Some Polish reading

I really have to force myself to read in Polish. It just doesn't come naturally. I think this is very sad, since I am Polish, but that's how it turned out. I did all my schooling in English so Polish suffered. This blogging thing encourages me to set goals though and Polish reading is one of them.

I took advantage of the Childhood Favorites Challenge to squeeze in a couple more books in Polish. I re-read a book of poetry for children (Brzechwa Dzieciom by Jan Brzechwa) and a YA book (Szosta Klepka by Malgorzata Musierowicz).

The poetry one was really fun to re-read as I didn't realise that many phrases from the poems entered into normal everyday language! I'd be reading and I'd think to myself 'Oh, I didn't know this phrase came from here!'.

The YA book is by an author that I adored when I was 12 or so. It was easy to read and is part of a series so I'll continue with that.

I won't tell you about the plot, firstly because it's one of those books about the life of a teen where nothing really happens and secondly because it's not translated into English anyway! :-)

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Childhood Favorites Challenge

First Among Sequels

First Among Sequels is the latest (fifth) book in Jasper Fforde's brilliant Thursday Next series. I read the first four years ago so really should have re-read them before moving on to this one, but I didn't, so there.

I won't say too much about the plot, but I will say that if you love books and haven't read this series then you're really missing out. Thursday Next lives in a world where moving between reality and fiction is possible - she can literally jump into a book and hang out with the characters. Cool eh? The stories always include some trouble in the book world - someone has kidnapped Jane Eyre, someone is trying to kill Sherlock Holmes etc.

All the books are also a commentary on various aspects of our modern world - including politics, war, consumerism and the decline of reading. This latest one also includes some thoughts on reality tv, which were hilarious. And a bit scary, because they're so close to the truth.

Fforde's use of language is delightful - loads of plays on words and clever phrasing. I think many of you book bloggers would love these books! Highly recommended.

Challenges: Numbers Challenge

Book Awards 3 Challenge

This round of the popular challenge hosted by 3M is shorter, only 5 months. It runs from 1 July to 1 December and requires us to read 5 books that won 5 different awards. For full details, visit the challenge post.

I get intimidated by many of the award winners so this challenge is always really good for me. Here's the list I'll be choosing my 5 from:

Completed: 2/5 as of 25 August 2009

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (1997 National Book Award)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009 Newbery Award)
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Printz Award)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer winner)
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Nobel Prize Prize)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2009 Costa Award)
The White Tiger by by Aravind Adiga (Man Booker Prize)
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (PEN/Faulkner Award 1999 + Pulitzer Prize 1999)
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (2008 Alex Award)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2007 Alex Award)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986 Nebula Award + 1987 Hugo Award)