Tag: tbr list

12 CLASSICS I WANT TO READ IN 2022 |IcthusBookCorner

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If you have been following my blog for a while now, you know I usually make one of these lists every year. The books on this list are the ones I hope to read rather than my top priority for the year. I don’t see them as the books that I have to read because, when it comes to it, I truly am a mood reader, and I have never been able to fully finish one of these lists. As per usual, I will choose books that I already own. This year, I will go for classics, as you might have read in the title (specifically ones that intimidate me, because I probably want to fail). Honestly, I just really love reading classics.

Last year, the list only contained a book that actually intimidated me (one of the two I did not read). Because of that, I have decided to add it to the list again this year, as well as some books that I have acquired more recently (which make me really excited).

So, enough rambling, let us get to the books!

  1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: I got this book soon after reading Anna Karenina, which made me fall in love with Tolstoy’s writing. War and Peace focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 while following three main characters and studying their humanity.
  2. The Leopard (Il gattopardo) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: A lot of friends and people I trust when it comes to books really love this book, so I decided to trust them. The Leopard is a story of a decadent and dying aristocracy threatened by the forces of revolution and democracy.
  3. Man’s Fate (La condition humaine) by André Malraux: A family member with an impeccable taste in literature gifted me this book for Christmas. I am super hyped to read it. This book is an account of a crucial episode in the early days of the Chinese Revolution, foreshadows the contemporary world and brings to life the profound meaning of the revolutionary impulse for the individuals involved.
  4. My Childhood by Maxim Gorky: I shared my adventure of getting this book on my social media recently… it was pretty fun. In short, I went to a second-hand bookshop (Bookshop Bivar) and found a cute vintage edition from 1965 of this book. When I went to pay, the lady at the counter told me Gorky was her favourite Russian writer, and I couldn’t stop gushing because he’s mine too. This is the first volume of a trilogy recounting the author’s childhood and youthful memories. Fatherless, abandoned by his mother, he tells about his unhappy childhood with his grandparents.
  5. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare: There isn’t much to say about this choice. Last year I started to actively read Shakespeare’s plays (having read Hamlet long before), and this is just the continuation. I have no clue what this play is about…
  6. Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Much like A Midsummer Night’s Dream this is just a continuation of what I started last year. I find it difficult to not know what Macbeth is about, but if you don’t know: this play follows the Scottish general Macbeth after being told by three witches that he will be King of Scotland. (If you haven’t, watch the 2021 adaptation with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.)
  7.  The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: I was recommended this book by a friend from uni and bought it right after. I read Heart of a Dog by the same author in 2021 and thought it was just okay, but I have high hopes for this one. This book’s synopsis is literally: “One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka.” Who on earth wouldn’t want to read this?
  8. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.: I just want to read this to get a bigger insight into the civil rights movement in the united states. This is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr.. I believe this is where the quote “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” comes from.
  9. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams: I love plays! They are usually an easy read but no less packed with social commentary. It is supposed to present a sharp critique of how institutions and attitudes of postwar America placed restrictions on women’s lives. Super hyped to read this!
  10. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: I just love Russian classics, in case you could not tell. This is a family tragedy centred around a father and his sons. It is narrated from varying perspectives. The story begins around 1865 when the brothers return to their hometown after many years away from home.
  11. Orlando by Virginia Woolf: I read both A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas and, from where I stand, they are both masterpieces of non-fiction. It is time to read her fiction. The book is about someone that undergoes a mysterious gender change, at the age of 30, and lives on for more than 300 years into modern times without ageing.
  12. Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis: I have never read anything by Machado de Assis and believe that to be a crime. Please, don’t send hate my way. The novel intends to be an autobiography written by the unreliable Bento Santiago, a lawyer from Rio de Janeiro.

That is it! Those are all the books on my list of classics I want to read in 2022! If you liked the list, please let me know. Have you read any of these? Do you have any books you really want to read during 2022? Let me know!

Bye, keep on reading. 

You can find me at:

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How did I do on my 2021 (really small) TBR? | IcthusBookCorner

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Hello fellow humans!

So, in case you didn’t know, in February 2021, I published a post telling you all about the 8 books I really wanted to read that year: 8 Books I Plan on Reading in 2021. I’m here to let you know that I didn’t complete the said TBR list. 

I did, however, read 5 of those books. I reckon that in this case, 62.5% is not that bad. Here is how I rated them all…

  1. Unholy Ghosts by Richard Zimler: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
  2. The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (This was just the perfect read for me.)
  3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
  4. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
  5. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Overall, that is 4 four star ratings and 1 five star ratings.

I obviously read more than 4 books this year, many of which have an available review on my blog. Therefore, I will be posting a *2021 in Books* type of post later this week.

Did you read any of these books? What did you think about them? Are you planning on reading any of these books in the future?

Bye!

You can find me at:

8 Books I Plan on Reading in 2021 | IcthusBookCorner

Published on by icthusbookcorner1 Comment

What is up people?

Today I’m going to talk about eight books I plan to read in 2021. I’m not a tbr list type of person, but this allows me to focus on my reading goals for this year without making me feel restricted. So without further ado, let’s dive into this glorious list.

Unholy Ghosts

I’m going to start this list with a book that will be obvious if you have been following me since I first started this blog and this is Unholy Ghosts by Richard Zimler. This book was first published in 1996, I believe, but was translated into Portuguese last year (2020). Unholy Ghosts is about a man who decides to leave the United States and look for a new life in Portugal when he finds out that his most talented student tests positive for HIV and threatens to take his own life at the age of twenty-four. This pick isn’t a surprise because if you know me you know I love Zimler’s books and I’m sure this one will be just as amazing.

Out of Africa

The second book I want to read is Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). I can once again say that you aren’t new here this won’t be a surprise, you can probably find one of my blog posts from 2017 where I talk about wanting to read this book. It has been on my tbr pile for five years now I can’t keep looking at my shelves and see it there. I don’t really know muck about this book except that Hemingway said it was a good book and here on the blog we believe in Hemingway’s word.

War and Peace

The third book I’m bringing to the table is War and Peace by Tolstoy. I’m a massive fan of Russian classics, even though I haven’t read that many. I loved Anna Karenina, Mother and How Much Land Does a Man Need and loved them with all my heart. If you don’t know what this book is about it focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 while following three main characters and studying their humanity.

The Lower Depths

Continuing with Russian literature we have The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky. Apparently, it is the best known of Maxim Gorky’s plays and since I love Gorky’s work I feel like I must read this play. The theme of this play is the harsh truth versus the comforting lie and that seems really interesting.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The fifth book I plan on reading this year is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. (It’s becoming increasingly obvious that I feel the need to read all the classics.) This book is the tale of a young man who purchases eternal youth at the expense of his soul. It’s the only novel written by Oscar Wilde and it received a lot of backlash from reviewers with it first came out.

Orlando

Next on the list, we have…drum roll, please… Orlando by Virginia Woolf. If you follow me on social media you probably know that I’ve been fangirling Woolf like a crazy person. I read A Room of One’s Own and now I’m reading Three Guineas, from where I stand they are both masterpieces of non-fiction. So my little brain thinks it’s time to try to read her fiction. The book is about someone that undergoes a mysterious change of sex at the age of 30 and lives on for more than 300 years into modern times without ageing.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller

The seventh book is If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. The first time I heard of this book was while watching one of Emma Angeline’s videos on youtube (her channel is amazing, please go check it out). She talked about the book with such enthusiasm that, on that exact moment, I knew I had to read it. It’s about a reader trying to read a book called If on a winter’s night a traveller, emphasis on the TRYING.

Notes from Underground

And finally, the last book on this list is Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky. (Yes, yet another Russian classic. Who knew?) This book presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter and isolated retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg that remains unnamed. I don’t know much more about this book but you know, Russian literature is Russian literature.

And that is my list of books I really want to read in 2021. If you liked the list, please let me know. I’ll make a part two because I could very well go on with this, there are a lot more books I want and plan to read this year. Also, let me know the books you plan on reading in 2021 because I really want to know what you are looking for to read this year.

Bye, bye, bye. Keep on reading!

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Is This a TBR list for 2019?

Published on by icthusbookcorner4 Comments

Hey there, people of the interweb!giphy

I was recently going through the reader tab on WordPress and came across a blog post by Tomes with Tea named How I Pick My TBR 2019 and thought the way she organized her TBR was just amazing. For someone like me, that’s a complete mood reader it’s perfect because I’m still able to pick which book you’d like to read, within a topic, rather than having one already picked out. Amy-Louise said she originally saw this on Codie’s Booktube Channel, be sure to check out both Tomes with Tea as well as Codies’s Book Corner.

I’ve taken most of the genres that Amy-Louise used but not all of them, as well as adding others, here they are:

  1. Author love – A book by an author that I love but haven’t read yet. (probably Zimler or Saramago, let’s be honest for a minute)
  2. Highest rated – The highest rated book that I own. (from my Goodreads)
  3. Lowest rated – The lowest rated book that I own. (from my Goodreads)
  4. Classic – I own loads of unread classics and I love classics, so I have to read them.
  5. Recent purchase – I will pick from the list of books that I have bought in the last 2 months.
  6. Sci-fi – Need I say more?
  7. Treat yo shelf – Buy a new book!!! (it’s happening more than once, let’s be real here)
  8. Short book – A book with less than 200 pages.
  9. Historical fiction – I love it and have tons of Historical fiction books unread waiting to be loved.
  10. 5-star prediction – A book I believe I’ll love.
  11. Poetry – Love it, but haven’t read any in a while.
  12. Non-fiction – I have to catch up on those.
  13. Big book – A book over 500 pages.
  14. TBR vet – A book that has been on my TBR for longer than two years.
  15. Portuguese author– I have got to support the authors from my own country.
  16. eBook – I’m really behind on those.

I’ll write every topic twice on a piece of paper and every month I’ll be picking between 3 and 4 of the cards and then choosing books on my shelves that match with the corresponding categories.

If you liked this idea thank Amy-Louise, thanks to her I found this different way of doing TBR lists. If there is any book within a certain category that you want to recommend go ahead.

Bye, keep on reading!