1. Setting reading goals

Goodreads is the largest platform for all book loving people. There are book reviews, ratings, discussions. It’s like Facebook but with a higher purpose. You can also set your goals there, but they are only about the number of books you are hoping to read in a year. Thus, people try to reach goals of 60, 100, or even 300 books a year!

When people started sharing their end-of-the-year presentations made by Goodreads, it looked very appealing. There were stats, collages and some fun info about the books. I got really excited. I thought, that’s it! Next year, I’m definitely taking up the challenge! I was thinking of 120 books a year, maybe? But then I picked up The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry… A few days ago I said that reading ten pages of Perry’s novel takes the same time as reading a whole young adult novel. I wasn’t exaggerating. It takes time to unravel all the beauty of Perry’s novel. Hurrying through the lines is simply robbing yourself.

And what about Patrick Melrose, the character from the novels by Edward St Aubyn? I’m really interested in his life, I can’t let him go. I also can’t read these books fast. They are short but I have to take breaks, to recuperate from what I’ve just read. Will I have to give up on all this just because I want to read a certain amount of books? I don’t think so … It’s a nice feeling to have read many books, but if there are no Perry or Patrick among those books, I don’t want to be reading at all.

2. Book review posts

Obviously, I’m not going to give up on writing book review posts. I love writing them, people love reading them. Although, according to my statistics, people love reading some other posts even more. My Why I Love My Book Blog post and Notes Of a Newbie In The Blogosphere one are the most read ones, while my review of Melmoth didn’t receive that much attention.

So, is just a review alone enough, or should it be something more than that?

3. Praising a book

Of course, I will continue raving about the books I loved (as well as criticising those I didn’t). But tell me, how often did it happen to you that you picked up a largely praised book and were just as largely disappointed? How much of this disappointment came from anticipation and excitement?

I absolutely loved The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis. (There’s no review yet, but I wrote a bit about the book.) I can’t keep the excitement to myself, but I do wonder if I will be responsible for someone’s too high expectations.

Am I overthinking it all or you also have blogsistential questions once in a while?

I decided that I’ll just show you some of my favourite book pictures that I took for the blog. Looking at pictures is always easier than reading a text, especially on days when you just want to relax.

Here are the photos. If you click the titles you’ll get to my reviews of the books.

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

(There are more photos of Usyaka and the book.)

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

3. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

4. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

There’s no review because I haven’t read the book yet. (And taking into account my unfortunate experiment with reading fantasy, I’m not sure how soon I will read this one). There’s still this nice wintery photo

5. The Birds and other stories by Daphne du Maurier

Here’s the review of The Birds.

And here are the reviews of the other stories.

6. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

7. Melmoth by Sarah Perry

8. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

9. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

10. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

This book will be one of my first reads in 2019, so come back soon to read the review!

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.