It's a short story, or a novella, that I bought already during the lockdown, after reading the brilliant Girl, Woman, Other. I read it in just over an hour because once you pick it up it's hard to put down. The book is a letter, written by Jerome, a black teenager, to his mother. It may …
Yet another book from the life-saving parcels from my mum. She is now happily stocking my shelves with non-fiction from Polish publishers, so I had this one in Polish edition. Margot tells us a story based on her experiences. From 1987 to 1993 he was a tutor in a family of orthodox Jews in Antwerp. …
It's been four years since I read the Neapolitan Novels, and I felt like reading some more of Ferrante's dense prose. So as I was doing my monthly online gift shopping at Amazon (one of the things I amuse myself with during lockdown, buying gifts for people) I decided to treat myself too. It is …
Vīta brevis, ars longa, occāsiō praeceps, experīmentum perīculōsum, iūdicium difficile. Life is short, and art long, opportunity fleeting, experimentations perilous, and judgment difficult. As always let's start with the translation of the title Deadlock. Resistance, loss, lethargy in art. It's a rough one, but I think reflects the gist of the meaning. It's one of the …
Continue reading Impas. Opór, utrata, niemoc w sztuce – Maria Poprzęcka
On several other occasions, I wrote that I enjoy books by Stephen King. For me, he is a master of storytelling. I know that if I pick up a book by him I will want to go back to it whenever I can until I finish. So when I chanced upon this title in one …
Continue reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
This is the third book from my June spree of reading about countries I would not like to live in. The other two were Złote Piachy, about Bulgaria, and North Korea Journal. It's not that I actively have something against Bulgaria or Finland, it's more that they are among many other countries I would not …
Continue reading Kocie Chrzciny. Lato i Zima w Finlandii – Małgorzata Sidz
I think I bought this book from The Book People (it's sadly no longer taking orders), just before the lockdown hit. I liked Monthy Python since I was a kid, certainly, my Bigger Half's obsession with them beats me, but still, I enjoy a rewatch every now and then. This is one of the three …
This book started me three-book spur of reading about countries in which I would not like to live. I know it sounds mean, but it's not meant that way. When I think of it, there are not many countries that I'd like to live in, so it's really not only about those three. Also, the …
I've had this book on my shelves for a few years now. It seems I picked it up on one of my crazy trips to second-hand bookshops. I don't remember why I bought it, but if I was to guess it was probably because I liked Lord of the Flies a lot when I read it in …
Just before the lockdown, back at the end of February, we managed with my mum to go for a week in Tenerife. Since then we haven't seen each other and neither of us could travel anywhere. But it was meeting and traveling that usually constituted the things we looked forward to. So in the lockdown, …
Continue reading Detroit: An American Autopsy – Charlie LeDuff
