A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: L is for “A Little Princess”

LToday’s A to Z Challenge post will take me good 25 years back (if not more), to one of the most charming books I’ve read as a child. But truth to be told, it all started with a movie, not the book itself. If I recall correctly, it wasn’t the shortened and simplified version with young Shirley Temple, but a Japanese animated series. Of course, when I discovered “A Little Princess” is actually a book, I could not ignore it, and found it already waiting on my bookshelf where my mom had placed it. (more…)

11 Comments
April 14, 2016
A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: K is for “The Key to Rebecca”

KAfter two rather obscure titles from Poland, my today’s A to Z Challenge is going to back to the safe waters of books in English, though I steer away from the speculative fiction, and will be writing about a book from another genre.

Before I dived into the depths or fantasy and science-fiction, when I’ve already ran out of adventure books to read (my library had a great selection… but I had a great amount of time and was always a fast reader), I started poking around my parents’ library. My mom already recommended some books to me, like the Count of Monte Christo, so I felt confident I’d find another great read on her bookshelf. This is how I came across thrillers. (more…)

11 Comments
April 13, 2016
A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: J is for “Jeszcze jeden bohater” (“One More Hero”)

JFor today’s A to Z Challenge I have another title in Polish language, a short story by Robert M. Wegner. Please bear with me, tomorrow I’ll be back to more English-friendly reads.

Robert M. Wegner is one of the rising stars of Polish speculative fiction and is most well-known for his epic fantasy (often compared to Erikson’s series), but he doesn’t shy away from science-fiction, like the short story I’ll be writing about: “Jeszcze jeden bohater” (”One more hero”) published in the anthology “Herosi” (“Heroes”). (more…)

4 Comments
April 12, 2016
As a Side Note

A to Z Challenge: Theme Reveal

A2Z-BADGE_[2016]I’ve known about A to Z Challenge for a couple of years now, but I never got around to joining it. Mostly because I never considered myself a blogger, and my posting schedule is still at best “shaky”, with merely a post a week (or even less). But, as you can guess, this year is different and I’ll be doing my best to post 26 posts throughout April (Sundays excluded, everybody needs a bit of rest!), each related to one letter of the alphabet.

And today is the challenges day for theme reveal. (more…)

36 Comments
March 21, 2016
Personal Rants

Confessions of a Book Addict

1Looking at my Goodreads challenge (yes, I’m still behind) made me think I’ve read awfully few books this year, and it made me wonder why. I still consider books my favorite pastime, and the “to be read list” is ever so growing. But I don’t read as much as I used to.

Of course, there’s been a lot of writing and editing this year on top of my day job, and I could say video games, movies or arts & crafts take up my free time, but then why would I pick them over books if I love reading so much? The question made me thinking, and I finally realized I don’t read books because… I’m scared. (more…)

12 Comments
December 1, 2015
Personal Rants

Bookshelf of Young Melfka – Myk’s Book Tag

booktagJust a day after I was nominated in Liebster Award Blog Hop, I’ve been sneakily tagged by Myk Pilgrim from Little Plastic Castle who challenged me to reveal ten most formative books. Books that shaped the Melfka I am now.

Digging into the depths of my past might be traumatic for the onlookers, so you keep reading on your own responsibility. But if you’re brave enough (or just curious which peculiar and unexpected books I listed), keep reading! (more…)

6 Comments
March 1, 2015
As a Side Note

From a booklover’s life

by Jules Morgan, via Flickr
by Jules Morgan, via Flickr

I remember the day I was going to Ireland “possibly for a year, maybe forever”. Since I was flying over there, my luggage was restricted by weight and I only could take four books with me. Two of them were dictionaries: Polish-English and English-Polish as I had a hunch they might come in handy. The other two were fiction: one that I already read and loved and the other one that I didn’t, but was supposed to write a review. That’s it, four books.

Just a year later I pushed my bicycle up the hill, carrying a package on it. It was my first bookshelf: meager, small and insignificant, but at least I could transport and assemble it on my own. I had few more books back then, but they still all fitted in and there was even some space left for boxes with “stuff”. (more…)

10 Comments
April 14, 2014