I mentioned some of the awesome bloggers in my Notes Of A Newbie In The Blogosphere post, but there are, of course, many more amazing people out there. For example, there are authors who I know from Twitter. They are such great company! They are always there if you want to talk about books, or anything else. Here are their Twitter accounts so that you can meet them too: Carmel Hanes, Kevin Ansbro, Nikki Copleston, Julie U. Brown, Eugene Fournier, C.R. Dudley, Simon Farnell, Danielle Koste, Leta Patton, Johanna Saariluoma, C. M. Thompson, Chloé Douglas.

I’d like to thank all my subscribes and people who regularly visit my blog to read my posts. You are my daily inspiration! 

I used to dream about a book club nearby where I could discuss books with other people. It turns out, I don’t need such a club anymore because I have all of you here. The whole world became my book club. Thank you for your wonderful company!

I’m wishing all the best for you in the New Year! Let all our dreams come true in 2019!

Here are my answers.

1. Favourite Book of All Time

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

I haven’t yet met a book more alive and real than this one. I envy anybody who hasn’t read it yet. Here’s my review of A Moveable Feast.

2. Favourite Book Five Years Ago

Five years ago I was still very much into popular psychology, especially the books that looked into personality disorders. What a fascinating topic! It’s hard to name one book, there were so many of them. Who’s Pulling Your Strings? for example, is very good. It discusses a wide range of arsenal a manipulator uses. I think all people could benefit from reading it.

3. Favourite Duology/Trilogy/Series

I haven’t read series since childhood. Back then I loved Dumas’ books but I’m not sure I’d like them as much now.

Speaking of Dumas, I’ll remind you that his works are in public domain now, as many other books that were published a long time ago. In most countries books become public domain on the 1st January, 70 years after the death of the author. In the US any book written prior to 1923 is in public domain. It means that you can find Dumas and many other authors on Project Gutenberg site. It’s not pirating, it’s absolutely legal.

4. Last book You Read

This will sound awesome, check it out: the last book I read was The Last!

I wrote about this book in my October roundup post. I will post my review of it later later.

5. Last Book of Poetry I’ve Read

I haven’t read poetry for years. In my defence I can say that I know almost all of Anna Akhmatova by heart (original, not translated).

6. What Book most influenced your life

From the most recent ones I would name Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic. I loved the book so much I had to share the love, so I started my book blog!  The review of Miss Ex-Yugoslavia became the first post on my blog.

7. Book That Made You Ugly Cry

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It’s a masterpiece that brings on incomparable grief.

8. Book That Made You Laugh

The non-fiction What if? Whenever I need a laugh I just open a random page of it and laugh.

9. Character You’d Like to Be For A Day

Poirot, or Holmes, or Miss Marple. They all seem to have exciting lives.

10. Book You DNFed

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. I couldn’t finish it. I’m still surprised how something so full of adventures can turn out to be so boring.

11. What Book are You Excited to Read

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Everybody calls it an amazing novel but I have never read it!

Here are the bloggers that I love talking to and I’m tagging them for the post:

1. Sarah’s blog
2. CJ’s blog
3. Claudia’s blog
4. Stephen’s blog
5. Norrie’s blog
6. Herding Cats blog
7. Babbage and Sweetcorn blog
8. NS Ford blog
9. Ova’s blog
10. Umut’s blog
11. Evelina’s blog

Dear tagged bloggers, there’s no pressure to take part in this book tag, but if you do post your answers let me know, so I can read them.

The books I really liked

1. Melmoth by Sarah Perry

Melmoth is a huge discovery for me. It’s a gothic story with an element of fantasy that serves to illustrate the nature of human beings. I’m totally in love with Melmoth; with its style and its story. Read my review of Melmoth for more information.

2. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

An absolutely gorgeous book with an intricate story about people’s lives in the 18th century London. I haven’t read anything so beautiful in years and there probably will be years till I read something that beautiful again. If you want more information, you can find it in my review of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock.

3. You Were Made For This by Michelle Sacks

You Were Made For This is an intense psychological thriller about people who are not what you initially think they are. I loved how perfectly the characters were being unveiled. I loved the controversial ending that I felt was natural for these characters. You can read more in my review of You Were Made For This.

4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

If you want to get lost in a book, get a copy of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Despite the several flaws that I noticed in the book, I generally liked it very much. It was so much fun to be reading a book without getting bored for a single minute. Here’s my review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

5. The Last by Hanna Jameson

The Last is an apocalyptic story about a small group of people who are trying to survive in the wake of a nuclear war. The Last hasn’t been published yet, but if you are building your reading list, I would definitely recommend adding The Last to that list. My review of the book will appear on the blog later.

Other books I read in October

1. The Salt of the Earth by Jozef Wittlin

The Salt of the Earth could be a very interesting historical novel about ordinary people during the WWI. Unfortunately, because of its writing style, it’s very hard to read. It’s also a first book in a trilogy that never got finished so it also leaves its mark on the whole perception of the book. It was published before, and will be republished in February 2019. My review of The Salt of the Earth will also appear later.

2. The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson

The Darkness is a thriller that causes very contradicting feelings. I liked most of the book and hated the ending. Some people actually liked the ending too. You can read my review of The Darkness.

3. The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor

The Chalk Man is a thriller that many raved about. People couldn’t sleep at night, they were scared and found the book very spooky. I didn’t. It is gory, but it is not scary. You can read more about it in my review of The Chalk Man.

4. The Songbird by Richard Parker

The Songbird is actually not a bad thriller. I didn’t find the ending satisfying but the writing and the plot were quite good. The Songbird hasn’t been published yet, and my review of it will appear later.

I feel so lucky to have read so many books that I can actually recommend! Off to November now! My reading list is getting more and more exciting with each day!

Book bloggers.

Before I started my blog I didn’t know there was such a big and vibrant community. Reading seemed to be quite a solitary, lonely activity. As soon as I started blogging I found out how wrong I was. Book bloggers are very communicative, supportive and friendly people, and there are so many of them! They became my main source of information about good books, new releases, any important book events. Whenever I have a question I ask a blogger, or post the question on Twitter and I always get a reply. Book bloggers made me realise there’s a whole world out there, and this world felt like home as soon as I joined it.

Book authors.

The mere fact that you can actually thank an author is mind-blowing!

Imagine being able to thank Hemingway or Tolstoy! That’s how it feels for me every time I reach out to an author and thank her. And now imagine how it feels to get a reply! Since the beginning of my blog I’ve had some conversations with several different authors, from basic pleasantries to longer talks. I would have never had this experience without my blog.

Books themselves.

It’s been 2.5 months since I started my book blog. I’ve read 30 books since then. 

I’ve always loved reading but I would have never read that many books had it been not for my blog. The blog gave an extra purpose for my reading, something to look forward to after I finish the book: the chance to share my thoughts, to connect to reviewers and authors.

Writing about the books also helps me remember them, not only because of the eventual post but mainly because of the process of working on this post. When you let your mind work on something, you will remember it better.

I also started ordering physical copies because books became more than just stories. They became beautiful objects I want to surround myself with, admire and take photos of. I wouldn’t have all this beauty had I not started blogging.

And, of course, ARCs are my main treasure so they deserve their own paragraph.

Advance reading copies, also known as ARCs.

ARCs are the books from the future.

They are copies that publishers send to “readers of influence” so that the readers can read and influence, i.e. spread the information about the book before the book gets to the market.

Although I’ve read a good number of them already, it still blows my mind every time I get a new one. And just as I was writing this I got two new copies. They are The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson and The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor. I will publish my reviews of them later but I can say they seem to be very scary stories that won’t let me sleep for a couple of nights.

An extra thought on book blogging.

For years I wanted to blog about books but was denying myself this opportunity. There didn’t seem to be a proper excuse to be having so much fun. Thankfully I understood early enough that no excuses are needed for doing something you love. The love is actually the primary reason for doing anything at all. Do what you love doing. That’s all that matters.

Genre: Gothic and historical fiction. Stars from Goodreads: 3.8. Stars from me: 5.

Melmoth. The story.

Have you ever watched the Japanese version of The Ring? Do you remember the moment when that long-haired lady crawls out from the TV screen? That’s approximately how it feels to be reading Melmoth. Only the feeling is not as simple because Melmoth is not a story to spook you for your entertainment. Melmoth does get out of the book but not to harm you. She wants to show you how people can harm.

Melmoth is a story about human nature shown through some elements of fantasy. It takes you through several different timeframes and storylines but its core story is set in Prague, in winter. I felt the snow and saw it falling. It was so realistic I had to collect my things from the hot beach and retreat to my shadowed bedroom in order to escape the contradiction.

Melmoth. The writing.

I don’t know how Sarah Perry does it but I’m so grateful she does it. Just like her character, she takes you by your hand and leads you through the story. She tells it in her very special way and it works. From the first pages there’s a rhythm and a style. And from the first sentences you want more. My copy is a tree of shining bookmarks.

The bookmarks point to quotes, although I can’t even call them quotes. They are universes of their own. Look at some of them:

• “She notes with unease how he holds it with both avarice and distaste, as if it were an object he had coveted all his life, only to find that having paid the asking price it had a foul smell.”
• “You are so ordinary your very existence makes the extraordinary seem impossible. I mean it as a compliment.”
• “The change that has come over him is nothing less than the change from mortality to immortality: it all at once occurs to her, as it never has before, that he’ll die; that death already has its imprint on him, on the days he’s not yet lived, like a watermark on empty sheets of paper.”
• “The silence is something more than the absence of noise.”

And one more, from those jackdaws crying for the first time. The moment freezes your blood.

• “Why? they said: how? how? why? I looked away.”

I read this book, sometimes putting this composition on. I think it enhances the experience and brings even more Melmoth into your life. Try it.

Melmoth. Other reviews.

Melmoth is everybody’s mirror. The reflection is different for every reader. I’m attaching the list of bloggers’ reviews that I liked the most.

1. Ova’s honest and deep review of Melmoth.
2. An absolutely amazing review from Umut where she analyses the structure of the book.
3. Another very informative review of Melmoth.
4. And one more very good review.

Do I suggest you read Melmoth? I don’t just suggest you do it, I dare you to.