Dinara Tengri

So we've come to this: the end of spring 2016. This past month I've written the total of four reviews: Harrison Bergeron , by Kurt Vonnegut (audiobook)         The Silent Steppe: Memoirs of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin , by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions , by Edwin Abbott Captain America: Civil War I've also listed ten of my favourite moments in Star Wars , and visited the grand opening of the best darnest science fiction book store in town (this is not an ad, they don't know I'm writing this). Right now, I'm working on my review for Full Fathom Five - an urban fantasy by Max Gladstone. I'm also mapping out my TBR for the summer (I've got big plans for the summer!), so there's some fun stuff to look forward to.

Happy Towel Day everybody!   Today was not just about galactic travel guides and their authors, it was about coming to the grand opening of Science Fiction Bokhandeln, which moved to a bigger and better location in Malmö, which also happens to be criminally close to where I live.    I spent an hour there, and snapped a few pictures too.      The new storefront and the proud sign in the middle of Malmö's famed shopping street.         I didn't take any selfies, unless you count my reflection in the glass as one.         The Incredible Hulk says "Buy a book or I'll start smashing, puny god!"       Aren't these beautiful?       They also have the Tardis     I didn't have the guts to step inside (also, I'm pretty sure it's against the rules)     May the force of merchandise be with you!       For the lovers of fantasy     So many X-files...     And bec

Title: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Author: Edwin A. Abbott First published in 1884 Genre: science fiction, mathematical fiction Source: downloaded for free on Aldiko Books. This masterpiece of science (and mathematical) fiction is a delightfully unique and highly entertaining satire that has charmed readers for more than 100 years. The work of English clergyman, educator and Shakespearean scholar Edwin A. Abbott (1838-1926), it describes the journeys of A. Square, a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, where women-thin, straight lines-are the lowliest of shapes, and where men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status. Through strange occurrences that bring him into contact with a host of geometric forms, Square has adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions) and ultimately entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions—a revolutionary idea for which he is r

  Welcome to Thursday Quotables,  a weekly meme hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies . Every Thursday you can post a quote from a book that you're currently reading. It can be meaningful, funny, a real tearjerker or just something beautifully written. You decide. Click on the link above if you want to learn more. Edwin A. Abbott's novella Flatland is a social satire, set in a two-dimensional Universe, where being an equilateral object means everything, and where the number of angles in your figure determines your place on the social ladder, with women, being straight lines on the bottom, and the priests, being circles, or polygons with a very large number of angles, at the top. "When I call them Priests, let me not be understood as meaning no more than the term denotes with you. With us, our Priests, are Administrators of all Business, Art and Science; Directors of Trade, Commerce, Generalship, Architecture, Engineering, Education; Statesmanship, Legislature, Moralit

Title: The Silent Steppe: The Memoir of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin Author: Mukhamet Shayakhmetov Translated by: Jan Butler Year of publishing: 2007 Publisher: The Overlook Press Source: Purchased Genre: historical nonfiction This is a first-hand account of the genocide of the Kazakh nomads in the 1920s and 30s. Nominally Muslim, the Kazakhs and their culture owed as much to shamanism and paganism as they did to Islam. Their ancient traditions and economy depended on the breeding and herding of stock across the vast steppes of central Asia, and their independent, nomadic way of life was anathema to the Soviets. Seven-year-old Shayakhmetov and his mother and sisters were left to fend for themselves after his father was branded a "kulak" (well-off peasant and thus class enemy), stripped of his possessions, and sent to a prison camp where he died. In the following years the family travelled thousands of miles across Kazakhstan by foot, surviving on the charity of rel

The time has come, my friends! The time to do my very first real book haul . Remember when I made a New Year resolution to spoil myself with new books? Well, in the past couple of months, I have been honouring this quite selfish resolution, and today I have not one but four new books to show you, as well four new comic books (and one book-related movie). Now, these books have been on my TBR for a very long time. Except for The Martian . I've already read that book, I just wanted to own a copy of it. This is the most books that I have bought in the course of two months (college books don't count), so I guess you can say I went a little nuts. On the other hand, I got them all very cheap. My budget was one hundred Swedish Crowns or less.     1. The Martian     I like the book, and I love the movie. And now I can enjoy them both. For the record, I hate it when they reprint books with movie posters on the cover, but if a movie is as great as this one, I'll m

Captain America: Civil War was a movie that I was really looking forward to seeing. It premiered in Sweden on April 27th, but I only got to see it last Thursday. Luckily, the Internet has been pretty spoiler-free so far. My brother saw this movie with his friends before me, and he really liked it. That alone was an indication that I wasn't going to be disappointed. For one, my brother and I have a very similar taste in movies. And secondly, this was the second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that he has seen so far, with the first one being Guardians of the Galaxy, but these two movies have practically nothing in common. For me it meant, that you don't have to be acquainted with this gigantic Avengers Universe to fully enjoy and appreciate this one film. It meant that this movie could work on its own, as a film and not just as a part of a series where you have to set up other movies. In summation, I went in with pretty high expectations. And Civil War exceeded them

Title: Harrison Bergeron Author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Year of publishing: 1961 First published in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Genre: Science fiction, Dystopian Source: Open Culture It is the year 2081. Because of Amendments 211, 212, and 213 to the Constitution, every American is fully equal, meaning that no one is stupider, uglier, weaker, or slower than anyone else. The Handicapper General and a team of agents ensure that the laws of equality are enforced. One April, fourteen-year-old Harrison Bergeron is taken away from his parents, George and Hazel, by the government. What a story this is! Written in short, informative sentences, it puts the reality of this twisted world right in front of you to hear, imagine and be disturbed by. In the distant future, every man and woman in the USA must be equal. Nobody must be smarter, more beautiful or more talented than the next guy. Which means that everybody has to be equally dumb, ugly and socially inept. Those wh

... A long time ago on a book blog far, far way, one Star Wars fan sat down and listed ten of her favourite moments of the space saga, in honour of the upcoming Star Wars day, May the 4th. Welcome to another round of Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme created by the girls of The Broke and the Bookish . Tomorrow is Star Wars day, and to celebrate it, I'm dedicating this week's top ten list to some of my favourite scenes and moments from all the Star Wars movies that have come out so far. Before I start the countdown, just a quick reminder that these are my personal choices. If you disagree with my picks, simply post your own list in the comment section. Enjoy! 10. The Millennium Falcon chase The Force Awakens Even though I was vastly disappointed by the latest chapter in the Star Wars saga, I have to give credit to the visual effects in the film. They are a nearly perfect blend of practical effects and CGI. And the scene where we get to see the Millennium Falcon fly

Sometimes, it seems like the spring months are passing me by like a speeding train. A speeding train loaded with all the books that I was planning to read. And while I'm trying to catch up with said train, I find myself face to face with an inevitable question - do I really need to read all these books? What is the point of crossing off titles on your TBR, if in the process you forget to enjoy the book you're reading right now? What if I stop chasing titles and just read at my own pace and enjoy it? What if two books a month isn't really that bad, and I just let myself get carried away by the TBR's, by the book haul videos and reading challenges? It's time to take a deep breath and think about priorities. Like writing. Yep, I'm trying to get back into writing shape. In fact, this past month I've been doing CampNaNoWriMo, and I wrote almost forty thousand words. That would explain why I only had the time to write two reviews this month: School of Deaths, b