Dinara Tengri

October is almost over, which means I've been doing this blogging thing for a month now. And so far I have reviewed: Tooth and Claw , by Jo Walton (4,5/5) In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination , by Margaret Atwood (4/5) Something Wicked This Way Comes , by Ray Bradbury (5/5) Voices from Chernobyl: the Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster , by Svetlana Alexievich (5/5) The October Country , by Ray Bradbury (5/5) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , by Seth Grahame-Smith (1/5) Witch Eyes , by Scott Tracey (4/5) Adventure of the Creeping Man , by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5) I've also reviewed Ridley Scott's Movie The Martian (10/10 of IMDB) I wanted to review Stephen King's The Shining  for Halloween, but didn't have enough time. But I did count down ten spookiest episodes of The X-files you can watch tonight. November is going to be about NaNoWriMo, so I don't have any specific plans for the following month. But there will be more ...

Firstly, I want to say that my guest review for  Adventure of the Creeping Man , as well as my " interview " have been posted on  Book Bloggers International . Thank you, guys!                  Now to the review... which contains some spoilers.   Image Source: Wikipedia My brother and I watched The Martian for the second time last night, and now I want to talk about it. And I know, I know, this is a book blog, but rules are meant to be broken, and  The Martian is the perfect exception. Don't even look at it as a proper review. This is just me going on and on about how much I love this movie. The Martian is a fantastic movie. Aside from doing justice to Andy Weir's great novel, this is a well-written, well-acted, well-directed film with great editing and the perfect soundtrack. Hands down, it's the best movie I have seen in years. I liked...

Happy National Cat Day! Today is October 29th, which means it's National Cat Day in USA. It was founded by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige, and it's a day dedicated to celebrating cats and raising awareness about shelter cats. Also, Halloween is just around the corner, and I want to talk about one particular type of cats who may not like this holiday as much as us humans do. I'm talking about black cats. In some countries, black cats have the lowest adoption rate at shelters, and they're the first to be euthanized. Why do people pass on black cats? Well, for one, they're still considered to bring bad luck (give me a break), and if that wasn't enough, some say that black cats don't look good on selfies (I'm gonna give you a second to process that...). Source: Black Cat Appreciation Page I also read somewhere that some families like to adopt black cats before Halloween just so they can have a cool live Halloween decoration, and come...

Published by: Flux Year of publication: 2011 How I got it: requested it at the library because I liked the cover. Part one in the Witch Eyes - series Chosen as one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2011 in the LGBT category Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain. After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son. To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming...

Halloween is approaching! This year, instead of going out, I'm most likely going to watch something scary on DVD. If you have the same plans, then I have a list for you. Last year I counted down ten of the spookiest (in my opinion) episodes of my favourite TV-show, The X-files . This year, I'm updating the list with a few new picks and I'm going to include promos instead of screen shots because, it's more fun (and professional).   Just a little clarification: I did NOT include Home, which is considered to be the scariest TV-episode of all times. Why not? Well, because I haven't actually seen it yet. I know I have to, because there will be a sequel in the upcoming revival , but I'll cross that bridge when I get there... 10. Humbug s2, e20   Kicking off at number ten is the show's first comedy. A scary comedy. A freak circus is under attack by a mysterious killer. Freaks, monsters, mirror mazes and a cricket-eating Scully. Wha...

So, another Monday is upon us, and I have two exciting news I want to share with you today. First of all, I've written a guest post for Book Bloggers International , which will be featured on Wednesday. It's a great blog, where book bloggers from all around the world get to share their thoughts on books, TV shows and all things cultural. This will be my first guest post ever. News number two: I've challenged myself to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and I've accepted the challenge. This will be my second NaNo. Last November, my creative spark fizzled out when I reached 30k words. I also wrote for Camp NaNoWriMo in July, and I FINISHED the first draft for my other book. But this November I'm going to try something completely different. 50k words in one month is a pretty big commitment, which means that I won't have the time to be very active around here. So, I apologize in advance :) For those of you who don't know, National Novel Writing...

I was going to write my second "Thank Spock it's Friday" segment today, but something has happened, which made me change my plans. As you may know, I live in Sweden. There is a town in Sweden, called Trollhaettan. In this town there's a school, called Kronan. Yesterday, that school was attacked by a masked man with a sword. He killed a teacher and a student, wounded three more people, before the police could arrive and shoot him. After doing the research on the killer, and taking into consideration that all of his victims were immigrants, the police has now confirmed that this was a hate crime. A racist crime. I'd rather not to give my two cents on the news. My blog is not political, it's about entertainment. But I cannot be quiet about it either. Four years ago there was a massacre in Norway, and we were all shocked because a thing like this could never happen in a small and peaceful country like Norway. But the murderer w...

Top Ten Tuesday is an original book meme created by The Broke and the Bookish .   Dear Book Genie... 1. ...Please help me get all the hours I spent reading bad books back. I promise, I'll use that time wisely. 2. ... Please make forget the books I love so I can enjoy reading them for the first time again. 3. ... Please take me back to my childhood so I can read all the books I had but didn't bother reading. 4. ... Please grant me and my brother an unlimited gift certificate at our favorite book store in Malmoe. 5. ... And while you're at it, please give unlimited book access to all the children in the world. Sounds cheesy, but it really isn't. 6. ... I would also love giant, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookcases, like in Beauty and the Beast (the only scene in the movie I actually liked as a child). 7. ... Please make Hollywood stop turning books into movies, unless Ridley Scott is the director. 8. ... Please take...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith My rating: 1 of 5 stars Ok, so this book has been on my "maybe" list for years now and when I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation, I decided to give it a try. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is the same old story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, except in this version England is suffering from a zombie plague, and the Bennet sisters, their father and Mr. Darcy are all warriors, trained in the deadly arts and fight to protect their motherland from the army of undead. This book bored me out of my mind. I almost didn't finish it, but I'm a person of principles. How can a book that is about love and zombies be so boring and uninteresting? The pacing is slow, the action scenes lack in suspense and the characters are unlikable d-bags. The biggest problem with this book is that the zombie part is just a gimmick. You can cut out all the action scenes and still have a full story. And it would be called *...

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme created by A Daily Rhythm     1.        I'm currently reading... Nothing. But last night I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , and I will be reviewing it later this week J     2.        Up next I think I'll read... Witch Eyes . Or maybe Jane Eyre . I haven’t decided yet.       3.        I bought the following book in the past month: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts.   4.        I'm super excited to tell you about… The X-files! Because it's coming back on the small screen next year, and I feel like a child again.        5.        I'm really upset by… My local library, because it’s too loud and the librarians just don’t give a damn. ...

The October Country by Ray Bradbury My rating: 5 of 5 stars The October Country is a collection of horror short stories, published in 1996. Fifteen of these stories have been previously published in Bradbury's other collection Dark Carnival , in 1947. My brother and I bought this book about four years ago, and we both loved it. My only complaint is that I remember these stories too well to read them again. Unlike The Martian Chronicles or The Dandelion Wine , which are collections of short stories, edited to be full-length novels, The October Country consists of nineteen stand-alone stories, that have nothing in common. But there is a red thread throughout the whole book, and all the stories contribute something to the overall tone and feel of the book. Once you've read them, you realize they do have a lot in common after all. They're all about exploring the dark side of the human nature. October was an important month in Bradbury's fiction. You have the ch...

And so it's October 16th. And it's cold and dark, and it's the perfect time to get comfy in a sofa with a good book, preferably, something scary and Halloween-themed. This week I've been reading Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , while working on my upcoming review for Ray Bradbury's The October Country . I also have Witch Eyes by Scott Tracy waiting to be read & reviewed.         I'm still new to his whole blogging thing, and I'm learning by doing. Last week I joined the Top Ten Tuesday , and next week I'm going to join the Musing Mondays . So many book memes out there, so many choices. I’m also brainstorming some memes and features of my own. It should have something to do with cats...  

By Svetlana Alexievich, the Nobel Prize Winner of 2015. On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occurred in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. Voices from Chernobyl is the first book to present personal accounts of the tragedy. Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown---from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster---and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live. The first thing that strikes you when you read these interviews - the stories - is that they're all real. Chernobyl may be a horrible accident to the rest of the world, and - sadly - part of the popular culture, but for millions of people it was, and still is a part of their lives. A huge part. And with these interviews, Alexievich allows us to get a glimpse into these people's lives, and to understand how this di...

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish . This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists! 1. Ray Bradbury and Andy Weir. The Original Martians After watching The Martian , my brother said that Bradbury would have LOVED the movie. I agree. He would have liked the book too.     2. Douglas Adams and David Duchovny. Holy Galaxy!  I could see them write a witty, absurd SF story about a renegade detective solving mysteries in other dimensions. It would be filled with humor and tongue-in-cheek social commentary.       3. Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov  The masters of hard science fiction Would have been fun to see these two giants try and collaborate. 4. Mary Shelley and H.G. Wells  The grandparents of s...

By Ray Bradbury The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of the calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes... and the stuff of nightmare. SWTWC is one of my favourite books. I've read it three times now. It's about two boys - Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway - who fight a supernatural carnival that has come to their town. They will have to save their town and, also, their own souls.   This book is part of the Green Town series, together with Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer , But it has nothing in common with either of these books, except that they all t...

By Margaret Atwood   At a time when speculative fiction seems less and less far-fetched, Margaret Atwood lends her distinctive voice and singular point of view to the genre in a series of essays that (...) illuminates the essential truths about the modern world. This is an exploration of her relationship with the literary form we have come to know as "science fiction,” a relationship that has been lifelong, stretching from her days as a child reader in the 1940s, through her time as a graduate student at Harvard, where she worked on the Victorian ancestor of the form, and continuing as a writer and reviewer.  This book brings together her three heretofore unpublished Ellmann Lectures from 2010 (...) In Other Worlds also includes some of Atwood's key reviews and thoughts about the form.  She elucidates the differences (as she sees them) between "science fiction" proper, and "speculative fiction," as well as between "sword and sorcery/fantasy...

It’s time for my first top ten-list on this blog. So continuing with an awesome tradition started by the girls of The Broke and the Bookish , I give my own contribution to Top Ten Tuesday . This week is all about Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit or Have Quit.   So, here are Top 10 Authors I Quit Reading (and why) 10. Nikolaj Gogol - just want to get one thing straight: I love Gogol . The guy was a genius with words. Back when I was a nerdy teenager, I used to read Gogol all the time. But times changed, and so did I, and, frankly, I just don’t feel the urge to read him again. Still, everyone should read Gogol at least once in their life. Nikolaj Gogol     9. Anton Chekhov - same as with Gogol. Still a fan of this M.D. turned author, but I just don't feel like reading him anymore.  8. Alexander Dumas – what would my childhood be without The Three Musketeers and its sequels? However, when I tried to re-read some of these classics...