2015/05/30

Book Haul: May

Can you believe we're almost halfway through the year already? That's crazy!

May was a good month; I had a lovely trip to see my best friend in Trondheim, it was Norway's National Day on the 17th and the sun has been out and heating up the city. Spring is my second favourite season, so I've been enjoying every minute of it.

Anyways, this has also been The Great Month of Hardbacks apparently, and here they are in all their glory.















I hope you've all had a wonderful month!
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2015/05/29

2015/05/27

Book Review:
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Published: 1887
Language: English
Pages: 160
Rating: 5/5

This is the first book in the Sherlock Holmes series.


Summary:
Dr. Watson, a war veteran, is in London and in need of a roommate. When he meets amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, he thinks he's found the perfect one, but soon finds himself drawn into a shadowy world of crime, violence and murder.


Review:
Finally, I got around to reading a Sherlock Holmes novel and I was not disappointed. I actually had quite low expectations for this, as I sort of thought this was perhaps overhyped. I found it surprisingly accessible.

I felt like this book was a very good introduction to the characters of both Holmes and Watson. Im quite interested to read on and see how their relationship evolves. I found the mystery in this to be quite intruiging, perhaps especially the look back as to why the murder was really committed.

This book is quite short as well, but nothing feels rushed and I don't think the story suffered from it at all. I rather think it added to the story, as nothing much is really superfluous. 

As you can tell, I was happily surprised by this book, and I would definitely recommend it for all those who love mystery.

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads
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2015/05/26

Top 5: Favourite Bookish Twitter Accounts

I'm not a huge tweeter, but I do enjoy reading other peoples tweets. Recently, I've stumbled upon some great and funny bookish ones, so I thought I would share them with you!













This stuff is gold!

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2015/05/25

Book Review:
Russian Poets

Title: Russian Poets
Edited by: Peter Washington
Published: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 256
Rating: 4/5


Summary:
A collection of poetry by Russian authors.


Review:
I quite enjoyed this poetry collection. I've never read any poetry by Russian authors, so this was a pleasant discovery.

What stands out most to me overall is the emotional intensity of the poetry. Many of the poems feels very raw, honest and therefore powerful. It's also very lyrical Poetry that rhymes is a personal preference for me, and this had a lot of it. I love the rhythm of it.

An author that stood out to me in this collection was Alexander Pushkin, but I think my favourite poem in this collection is "I and You" by Nikolai Gumilev. The first verses go like this:

Yes I come from another country
To your world I can never belong
Tinkling guitars cannot please me
I want a wild desolate song

I do not read my verses in drawing-rooms
To black-coats and dresses like shrouds
I read my verses to dragons
To the waterfalls and to the clouds

A highly enjoyable poetry collection. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy lyrical poetry and want to read some from Russian authors.

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads

As always with these books, this is gorgeous without the dust jacket...



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2015/05/24

On My Shelf V

It's spring and I wanted to do another On My Shelf, so here we go! This is the fifth one in this little series, and you can check out the others here.

3 and 13



This is a part of my growing collection of the Everyman's Library Pocket Poet books. This one is by far my favourite of the ones I've read (review here). 

This book made me fall in love with haiku, and I love it!

1 and 16



I bought this at the airport in an effort to live up to one of my reading goals this year: to read more non-fiction. I still haven't read it though, but it won't be long now.

I've seen some interviews of Malala, and I think she's one of the most inspirational people I've ever heard speak.

5 and 7



One of my favourite books of all time (review here)! This is in Penguins Modern Classics covers, and it looks really good on my shelf. I really like this cover.

4 and 8



A book I read not too long ago (review here), and quite enjoyed. I also looooove this cover, and I'm quite excited to read the next one. 

7 and 1



A book I remember reading from when I was a kid, but haven't read in since. I love this edition though, and I got it as a gift not too long ago. 


That's it for now! I'll give you some new numbers if you want to do this.

7 and 20
4 and 12
1 and 17
10 and 10
1 and 4


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