Sunday, December 31, 2017

Sunday Post #25, Happy New Year!

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Outside the Blog
    NOOOO! It is over! Again! and again I did not notice how a whole year went by! It is so horrible when at the end of the year you understand that the time slipped by so fast that you have still more things to do and so much less time. This time I am not going even to bother myself with New Year resolutions. I just promise to have more fun and enjoy myself

 Last on the Blog 
Next on the Blog
  • I will review Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell
  • I will review I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
  • I will publish 2017 Challenges wrap up post 
  • I will publish December 2017 Wrap up
Newcomers on my Shelf
   I got 3 books from my Secret Santa this year:
1. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
2. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
3. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
And 2 more books from work:
4. Pompeii by Robert Harris
5. State of Fear by Michael Crichton
and one I got myself:
6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Author: Tina Fey
Original title: Bossypants 
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Memoir, Biography
Format: Audio book
Read by: Tina Fey
Duration: 5h35m
Goodreads

Blurb:
   Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
    At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon—from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.
    Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

My thoughts:
    I went into this book totally blind. Names Tina Fey and 30 Rock meant nothing to me until this book came out. I listened to the audio book, which is really the only way to go with this one, because face it, memoir should be read by the author. It's a slightly bizarre mix of memoir, self-help book, and jokes from Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. 
     I had zero connection to the series, Saturday Night Live show and personality of Tia Fey, but still I enjoyed and smiled some passages that revealed the life of this quite funny and extraordinary woman. I wish I had more background to enjoy references and jokes about people and shows, but still it was entertaining and light read.
Rating:
    3/5 

Friday, December 29, 2017

2017 Audiobook Challenge End of Year Update

It is time to check the progress made for this challenge. Thought there still a couple of days left till official year end and I am in the middle of the book and most probably finish it this year I've decided to post the challenge wrap up and see if I met my goals.

2017 Audiobook Challenge Levels:
  • Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
  • Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
  • Stenographer (can listen while multi-tasking) 10-15
  • Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
  • Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
  • My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30-50
  • Marathoner (Look Ma no hands) 50+
This year I was not sure of my possibilities so I went for Stenographer and completed 12 books:
  1. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  2. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
  3. The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood
  4. Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
  5. Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny
  6. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
  7. The Diviners by Libba Bray
  8. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  9. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
  10. Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell
  11. Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell
  12. Bossypants by Tina Fey
   Altogether I consider this year's challenge quite a success and most definitely be participating next year!

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell

Author: Patricia Cornwell
Original title: Hornet's Nest
Edition Language: English
Series:Andy Brazil, #1
Genres: Crime
Format: Audio book
Read by: Kate Reading
Duration: 12h41m
Goodreads

Blurb:
     Andy Brazil, an ambitious younger reporter for The Charlotte Observer and an eager - sometimes too eager-volunteer cop; Police Chief Judy Hammer, the professionally strong yet personally troubled guardian of Charlotte's law and order; and her deputy chief, Virginia West, a genuine head-turner who is married to her job. To walk the beat with Hammer, West, and Brazil is to learn the inner secrets of police work - the tension and the tedium, the hilarity and the heartbreak, the unexpected pump of adrenaline and the rush of courage that can lead to heroics ... or death.
My thoughts:
    I accidentally came across this author and that book. I cannot say it is a good one, but I was rather amused by it. It had its funny parts, but most of the time it was confusing: random side characters without particular purpose, in depth descriptions irrelevant to plot development, random behavior the of main characters, plot holes. The worst part was when the narration switched to the cat's point of view and it was trying to tell its owner the message from the universe! The crime part and investigation were not engaging at all, and the ending abrupt and dissatisfying.
    What was appealing are the two main lead female characters. Strong, independent and work driven. But the rest of the book was bleak and dull, though I must admit that I was laughing at some passages of the book.
Rating:  
    2/5 

Monday, December 25, 2017

November 2017 Wrap up

Read books: 
read: 4/ listen: 0/ pages: 1677/ hours listened: 
1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr p.589 - my review
2. Eagle Trap by Geoffrey Archer p.404 - my review
3. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell p.416 - my review
4. The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist p.268 - my review


Challenges overview:
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 59/50 - completed
Pages Read Challenge: 16819/12000 - completed
Audiobook Challenge: 8/15
Russian Literature: 2/30
World of Literature: 13/50
Booker Prize Project: 4
Classics Club: 2/50

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Sunday Post #24, December Excitement

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Outside the Blog
    December is here. I hope for snow to make this month really magical. I cannot completely have the Christmas/New Year mood without snow. If not for the holiday at the end of the month it would be rather depressing as all the leaves are gone and now the nature is so grey and sad. It is dark so early that I want to sleep all the time. It is just the time to read more, but I do not feel like it and reading progress very slowly.

 Last on the Blog 
  • On Monday 27.11 I reviewed Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
  • On Tuesday 28.11 I reviewed Eagle Trap by Geoffrey Archer
  • On Wednesday 29.11 I reviewed The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Next on the Blog
  • Do not have any plans for the following week as I do not have any books read, so maybe I will do some tags for challenge updates.
Newcomers on my Shelf
   I found a sale on Facebook and went to choose some second books. I actually finished with 6 books which I hope to read soon:
The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
The Final Diagnosis by Arthur Hailey
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Surfeit Of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
The Prime Minister's Ironing Board and Other State Secrets: True Stories from the Government Archives by Adam Macqueen