April was supposed to be the month in which I finally settle down after my big move across continents, and I was looking forward to setting up some sort of a routine, but reality forced me to reconsider my plans as building one does not happen overnight. (more…)
In today’s A to Z Challenge post I’m going back to Jacek Dukaj, brilliant Polish writer I mentioned already when I was writing about his novel, “Inne Pieśni” (”Other Songs”). “Xavras Wyżryn”, a collection of two novellas, was one of his first books I’ve read, and is also older than “Inne Pieśni” and other brilliant books, but nonetheless interesting. (more…)
Apologies for my English-speaking readers, but today’s A to Z Challenge post is about a book available only in Polish. But do read on, as this is a beautiful story collection and who knows, maybe one day someone will translate it into Shakespeare’s language. (more…)
Today’s A to Z Challenge post carries me back to my early teenage times, when I was only starting to read fantasy, and preferred the light and positive reads (and even though my preferences broadened a lot since then, I still enjoy a good happy ending).
I think I first came across Mercedes Lackey’s “Arrows of the Queen” in a cheap books store, one of the best places for a bookworm with little pocket money. The description intrigued me, and the price was pleasantly low, while the book itself was pleasantly thick. So I didn’t hesitate long before buying it. (more…)
For today’s A to Z Challenge I don’t have one book, I have… fifty of them! But believe me, the superb series by Polish publisher is worth mentioning, and since all these books are available in English, any speculative fiction fan should find something for themselves. (more…)
In my A to Z Challenge posts I’ve already mentioned several times books recommended to me by my mom, and today I’m going about another one.
She handed Brian Callison’s “Trapp’s War” to me around the same time she let me read thrillers from her bookshelf, and as far as I remember, I’ve read it in one sitting. And then again, and again, and again… (Back when I was young and had plenty of time, I loved to re-read books.) (more…)
In yesterday’s A to Z Challenge post I wrote about science-fiction in space, and today’s one stays on good old Earth (how fitting on the Earth Day!), though Ian R. MacLeod’s book, “Song of Time” carries the reader into the not so far future, to the end of 21st century. (more…)
With today’s post in A to Z Challenge we’re going into space with Kim Stanley Robinson.
I found “Red Mars” (the first book in Mars Trilogy) in a library, a massive book promising a lot of words to read, and since I had a science-fiction phase, I grabbed it without thinking too much. Besides, who wouldn’t like a good story of the first colonists on Mars? I knew I would. And I did, but I got much more than I expected. (more…)
As the letter Q was quite tricky, in today’s A to Z Challenge post rather than writing about a particular book, I’ll focus on quotes from various books.
Some quotes become famous, and even people who haven’t read the books recognize them. One of such is definitely “Not all those who wander are lost” by J.R.R. Tolkien, another one would be “Winter is coming” from George R.R. Martin, or Leo Tolstoy’s “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” while others remain obscure save the fans of a particular book. (more…)
For today’s A to Z Challenge post I have a Polish book, but a book that has actually been translated into English, so if you get interested in it, you’ll be able to check it out.
I first came across “Primeval and Other Times” (in Polish: ”Prawiek i inne czasy”) by Olga Tokarczuk in my high school class. It was the fourth year, we were trying to catch up with the material before the finals came, so we didn’t cover much of Polish contemporary fiction, and since I already was diving into speculative fiction, I didn’t have much interest in it. But an excerpt from “Primeval and Other Times” was used as an example in a class (I can hardly recall what it was used for, something related with the style), and it looked very promising, but wrapped up in the preparation to finals, I just remembered the title and the author. And, after all, it wasn’t my genre, so I didn’t lose much by not reading it, right?
As you can guess, I was wrong, but I didn’t learn it until much later, when I finally purchased the book. (more…)