January
For whom the bell tolls- Ernest Hemingway
rating: 2 starsFebruary
Bungo Stray Dogs vol. 14- Kafka Asagiri
Cronicle of a death foretold- Gabriel García Márquez
Metamorphosis- Franz Kafka
The white disease- Karel Čapek
March
The miser- Moliere
Pygmalion- George Bernard Shaw
All quiet on the western front- Erich Maria Remarque
1984- George Orwell
April
Pride and prejudice- Jane Austen
May
Animal farm- George Orwell
No longer human- Osamu Dazai
Romeo and Juliet- William Shakespeare
Těžká hodina (The hard hour)- Jiří Wolker
June
Midnight- Erin Hunter
Fullmetal alchemist 4- Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal alchemist 5- Hiromu Arakawa
Persuation- Jane Austen
Hamlet- William Shakespeare
Moonrise- Erin Hunter
July
A hat full of sky- Terry Pratchett
One of my favourite Discworld books so far. I was in awe of how well it captured the hellscape of being a girl in the 11-14 age bracket. The scene of Tiffany lying on the bed after the first coven meeting was painfully familiar and made me remember how it felt dealing with this stuff at that age, when you just want to fit in somewhere. I swear I had a friend that acted exactly like Anagrama lol.
Keeper of the lost cities-Shannon Messenger
I know I'm not the target audience, but I got it a few years ago and wanted to finally try reading it and not let it sit on my bookshelf unread. Besides, there are middle grade books that are enjoyable to read even for adults. This was unfortunately not one of them. Please excuse my small rant but there was little that I liked about it.
It was very simplistic and shallow even for a book meant for a younger audience. The worldbuilding was quite bland and the constant girl hating, extreme heteronormativity and "not like the other girls" mentality made me want to bang my head against the wall. I don't mind the use of cliches here and there, but I didn't know it was possible to have so many in one book.
Sophie wasn't the worst protagonist I've read about, and there were moments where she really felt like just a 12 year old and I sympathized with her, but still, she's a text book Mary Sue. The way the author constantly had to drive it home how special she is in almost everything got on my nerves and it got to the point where it was just ridiculous. And if I read one more time that her heart "did that stupid fluttery thing" when she's with Fitz, I'm going to get a lobotomy.
As for the other characters, Fitz was kinda bland, he's the stereotypical popular pretty guy that every girl has a crush on and at least in this volume didn't yet get any proper depth. Keefe's at least got daddy issues so there's a potential there to make him a more well-rounded character. Though he is still one big walking cliche, with his "crooked smile" and troublemaker behaviour. "And you said you weren't mysterious~" I have a fully loaded shotgun sir and it's aiming at you. As for Alden, I wanted to murder him with a pipe several times.
August
V pasti pohlaví(In the trap of gender)- Silvie Lauder
A czech non-fiction book about feminism and women's rights in the Czech republic. Most of the things were quite basic ideas of feminism and already known to me, but I really enjoyed the history chapter. It helped explain the current aversion to the word feminism in this country, even though many people do share the thoughts it encompasses. I didn't realize we completely skipped the 2nd wave here. That explains a lot .__. Appreciated the chapter about gender vs sex and the acknowledgement of trans and nonbinary people.
September
Dawn- Erin Hunter
October
One hundred years of solitude- Gabriel García Márquez
I couldn't really figure out what rating to give this one. I'm glad I read it because I'm going to need it as a spanish philologist, but it took me so long to get through. The prose was so dense that a lot of the times one page felt like three. I figured I'm not really keen on multi-generational novels, and here it was worse cause of the constantly repeating names. Although I am a fan of magical realism and I liked a lot of the strange athmosphere.
Also after having read it, my History and culture of Latin America professor pointed out some cool inspirations and references to pre-colombian mythology and worldviews, like the tree , or the cyclical view of history, as well as how it follows the real historical development in the region, so I'm excited to properly discuss it in Latin American lit class.
November
City of ghosts- V.E.Schwab
An okay middle grade book. I'd probably enjoy it better a few years ago when I was younger, but I let it sit on my bookshelf unread for too long.