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#CzechRepublic
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AnishaInkspill
A Hunger Artist | Franz Kafka
Pickpick

A Hunger-Artist: Four Stories

I‘m left speechless, my first response is the four stories that make this mini collection are sad as they are beautiful in how they each show the human condition.

The four stories are: First Sorrow; Little Women; A Hunger-Artist; and Josefine the singer, or the Mouse People

#Fiction #books #readaway2024 #eBook

review
i.z.booknook
Spaceman of Bohemia | Jaroslav Kalfar
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Pickpick

I read this one after watching the new Netflix film adaptation called Spaceman with Adam Sandler. As is usually the case, I thought the book was immensely better and having now read it I think the film missed the key themes of the book. The story follows Jakub, a Czechoslovakian astronaut alone in space, the first to venture out to investigate a strange new gas cloud. He encounters an arachnid on his ship. (Cont. in comments 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻)

i.z.booknook (1) It is never clear whether this is imaginary and a result of his madness alone in space, or if it is real. However, there are some real political themes in the book as Jakub revisits his childhood in a communist and then capitalist country. I found this one of the most interesting aspects of the book as it deals with the immediate aftermath of revolution and a drastic change in values. 2mo
i.z.booknook (2) Without giving too much away, where the film ends is actually only half way through the book and the complex emotions and politics continues into further interesting territory. I really enjoyed reading this book and even though it is a sci-fi book, it was a great look at a country I don‘t really know much about. 2mo
30 likes2 comments
review
IuliaC
Defenestrate | Renee Branum
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Pickpick

An exquisite story about falling and failing in so many ways. Marta is part of a family of Czech descent living in the US. Their family is haunted for generations by a superstition related to defenestration, a deadly fall at a certain point in their life, as if it was written in their genes and as if the fall were calling to be accomplished.

"the two of us poised on a sweet precipice before falling blindly forward into the rest of our lives."

52 likes1 stack add
review
IuliaC
Ignorance: A Novel | Milan Kundera
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Pickpick

This is a very touching depiction of how it feels to be an immigrant returning to your home country 20 or 30 years later. After the fall of communism in 1989 in Europe, Irena returns from Paris to Prague. She and others like her return led by nostalgia, but the ignorance, under all its forms, displayed by their relatives and former friends shows how absence can create a huge chasm between people, with no hope to reconnect with the past.

65 likes2 stack adds
review
Cortg
Spaceman of Bohemia | Jaroslav Kalfar
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Pickpick

This storytelling is very unique which has a lot to do with how much I enjoyed this book. The wording is also quite lyrical. Jakub, a scientist, has a chance of a lifetime to go to space. The story is mostly told in his head as the reader learns about his family, his upbringing, the relationship with his wife, Lenka, and Russian/Czech politics. There‘s also an alien spider friend! The solitariness of Jakub reminds me a bit of Life of Pi.

review
booklover3258
Spaceman of Bohemia | Jaroslav Kalfar
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Bailedbailed

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/WXVgfnhQq3Q

Enjoy!

dabbe #hailthebail! 🤩🤩🤩 8mo
32 likes1 comment
blurb
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
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I didn‘t have time to make a stack this morning so I grabbed these! I LOVE the covers of #Aardvark books! They are so smooth and silky feeling 🧡

#OrangeStack
#AutumnPlease

CBee The Drowning Woman was sooo good! 13mo
Eggs This is perfect 🤩🎃🧡🤗🍁 13mo
62 likes3 comments