NON-FICTION NOVEMBER 2017

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?

#5STARTBRPREDICTIONS

The hashtag #5startbrpredictions was introduced by British BookTuber Mercedes Mills from MercysBookishMusings (which is the name of her YouTube channel).

The logic behind this hashtag is pretty simple. You chose a couple of books from your TBR list you expect to rate with 5 stars, then actually read them and see whether your predictions were right or wrong. When well read Mercedes did this for the first time, she was wrong about all of her selected books except for one. So don't worry about failing, because this is a great chance to refine your choices next time ;)

And now, let's turn to my own TBR pile of 5 star predictions.

Well, to a true bookworm this may seem like an outright cheating to create a pile of 5 star predictions out of the most hipped books there are. But let me explain.

To tell the truth, I am rather slow reader and as a graduate of Political Science I often prefer to read non-fiction about issues that interest me than mainstream fiction. Even in this pile there are two non-fiction books. That's also why I am rather behind with contemporary fiction everyone's raving about, though, I'd love to read more of it.

The second reason is perhaps well known to every bookworm that even the most praised book could fail to meet your specific tastes.

So lets start with the list of my 5 star TBR predictions one by one.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a Young Adult novel. I used to read YA even well late into my twenties but last couple of years I started to be interested in lesser and lesser number of books from this genre. However, The Hate U Give sounds different. It is part of the Black Lives Matter movement and it features a black teenage girl called Starr who becomes witness to her friend being shot by a policeman.

My second 5 star prediction is a book by a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Applebaum: Iron Curtain - The Crushing of Eastern Europe. Although I haven't read any book by Anne Applebaum yet, I've read some of her interviews and her apt and brave tweets are one of my most favorite. She lives in Poland and is married to former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski. Iron Curtain tells history of my home country as well.

I didn't feel interested in reading The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry at first. But after hearing praises for it by Mercedes herself and other two of my favorite BookTubers, Simon Savidge from SavidgeReads and Alice Lippart from The Book Castle, I've decided to include it into my TBR list. Though now, my expectations are pretty high. Hence it is rightfully part of my 5 star predictions pile.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber has with no doubt one of the most stunning covers among the books in my library. When I saw this paperback published by Canongate in a local bookshop for the first time, it was accompanied with a matching paperback featuring a guy instead of a girl on it's cover. And I fell in love with it. I've decided to purchase The Book of Strange New Things partly due to it's cover but partly due to it's sci-fi/melancholic/deep-cutting story. This strange combination leads to my 5 star expectations.

Basically, I don't think there could be any other than 5 star rating of a book written upon life-threatening testimonies of a man who lived under atrocious rule of the so called Islamic State in Raqqa. Moreover, The Raqqa Diaries: Escape from 'Islamic State' has been endowed with street art illustrations, which make it more accessible for a contemporary reader.

Look at that stunning cover picture of Saint Malo, town on the northwest coast of France. For me, as a graduate of Political Science and EU-studies enthusiast, Saint Malo reminds me first of all of the launch of the European Security and Defense Policy in 1999, an inconceivable happening during the World War II, during which the story of All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr takes place. I expect this Pulitzer Prize-winning book being a gripping story reminding us of living during the darkest times of our history.

So these are the 6 books I expect to rate with 5 stars on Goodreads. I don't plan to read them straight away so please expect an extended period until I will be able to come back with wrap-up of this interesting challenge. Although, after finishing this post I am even more eager to start to read them as soon as possible ;)

2017 POLROČNÉ ZHRNUTIE / 2017 HALF YEAR READING SUMMARY

V prvej polovici roka 2017 sa mi podarilo prečítať 12 kníh z 13, ktoré som sa zaviazala prečítať v roku 2017, prostredníctvom Goodreads. Takže, je ešte len polovica roka 2017 a som takmer hotová (v skutočnosti mi už zostáva len pár strán, aby som mala prečítaných 13 kníh).

Pripravila som preto niekoľko infografík, ktoré čo sa kníh týka, sumarizujú prvú polovicu roka 2017.

English
In the first half of 2017 I managed to read 12 books out of 13 I pledged to read in 2017 on Goodreads. So, well, it's only half of 2017 and I am almost done (actually, I have only few pages to go to finish the 13th book).

Here I prepared some infographics to wrap up the first half of 2017 in terms of reading.

Genres Read in 2017
Create line charts

Genres Read in 2017-2
Create line charts

DEWEY’S 24-HOUR READ-A-THON: SPRING EDITION 2017 (EN)

14:00 - I've decided to start my Read-a-thon in French, with Révolution by French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, on page 119.

15:53 - just finished another chapter of Mr. Macron's book (left on page 135). I spent almost two hours of reading in French, savoring French words (éclatante - striking, obvious, became immediately one of my favorites) and writing down new words. Now, I am going to prepare myself some fruit. Then I am going to continue the read-a-thon with Adichie's Americanah.

16:28 - my next read and treat: bowl of grapes and mango, and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Continuing on page 198.

21:35 - I've just passed the middle of Americanah and I am leaving it for now on page 251. Today, in the morning I began to consider reading Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. It's been sitting on my shelf for several months and after tense last weeks and all those non-fiction I read recently, I just feel like it would be great to get lost in a fantasy world for a while. And if it is as good as Goodreads reviews say, I hope it will keep me up until late at night.

0:19 - I've just finished Chapter 3 of Shadow and Bone (page 48) and I am going to read on.

8:00 - I fell asleep at 1:30, on page 64 of Shadow and Bone. But now I am up and running ;) and I can hardly wait to read it on until the end of the read-a-thon.

12:25 - sprinting through the Shadow and Bone. Now on page 160.

14:00 - ending read-a-thon on page 186 of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I kind of hoped that I would be able to make it during the read-a-thon. Though, I hope that I will be able to finish it until the end of this prolonged weekend.

DEWEY’S 24-HOUR READ-A-THON: SPRING EDITION 2017 - MY READING PILE (EN)

Well, to be honest, there's no reading pile for this year's spring read-a-thon. I am currently reading 2 books I would like to make progress with during the read-a-thon.
The first one is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I am not even in the middle of this enticing book so I hope that I will make some bigger progress during the read-a-thon.
The second book, I am going to read during the read-a-thon is a campaigning book by French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron titled Révolution. I've started to read this book some months ago in order to find out more about Mr. Macron, as well as to improve my French.
The rest of my read-a-thon TBR will consist of books I will just feel like to read at the moment. So my final read-a-thon reading pile is going to be surprise even for me :)

GOODREADS 2017 READING CHALLENGE: MY 12 LONG BOOKS

As the 2016 is drawing to an end and I've started to wonder about the number of books I am going to read in 2017 within the Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge, I became a bit frustrated. Well, I love to read and I'd love to read as many books as I could BUT I am rather a slow reader, savoring books rather than devouring them AND I am one of those bookworms who love long, thick books. And I haven't read one for a pretty long time and I really miss it.

I am not sure how my 2017 is going to look like (my 2016 turned out to be totally different from what I planned it to be (it actually turned out to be even better than I planned ;) though with less time for reading) and from my original target of reading 25 books I had to retreat to 12 (in the end I've managed to read 13 well before the end of 2016). Moreover, next year I also plan to go through my European integration library (only a shelf actually ;) consisting of some real bricks (especially when placed into a women handbag).

So all in all for 2017 I've again decided to go for 12 books (leaving larger amounts for some calmer years - I definitely have to go for 100 books some time ;) though, not claiming exactness of the number or that all books I am going to read in 2017 are going to be long but the small target will finally allow me to include some heavyweights into my TBR list too. Yes! :)

DEWEY’S 24-HOUR READ-A-THON: SPRING EDITION 2016 - WRAP-UP (EN)

During the spring 2016 edition of the Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon I finally managed to read 5 books of my former TBR list of 7. Though this year it was an extraordinary combination of academic literature on European integration, classics, Nobel Prize fiction and probably the best YA fantasy ever. So quite a pick ;)

1. Dinan, Desmond: Ever Closer Union. Written by one of my favourite analysts of the European integration, the book actually has two bookmarks placed inside. One marking my progress from the beginning of the book and the second one, my progress through chapters on foreign aspects of European integration. During Read-a-thon I managed to finish the chapter on Internal and External Security. (pages read 10)
2. Leskov, Nikolay: Steel Flea. Wonderful short tale about Russian nature, praising human inventiveness and craftsmanship more than perfection. (pages read 64 - the entire book)
3. Munro, Alice: The Love of a Good Woman. I've been planning to read a book by Munro, the 2015 Nobel Prize winner for quite a time and now I read the first short story in Slovak translation. Peculiar writing style... I am curious about the next couple of short stories. (pages read 89)
4. Howorth, Jolyon: Security and Defence Policy in the European Union. Chapters of the first edition of this book were also part of a course on European foreign and defence policies during my university studies of Political Science. (pages read 21)
5. Rowling, J.K.: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Fourth book of the famous series, I've been intending to start to read for last few months, though French and European integration took the majority of my spare time. And after all those academic political science literature it was really funny to read about Percy Weasley working at the Department of International Magical Co-operation of the Ministry of Magic, preparing a report to standardise cauldron thickness. Thumbs-up, Mrs Rowling :) (pages read 55)

Total number of pages read during Read-a-thon: 239
Hours slept: 3:45

I love Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon. It is such a great excuse to make time to read all the books you want :) (and eat sweets in the midnight ;)

So my thanks goes to the whole Read-a-thon team for inventing, organising and sustaining this wonderful, international event for all bookworms like me :)

DEWEY’S 24-HOUR READ-A-THON: SPRING EDITION 2016 (EN)

Since I've been pretty busy for the last few days and hours, here finally comes my last minute blog post of my TBR list for this year's spring edition of the Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon.

14:00 - I grabbed Desmond Dinan's Ever Closer Union and got absorbed by building of foreign policy of the EU = my favourite field of study.

16:12 - Just finished the chapter on Internal and External Security of Ever Closer Union by Desmond Dinan. Time for a short break.

17:14 - publishing photos of my brand new additional bookcase. I love white bookcase, it compliments all beautiful books so much.

17:45 - social media updated. Takes so long. Continuing with The Steel Flea by Nikolay Leskov.

20:27 - just finished The Steel Flea by Nikolay Leskov. It is a wonderful short tale about Russian nature praising human inventiveness and craftsmanship more than perfection. I should definitely purchase Leskov's book The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories.

21:35 - starting The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro. I had to add Slovak translation on Goodreads first. I enjoy being virtual librarian :)

0:30 - page 67 of The Love of a Good Woman and time for Lindt chocolate... Yum :)

1:20 - just finished the first short story of The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro. I've been planning to read a book by Munro, the 2015 Nobel Prize winner for quite a time and now I read the first short story in Slovak translation. Peculiar writing style... I am curious about the next couple of short stories.
Though, now it seems like a perfect time for some academic literature ;)

3:45 - went to take a short nap.

7:30 - postponing my alarm clock until deciding that 7:30 am is the right time for breakfast and another few pages of Jolyon Howorth, to be able to eventually grab Harry Potter! :)

10:46 - done with Howorth and academic literature for now and starting Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

14:00 - ended Read-a-thon on page 56 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I love Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon. It is such a great excuse to make time to read all the books you want :)

Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon (EN)

2:00 PM (CET) - Ready, steady, go! - Kicking off the Read-a-thon reading Broken Wings by Kahlil Gibran. Probably I'll be silent for a while, immersed. Unless I couldn't wait to share my impressions till I'm done ;)

2:50 PM (CET) - Page 21 of Kahlil Gibran's Broken Wings. Starting to drink my bubble tea :)

2:58 PM (CET) - "...beauty has its own heavenly language, loftier than the voices of tongues and lips." (Kahlil Gibran - Broken Wings)

3:08 PM (CET) - Intro Meme still going? Great! Time to answer some questions:

Intro Meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

I'm reading from Slovak Republic and I'm in its capital city Bratislava, where I live and work.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I've been most looking forward to Broken Wings by Khalil Gibran which I am currently reading. But I'm looking forward to The Pearl by John Steinbeck as well.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

My favourite Bubble Tea from Bubbleology - white peach and lichee (my favourite flavours :). And I'm looking forward to taste macaroons for the first time :)

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

Ah... don't you have some easier question? I am bookworm. (Apparently. This answer wasn't very helpful, was it?) Talented writer (some say), creative soul, foreign language and travelling passionate.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

This is my very first read-a-thon. I'm glad to have an excuse to spend some 24 hours only me and my books ;)

Aaaaah! English keyboard on my personal laptop makes me mad!

6:15 - 6:50 PM (CET) - small reading break - my dad visiting.

7:24 PM (CET) - I've finished Broken Wings by Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer Khalil Gibran. Well. In order to understand the depth of this book, you should have at least some notion of Arabic literature and the writing style of some Arabic writers - grand, poetic, dreamy. Maybe, what most of people would not expect from an Arabic writer (man) is a praise of woman's inner and outer beauty and dignity, as well as accusation of inherited laws preventing pure love to grow, smashing happiness of two young people into pieces. But this is exactly what the book is about. I am certainly going to reread this book sometime and write a separate, more comprehensive review.

9:15 PM (CET) - time for late diner and reading break. And when I say "reading break" I mean "READING break" with my Slovak "reading break book" by one of the leading Slovak poets and lyric writers Kamil Peteraj, with illustrations by Martin Augustín.

We often mistake puddles for lakes,
Humming for breath,
Accidents for messages, unsaid for kept quiet,
Angelic rite
For diabolic comedy.

(Kamil Peteraj - passage from poem Melancholies. Translated by Daša Drapáková)

10:32 PM (CET) - I can't eat and read at the same time. However, I still try to. But I always forget I have to eat. OK, finally, I'm done with my reading break and... What should I pick now? I want something terrific. I suppose that The Pearl by John Steinbeck will fulfil this criteria. Adding also two treats for these gradually late night hours ;)

1:38 AM (CET) - I didn't plan to read all night but I'm still up reading The Pearl (I didn't expect the introduction to be so long but I wanted to read it as well, to have better notion about the book I am going to read), however not sure how long will I take. Well, actually, the book keeps me up somehow. Moreover, I am pretty slow reader but this is the way I like it.

2:00 AM (CET) - I am a fully fledged blogging newcomer! It seems like I've overlooked that I have some comments here! And maybe I wouldn't find out if I hadn't accidentally logged myself out. I think that refreshing my blogger account would do. Oh, sorry guys! I ran through your comments and you are fantastic! You just woke me up from my almost slumber.

3:00 AM (CET) -  completing the...

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now?

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

2. How many books have you read so far?

Only 1, some 38 pages of another and now I'm through The Pearl.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

The one I'm reading now. But I think that Pride and Prejudice as a graphic novel by Marvel would be great.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

No, just my dad came to visit. I am having time for myself and my books ;)

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

The time goes so fast and besides reading there is always something to do. Blogging takes time as well.

4:30 AM - 7:30 AM (CET) - Zz Zz Zz Zz

Well, yes... it came to me this morning, while slowly waking up instinctively before my alarm clock went off that reading usually helps me with 2 contradictory things: to get asleep tenderly at night (I can't get to sleep no matter how tired I am without reading at least one page) and to wake up and start to think properly in the morning (a thing was recently supported by a book compiled of a series of columns about physical principles published in one of our Slovak social weekly papers). So guess which magical effect of reading worked at 4:30 AM? ;) Yeap.

My book companions waiting patiently for me to wake up and continue the Read-a-thon :)

8:00 AM (CET) - There is something for me! :) Shelfie Mini-Challenge:
So these are my current Shelfies (my bookshelf's too tall to fit into one photo ;) so I made a collage of two.

10:48 AM (CET) - reading on The Pearl - beautiful classic novella. Reminds me of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as well as some classic works of Slovak authors.

12:04 AM (CET) - The Pearl finished. Masterful classics, so short but with so many images, messages and allegories. Thought provoking story about worthlessness and even destructiveness of precious objects. But still, a thought came to my mind how sad it is that even the poorest people are victims of a destroying destiny and deceit brought to them in form of a thing that was supposed to be their salvation. Only because of human greediness, jealousy and slyness. There's something which connects The Pearl with my previous book I read for the Readathon, the Broken Wings by Khalil Gibran - here, wings of pure young love are broken by laws of the society. Two said novellas for my April 2015 Readathon. I think it's time to cheer up for the last one and half hour :)

A Small Note: The Penguin Clothbound Classics has fantastic bookish smell... :)

12:40 AM (CET) - picking my first and only graphic retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

4:30 AM (CET) when I actually fell asleep for 3 hours.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

I don't think there's something like this on my Read-a-thon's reading list (The Pearl by John Steinbeck is really beautiful but sad), well, it really depends on what genre do you prefer. I will have to consider my next Read-a-thon picks as well.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

This was my very first Read-a-thon and I was just looking around and I was really satisfied and amazed with all it's features.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Hourly updates and cheerleaders were fantastic!

5. How many books did you read?

2 whole books, 1/3 of a graphic novel and 38 pages of poetry.

6. What were the names of the books you read?

Broken Wings, The Pearl, Pride and Prejudice (Marvel Illustrated) and Toto je moja reč (book in Slovak)

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Both Broken Wings and The Pearl were beautiful but very sad so I have mixed feelings a bit.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

None.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

N/A

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

If there is nothing which would prevent me from participating, then I am all up to it once again! :) I would be Reader for sure and I was also wondering about hosting an hourly challenge but we will see. Being a cheerleader may be great experience as well.

Thank you note:

In the end, I would like to thank the whole team around Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon for organising and administrating this great event! <3