75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Hi there! I don't know for how many years already, but I'm still here ;)

Starting my year with:
1. Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins - again, I'm confused! From one hand I liked the fantasy of the author, his creativity. But from the other hand - this style made me tired. So, I don't know how to rate it. And I was nuts that the publishing house did not inform anywhere it's a first book, shame on them!

Welcome back, Aga!

2. Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Północ - Południe by Robert M. Wegner - What a book! This guy has a great talent and I want to read all these books asap. Since a long time I did not read succulent, fleshy and not secondary fiction!

Thanks, Elyse :)

3. Pamiętnik panicza by J.I. Kraszewski - male version of Serafina. An interesting satire on things and people who were surranding the author these times. Such characters that you can only throw down your arms ;)

4. Tajemnica Diabelskiego Kręgu by Anna Kańtoch - I have a problem with this book. If it would be categorised as a youth fantasy - than I would say it's really good. But it's categorised as an adult fantasy and for that I miss something. Very interesting plot, not overused. But the ending ruined it partly. A lot of building tension and then fast ending and that's it.

5. Słodki świat Julii by Sarah Addison Allen - a nice chicklit, that's it.
6. Hotel Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones - this series is really cool. So light, nicely written that you can easly forget it's true and that's a bit scary! Now, I'm looking for the one about the fashion!

Aga, it is so nice to have you with us again in 2014. You've gotten off to a fast start towards your goal, too, with some very interesting books.

7. Facet z grobu obok by Katarina Mazzeti - I thought it'll be a typical chicklit, but I've got more than I expected - bittersweet story about life, loneliness, love, choices. I'm curious now about the next part of this story.

Karol - thanks! I'm trying to do my best :) And you're right, I've got on the list some very interesting books, I'm very happy about it!

8. Golem i Dżin. Część I by Helene Wecker - I liked it, but it drives me crazy it's just a half of book! Only here someone could think about dividing one book into two, it's so stupid! :/

9. Nomen omen by Marta Kisiel - awesome! Like the first one, it's just awesome and that's it :)

10. On wrócił by Timur Vermes - what a story! An incredible satire of nowadays German society. And this narrative! A brave author. And I wonder how it'll be seen here.

11. Demon luster by Martyna Raduchowska - I really like this continuation. It's not so light and funny, rather the opposite, full of darkness and dangerous visions. But there is a lot of creativity and cool plot.

12. Dziewczyna z Ajutthai. Niezbyt grzeczna historia by Agnieszka Walczak-Chojecka - well, it's not an awesome debut, that's for sure. 200 pages of running through the plot, it's happening so much that you could easly cover 800 pages. Easy solutions, surface plot and characters. I see one plus - it's not totally going into beat scheme, but that's it.

Good to have you back. You're off to a great start!

13. Kilka przypadków szczęśliwych by Magdalena Zimny-Louis - it's a strange book. I thought it's "dry", simple, with no bigger emotions, but I couldn't get away from it. And a great ending, very interesting!

14. Brama Chaki by Wilbur Smith - well, first book of him which I found a bit worse. The first part was soooooo slow and not so interesting, the second part made it worth reading.

Charleen - thanks :) I'm also happy to be here!

15. Rublowka by Walerij Paniuszkin - interesting and that's it. With no bigger emotions.

16. Być Esther by Miriam Karmel - fantastic book! Bitterly sad story about old age and loosing own life, problems with own body and mind, being not able to deal with it by oneself and by the closest people. But written in a very light manner, even with some humor in it.

17. Zorkownia by Agnieszka Kaluga - I can't "rate" this book, it's mission impossible. And the incredible amount of emotions and wisdom is not for rating.

18. Jej wszystkie życia by Kate Atkinson - what a crazy plot and implementation of it! Since a long time I didn't read such untypical book. I liked it a lot - both, the idea for it and the way how it's written. From one hand this lovely cozy life and English middle class and from the other hand the tragedy of war and Hitler.

19. Miłość bez końca by Scott Spencer - an interesting idea for the plot and nice descriptions of the reality of the USA in these times, but definately too much wordy + the style was pretty much tiring, something like "Coelho using sentence clause structure".
20. Kasika Mowka by Katarzyna Nowak - very strange, but interesing book. I was addicted to it, but all the time I had in my mind a "WTF?!" question ;)

21. Inna wersja życia by Hanna Kowalewska - after a long break, coming back to this cycle. At the beginning a lot of thinking "what was it before...?", but in general - sill very good level. I wanna slowly read all her books.

22. Smaczne życie Charlotte Lavigne. Tom 1. Pieprz kajeński i pouding chomeur by Nathalie Roy - a nice chick-lit with sooooo annoying main character, well, at least at some times I was thinking: geeeez, so old and so stupid! :P But a big plus for a variety of dishes and opportunity to learn more about the cuisine of Quebec.

23.Wszystko zostaje w rodzinie by Aneta Jadowska - uwielbiam tę serię i tyle! Kocham bohaterów, stworzony świat, bezpośredniość i kreatywność autorki :)

24. Ani żadnej rzeczy... by PM Nowak - pretty nice debut! A bit "crude", but gives hope for the future ;) And what a prosecution counsel :D

25. Kolor jej serca by Barbara Mutch - moving story of a friendship and love beyond divisions, about times of apartheid, about being "between" and about music. Beautiful and touching.

26. Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Wschód – Zachód by Robert M. Wegner - next awesome book of this author! This is a talent, which you should cherish and be happy to have such one in Poland :)

27. Po drugiej stronie cienia by Piotr Sender - creativity and huge imagination of this author impress me. I liked already the debut, this one is totally different, but richness offered to readers is incredible. Yes, it's full of ugliness, cruelty, death, abominable creatures, but all this is "served" in this way that all the time I was impressed by the fantasy.

28. Pop Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones - unfortunately, this book is for sure worse than previous which I've read. I don't know, maybe it's because the topic is soooo known and it's hard to tell something really new? Also the translator this time did not put her heart into her work and the translation is not really good.

29. Polowanie by Andrew Fukuda - "fantasylit" if I may call it so, but with pretty interesting idea behind. I'm even curious what will happen later on. Suggestive, strange world, a lot of action and pretty cool plot.

30. Szczęśliwi ludzie czytają książki i piją kawę by Agnès Martin-Lugand - ok, this book has a potential. And that's it. Shallow, artifical dialogues, unreliable characters and all these things typical for bad books - hard, but not hard, bad, but not bad... The best was Irland and the dog ;p

31. Na pokuszenie by PM Nowak - very classical - in structure - crime novel. I liked it, I did not guess the murderer :> It's better than a first book.

32. Szkodliwy pakiet cnót by Mariola Zaczyńska - a nice "crime comedy". Pretty cool characters and interesting ideas, but I have two "buts". There is no division between narrative, one sentence is finishing a perspective of one person and next one is already another person. Second thing - sooo annoying and unnecessary "remarks" at the beginning of each chapter.
33. Świat królowej Marysieńki by Kornelia Stepan - another nice and easy read, a historical one. A bit wordy. And all the time I was wondering how much it's based on facts, how much there is just a fantasy of the author.

34. Zabłądziłam by Agnieszka Olejnik - since a long time I did not ready in such a way, like crazy! I couldn't stop, with so many emotions in me! I don't know how realistic it is, if such characters could happen, but I was conquered by it. And there are soooo many topics for discussions, a treasure for parents and teachers!

35. Odźwierny by Maryna Dyachenko - not for me, I've got sooo bored!
36. Rzeki Londynu by Ben Aaronovitch - quite nice beginning of the series. A bit too wordy, but not much. A nice mix of modernity and old times and faiths. I've read it with pleasure.

37. Sieroce pociągi by Christina Baker Kline - This story - or rather stories - captivated me totaly! How they are directed, entwined, their similarities and differences, the characters. Great novel about solitude, family and cultural identity, friendship above the age barriers, dealing with problems etc. I think it'll take place on the shelf called "books-friends".

38. Panie z Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell- what a charming novel! Lovely, warm, charming, a bit "catty" for some social matters. I loved it and now I wanna read more of her books.

Aga, I really like Kate Atkinson because she tends to write books that are just different enough but not totally wierd.

Kate Atkinson, Sarah Addison Allen, and Andrew Fukuda are in my TBR.

I adore Sarah Addison Allen, her books are so fun! She reminds me of Alice Hoffman, if you like her books you should check Hoffman out too.

Andrea wrote: "I adore Sarah Addison Allen, her books are so fun! She reminds me of Alice Hoffman, if you like her books you should check Hoffman out too."

I've read a few Alice Hoffman and enjoyed them. The rest of her books are in my TBR!

Andrea - oh, yes, this one (Life after life) by Kate Atkinson was awesome! Really interesting read!

Elyse and Andrea - I liked both books of Allen which I've read and I'll check the others as well. A light, nice read, I also enjoyed it :) And Fukuda is a different version of all these - so similar - young adults paranormals ;)
Hm... I think I don't know Alice Hoffman, need to check her books out!

39. Kuzynka K. by Yasmina Khadra - what a weird book! I didn't really like it.

40. Lost and Found by Brooke Davis - even with some defects and some naive parts in the plot - what an amazing book! So strange, crazy and creative, moving and demending that you stop from time to time to think about what you just read. Great debut!

41. Nemo: Serce z lodu by Alan Moore - my first comic after hm... 15 years or so. Quite nice read based on the classics of literature. Beautiful.
42. Working text, pre-publishing review.
43. Neuland by Eshkol Nevo - powerful book! Probably fully could be understood just by people sharing similar reality, but also on me it made a great impression. And it's so beautifully written, in marvellous style, I was just stoping to adore some sentences or paragraphs.

44. Working text, pre-publishing review.
45. O bibliotece by Umberto Eco - well, it got pretty much old and out of date. With dignity, but still.
46. Smak pestek jabłek by Katharina Hagena - weird book. Or maybe written in a style which I don't like. It made me tired, just one thing hit me hard - the descriptions of feelings and thoughts people who are loosing their memory.

47. Nas dwoje, czyli miłosna układanka. Jak tworzyć i pielęgnować związek by Maria Rotkiel - I've read it and that's it, I have nothing to tell, this book is totally not for me.

48. Golem i Dżin. Część II by Helene Wecker - it's so sad that they did not publish this book as one piece, just divided it into two, argh... Very good novel, fresh and interesting.

49. Marionetka by Patrick Redmond - another interesting and addictive book of this author. I can't get why he is not popular in Poland, the publisher did not do his work ;P

50. Zawołajcie położną by Jennifer Worth - this book has just one defect - it's too short ;) Very good, very interesting, very well translated!

51. Working text, pre-publishing review.
52. Troje by Sarah Lotz - an interesting concept and interesting form. But there was something - what? - what stopped me from appriciated it more.

Aga, is it just me or are you reading less this year?

Not that 52 is in any way not great but usually you are way past this point :)

Well, it's just my laziness ;) Actually I just finished number 62, but I'm just too lazy to write about them. I need to catch up!

I was doing the same thing! I think I have 5 books that I need to review and post.