BR: Trhlina by Jozef Karika 3/5

This review will be a bit different than usual; because I was reading the book Trhlina by Slovakian author Jozef Karika I will write this review in Slovakian language and post English translation below.

Trhlina bola dobrá kniha, očakávala som, že sa budem viac báť a že to bude strašidelnejšie, ale zanechala vo mne dobrý celkový dojem. Začiatok mi poriadne nahnal husiu kožu, ale napätie a mystéria sa niekde v strede knihy úplne vytratili. Záver bol však skvelým vyvrcholením. Brilantne vystupňovaný dej a skvelo zakončené rozprávanie je určite čo táto kniha ponúka. Znova sa vrátili zimomriavky a všetky vlasy na hlave mi stáli dupkom zatial čo som čítala cez slzy, lebo som sa pri posledných kapitolách bála žmurknúť. Najtažšie však bolo nepreskakovat riadky či strany, ale trpezlivo čítať. 

Dej knihy je v podstate jednoduchý. Hlavný hrdina Igor rozpráva, čo zažil počas výletu do pohoria Tribeč, aby to rozprávanie dávalo zmysel musí ale začať od začiatku a vysvetliť ako sa vlastne k celej Tribečskej záhade dostal. Prvé kapitoly obsahujú rozprávanie o dokumentoch a starých platniach, ktoré Igor náhodou objavil. Záznam na týchto platniach ma naozaj trochu vykolajil, riadky mi naháňali husiu kožu a pristihla som sa pri zadržiavani dychu. Bolo to ozaj napínavé čítanie, bohužial dlho to nevydržalo a stredná časť knihy upadla do určitej monotónnosti. Nič zaujímavé sa neudialo a chvíľu som mala pocit že táto kniha do hororového žánru vôbec nepatrí. Stred knihy bol zameraný hlavne na zhromažďovanie informácií a na prípravu na výlet a čitatel lepšie pochopil vzťahy medzi hlavnými postavami. 
Musím pripustiť, že som sa nevedela stotožniť ani s jednou hlavnou postavou. Igor sa mi zdal príliš lahkomyselný, jeho priatelka Mia bola na môj vkus moc podozrievavá a hysterická a zvyšní dvaja členovia partie boli úplné protiklady. Dávid bol učiteľ, čo sa príliš spoliehal na logiku a odmietal všetko ostatné a Andrej bol priveľmi naivný a veril vo všetko, čo sa dočítal v knihách a na internete. Ani jedna z postáv nebola vnútorne vyvážená. 

Musím priznať, že predsa len dve veci mi na tejto knihe vadili. Prvá (už som ju spomínala) je nudná časť v strede knihy. Určite by sa dala zhrnúť na menej strán, čo by pomohlo dynamike príbehu a napatiu. Druhú sa pokúsim opísať najlepšie ako viem. Mám pocit, že každý významný objav sa nezaobišiel bez naťahovania. Cítila som, že úlohou týchto častí bolo odstupňovať dynamiku no ja som ich považovala za zbytočné a niekedy aj otravné. Povedzme, že Igor niečo objavil a povedal "No do riti!" od toho okamihu trvalo jednu až dve strany kým som sa dopracovala, čo vlastne spôsobilo túto vulgárnu reakciu. 

Napriek tomu čítanie zážitkov tejto štvorice bolo nanajvýš zaujímavé a mrazivé, neodporúčam toto čítanie ľahkým povahám a ľudom čo sa boja tmy a lesov. 
Ak sa, ale naopak radi bojíte, tak potom je práve toto kniha pre vás. 

Otazka ale znie; je to skutočný príbeh alebo si to celé Igor vymyslel?

ENGLISH: 

Trlina was a good book, I was expecting to be more scared and it to be more creepy but it left a good impression. The beginning of the book gave me goosebumps but the tension and the mystery died out somewhere in the middle completely. The end, on the other hand, was the perfect climax. Brilliantly build up plot and a great ending to the story is exactly what this book offers. The goosebumps returned and all my hair stood up as I was reading the last chapters through my tears afraid to blink. Although the hardest part was not to skip lines or pages but read patiently. 

The plot of the book is at its core simple. The main character Igor tells a story about the strange experience during the hike into the mountains of Tribec; for this story to make sense he had to start from the very beginning for readers to understand how he came across the whole Tribec mystery at the first place. The first chapters deal with Igor's accidental discovery of the old records and LPs. The content of the LPs did freak me out, the lines gave me goosebumps and I found myself withholding my breath. It was very tense reading but unfortunately, it didn't last long and the middle of the book fell into the monotony. Nothing interesting had happened and I started to doubt if this book belongs to the horror genre. This section of the book was dedicated to the collection of the information and to the preparations for the hike while the reader had better chance to understand the relationships between the main characters.
I have to admit, I couldn't identify myslef with any of the characters. Igor seemed to be a bit reckless, his girlfriend Mia suspicious and other two members of the group were complete opposites. David was a teacher who relied too much on his logic and denied everything else and Andrej was too naive and believed in everything he read in books or online. None of them had internal balance. 

I have to admit that there were two things I didn't enjoy about this book. Firstly, (I mentioned this before) the boring part in the middle of the book. I am sure that this section could be summed up on fewer pages which would help the dynamics of the story and the tension. Secondly; and I will try to describe this as best as possible, was unrequited dragging before every major discovery. I felt that these parts were supposed to add to the dramatic mood and tension but I found them useless maybe even annoying. Let's say Igor discovered something and said: "What the hell!" from that moment on it took one or two pages to find out what provoked this vulgar response. 

Despite these things, I did find reading about the adventures of the quartet enjoyable and creepy. I do not recommend this book to weaker nature persons and to those who are afraid of the forests and/or dark. If you, on the other hand, like to be scared that this is a perfect book for you.

The queston is; was this a true story or did Igor made it all up?

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BR: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 3/5

“Stories have changed, my dear boy,” the man in the grey suit says, his voice almost imperceptibly sad. “There are no more battles between good and evil, no monsters to slay, no maidens in need of rescue. Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case. There are no longer simple tales with quests and beasts and happy endings. The quests lack clarity of goal or path. The beasts take different forms and are difficult to recognise for what they are. And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep overlapping and blur, your story is part of your sister’s story is part of many other stories, and there in no telling where any of them may lead. Good and evil are a great deal more complex than a princess and a dragon, or a wolf and a scarlet-clad little girl. And is not the dragon the hero of his own story? Is not the wolf simply acting as a wolf should act? Though perhaps it is a singular wolf who goes to such lengths as to dress as a grandmother to toy with its prey.” - The Night Circus 

I missed a lot of things while reading this story and I am not sure if it is me or if I can blame it on the language barrier. Maybe my brain is not trained to comprehend books like The Night Circus in English... and that is the only reason I give this book three stars. Nevertheless, I tried to enjoy this book as much as possible and as soon as I started reading I heard the narrator's calm voice in my head; some mixture between Morgan Freeman and Neil deGrasse Tyson, which helped me to savour every word. 

There are books that I rush to read that I want to get through as soon as possible for two reasons; firstly, for finding out what happens next and secondly because my TBR list is just too big and I want to read as many books as possible in the little time. But the Night Circus, however, made me slow down and enjoy every single word. 

The story was rich, full of descriptions and detail. The text was filled with magic and the main idea of the book; a challenge and love that overcomes everything and finds the way felt so real like it was my own story. The book had a slow start but this story wasn't about the beginning or the end, this story was about the journey. This story was about time and the importance of some things happening in the right moment. The story was about destiny and how we are blind to it. How we fight it instead of going with the flow. Some books are about the main characters and who they are, what they think and how they see the world, but this book carried much deeper meaning, this story didn't have to be about Celia and Marco at all and in the same time, it had to be them. 

I usually try to introduce the main characters, but I feel like the circus itself is something we need to talk about. I was stunned by the tent ideas. Erin's imagination is like none other. The tents were so different from each other, starting with easy ones as; the fortune teller or acrobats or illusionist you could expect in the normal circus. And going all the way to impossible as cloud maze where you find yourself in the infinite sky climbing soft white clouds with paper birds flying around. The tent with lots of bottles where each holds a smell and feel of a different story. The tent that contains ice garden or the wishing tree filled with candles that light the wishes of hundreds of people. I cannot choose my favourite tent from the Circus; it is impossible.

Erin is an incredible writer who made me really sit down and relax. Her vocabulary wasn't difficult or complicated but the way she combined the words felt magical. The details she put on the pages were overwhelming and magnificent. Everything was connected. The words she picked for the beginning of the book were ones at the end and the whole book was a huge magic loop; the story that was told over and over. She created a maze of chapters that do not follow in the time sequence as you would expect and I realised that too late and missed out on some kind of time travel that I believe happened if you paid enough attention. 

Read this book. No matter what kind of books you like or do not like, read this book and open your imagination to the Night Circus.

... and if you do read the book, listen to this playlist for the full experience... 

Goodreads synopsis: 

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:

Opens at Nightfall
Closes at Dawn

As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.

Le Cirque des Rêves

The Circus of Dreams.

Now the circus is open.

Now you may enter.

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BR: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas 4/5

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”

I heard so much about Sarah J Maas but I haven't read a book by her before I joined a book club. Thone of Glass is the first books we agreed to read and I had no idea what I am getting myself into...

The first chapter was very catchy. I was hooked, but then as I kept reading the first half of the book I found the plot a bit dragging. I have to say there is a lot of unimportant and unrelated information that is not connected to the main story. The things started to get interesting somewhere in the middle and that was the point for me where I had trouble to put it down. 

The story is a classic love triangle. Two men both in love with the female lead, which reminds very closely of Twilight. Luckily Sarah J Mass added the second main line to the story and saved the saga from being utterly boring. I can't really talk about this unless I want to give spoilers... but what I would like to talk about are the characters in this book: Celeana Sardonien, Dorian Havillard and Chaol Westfall. 

I have to say, I heard a lot of different opinions about the main character - Celeana. Some people don't like her as she is too childish and spoilt. I heard that she cares too much about her appearance. That she is too perfect and has no weakness. That her bad side (as being a killer) is actually not a flaw simply because she is the best of the killers... I get that and I completely understand. But I have to disagree. I think the fact that Celeana is a female assassin is perfect for the age we live in. She has a man's job and despite the fact, she stays female enough. Her job doesn’t mean she has to forget about dresses and pretty jewellery. We are living in the time of equal rights and feminism so I really enjoy the combination of both. I also like how sassy she is in certain situations and the banter between her and Dorian always makes me laugh. She is very direct and she doesn't really put filter on her language. 

Dorian Havillard, the crown prince. Despite of the description of him as being very handsome and popular and smart and amazing…(I am already rolling my eyes.) I don’t see Dorian being like this in the story. I find him a bit annoying and soft to be honest. What I really appriciate about Dorian is his sense of belonging and responsibility and surprisingly on the contrary of the environment he grew up in he is very different from what I would expect him to be. His ideas and thoughts are opposite to his father's and I am curious how it will inovlve in the next books. 

Chaol Westfall the Captain of the Guards. You probably noticed from my description of Dorian that I am a Chaol’s fan. I like him. He is though on the outside but he has heart on the good place. He is very stubborn and he doesn’t like to get distracted from his duties and meanwhile Dorian is dancing and being all pretty Chaol helps Celeana with her task which I find more appealing. He is the hero I want to see Celeana ending up with.

Overall I would say this is a good book. It did keep me entertained and after I finished I was very curious what happens next so I purchased the second part (the review is coming in few days)

I would like to hightlight one thning that made me love Sarah J. Mass the most. 
I really enjoyed the part about period. I find it perfeclty natural for a woman to bleed and I miss this in a lot of books. Just imagine how Twilight would look if Bella have ever had her period. Sarah J. Mass made me feel that Celeana is a real woman who sometimes feels the pain and stays in bed despite the duties.

I will add one more quote here for you, well because it is a good one:
“She moaned into her pillow. "Go away. I feel like dying."
"No fair maiden should die alone," he said, putting a hand on hers. "Shall I read to you in your final moments? What story would you like?"
She snatched her hand back. "How about the story of the idiotic prince who won't leave the assassin alone?"
"Oh! I love that story! It has such a happy ending, too—why, the assassin was really feigning her illness in order to get the prince's attention! Who would have guessed it? Such a clever girl. And the bedroom scene is so lovely—it's worth reading through all of their ceaseless banter!”

I am happy the bookclub made me read the Throne of Glass and I enjoyed the book. I would recomend the saga to everyone who likes young adult stories. Fantasy fans will find interesting topics too. There is lost magic that needs to be dicovered and different worlds to be explored and creatures from the other worlds...

Goodreads synopsis:

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

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June Bullet Journal - Namaste

I bow to you.

My soul honours your soul. 

I honour the light, love, truth, beauty

& peace within you because it is also within me. In sharing

these things we are united

we are the same, 

we are the one. 

June is the first summer month... the month of holidays, sunny days, cocktails in the garden and smell of suncream. For this lovely month, I decided to choose the colour scheme of pink and metallic gold. It gives me all of the boho summer vibes.

The Cover photo of the June monthly spread is from Ritual promotional magazine, as most of the pictures in this month. I recently discovered the power of the Rituals cosmetics. Their goal is to slow down, to relax and make a simple everyday task, like shower, a relaxing ritual. So this month I will try to slow down, to enjoy simple everyday life, to soak in all the sun and every free moment. I will focus on my soul and my inner peace. Namaste.

I decided to use more space for my blog ideas and for my books because I have been neglecting these things in past month. My plan is to go back to what I enjoy doing and posting once a week again.
As you can see in the picture above I decided to go back to circle mood tracker, and back to only three moods. This month I decided to write down what made my day bad or what made my day good next to the day column. I am hoping this will help me eliminate the bad things and highlight good things in the future.

Both photos are cutouts from a magazine.

I don't have many appointments this month in my calendar. This month is about reconnecting with myself. There has been a lot of new things happening in my life last month and I feel crowded, overflown and tense. In June I want to spend more time in my new house, making it feel more home, I want to have dinners with my boyfriend and drink coffee in the garden in the morning. I want to sit in my reading room with a good book and a cup of tea, look out the window at the clouds above. I want to have some time for myself.

The last pages of the June Bullet Journal are dedicated to my reading progress and to a monthly reflexion. I am hoping to read more this month. I am also planning to join yoga session at the end of the June to help me find that needed inner balance.

The quote on this page says: "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."
I wish you all encounter these three salty waters in the month of June. I hope you find the balance between them and I hope that when I am writing my reflexion I will have the same.

Material Used:

1.) Gold metallic pen: Hybrid Gel Roller K186, 1.6
2.) Gold metallic pen: Hybrid Gel Roller K118
3.) Pink highlighter from the set: Stabilo Boss Mini
4.) Black liner: Hema Think fineliner black, 0.7

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