ages

I guess my opinion will be very unpopular… but this series disappointed me. Although I have to give credit to first book, maybe because it was different from what I’ve read before, but it kept my attention, it was full of action, the characters were diverse and interesting, the world building was exceptional.

However after what I’ve heard in many videos on youtube, I thought that all three books will be something wonderful, something that will almost change my existence J But second and third book made me feel bored almost all the time I’ve read them. It came to the point were I couldn’t read it in the evening, because they put me to sleep after few pages. Main characters became boring and intolerable, at some points even ridiculous. Finally at the end of last book, I felt like I was reading the Bible, the writing style became too dramatic, and somewhat reminded me of that story, where God created earth. Actually, as I said in my June wrap up, only listening an audio book helped me finish third book. 

 In my opinion all of those books could have been much shorter, because sometimes there were unnecessary description of characters journey or  landscape, that took 1 or 2 or at some points even 3 pages. In the end I started to skip these parts and read only dialogs.

Of course I can’t say that I hated them….all this trilogy was interesting enough for me to reach the end and find out what happened.

That is it for now....Happy reading :)

July tbr

Well I'm starting this month with a one ambitious plan :) for some 6 books may seem little, but for me, who on average reads 4, it's a challenge.

July tbr

I'm already reading first part of "Fifty shades of Grey" by E.L.James and I'm not enjoying it, so my tbr might change slightly. However I've heard, that this series gets much better in later books, so maybe I will finish it. We will see......

Next on my reading list: 

Title: Storyteller's daughter

Author: Cameron Dokey

Pages: 221

Cover: paperback

Published: 2002 by Simon Pulse

In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. Deeply hurt and bitterly angry, he vows never to be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king's plan to protect himself  will endanger all of the realm's young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king - and surrender her life. To everyone's relief and horror, one young women steps forward. The daughter of legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself. 

After that, if I still have time, I will try to read this:

Title: The Devil's star

Author: Jo Nesbo

Pages: 522

Cover: paperback

Published: 2009 by Vintage books

It seems the city of Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and Detective Harry Hole is assigned to this case. Only he is not happy with his colleague

Tom Waaler, whom he suspects of arms smuggling and murder. 

Finally if there will be a miracle and and I still have time this month to read I'm thinking about reading:

Title: Angels

Author: Marian Keyes

Pages: 481 

Cover: Mass Market paperback

Published: 2003 by Penguin Books Ltd

Maggie has always been the white sheep of  the Walsh family. Unlike her comically dysfunctional sisters, Rachel and Claire, she married a decent man who adored her and found herself a solid career. Where Rachel were reckless and Claire dramatic, Maggie settled early for safety. Or so she believed until she discovers that her husband is having an affair and her boss going to fire her. Suddenly, her perfectly organized life has become a perfect mess.

If I won't finish some of these I will try to deal with them next month. But for now that's all :)

Happy reading 

June monthly wrap-up

This month was absolute success in terms of quantity, however the quality was mediocre.

Books I've read: 6

Pages in total: 2268

Books I've read in June

I've started June by finishing second book in a Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson called "The well of ascension". I won't talk much about it, because I'm planning on writing a review of all three books in this series. However I was disappointed and only gave it  2.5 stars out of 5. At that point I was debating whether continue with this series or not. However I forced myself read third one and be done with it. Boy oh boy......I was struggling with "The hero of ages" all month and, only listening the audio book version of it, helped me to finish it in time. In the end I gave it 2.5 stars out of 5.

Also this month I finished "Nugalėtojų principai" by Bado Shafer, that my boyfriend so kindly recommended to me. It is a non - fiction book about self esteem, ways of making your life easier and less stressful. I found this book quite helpful and interesting, however there was parts that was too similar with others self help books. But, hey... I guess you can't invent a bicycle all over again :) so I gave this book a 4 stars out of 5.  

And then came the best part of the month.....I've read this book in one sitting and that book was "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson. It is a book based on a true story that happened to Lutz family in 1975. Supposedly their new house was haunted by evil spirit, that made them leave their new home only after 28 days...I don't even have words to describe how much I loved this gem. Maybe because it's supposedly a true story it gave me chills while reading it and few days after I finished it I was jumpy like a rabbit at every sound I heard, that how much this book affected me. So it is no surprise there, that I gave this book 5 stars out of 5. 

After that I started "Red riding hood" by Sarah Blakley - Cartwright and David Leslie Johnson. It's a book based on a movie by the same title. I have nothing much to say, only that one thing that made me cringe was that instalove between Valerie and Peter. And it was like watching movie all over again :) so I gave it 3 stars out of 5. 

Then I decided that I would like to read something funny and fluffy, something summery. That's why I decided to read Sophie Kinsellas "Can you keep a secret ?". And I was not disappointed, it met all of my expectations: it was funny and cute. Yes, there were parts that main character made me roll my eyes, but in conclusion I still gave this book 4 stars out of 5. 

 That's all for now...Happy reading :) 

The Harry Potter tag

As most of you, book lovers, I grew up with stories and movies about Harry Potter and his friends. It was a big part of my young adult years, so I couldn't past an opportunity to do this tag. Here we go:

    1. Favorite book  

It's hard to choose, because I love all of them equally. But if I have to, then it will be first one in the series "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone". I chose this one, because it introduced me with amazing wizardry world.

     2. Favorite movie

Maybe "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"....I loved the atmosphere that it created, it seemed a little bit more dark and...... How cool did the Dementors looked :)

    3.Least favorite book 

I don't think I have one :)

    4. Parts of books/movies that made you cry

For me the hardest part was, when Dumbledore died :( and then Sirius... Just for a record I'm a big cryer, so every book and movie had it's moments where I was on a verge of tears. 

    5. If you could hook up with one of HP character who would it be ? 

Maybe Remus Lupin or Sirius Black :) 

    6. Favorite character

That one is hard... maybe Minerva Mcgonagall :)) she was tough one, but loved her students like a mother. I would like to read story about her :)

    7. What would your Patronus be ?

Honestly I have no idea :) Maybe an owl

    8. If you could have the Resurrection Stone, Invisibility Cloak or the Elder Wand which one would you choose ? 

Invisibility Cloak for sure, just imagine how many frobiden places I could visit :D

9. What House would you be in ? 

I think I would belong in Ravenclaw

10. IF you could meet any member of the cast who would it be ?

Alan Rickman (Severus Snape). 

11. Have you played any of the video games ? 

Shame but no :(

12. IF you were on the Quiddich team whic position would you play ?

I doubt I would get on any team, because of my lack of coordination :)) however I would like to be a seeker. 

13. Were you happy with the ending ?

Yes, I don't have any problem with it :)

14. How much does Harry Potter mean to you ? 

A lot :)

See you soon...Happy reading