Missouri in Mazury

In November, two of my very good friends and I decided to start a book club. Each person picks a book, we read them, and we discuss them. Simple! The fact that we're all located in three very different cities doesn't matter, because that's the joy of the internet (specifically Messenger). It's great, because we all like different genres, so I'm able to branch out a bit more than I would normally. The Power by Naomi Alderman was AJ's pick. It's set in a period similar to our own - except that girls have a special physical power that can cause severe pain and they can even kill. With just this little change in nature, the whole world changes. I thought this novel was fascinating. It shows how the world could change if power were just slightly altered - and it also (as the description says) exposes some truths in our current world. Our patriarchy becomes a matriarchy, and the descriptions you'd previously have used for women are now used to ...

If I read books, but don't write a blog post about them.... were the books really read at all?

I read The Book Thief in 2014 and was really not impressed. When a local book club named this as their next read, I was skeptical, but read it anyway. Needless to say, I hated this one just as much as the other and didn't end up going to the book club discussion for fear that I'd be too critical of a book most people seem to love. I Am The Messe nger is about Ed Kennedy, who is basically a 20-year-old waste of space. After a bank robbery, Ed receives messages that he then has to deliver. First annoying thing : the writing. It's like... This. Which is fine. But only for so long. And then I just get annoyed. Really annoyed. Second annoying thing : Ed is creepy. The female characters aren't necessarily viewed by their personalities, but rather by their legs. And beauty. And the smell of sex on them. Even the fifteen-year-old. Third annoying thing : Ed in general. He's a waste of space who barely finished high school,...

Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter! I started reading the books in 1999 or 1998, sometime after I turned 11. I remember being heartbroken that it meant I was a Muggle. After I started reading, I became one of those who'd go to the bookstore and movie theater at midnight to see or get the new Harry Potter. My friends and I made t-shirts relating to Quidditch. I was (am?) a nerd who very much loved (loves!) Harry Potter. When Cursed Child was announced, I was thrilled that a Harry Potter-related book was coming out - I'd get to re-live the magic again! Sadly, I was extremely disappointed in that book. It wasn't written by J.K. Rowling and you could tell. But then Fantastic Beasts was announced! It is another screenplay, which obviously isn't the same experience as a full book, but at least it only contains J.K. Rowling's name in the author line. I was very excited about this one, but also quite hesitant, as I didn't want to be let down as with t...

Why would anyone publish this book? This was the worst thing I've read since 50 Shades of Grey . And I didn't think it could get worse than that. I am so disappointed in this book and the fact that I spent my hard-earned money on this nonsense. The only thing that I'm pleased about is that I read it in Polish, so at least I got to practice reading Polish. Too bad it was shit. First of all, the summary of the book is extremely misleading. I thought I was reading a thriller, not another terribly-written romance. The description mentions that Emma doesn't live at Folgate Street 1 anymore, Jane does. The ladies are very similar when it comes to appearance and the fact that they're both looking for a new start in life. There are so many similarities, but what's the difference? Emma's not alive anymore, but Jane still is. Jane seems to be following in the same footsteps as Jane - meeting the same people, experiencing the same "terror" as the girl bef...

I read my first M.R. Carey book, The Girl With All The Gifts ,  about a year ago while pregnant. The storyline combined with pregnancy meant that I woke up screaming in the night, thinking there was someone standing over me. Needless to say, I loved that book. Since I was such a fan of that book, naturally I also wanted to try more - this time, I went for Fellside . I started this book without reading the summary; I just assumed I'd like it and it'd be along the same thread as the previously read book. Fellside  is not a continuation, but rather a whole new story. It also has a sci-fi/supernatural theme, but not the zombie-esque theme of Girl With All The Gifts . Fellside  follows Jess Moulson, who might spend the rest of her life in prison at Fellside. She is contacted by a little boy with a message for her. The book takes us along with her as she struggles to survive in the maximum security prison, and listen to the boy's message. I will most certainly read ...

Lessons from Bookstagram, part 1. I have an account on Instagram (visible on the side of this blog, of course!) and post pictures occasionally. Well, I post pictures more often than I post anything on this blog. Anyway. I always love looking at pictures of books and getting suggestions from those accounts on what books to read. There have been a few good finds via "Bookstagram" on what to read, but I often find that the trending books aren't really my style. This was one of those examples of books that aren't my style, but I realized that too late. The Royals Series, I learned, is not for me. However, because I have to finish a book once I start unless it's really not interesting... I finished it. Please - if you've read these books and liked them, explain to me why . Do the authors of these books know that the characters are terrible? Was that the goal? Or do they really think that these type of male characters, if they were real people, are att...