100+ Books in 2024 discussion

151/200 - Protiv političke korektnosti by Srećko Horvat (1 star)

Length: 187 pages

Short description: Well, this was a reall piece of garbage. Disgusting book. It's title translates as "Against Political Correctness", but it is all but that. It is one of the most hypocritical and false cases of advertising I've ever seen, because every page of this piece of shit perpetuates political correctness and censorship. Really unbelieveable! And it is sooo ideology-driven it makes you sick. All it really is about is picking the single cases of censorship that happened in Croatian during 90's on the Right, at the same time completely ignoring the same sins of Left in the same period of time. From 2017. perspective this seems particularly delusional and hypocritical - because today right wing censorship in the West practically can't be heard of any more (which is good), but at the same time we are living in a very dark age for free thinking because the Left is thought-policeing everything and everyone via media, people are losing jobs and reputation because wrong opinions, false accusations of political incorrectness, and so on, and it is really really bad. But this book acknowledges none of that. It postulates that (in the 90's and 00's) the Right was a single threat for free thinking and expression. But it doesn't stop on that, oh no. After it postulates that lie, it goes on and on about what needs to be "corrected" in our society at any cost, repeating same lies they are serving us today - in the name of political correctness. It is really the identical narrative. It prescribes what needs to be done, which opinions are not good, what is wrong with people who dissagree with the leftist author, and so on, which is a very direct call for brutal censorship, of course. In the book which dares to call itself "Against political correctness"! It really is just 200 pages of constant ideological demand for political correctness! Lol! Jesus! The title actually has nothing to do with the content altogeather, except that author postulates on 2 or 3 pages that Right wing political correctness is bad because it euphemises all wrongs in our society. By dong the really same thing, author constantly shits in his own ideology-driven censorship-loving mouth during all 200 pages of it, lol. Disgusting book. Throw it in fire if you come across it, because, you know, only books that perpetuate censorship, like this one, deserve to end up in flames, after all.

152/200 - The Mafia Manager : A Guide to the Corporate Machiavelli by V. (4 stars)

Length: 112 pages

Short description: I have very mixed feelings about this strange and fucked up self help book. It's title really said it all. It is a book about how to be a successfull business man by being the most ruthless and selfish bastard you possibly can be. Obviously, this book is harmful, because it perpetuates and encourages the mindset that is to blame for all humanity's problems ever - only success and money matter, nothing else. But, while that message really sucks, it is, at the same time strangely realistic - this self help book doesn't give you all that new age bullshit found in every other self help and bussiness book ever. And if you've come to learn something about the mindset that is needed to reach the real success in today's disgusting world, this is the book for you, definetly, for it will fullful your expectations. You will make a monster out of yourself in the process, but you will definetly become successful by following it's instructions. :/

153/200 - Libra Libera (#20) by Various (3 stars)

Length: 124 pages

Short description: So I've read another issue of this strange and innovative Croatian leftist periodical for cultural theory. This issue was, as always, brilliant in it's concept and design, but somewhat failed in the execution. The main theme of this issue were theoretical analyses on TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is fascinating in it's own. Unfortunately, about half of selected texts are completely useless for they are poisoned to the core with ludicrous, harmful, anti-intellectual and hateful feminist bullshit propaganda. Other half of texts are amusing and interesting at least. Other texts in this issue include stuff about the Church of Flying Shaghetti Monster, which had lots of potentian as an idea again, but at last editors decided just to translate some bullshit about it from Encyclopedia Dramatica and that was it. Further texts include something about necrophilia, a god-awful lesbian comic by Alan Moore, which is so ugly in it's visual aspect and so horribly idiotic in it's scenario that it's not worth mentioning, and for the ending of the issue, there are 2 short stories by a Croatian author Nenad Stipanić, which are really the highlight of the issue, by far. His thug-style hardboiled prose is unique, amusing, engaging, excellently executed... He simply rules, and this is the first time I've ever heard of him.

154/200 - The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus (2 stars)

Length: 148 pages

Short description: This is a summary of Greek mythology, written by some ancient Greek dude. It is supposed to be educational and to give you a proper introduction into that mythology. It failes completely in that. It is so packed with endless parades of names, happenings and info that it is completely impossible to remember any of it after finishing a page. And to make things even worse (although that is logical), it lacks context for it presupposes that you already know something about the matter.

155/200 - Uzorne Priče by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (3 stars)

Length: 135 pages

Short description: Again with the Serbian edition "Reč i misao", which takes the classic collection of short stories, just picks a few from the whole, and present it as a complete book. It is frustrating and confusing. And the translation still sucks. But Cervantes' short stories ARE good. Much of "Spanish spirit" is poured into their core. First one of the 3 presented in this invalid edition is by far the best one, a witty and naughty story about jealousy and lust. Second story is still good, and 3rd completely forgettable.

156/200 - Call for the Dead by John le Carré (4 stars)

Length: 104 pages

Short description: I usually don't have interest in mystery or spy novels. I find them soul-drenchingly boring. But this one was fun. It was engaging, characters were not cardboard cut-outs, at least for most of the time, it was realistic, smart, and the plot itself was interesting enough to make you want to find out what is actually going on.

157/200 - U redu za virtualni kruh by Marina Grzinic (3 stars)

Length: 203 pages

Short description: This theoretical book by Slovenan author deals with the new technologies, media, and their impact on human perception. Well, this book started really really promising, and the part which deals with exactly that - media and perception - was really interesting, useful for my obscure researches and well written. But then, of course, came the poison of feminist cultural theory which absolutely "needed" to be thrown in a mix, so it made the last 1/3 of book useless, rediculous, ideology-driven, subjective and non-scientific. Very stupid move. Also, parts which serve as a sum of some theoretical thought (Baudrilliard, Jameson, etc.) are not necessary and are confusingly written. What a shame. If this book was published in a way that only 1st 3 chapters remain, and 4th, 5th and 6th chapter end up in a trash where they really belong, this could've easily earn 5 stars.

158/200 - A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (5 stars)

Length: 281 pages

Short description: This is a cult classic of SF so I won't spend much time talking about it. It is a futuristic story about drug abuse and the damage it causes. Premise of the story is quite genial - a secret drug agent needs to infiltrate the drug subculture so he starts himself using the perception-distorting and mind-destroying new drug. At the same time, he is helped in his mission by a special suit that completely hides his identity, making him look like as everyone else. This results in his growing insecurities in who he really is, and what around him is real occurence and what a hallucination. That leads to interesting plot twists, and the sense of insecurity in the actual identity of the main protagonist is genially transferred to reader as well, for he starts to doubt everything he has read - from plot twists to real identity of characters. Also, the croatian translation I've read has been done masterfully.

159/200 - Okrutno ljeto by Bernard Jan (4 stars)

Length: 336 pages

Short description: This is a novel by Croatian author that deserves attention, and you can probably read it as well for I think there's an English translation (The Cruel Summer). It is a novel set in near future, and it revolves around the group of young skateboarders. There is a love subplot, SF subplot, detective-story subplot, urban story subplot, etc... What I'm trying to say is that this is a multi-layered novel, with lots of different motives. But, it still is entertaining and easily readable. Main characters are likeable and they feel like real persons, not cardboard puppets. Furthermore, the overall tone is othe one of melancholy, which is well executed for it didn't soar into patheticness. Plot is so constructed that you are presented with the big picture concerning plot, but with some key elements missing, so you gather those missing pieces along the way, which adds to suspence and mystery. Also, there is some pretty solid poetry at the end of the novel. Of course, there are few flaws, but I'm happy to say they are all forgettable and don't ruin your reading experience. First thing that sometimes during the plot bothered me is character's highly urban speech, which is there for a reason of course, but it felt somewhat overdone to me. Second thing is that some minor plots elements felt somewhat unrealistic, for example main protagonist's overly friendly talk with his stepfater after all the horrible things he has done to him. But, as I said, good elements by far shadow the flaws, and I'd recommend you read this, for it will take you to an emotional and imaginative ride through the streets of future NY city.

160/200 - The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge by Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann (2 stars)

Length: 197 pages

Short description: Although this is an interesting subject, and all info presented in this publication is true and worth of attention, I think it was presented rather poorly. The style of writing is so distracting - when it isn't dry as a bone, then it is straying so much from the main point in various analogies that you occasionaly don't know what are you reading about any more.

161/200 - Zagreb 2094 by Various (4 stars)

Length: 130 pages

Short description: Another collection of Croatian SF short stories in the edition of Sfera. This earlier collection seemed to me much better than the more recent ones, because there are far more really enjoyable stories than boring and retarded ones. While in newer Sfera's collections the good/bad story percentage is around 50/50 %, I'd say there's about 75% of good materal in this one. Maybe that's because this collection is much thinner,like the editors were pickier back then, I don't know.

162/200 - The Devil in the Flesh [original title: Le Diable au corps] by Raymond Radiguet (4 stars)

Length: 118 pages

Short story: A love novel done properly! It revolver around 2 young teenagers too immature to know what they are getting theimselves into while violating society's normes in the name of their love. Main character's insecurities and delusions are presented in depth, and it is the most notable element of the book. Also, extra points for not making this love story moralistic or pathetic.

163/200 - Vadisrce [original title: L'Arrache-cœur] by Boris Vian (4 stars)

Length: 167 pages

Short description: This is surely one of the strangest, maybe THE strangest book I've read this year. Imagine some fantasy prose, like the one of Michael Ende, mixed with surrealist prose and raw naturalism - and you'll get this insane novel. It is, I suppose, allegory for parenthood, growing up, and society's flaws and corruption in general. But, what's really suprising is the amount of disgusting, gut wrenching descriptions of ugliness and grotesque sights in this surrealist fantasy plot, presented along with many misantropic viewpoints. Really interesting.

164/200 - The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller (5 stars)

Length: 134 pages

Short description: Damn, this was really, really good. I must admit I'm a sucker for tragic love stories where the main plot point is that 2 lovers who are perfect for each other, but trapped in their own individual fates, meet and recognise themselves as soulmates but manage to be togeather for just a few days before they are separated forever, and after that a memory on that few days haunts them for the rest of their lives. That is why Titanic is my favourite movie of all time, and this is on similar trail, except the tragic love story that lasts only for few days isn't presented as a part of some major, epic event (like in Titanic) but as a part of everyday life, which makes it even more beliveable and devastating in the end.

165/200 - Objašnjenje u istorijskoj lingvistici by Ljubiša Rajić (1 star)

Length: 160 pages

Short description: This book on linguistic theory is really esentially useless, for it is written in such a poor manner, with such a confusing, babbling and brain-clogging style that most of the time you have no idea what have you just read 10 seconds ago. This happens when some highly seated academic alien tries to communicate in human language. He fails miserably. It doesn't even matter are the theories presented in here worth of attention or not - for you won't be able to break through the author's style to reach them at all. It's not that he uses linguistic terminology so much that he makes it unreadable for non-linguists. No. It's really his discourse, his sentence structures and writing style what makes this unusable. I believe a 10 year old could have written more useful linguistic book, lol.

166/200 - Rapsodija u crnom [original title: Words of fire - poems by Jidi Majia] by Jidi Majia (5 stars)

Length: 286 pages

Short description: Wow, this is some good poetry. It is a collection of translated poems by Chinese poet Jidi Majia, who was part of the Chinese etnic minority Nuosu. This poems are exotic, but so universally humane and interwined in everyday lives and experiences that they are perfectly understandable to us on West. Majia is a poet who obssessively writes about the lives of the people of his tribe, about their tradition and living in peace with nature. This poems are quite narrative, but nonetheless they are the peak of purely poetical experience.

167/200 - Visual Culture by Various (2 stars)

Length: 312 pages

Short description: This collection of theoretical works will dissapoint almost everyone - laymen and theorists alike. It was supposed to be a book about visual perception, at least by the title. But it turned out to be book with zero concept. Every text in it was seemingly selected simply because somewhere in the text there is a word "visual" that has been used, regardless of the context. Thus we ended up with the book which theoretical texts have nothing in common. Instead of it being a book about visual perception in general, we got texts that deal with advertizing, journalism, city architecture, pop-art, academical painting, french vagabounds, nacism, television, Foucault, estetics, photography, and so on... I can't imagine any researcher actually profiting from reading this entire book. But, furthermore, it is not just mere concept that sucks - almost all texts in it are pure academical trash which is very elaborately saying almost nothing. Wow.

168/200 - Mexiko: Land links vom Kolibri by Hans Leuenberger (3 stars)

Length: 164 pages

Short description: A traveling novel about Mexico, but primarily about the Indians and Mayans of that country, not so much about Latinos. It is interesting, provides invaluable material for researchers of that culture, and goes "in depth" to present a full picture, but it is sometimes overdone with pushing too many informations and details onto to few pages, which exhausts the reader and kind of ruins the fluidity and transparency of the text.

169/200 - Osnove metodologije i izrada znanstvenog i stručnog rada by Slavko Šimundić (3 stars)

Length: 135 pages

Short description: Although this textbook explains and classifies the theory behind the making of scientific articles, it painfully lacks any practical guidelines for various dillemas that usually occure while we are in the process in writing a serious and professional research paper. It's usefullness as a textbook stops at theory, and that is not enough. And, sometimes the text is over trivial or over complex, although the precise and condensed explanation makes about 70 percent of the entire book, fortunately.

170/200 - A Hero of Our Time [original title: Герой нашего времени] by Mikhail Lermontov (4 stars)

Length: 133 pages

Short description: This is a classic of romantic novelism. I quite liked it, althugh I think the story seriously begins to deteriorate in the last part, when the main character writes a diary about small intrigues and love affairs among the higher class, which seems very pointless and boring, specially when compared to the first 2/3 of the book full of adventurous moments. Besides that, this novel is backed up with great psychological profile of it's characters

171/200 - Dječak pod teretom snova [original title:
L'enfant chargé de songes] by Anne Hébert (5 stars)

Length: 94 pages

Short description: Truly a masterpiece. Truly a classic. It might be one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year. I admit I am a sucker for melancholic novels dealing with never forgotten childhood from which main characters are ripped from as if from womb, and were forcefully made to grow up fast. That are books like the ones of Szuszi Banks, for example. And this one. This one is a spot-on if you like this kind of stuff. Simply great, very atmospheric, melancholic, tragic and psychological.

172/200 - You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier (4 stars)

Length: 185 pages

Short description: This is a book written by the programming veteran who played an incredibly important part on making internet, virtual reality and many more digital concepts. And in this book he offers a sobering view on technology, criticising it mercilessly for becoming something that serves it's own purpose. Some of his main points are that today's digital technology is fossilised in a sence that it functions still on some very primitive and old premises, that it's main purpose is to achieve the state of a "hive mind" where all personality traits of individuals, along with their individual achievements will be mashed into a meaningless mosaic of fragments out of context, and that contributes to our dehumanisation. Really intriguing book, full of fresh ideas, constructive and bold, and hey, it comes from the mind of some of greatest authorities on this field.

173/200 - Problem promatrača by Antonio Šiber (3 stars)

Length: 149 pages

Short description: A truly unique book. It is a SF novel written by some Croatian scientist. It is a Science Fiction that is much more Science than Fiction, if you know what I mean. It mainly deals with the theme of creating an artificial intelligence. Then it soars into the depths of scientific theories mashed togeather with deep philosophical essays which mainly revolve around the purpose of existence and the concept of "being a person", and what that actually means. Unfortunatelly, there is a painful flaw in this otherwise very intrigueing novel - character personalities are deader than a rock.

174/200 - Pensées by Blaise Pascal (2 stars)

Length: 351 pages

Short description: I didn't know much at all about Pascal bevore I read this. I've heard about his influence, but I always supposed, I guess, that he was a philosopher and an intellectual of old. He was not. At least in this book, there's hardly any "real" philosophy at all. Instead, this is a theological book. It aged really badly, by my opinion. There are theological books that have some sense even today, for example if a theological book explores subjects like morality, etics, tradition, history of sacred texts, legends, and so on - it could be useful for sure, for believers and nonbelivers of today alike. But one of the sole purposes of Pascal's book over here is to prove the existence of god and the factuality of The Bible. How did that end up, you can probably guess. His logical thinking is just pure logica paradoxes, make beliefs, and metaphisical babbling. And his writing style is awfully boring, which doesn't help at all. Oh, and did I also say that this book is fragmented and unfinished as hell?

175/200 - Rasute priče [a selection of works] by Elena Guro (4 stars)

Length: 90 pages

Short descriptions: This was... refreshing. It is a selection of translated works by this Russian writer, I've never heard of before, but I should've, because she has a masterfully imaginative and playful writing style. Her works presented in this selection can be described as a poetry in prose for sure. Some of her texts are urban, but most of them are deeply contemplative, fairytale-like, surreal. Her prose is like a stroll in the woods on Saturday morning.

176/200 - Tumačenje snova II; O snu36622584] by Sigmund Freud (3 stars)

Length: 311 pages

Short description: In Serbian edition, this is a second half of Freud's famous work on dreams. It is accompanied by a shorter essay Uber den Traum which is like a summary of the main book. What I said about the 1st book can be said about the second, too (essentially they are one book, I am just treating them as 2 separate books out of my own convinience and because they are really long enough for that, and because I've read them separately). Freud's thesises and theories were revolutionary in his times. But the book didn't age well, and there are some problems incorporated in it's core. His descriptions of his theories and dream examples are confusing and dry, and his dreams analysises presented in this book are so subjective that they are obvious make-believes. I'm not saying his theories are false, in fact they are up to today misinterpreted and trivialised, but what I'm saying is that he was trying to hard to prove them with factual evidence, and he constructed such rediculous analysises in here that they harm believeability of the book as a whole. Out of the desire to prove himself, he failed to follow his own theoretical guidelines about respecting the individual and personal context of dreams presented.

177/200 - Kako da govorimo o knjigama koje nismo pročitali? [original title: Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a lus?] by Pierre Bayard (1 star)

Length: 147 pages

Short description: This books is like an one-time joke, a deceit. It is a book about unnecesity of reading books and how to get away with not reading even if you are college professor. But, it is conceptualised and executed so poorly that it fails as a joke, it fails as a self help book, and it fails as a theoretical piece. It fails on all fronts, and it is a perfect example of postmodernist degeneracy and regressiveness. It suggests that it is unnecessary to even try to read any books because you'll never read them all, so you shouldn't even begin to read (??) Instead of that, it implies that it is much more usefull to just have fragments of knowledge on as many books as possible, which perfectly illustrates the postmodernist tendency to fragment every knowledge and de-contextualise it. Author is, saddest of all, a fucking professor, and he is proud of how much books he didn't read, and he is still teaching about them the future generations. Unbelieveable. There is no indication whatsoever that this so called professor understands at all that reading has other functions except social ones - he simply thinks that reading is a matter of social status, so it is ok to fake it. Cognitive development and enriching your inner life, developing yourself as a wholesome being - all that crap be damned, he says! The most important thing is to convince people that you've read many books, while at the same time reading as little as possible. Not to mention that he completely fails to give instructions on how to disscuss books you haven't read with people that have read them. Completely. And that is in the title of a book, lol. Obviously, all that non-reading did him well, because he can't write or be coherent for shit. My recommendation: dispose this piece of garbage as soon as you can.

178/200 - Punomasni anđeo by Franjo Nagulov (4 stars)

Length: 211 pages

Short description: An interesting take on so called Jeans Prose. This novel revolves around fat loser who fails on all fronts, self loathes and is generally miserable. Pretty straightforward, and there's not much of a plot. But, it is an entertanining, reletable and easy read. Sure, sometimes it gets extremely repetitive, but since it tries to picturize the repetitive and meaningless existence, I can't really count that as a flaw, but rather author's consistency.

179/200 - Buddhist Logic, Vol 1 by Theodore Stcherbatsky (5 stars)

Length: 535 pages

Short description: This monster of a book is a work of an extremely, unbelieveably elloquent and educated man. It deals with an extremely complicated subjects of buddhist logic and it's philosophy in general. As if that wasn't a subject broad, vast and hard enough, the author comparatively describes all the most important philosophical systems of Indian classic period, and goes in depth to describe and compare their relations to one another and to buddhist philosophy. Furthermore. logic theory of all this schools is studied and in detail. And if that still wasn't impressive enough (it is, btw), author compares those Indian schools of thought to most prominent Western logicians and philosophers. Mindblowing! Don't get fooled, this is an extremely demanding read, and you probably want nothing to do with it if you don't already have an above average knowledge on Eastern and Western philosophy. But, concerning the subject it struggles with, I believe the matter was presented in the best possible way, in order to stay extremely detailed but on point. Wow. And that's only the first volume!

180/200 - Oči od žada by Sonja Gosarić ( 5 stars)

Length: 117 pages

Short description: One of the better collections of love poetry I've read in a while. All the poems are short, use strong, intense imagery, wild metaphors, are reletable, easy to mentally grasp and process, and they feel honest. Author was able to find some kind of an universal appeal, and not to sound washed up and trivial at the same time. Love is presented in almost metaphysical context, but it is still very sensual. Interesting.

181/200 - Psi u trgovištu by Ivan Aralica (3 stars)

Length: 341 pages

Short description: This is a pseudo-historical novel that combines 3 almost unrelated plot lines. It deals with Suleiman The Magnificent, his sons Mustapha and Jahangir, and with Croatian author Antun Vrančić. Well, while most of it was actually a pretty solid writing (characters are magnificently portrayed from the inside, the world seems real and immersive), I also failed to see the overall point. I understand that it might be some sort of allegory of more present times, but work seems scattered, like 3 different books stalped togeather, and each one of them just narrates for the sake of narration, for there is no some kind of solid plot or point of it all. And the last, 3rd part seems weakest in execution, I wass struggling to keep attention at that point.

182/200 - Zemaljski san [original title: The Terrestrial Fancy] by David Case (2 stars)

Length: 128 pages

Short description: I really don't enjoy giving lousy scores, because I want all books in my life to be good. But god damn, some books are straight up mess. This one, for example, is a pulp SF novel (although the "science" part of SF is not present at all except in the form of confused robot and the time the plot develops in. It looks like this story was made for someone's Dungeons & Dragons play session, because it is so blank and rushed that there's barely any substance in it whatsoever. Plot is lousy and rediculous, characters are completely lacking depth and personality, twists are predictable and cliche, just like characters motivations, and overal idea is simply stupid. On a few pages it kind of grows into a bearably amusing pulp fiction, but those bits of the novel are very, very rare.

183/200 - Hakerska etika i duh informacijskog doba [original title: The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age] by Pekka Himanen (1 star)

Length: 151 pages

Short description: Wow, this book sucks so hard and is a complete fraud. It has a shameless selling title that suggests that you'll learn something about lives and mindsets of professiona hackers. That is not the case at all. This book is not about hackers at all, for it proposes the definition that suggests that any person who is expert in some field of human activities, passionate and anti capitalist - is in fact a hacker. Complete fraud, shameless false advertising! You literally learn more about the life in fucking convents than about computer hackers in this piece of garbage! Literally! And the writing style is soulcrushingly boring, unimaginative, subjective and the overall product is a universally useless book.

184/200 - Śrī Īśopaniṣad by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda (1 star)

Length: 87 pages

Short description: Everything I had written about the other Prabhupada's book Life comes from life at the beggining of this year is appliable to this one. It is a dreadfully idiotic book. Not the Isopanishada itself, mind you, for Upanishads are one of the most prominent and most important creations of early human intellect. No, I'm talking about this "explanation" of Isopanishada, written by a cultist and a fraud Prabhupada, the founder of the cult Hare Krishna. Book is deliberatly anti-intellectual, anti-scientific (although it presents itself as the science of the highest order, lol), it is really badly written, the approach to learning laymen on this topics is beyond bad for it uses tons of sanskrit words in the explanations themselves, and Prabuphada goes even further, deliberately fabricating the meaning of the original text for the goals of his cult (I'll give just one explanation to that, but there are many more - he translates Agni as Krishna, and anyone knowing anything about Upanishads and Vedas knows what kind of idiotic nonsence that really is). No wonder this particular Prabhupada's publication contains rants against professional indologists - at this point he probably sensed they figured out his frauds and shameless fabrications. In short, this is not the wisdom of the highest order, but the garbage of highest order.

185/200 - Rječnik stilskih figura by Krešimir Bagić (4 stars)

Length: 299 pages

Short description: This is a "dictionary" of stylistic devices in Croatian language. As a project it turned out rather well, and is extremely usefull academic tool for anyone wanting to learn more on this topic. Explanations of every stylistic figure go in depth, cover all main definitions and meanings, a re perfectly explained and illustrated, and parralels are drawn to various stylistic devices in non-language art. But, there is a flaw - author's insistance on greek and latin names of the figures instead of applying the existent or inventing the unexistent nomenclature makes this a considerably less useful learning tool. You just can't differentiate and memorize all that, so you are doomed to look for explanations of stylistic figures of speech one at a time, when you need them.

186/200 - O POREKLU I PRIRODI LEPOG by Denis Diderot (3 stars)

Length: 138 pages

Short description: An interesting collection of essays in which this famous author begins with explaining his views on estetics in gemeral, and then he hops on the topis of writing and more specifically, writing in the poetic dramaturgy, but his advices are universally interesting and useful (most of them, at least) for every aspiring author. Writing style is expectedly dry and that is a main flaw of this potentially interesting read.

187/200 - 1Q84: Book 1 by Haruki Murakami (4 stars)

Length: 332 pages

Short description: This is the 1st book of 1Q84 trilogy which I'm finally reading. And although this book is in fact good, I must say that it becomes very evident that Murakami is running out of new ideas, for this book contains multiple plot elements that are present in his other works. So, again, we have a misterious girl who suddenly vanishes (happened in at least 3 or 4 of his other novels Sputnik, Norvegian wood, Bird... at least I think it happened in all of them), a parralel realities and seemingly 2 independent plotlines that begin to slowly interwine (as in Hardboiled wonderland), ear obssession, handicaps of main protagonists (some kind of dyslexia), surreal paranormal shit (as in Kafka on the shore), and stuff like that. It is kind of a mix between Wind up bird cronicles and Hardboiled wonderland. Characters are interesting, but not the most engaging Murakami's characters by a long shot. They are hard to understand and sometimes do or say stuff that makes no sense, and not by author's intention. But it's still very engaging, mostly because of the effect of gradual interwining of 2 seemingly unrelated storylines.

188/200 - J'irai cracher sur vos tombes by Boris Vian (4 stars)

Length: 146 pages

Short description: A very strange book, but hey, it's Vian, that's why I took it. Also, differs from some of his other works greatly. It is deliberately written as trahsy pulp novel. It is about a dude with black roots who wants to avenge his black family that was killed or something, but he himself doesn't look black at all (?) so he manages to infiltrate elite white society in order to do his revenge. Book is vulgar, drinking and fucking on most of those pages, and if it weren't the bloody finale, it'd be entertaining beat-like Henry miller and Bukowsky toned trashy entertainment. Interesting.

189/200 - 1Q84 BOOK 2 by Haruki Murakami

Length: 290 pages

Short description: This second part of the trilogy is where surreal stuff we came in for really starts happening faster and faster, so compared to it, 1st part seems kind of like very, very long introduction. Still, here, there is absolutely zero answers to all that insanity, and knowing Murakami, I bet my ass he ain't gonna even try to explain any of it in the final book. This one even contains a rant about not giving answers while finishing book not being eqal to lazy writing. But, it really is, especially in Murakami's case. His book finales are incredibly lazy. And this book is good so far, but I bet he's going fuck it up again with giving us exactly 0 answers in the next one. We'll see.

190/200 - The Running Man by Richard Bachman (Stephen King) ( 5 stars)

Length: 264 pages

Length: This is another book written by Stephen King as Richard Bachman, and to me, this is where he really went furthest from his recognisable style, still managing to produce an excellent book. This book is all about unbearable suspense and fast paced action, instead of King's usual lenghty retrospections which are so characteristic of his style and which are present in his other Bachman books, to some extent. Plot is brutal, futuristic, gut wrenching and exciting. I tried to write a similar book 2 years back without knowing of this one, and now I've read it, god damn, my shit has not even the 1/100 of suspence, realism and emersiveness as Kings. He is indeed the ultimate Wordslinger.

191/200 - A Dreamer's Tales by Lord Dunsany ( 1 star)

Length: 208 pages

Short description: To me, this was pure torture. I can't imagine someone enjoying this, for it is just an endless parade of meaningless made-up names without any context or background. Wtiting style is dreadfully empty and disengaging and plain boring, and that is about the worst thing you can say about a book of fantasy tales. Jesus.

192/200 - Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje (4 stars)

Length: 110 pages

Short description: A really interesting experimental novel about a black jazz musician who greatly influenced the making of jazz music but went insane while playing and died in his thirties. The book is fragmented, with multiple viewing angles, spontanety and explosive metaphores. It really reminds on some of Kerouac's spontaineous prose, whith the possibility of being better than majority of Kerouac's novels.

193/200 - U Žrvnju [original title: Unterm Rad] by Hermann Hesse (5 stars)

Length: 197 pages

Short description: I think this is one of lesser known Hesse's books, and I really thought I'd not like it, because I really disliked some of his novels in the past. But this was spot on, a kind of book I'm constantly in the search for. It is semi-autobiographical, and revolves around the childhood of a prodigy kid in the small village. His community wants to exploit the genious for building a name for themselves, driving him crazy and making him study untill exhaustion. Afterwards, he goes to study in a convent and that part of the book is the best - it reminds me a lot of the atmosphere from Harry Potter minus the magic garbage. It tells the story of friendships, tragedies, life in a convent, clashes with proffesors, rebellion and stuff like that. Ending of the book is kind of expected, but that isn't the problem at all, for this kind of stuff is to be read because of it's atmosphere.

194/200 - The Stand (complete and uncut edition) by Stephen King (5 stars)

Length: 1418 pages

Short description: You know how it is said that writers are building whole worlds with the power of their imagination? That is the literal case of The Stand, which is by far the longest book I've read this year. It is monumental, and words always fail me when I try to describe what I think of Kings most ambitious novels. It goes in such brilliant and unique details to flesh out the characters. King is the master of characterisation, period. And this book features Randall Flagg, one of the best villains ever, who plays the important role in Dark Tower series as well. Story is very ambitious, but incredibly immersive. I've never seen an imaginary postapocalyptic wasteland so full of life as this one. This is a must read for everyone. King is without doubt the best living writer in the world. He is not just best horror or fiction writer, hell no! His books are real art, just like all the classics. His novels are deep and meaningful, and crafted with absolute mastery.

195/200 - Golicave priče [original title: Contes drolatiques] by Honoré de Balzac (2 stars)

Length: 184 pages

Short description: When the collection of erotic stories bores you to death, you know it is simply not good. I don't care it's Balzac. Some erotic writers from the past are perfectly readable and enjoyable even today. Balzac is definetly not the one of them. This book is so dry, so meaningless, with unimportant and forgettable characters which are described in painful details, and you simply don't care. Plots are predictable and forgettable the second you finish the story. Skip this and spare yourself a headache.

196/200 - Brdo by Ivica Prtenjača (3 stars)

Length: 112 pages

Short description: If I were competing for the best Croatian novel of 2014. I'd be fucking furious. Why? Because this novel won, and it is an incredibly mediocre and meaningless novel. But it is not the surprize that Croatian publishing scene is corrupt and rotten to the core, everyone knows it - it only matters who your friends and collaborators are. If you have connections, books and prizes are gonna rain on your sorry ass. And it is obvious that the author of this "best book of the year" has many friends. Novel is essentially about being in a house on top of the hill for 3 months. Nothing happens. And the main character has really nothing much to say. No meaningfull insights in the wilderness - he talks about eating and walking around. Also, I understand that this book was falsely advertised. Author was claiming that he retreated to wilderness like a fucking monk, but in fact he just went on 3 months vacation on an island, lol. Furthermore, you can sense the tone of falseness in this book - whole the time writer talks about how he can not stand the literary industry and people in general, but he is so obviously rolling in that mud puddle with great pleasure. He describes his vacation on top of the hill as rebellious and increadibly brave act, and you can't do otherwise but laugh while reading it. Make no mistake, he knows how to write. Writing style of this book is very decent. But it doesn't change the fact that it's meaningless, unimaginative and overproduced story that was the result of it. And then authors like this one gather around annualy and whine about people in Croatia reading lesser and lesser. If they started to publish the books with actual value, and not exclusively publish new books because the name on their covers, situation would change drastically, of course.

197/200 - La Mort Volontaire Au Japon by Maurice Pinguet (3 stars)

Length: 278 pages

Short description: A book which deals with interesting subject - voluntary death in Japanese culture - but which is unfortunately presented in a wrong way. Writing style is extremely dry, and author is just throwing names of various famous Japanese people in your face like you are supposed to know everything about them, without much explanation, leaving you frustrated and confused. Fortunately, the main subject is interesting enough and presented objectively enough to not be a complete waste of time. The most interesting part is about kamikase phenomenon.

198/200 - Eseji II: Filozofijsko-kulturološki uvidi; Misao Istoka by Tin Ujević (3 stars)

Length: 356 pages

Short description: Ujević is one of the few modern Croatian writers, along with, for example Krleža and Matoš, who deserves the title of a "renaissance man". His knowledge is deep and interests without boundaries. This book of essays proves it - in it he deals with topics such as cultural anthropology, comparative religion, philosophy, history, indology, philology, eastern studies, and so on. The only thing is, this valuable insights are not meant to be of use to common people. Knowledge accumulated in them presupposes that you are already familliar with all the mentioned topics, above averagely, and that no introductory explanations are needed. Therefore people who know nothing or almost nothing of Indian religions, won't profit much off this book, and that is a shame.

199/200 - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (3 stars)

Length: 186 pages

Short description: I must admit this is somewhat different than what you'd usually expect of a Poe book. It feels more like morbid version of Jules Verne's novels. It is about a sea travel which goes horribly wrong, and I find it much better than usual Poe prose, which is dry, slow and over intellectual. This is written in a manner of a pure adventure-novel, and it's oozing with unbearable suspense, claustrophobia and dread. Unfortunately, completely lazy ending and long-ass parts dealing with the sea coordination greatly ruin the otherwise great experience.

200/200 - 1Q84 BOOK 3 by Haruki Murakami (3 stars)

Length: 335 pages

Short description: I knew it! He ruined it again! Murakami is an extremely lazy writer who has the talent for producing surreal atmosphere and interesting characters, but when it comes to finishing his books, he, simply put, sucks. No explanations as usual. Several storylines are here even left completely unfinished, like cut off with sissors. What a clumsy, lazy way to finish an almost 1000 pages long trilogy, Jesus Christ! And to think this is praised as one of the best novels he's ever written! Lol! Maybe the most pretentious one, I'd give him that.