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Born A Crime - Trevor Noah

It's pretty apparent from the books I've read in the past that I'm a fan of the Daily Show . I was a huge fan of it when Jon Stewart hosted and, like most, I was a bit wary of the change - I had never heard of Trevor Noah before. His first show was awkward, but I kept watching and now am an even bigger fan of Trevor Noah as the host. If you quit watching after Jon Stewart left or if you're not so sure about watching: just go watch. I've read a lot of books-from-television this year. And this is another one of those. It's a completely different book from what I had expected, but Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is so very much worth the read. This book is a-ma-zing. I had expected (again, not really fully reading the book's summary before reading) a book similar to the memoirs that other comedians have written - a book that touches on the comedian's childhood, but moves quickly onto their career and experiences at work. Not this book, and that'...

It's Not Okay - Andi Dorfman

My mom and I have this tradition: when we're together, we binge-watch episodes of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. The most memorable season we watched together was, of course, Juan Pablo's. This time around, we watched Nick's season.  When we finished this season, we decided to also read this book, which had also been talked about a lot on Bachelor in Paradise . This book,  It's Not Okay was written by Andi Dorfman, who was one of the contestants on Juan Pablo's season, and was also later a Bachelorette. In all honesty, I have a hard time remembering which Bachelor/Bachelorette contestants are who, as they all seem about the same to me (think: Saturday Night Live 's parody). I had the hardest time remembering the difference between Andi and Caitlin, for example, but both struck me as being normal enough ladies, who were smart and successful (Andi's a lawyer) and interesting (Caitlin was hilarious).  I was so wrong about Andi. After reading this...

Sekundy do szczęścia - Aneta Zamojska

Continuing my vow to read as many Polish books as possible this year, I chose Sekundy do szczęścia  as my next adventure. I picked this one out because the reviews indicated that the book is written very straightforward - meaning, it'd be very easy for a non-native speaker to understand. It certainly was easy to understand in terms of processing the language, but not in the sense of understanding what the heck the main character was thinking. The premise of the story is that one single decision can change your life. The introduction has a quote that three seconds (the time it'd take to make a decision) can make or break you. For the main character, Katarzyna, it wasn't only that one decision that changed her life, though, it was also subsequent decisions she made afterwards, such as sticking with an abuser. I agree that one decision can change your life, but the decisions afterwards, once you realize the initial decision was a mistake, also have an impact. The story ...

Language adventures pt. 1

We are raising our kids bilingual. That means they're a bit behind in speaking in each separate language, but they've got two languages more or less under their belt by three, so that's okay. It also leads to interesting conversations. We had been talking about playing "got your nose," except with butts. P: Złapałeś taty pupę? [Did you get Tata's butt? "Pupa" (poo-pa) means butt.] B was really confused, so she asked again. B: [stops to examine his shoes] No poop!

Krime Story by Marcin Gutkowski

I made a goal to read most, of not all, books in Polish for the rest of the year. No matter how slow it goes. This was my first one finished. The author is also known as Kali, a Polish rapper. I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I mostly hated it, because I think it could've been so much better - the description sounded interesting - but it really let me down. Here's the description, roughly translated: "An intricate criminal plot, set in the dark atmosphere of the Silesian City of Sin's dirty streets as a thorough sociological novel of manners on existence of young people in Poland. How thin is the line that divides the good from the bad? When does a man turn into a beast? Is there is still such a thing as unconditional love? Told from the point of view of the main character, nicknamed Krime, in a daring, brutally real novel". No, that's not what it is at all and none of those questions were answered. This is a story about a gan...

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

This book was on a list for the Tournament of Books and it seemed like a promising dystopian novel. The author herself calls it A Tale of Two Cities retold. Frankly, this book falls way short of those promises. New York is divided between Light and Dark. Lucie was born in the Dark, but with the help of her aunt, she escaped to the Light. This high school student now is a celebrity with a rich and famous boyfriend. But, that innocent-seeming boyfriend has secrets also! The story follows the boy from the Light, the boy from the Dark, and Lucie, who is a mix of both, through a world of magic and mayhem. But, wait, where did this magic come from? The book explains that it just appeared and the whole world was changed . Okay, that's an easy explanation. The story in general was interesting if you could overlook the flaws. Lucie always knew what she was doing, but then was always surprised to find that she was actually totally wrong. Surprise! By the way - I fel...

Before the Fall - Noah Hawley

A private plane crashes into the ocean, leaving two survivors. Aaaaaaand I'm never flying again. My dad recommended this book to me, but warned me that my fear of flying might interfere. It did. But that's not to say that this isn't a well-written and overall awesome book. It has everything I desire in a book: mystery, suspense, drama, gossip, conflict, etc. I could've gone without the weak women and douchebags, but that's life. The general plot is ripped from recent headlines (as Hollywood would say, based on a true story!). The book, however, goes into more detail, taking the reader through the victims' lives, the present, the investigation, until we find out what happened. Rating: 5/5 Pages: 392 Borrowed from: Library Recenzja powstała w ramach wyzwania  Wypożyczone .