100+ Books in 2025 discussion

This year I have no NY resolutions (maybe: read more my own books, less buying/borrowing/getting for reviews), because it's extremely hard for me to obey them ;)

But I'll try to add one thing to my thread - some short comments about each book. To create not just a list (like it was before), but list with "my feelings". I hope you'll like it and maybe in this way I'll get some more visitors and comments? :D I'll be happy if you'll join me this year!

So, starting a year with a Polish book (which makes it a bit more hard for you to comment on ;p):

1. Ksiądz Rafał by Maciej Grabski

A lovely story about a young priests being first time a rector in a small rural community. As the story is goes on during the time of socialism in Poland it's even more intesresting. It's full of emotions, idealism, important questions for each of us. I would love to see it translated into English, but I'm affraid it wouldn't be so "rich" reading for people who weren't living under the same circumstances.

2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What an incredible book! What a style, narrative, characters, "spare" words and in the same time richness of meaning! I can't think clear still to write about it ;)

Agnieszka T. wrote: "2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What an incredible book! What a style, narrative, characters, "spare" words and in the same time richness of meaning! I can't think cl..."

Based on your comments about this book, I think I will move it up closer to the top of my TBR list.

Stephanie - at the beginning, I was confused by the style and narrative, but then I've got conquered :D I was touched and I was smiling, I was thinking and wondering. And I finished reading it and crying.

3. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick - it was an OK book :) I like the idea, it is pretty interesting and not so much used in books (as far as I read until now), but probably I'm a bit too old for all this teenager problems and fascinations ;) So, I made a middle grade - between my impressions and between the grade which I think I would give if I would be 14-15 :D

4. Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson - second book of the Wind on Fire trilogy. Still a good level of fantasy book for young adults (at least in my vision of the target group). Interesting plot and characters, many relations with public, political and social live and many, many questions related with values in between the lines, especially related with a freedom, of human, of society. I do hope that the publishing house will published the third book in Polish this year!

5. Dzisiaj narysujemy śmierć by Wojciech Tochman - it's a reportage by a Polish journalist about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It's not a first source of info about this genocide, but for sure the most direct and the describing its' cruelness in a most touchy way. In one world: extra-shocking. Reading it hurts a lot...

6. Podróże po Azji Środkowej by Bronisław Grąbczewski - incredible story of 3 long travels around Middle Asia, which were organized by a Polish officer under Russian government in times when travelling was difficult, challenging and was giving a lot of opportunities to discover new places, societies, animals, habbits etc. Interesting read.

7. Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick - very similar opinion as the one with book No 3 ;) Slightly better than Hush, Hush

8. Wampir z M-3 by Andrzej Pilipiuk - it's a really cool example of literature which gives you a good laugh :) Author is one of the famous Polish fantasy writers, but also a good observer of reality around us, fashions and trends. A good satire related with Poland under socialism combined with a satire related with vampires (yes, also Eclipse ;p), mass culture etc.

9. Obrazy z życia na Wschodzie by Anna Neumanowa - next old times traveler book. This time - surprise - a lady, Polish wife of an Austrian consul. Together they were in Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt (the longest stay - 8 years) and Greece. Interesting point of view, there were not so many female travelers who could see so much as so privileged lady. A lot of interesting stories about these countries, cultures, history, politics, people etc. One advantage - as a lady she could visit women and be guest in harems.

10. Dziewczyny z Rijadu by Radża as-Sani - really good book about girls and young women living in Riyadh. Story about the fight for freedom, for making own choices, for their lives, for friendship, for love.

11. Ogród Afrodyty by Ewa Stachniak - really an interesting and nice read. Story of life of countess Zofia Potocka, who was famous in all over the Europe from her beauty and charm, but who also was a reason of many scandals. It's not a formal biography, rather a story based in her life.

12. O radości by Leon Knabit - - a short, little book, a conversation with a famous in Poland monk. The topic is a joy of life, how to get it, how to sustain it, what is it exactly. Interesting read, food for thought.

13. The Captain's Daughter by Alexander Pushkin - a nice short novel, which confirmed just my love to Russian authors from more less this historical time :)

14. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin - in the category of chick-lits it's a pretty good one - interesting characters (once I liked them, then I didn't like, then again I liked them ;p), well builded plot and well written.

15. Mariola, moje krople... by Małgorzata Gutowska-Adamczyk - light, nice amusement, served in a colorful sauce of very characteristic figures and events, for every person living in Poland and being older than 25 it will be a reminder of the previous political system, but prepared in a funny way. Satire, but satire giving inspiration for reflection.

16. Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur - strange book, full of magic realism, many different cultural references, in the same time there is something absorbing and rebarbative in it, at this moment I still don't know what to think about it.

17. The Plague by Albert Camus- uffff... it's hard to write something meaningful about this book. It's an specific and bitter read, but it was tiring read. I'm not sure if I liked it much, it was rather ok.

18. Nakręcana dziewczyna / Pompa numer sześć by Paolo Bacigalupi - until now I don't have a big experience with reading SF, fantasy - pretty much, but SF is a new land for me. And even though I'm not a big fan of reading about technologies etc. I liked this book. There is an interesting and multileveled world there, a crazy vision of future (I hope it will never come true!), but dreams of people are still the same, no changes.

19. Ucieczka z Auschwitz by Andriej Pogożew - an interesting read from a new - for me - point of view: Russian soldier of so called "Red Army". A specific way of telling the story, but interesting and at the end - process and visiting Auschwitz again - very touchy.

20. Świat według psa. Opowieść jamnika Bolka by Dorota Sumińska - In English the title would be more less "World by a dog. Story of dachshund Bolek". It's a really nic story about people and animals. The view of the story, the teller is one of the dogs and it's funny, scary, naive, moving. It's a wise story about the relations between people and animals, how we treat them. Probably it'll be read mostly by a dog lovers, but it should be read by the people who don't like and don't respect animals.

21. O psach, kotach i aniołach by Jan Strzałka - "About dogs, cats and angels", collection of interviews, mostly with artists, considering their life shared with animals. A really nice set of conversations - wise, touchy, funny, interesting. It's good to see that at least some people have really good attitude according animals, respect and love them.

* O aniołach by Andrei Plesu - I couldn't read it. I don't know why I've got an idea (based on description) that it will be kind of popular quasi-scientific book for amateurs. But it's a book for specialists or at least people with other mind than mine ;) It's full of philosophy, logic, high level concepts etc.

* Badania terenowe nad ukraińskim seksem by Oksana Zabuzhko - I don't know what is wrong with me today, but I also gave up reading this one ;) I read more less 1/4 of the whole book and can say: it's simply not for me and I don't wanna "waste" my time on reading it. It's not for me on the same level like the most of the modern art is not for me ;p

22. Niepełni by Pawel Pollak - I'm starting February with a strong accent! It has been long time since I was finishing reading a book crying and that's the case. Great plot, strange, unusual characters, a lot of emotions. Even with a small shortcomings I can't rate it differently than the highest grade! I wish you would be able to get it in English, but the chances are basically not existing, because it's an author not really known even here :/

23. Pocałunek Fauna by Iwona Banach - second part of the book saved it from total disaster. While reading the first part I was close to leaving it and finding other book - chaos and very annoying main character. Later it was a bit better, sometimes even quite good, but in general: without delight.
24. Zrób sobie raj by Mariusz Szczygieł - a really well written reportage, I did not know Szczygieł from this site. Fascinating picture of the Czechs, nation so close to the Poles geographically, but apart in "light years" in the case of the lifestyle and believes.

25. Die Judas-Papiere by Rainer M. Schröder (The Judas Papers?) - a really nice, light entertainment. Engrossing adventure book, something in style of group Indiana Jones ;) Cool references for example to Hercule Poirot, vampire Count Dracula.

26. The Alchemaster's Apprentice by Walter Moers - in the case of this author I can't be objective ;) More seriously - I love his creativity, imagination, malleable(?) language - that he is almost painting each scene, his playing with words, creating new words. This book is more gloomy, but still fascinating ;)

27. How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišić - this book gave me a real tangle in my mind! I would never think that such a style of writing will conquer me, I will be thrill to this book. Incredibly written and composed novel about such a hard time. Very well described the realities of the war, horror of this time and a great absurd of this war. For such a young author I think it's a reallllly good novel!

28. Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann - it's ok, but without "fireworks" ;) Quite compelling story about a girl with two forms - a human being and a wolf, that love and forgiveness will defeat all barriers ;)

29. The Alienist by Caleb Carr - an interesting story about crime, human mind, old NYC, relations between people, methods of investigation. Dirt, dangerous city in a rough time, hard characters, society with closed eyes. Not easy, but interesting read.

30. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - wow, I don't know what to say, I have a reaaaaly mixed feelings. It was interesting to see how deeply people can mourn someone, but in the same moment it was though read. And I also have mixed feelings about creating such book, I know she is a writer, but still. It's like shouting publicly deepest thoughts. I need to think over this book to have the final image of my feelings ;)

Agnieszka T. wrote: "30. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - wow, I don't know what to say, I have a reaaaaly mixed feelings. It was interesting to see how deeply people can mourn som..."
Dear Agnieszka,
I had the same response to this book. She's a skilled writer, but it might have been that I would have liked it better as a novel. Grief is so private, or maybe I just think that it should be so private.
I agree, a tough read. - Shell

31. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - it's a pretty good debut of Zafon, you can feel that it's not "smooth", but he is showing an interesting imagination and did played a bit on my feelings. At least enough to keep my interest in the book while travelling in 3 buses and waiting for the forth one ;)

Shell - yeah, exactly like you wrote, maybe if it would be a novel it would be easier to get through. It's so private thing for me that maybe because of that it was hard to understand the way.

* A Good Place to Die by James Buchan - another book which I stop reading after 50 pages. It is boring for me and is not catching my attention, not involving my emotions in the story.

32. Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt - I liked this book more than the first one. Better plot, further development of characters and also better translation. But the ending of "romance" part drive me crazy. That's called ending??

33. Pechowy fart by Andrzej Klawitter - - something like "Unlucky luck" - I really like the plot in this book, it's pretty crazy :D And it's an easy read, entertaining. It would be a good book, if author would use a better language - a lot of really simple sentences, a lot of not needed descriptions and mistakes in sentences which even such a layman like me saw clearly.

34. Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon- surprisingly good and reaaaly addictive. I would even rate it higher, if I wouldn't feel flooded with erotic scenes ;) It could be easy 100 pages less of them ;p

35. Tatami kontra krzesła. O Japończykach i Japonii by Rafał Tomański - (Tatami vs. chairs. About Japanese and Japan) - very well written, incredibly addictive and giving a lot of facts and curiosities in a condensed way. The only thing which I've missed was actually going a bit deeper in some themes. But generally - really interesting book, I've learned a lot new things and more and more I think that even though it's really intriguing culture I could not feel homely and comfortable, I couldn't live there.

36. Come, Tell Me How You Live: an Archaeological Memoir by Agatha Christie - a light story about the part of the life of this author which I did not know before, her travelling around Iraq and Syria with her husband archaeologist, doing archeological researches there. Satire with a bit of kind-hearted smile and emotion, really nice read.

37. Jillian Westfield wyszła za mąż by Scotch Allison Winn - pretty addictive and interesting, but in the same time a bit tiring. The main character is chaotic, she is having eye-openers which would be more suitable for a person a few years younger and this mix resulted a lower note than it could get. And additionally author also gave me a reason for lowering the note creating illogical situations, especially at the end of the book - the main character is running around naked, in shock, then saying bye bye to her husband and waving to him through the window while he is getting into the car where the friend is waiting for him. And she is waving naked... Or maybe it was planned like that, who knows ;)

38. A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France by Georgeanne Brennan - gosh, this woman really know how to describe cooking and eating! During reading this book I was all the time hungry :D Really appetizing descriptions. Only one minus - in the translation into Polish someone put from time to time French words and sentences. Ok, I can understand keeping French names of the food (even if I would prefer to have it translated in footnotes), but putting there whole sentences is strange for me. Ok, sentence "C'est tres bien!" even I can understand, but not all of them were so easy. But in general - nice read :)

39. My Soul to Take by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - good crime story, in general better than first book, the plot was so interesting that for the most of the time I was wondering who was the guilty one ;) I was changing my mind many times! Small details which maybe I could possibly criticize, but in general a good read.

40. Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw - I liked it mostly because of the idea. I know, i know - such plot is nothing unique, there are many like that, but I like the details of the plot :p So, I hope that the author will build well next books and will not fail my thrust.

41. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff - a good historical adventure novel for young people, an interesting plot, also related with the human values, nice read :) Now, I'm curious about the rest of the book, it's good I already have them :)

42. Dłonie by Małgorzata Szymańska-Warda - - bitter story of fate of young artists, story about their entering adulthood, their adolescence, tangle with life. Full of emotions net of relationships. It's giving a lot of questions related with life and people.

43. Firesong by William Nicholson - last book of a trylogy, which (here) is not really promoted and I think it should. Nicholson created a story for young people, which is not full with special effects and pursuits, but is really wise, full of values, references to our daily life and still full of fantasy.

44. Je vous demande le droit de mourir by Vincent Humbert - shocking testimony of a young man, who was "catched" in his body, full of pain and limitations. Incredible account from years of futile fight for improving his health and months of fighting for the right for death.

45. Agamemnon's Daughter: A Novella and Stories by Ismail Kadare - - inner payoff with himself, love, life, system, society. I would like it even more if the style of this book would be different.

46. Jhereg by Steven Brust - honestly: I thought it will be worse, but it was a nice entertiment :) The only thing which was irritating me was too much humor, often added by force. Of course, in general it was cool and funny to have humor in the book, but author did overdo ;)

47. Predikanten by Camilla Läckberg - what a story! Author did a better foul up than in the first book. Now I'm really curious about the other books from this series.

48. Walczymy z bykami by Ewa Kołodziejek - something like: "We're fighting with mistakes" - a good set of small articles related with Polish language written by the specialist. It's good to remind some rules of the mother tongue + read about some issues going on in Polish since some years (like a big influence of English on Polish).