Saturday 4 November 2017

NON-FICTION NOVEMBER 2017

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The Non-fiction November is another kind of a loose readathon focused on reading more non-fiction books. It is run throughout November by two BookTubers Gemma and Olive.
Although non-fiction is basically the main genre I like to read, so I don't need a Non-fiction November to spur my interest in reading more of the genre, I've decided to participate in order to be able to focus mainly on the non-fiction books I am currently reading.
There is a hashtag #NonFictionNovember2017, devoted Goodreads group and 4 challenges for the Non-fiction November 2017:

  1. Scholarship
  2. Substance
  3. Love
  4. Home

And here is my TBR for the Non-fiction November 2017.


My first pick is Slovak translation of a briliant reportage book The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich. This is a tough book but one definitely worth reading. On basis of interviews with women who were part of soviet army during World War II, Alexievich shows the other face of war, she shows the greatness, the whole universe inside of a single man, or more precisely woman in this case, facing so many different realities of war one could imagine. So it basically touches upon almost each of the Non-fiction November 2017 challenges except for the scholarship one. I have only some 100 pages left. 

Slovensky
Mojou prvou voľbou je slovenský preklad knihy Vojna nemá ženskú tvár od Svetlany Alexijevič. Je to veľmi ťažká kniha no určite stojí za prečítanie a odporučila by som ju každému. Na základe rozhovorov so ženami, ktoré sa zúčastnili Veľkej vlasteneckej vojny, Alexijevič ukazuje inú tvár vojny, ukazuje veľkosť, celý vesmír vnútri človeka - ženy, čeliac takému množstvu rôznych stránok vojny, aké si človek dokáže predstaviť.


Slovensky
Keďže do konca knihy Vojna nemá ženskú tvár mi už zostáva len necelých 100 strán, čo mi na celý november určite nebude stačiť, pri včerajšej návšteve obchodu so zľavnenými knihami som objavila druhú knihu od Ľubomíra Jančoka - Francúzsky paradox. Kým jeho prvá kniha Glamour Paríža sa sústreďovala viac na životný štýl obyvateľov hlavného mesta Francúzska, jeho druhá kniha má širší záber, od gastronómie, cez literatúru, až po politiku. Kniha pre mňa, ako frankofila, ako stvorená.


And here comes a book that fits into the scholarship challenge perfectly. As it says on the tin the Ever Closer Union by Desmond Dinan offers a quite chunky (624 pages) introduction to European integration, which was and still is my favorite field of study within political science. Although this is rather academic book (other Dinan's book was indeed part of my compulsory reading during my university studies) every academic will notice Dinan's easy writing style peppered with his well-directed remarks. Desmond Dinan is definitely one of my favorite European integration scholars.
And this book can also pass for the fourth challenge, which is 'Home': I am proud citizen of Slovakia which also makes me a citizen of the European Union and it indeed feels like I am still home wherever I go, crossing no borders and even paying with the same currency in 19 of the EU member states.


And after my favorite scholar, here comes my favorite fiction writer, now, for a change, in his non-fiction piece. I started to read The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman during the Autumn Readathon and I would like to finish it until the end of November.


Although it is Non-fiction November, I have 2 other fiction books I would like to read and ideally also finish in November and these are A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
In case you are interested, the candle placed on every picture is the sweet grass scented Purple candle from H&M, my very favorite this autumn :)

What are YOU planning to read for the Non-fiction November?

Friday 3 November 2017

2 READATHONS - WRAP UP

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Although this year I decided not to officially participate in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon, I nevertheless enjoyed several hours of reading an I also managed to meet my, not so strenuous goals:


  • On 22nd October I managed to pass the middle of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara reaching page 370;
  • I started to read The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman; and
  • I started to read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë for the first time and I was really enjoying it.
Unfortunately, the 7 days of the Autumn Readathon turned out to be pretty reading-unfriendly: I had to spend long hours at work and when I came home there were several chores to do and when I finally had the time to pick a book, after few paragraphs I felt so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open even though I wanted to read so much. Nevertheless, I manged to:


  • read one gothic/spooky book, which was graphic novel Through the Woods by Emily Carroll;
  • continue reading Jane Eyre, ending the Autumn Readathon on page 95;
  • read some more pages of The View from the Cheap Seats, reaching page 37.

Saturday 21 October 2017

2 READATHONS

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There are 2 readathons running during this weekend and the following week.

The Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon starts on Saturday 21st at 2:00 PM CET and runs for 24 hours till 2:00 PM the following day. Your TBR is completely up to you. Though, this time, I've decided not to register myself officially, I still plan to enjoy several hours of reading. During previous Readathons I found it quite distracting to publish several updates a day and I also don't want to get short of sleep again.

The #Autumnreadathon runs from Sunday 22nd to Saturday 28th October and is hosted by one of my favorite booktubers Mercedes Mills from Mercy's Bookish Musings. I love Mercy's channel so I decided to participate in her first readathon ever.

There are 4 "regular" reading prompts plus 2 bonus ones:

1. Read a gothic/spooky book
2. Read a non-fiction book that feels autumnal (nature writing or cold location travel writing/memoir)
3. Read a novel set in a cold location
4. Read a historical fiction novel

Bonus prompts:
5. Read a short story collection
6. Read an adult novel about a young female protagonist


My TBRs


This year I've decided to use Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon to make progress with my long books. Beginning of this year I pledged to read more long books (more than 500 pages). So far I've read only 3, though, I've also read 6 books of more than 450 pages. So my TBR for Dewey's Readathon is going to look like this:


  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (My goal is to pass the middle. I am currently on page 285 of this 720 pages long book, so I think I can make it with flying colors.)
  • The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction by Neil Gaiman (My goal is to start and enjoy the reading. Neil Gaiman is my favorite author so I suppose that I will read many pages without the need to set myself any page-related goal.)
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Same goal here: start and enjoy the reading.)

And now, my TBR for the Autumn Readathon guided by 6 prompts so carefully invented by Mercedes. ...and here is how I am going to mess it all up with my TBR of only 3 books. (Feeling slightly like I am going to make an attempt to fit a cube in a round shaped gap ;)


My pick for the first prompt is pretty okay. For a gothic/spooky book I've chosen a spooky graphic novel Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, which actually hits also one of the bonus prompts - to read a short story collection. I've been longing for a colorful graphic novel well since beginning of summer, so you can imagine how much I am looking forward to read this beautiful one. I received it only yesterday and I was amazed how gorgeous it really is.


And here is the moment where my TBR starts being a bit off. Basically, what I am going to do, is to put down A Little Life for the length of the Autumn Readathon and go on with the two other books from above. So my pick for the prompt no. 2 is The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman, which actually fits only the non-fiction part of the prompt. But doesn't at least the cover look cold and autumnal? That was lame attempt, I admit ;) But Neil Gaiman travels a lot so it is probable that he will pop up in some cold location as well. And this is also another short story collection on my TBR.


And finally, my pick mostly for the bonus prompt no. 6, which may also pass the prompt no. 4, is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I haven't read Jane Eyre yet but I've heard that it is a perfect pick for this autumnal time of the year. So I am really looking forward to it.


Happy reading!