Dominika's Reading Challenge

OK, so it's a book with magic this week! love paranormal romances and I have hundreds books to choose from, but I decided to read something I have no idea what it is about and where I got it from: Secret Lives by Gabriella Poole It's been on my TBR shelf for ages, but how did it got there? It's a mystery, as I don't remember either buying, or getting it. Magic :)  I hope I'll like it!

It was horrible and great at the same time, I both hated and loved it, so I guess it did exactly what it was supposed to do. I didn't give it five stars, because, you know, I hated it - but it was really deeply moving. Classical "Antigone" is generally a story of a girl, who is trying to bury her dead brother. This book tells a similar story: there is a group of homeless people in the park, a crazy woman and two men. One morning they find out, that their friend John died, so the woman decides that he should be buried in the park, next to his friends.  I didn't like any of the characters in this play, I didn't like the story, I hated the ending - and still, I think it was a very good book, moving and thought-provoking, and I'm very happy that I decided to read it.

This book was simply wonderful!  The poems were very funny and witty, I had great fun reading them. My favourite were the first two parts, about animals. The part about people was still good, but I didn't enjoy it that much. The geography part seemed the weakest to me. I really loved the pictures in the book. I'd recommend this book only to the people who have some sense of humour and who appreciate absurd.

It was a busy, busy week for me! Not only didn't I finish reading my last challenge book (and I'm loving it!), but also I forgot to choose the next one. So, there are going to be two challenges this week, but one very easy: a book I can finish in a day. It's going to be Zwierzeca zajadlosc by Stanislaw Baranczak It's a collection of short poems, so I should finish it by tomorrow :)  My second challenge this week is a play - I'm very happy, it's also very easy and, to tell you the truth, I already have my play ready. It's  Antigone in New York by Janusz Glowacki I'm actually quite ashamed that I've never found time to read this play before.  So, these two books this week plus finishing Brave New World and my reading challenge should get back to normal :)

I have no idea what I will read this week! My challenge is a banned book, so I decided to use a Goodreads list called: Best Banned, Censored, and Challenged Books. I will go to the library on Monday and borrow some book from this list I haven't read yet.  Two days later: I chose Brave New World by Aldous Huxley . I  wanted to read this book for ages, but, for whatever reason, I couldn't start, and it waited patiently for its turn. I'm going to read it this week and I really hope I'll enjoy it!   

I simply loved this book. At first it seemed a bit exotic to me: there are some words in a language I don't know, the ocean, beaches at night and palm trees. But the poems were easy to understand, about things and feelings we also experience in my country: respect for your culture, emigration of the young, the fear of losing them, love, pain after the death of a loved one, children, God. I really enjoyed the poems about dancing with a beloved person, they seemed full of joy. I know almost nothing about the country Dominica, so I kept wondering, if the deeply moving poems about the imprisonment were connected with the current political situation of the country or the past, when many people on the island were slaves. I hope the author meant the past. I think it was a great book, I really enjoyed it and I'm going to read another book by this author soon.

It's week 23 and I'm very happy, because I couldn't wait this challenge! It's going to be a book set in Dominica. I was a little girl when I discovered, that my name is actually the name of the country and I was so excited about it! I dreamt about visiting it for some time, but I'm afraid of flying, so my dream will probably never come true. But this year I decided to at least read something set in this country. I did my research and I found some interesting titles, but most of them seemed a bit depressing. Finally I discovered: Verses from atop the Mountain by Giftus R. John   and I really hope I will enjoy it! Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

I was bored to tears.  It's a story of a girl called Dora, whose father dies and she must live with her aunt and uncle. They are quite old, insensible and selfish and poor Dora almost dies under their care. Luckily for her, they need to go to Switzerland and Dora's life gets much better. The main problem I had with this book was Dora herself - she was so quiet, obedient and completely uninteresting! I'm sorry to say that, but I didn't care about her at all. The other children in the book were quite irritating, especially this boy who kept creating riddles, I forgot his name already, but I really wanted to throw something heavy at him once or twice. The ending seemed very false and unreal for me and I generally didn't enjoy this book much.  I can't recommend this book and I'm not going to read it ever again.

I've finally managed to finish this book, but it was a struggle - which shouldn't surprise me, as it was the lowest-rated book on my TBR list. I don't think I'll be in a hurry to read any other book by this author in the future. Our hero, Jack, is a criminal, who is just to be killed for his crimes. His life is saved by the heroine, Honoria, who needs his help with stealing a necklace from her evil uncle. This book was horrible. I accept some absurd and lack of reason in my books, because, let's be honest, I generally read romance for fun - I don't need much realism to enjoy the book. But here everything was improbable and impossible to believe, from the general situation to the characters and behaviour of the heroes. Plus, I really didn't like neither Jack nor Honoria, they were both quite insipid and dull. In the end, I had to make myself finish this book. I do not recommend this book to anybody.