A Midsummer Night's Read

Oh wow what a long hiatus.

I have enough excuses, but honestly... they don’t really matter. I just had some stuff to sort out.

Anyways, today I finished reading “Pillow Thoughts”. I was really enthusiastic in the beginning, but people kept ruining for me as soon as they saw the book. Kind of reminded me of “The Fault in Our Stars”, which I used to like, but then it got hyped to death and I started to dislike the book (and John Green’s style). So after people started hyping “Pillow Thoughts” in my presence, I wasn’t really able to enjoy the book anymore, but I did find some poems more interesting than others.

Final verdict: Yeah, why not. But can do without.

And another one! This time I got “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes. I’ve seen the movie, and I liked the story, so this should be a piece of cake.

And another one!

After a sunny vacation, some late-night parties, and a trip to Italy, I finished reading “Think Like a Freak”. The book is written in a typical Dubner/Levitt style, which I have learned to know and love. The story that will always stick with me is how a man was able to stuff themselves with 50+ hot dogs just after a couple of months of practice. Now that’s what I call dedication...

Final verdict: Fun, interesting and weird! 

Also, I will be posting my next book soon. Hint: It will get romantic in here... (And yes, I’m still not finished with Peppernell)

See you then! Kally

I’m back from my vacation!

After four (hot) days in Locarno, I have gained about 30 mosquito bites and absolutely no tan lines. Nevertheless, I chose my next book to read and the choice could not have been more perfect. What could complement a non-fiction book about economics more than poetry? The book I’m now reading next to “Think Like a Freak” is “Pillow Thoughts” by Courtney Peppernell.

I have relatively high hopes for this book: The second I posted a picture of it on my Insta story, people started DM’ing me, telling me that it is “so good”. I actually do not like to receive comments like that... It feels like I’m then prejudiced and I forced to like the book. 

Anyways. I’m enjoying both books so far. If you’re interested in my progress, you can check out my Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/44588967-kally-k-nnap

Until next time!

Here we go again! As I was reaching for the post-it for my next book, I prayed: “Please let it be in English, please please please, let it be in English!!!” And surprisingly, it worked!

The next book in my reading challenge is “Think Like a Freak” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I bought this on a whim after recognising that the book is written by the two, who published “Freakonomics” quite a while ago. I loved reading “Freakonomics”, so I am going into this with hope and a bunch of motivation! I will probably not need much time to read this book, so I will probably see you in a few days (Let’s hope I didn’t just jinx it). 

Also, I am going on vacation this week to the southern part of Switzerland, so I will be choosing my next book before I go, which might be before I finish “Think Like a Freak”. I can’t imagine sitting in the sun without a book to read.

Hi! 

After some time, I have finally finished reading “Jugend ohne Gott”. All it took was a cup of tea on the balcony and a cool summer morning.

In the beginning, I really didn’t think I’d like the book, because it is in German. I absolutely detest reading books in German, which is a side effect of being forced to read Goethe over and over and over again in grammar school (To those who aren’t familiar with German literature: Goethe is basically the German Shakespeare; You have to know him because he’s like ‘such a genius’). But all in all, I really enjoyed reading it, it has short manageable chapters and it isn’t written in an overly complex, literary masterpiece way, which makes it just so much better to read. 

Final verdict: Pretty damn good.

But this is just my opinion. Have you ever read “Jugend ohne Gott” and what did you think of it?

Until next time! Kally

Hi again!

Ughhhh... My exams are now officially, over. They have been for a whole week now, but I needed some time to rest and refocus. And: I passed all of my English exams!!! Reading has been going moderately well, but considering that I have literally *nothing else* to do, I should be doing much better from now on.

On that note, I’m still reading “Jugend ohne Gott” and I am pleasantly surprised. I reaaaaally hate reading books in German, but for this one, I really don’t mind. The story is quite interesting and the chapters relatively short. I like it.

Until next time! (Hopefully with a final review and not another status update)

Hi there!

This morning my mom picked a book for me from the tombola tickets! Thus, my next book is Jugend ohne Gott by Ödön von Horváth. I am a bit afraid, as I haven’t read ANY German literature for pleasure other than “Die Welle”. I’m not really a fan of the German language or the literature (please don’t kill me). I’ll try to stay objective and power through!

Any opinions, comments, or guesses can still be submitted to my ask box. Reminder: if you’d like to enter for the giveaway (see first post), submit your guess for the number of books you think I’ll read this summer in my ask box (until the end of June, or maybe July if I’m feeling generous).

Love always,

Kally

Hello again!

Although the book challenge has not (officially) started yet, I have already started on finishing the books I currently have lying around. The first being “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson. I found this book in the bookshop after my English seminar, and I just thought it looked cool. Also, as it is now June and thus Pride month, I thought this book would be good to start off the challenge with.

The book itself is very informative, and it gives you A LOT of basic information on anything LGBTQ*. Most of these things I already knew, but then again, I am quite informed about anything LGBTQ*-related. If you don’t know that much about queer stuff but are eager to learn, buy this book! It’s a pretty good starting point. The only minor thing I didn’t like was the slight focus on gay men, even though I can understand the shift... The author lived as a gay man for maaaaaaaaaany years.

Final verdict:  Pretty good, not a favorite, but definitely a good read.

Until next time! Kally

Hi there,

My name is Kally, I major in English at the University of Zurich and I plan on becoming an avid reader.

During my first year of Literary studies, I had the pleasure of reading many great literary works, which included Macbeth, Frankenstein,  A Far Cry from Africa and A Midsummer Night’s dream, amongst many others. The first seminar started off with introductions; mine being: “Hi, I’m Kally, I minor in Communications and I don’t really like literature, but my favourite book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”  

Now, that utterance has changed into a game of “Two Lies and a Truth”. As of February 2019, I proudly minor in Film studies, and literature? We haven’t become best friends quite yet, but we’re working on it.

This is the reason why I am now taking on this reading challenge: I have bought myself 30 books over the past couple of years, which have been gathering dust on my bookshelves. I cannot explain my consumerist behaviour, but I have now decided to take action. During the summer of 2019, I intend to read as many books as humanly possible, whilst attempting to review them on this blog. For this, I have prepped 30 small tombola-inspired “tickets”, which I will be opening one after the other, as I power through this reading challenge. The reading will start in the middle of June after I have finished all of my exams and the deadline will be on the 16th of September, aka the first day back to Uni.

And now to the giveaway part of this: I want you to guess how many books I will read in three months. The person closest to the actual number will get the chance to win my favourite book from this reading challenge (You’ll have to post it into my ask-box before the end of June!). I will mail it to you, wherever you live.

As to you, my dear reader: What do you think? What are you going to accomplish this summer? What have you been postponing? Let me know.

Thank you for reading, Wish me luck!

Kally