What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 110

After reading the first book in the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie I was wondering when will the second book be translated in Slovene, since the first was published in 2017, but the book is far from new, being published in 2006, the second in the trilogy was published in 2007, so I was expecting it to be translated quite soon. And I was right, here it is right from the printers. 

What we are dealing whit in the second book Before They Are Hanged? Bitter and merciless war is coming to the frozen north. It's bloody and dangerous and the Union army, split by politics and hamstrung by incompetence, is utterly unprepared for the slaughter that's coming. Lacking experience, training, and in some cases even weapons the army is scarcely equipped to repel Bethod's scouts, let alone the cream of his forces. 

In the heat-ravaged south the Gurkish are massing to assault the city of Dagoska, defended by Inquisitor Glokta. The city is braced for the inevitable defeat and massacre to come, preparations are made to make the Gurkish pay for every inch of land ... but a plot is festering to hand the city to its besiegers without a fight, and the previous Inquisitor of Dagoska vanished without trace. Threatened from within and without the city, Glokta needs answers, and he needs them soon. 

And to the east a small band of malefactors travel to the edge of the world to reclaim a device from history - a Seed, hidden for generations - with tremendous destructive potential. A device which could put a end to war, to the army of Eaters in the South, to the invasion of Shanka from the North - but only if it can be found, and only if its power can be controlled. 

Now I can't wait for the final part of the trilogy. Hope it will be translated and published soon. 

The nail polish is from H&M, before they revamped their beauty line. It's called Pink Macaroon and it's a baby pink, application was ok, although some brush strokes are visible. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 63

Baby Max is the perfect prototype of the Nazi eugenics programme Lebensborn; he is the ideal size, he has the correct colour hair and flawless blue eyes. Raised in an ideology driven by hatred and ruled by fear, Max is taught to endure pain and be brave at all costs. But as he is drawn further into the horror of war, Max must fight to untangle the truth from the lie.

Sarah Cohen-Scali brings the details of the Lebensborn program to light in this haunting and heart breaking novel.

A quick and short history lesson: Lebensborn was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the goal of raising the birth rate of "Aryan" children of persons classified as "racially pure and healthy" based on Nazi racial hygiene and health ideology. Lebensborn provided welfare to its mostly unmarried mothers, encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women at their maternity homes, and mediated adoption of these children by likewise "racially pure and healthy" parents, particularly SS members and their families. 

Nail polish is from H&M and as you can see from the bottle of it, is no longer available. The name is U Must Have This. The polish dries to a satin finish so I prefer it with a shiny top coat. The colour is nice, a bright blue that is very noticeable on the nails.

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 50

I put the book The Awakening of Miss Prim (original title El despertar de la Senorita Prim) on my reading list after reading the back cover. But while reading it I had a constant thought in my mind. The thought was What is this and do I need to read it? But I stick to it, because I rarely don't read the books till the end and also because it was on my reading list. If it wasn't maybe I wouldn’t read it.

In The Awakening of Miss Prim a young woman leaves everything behind to work as a librarian in a remote French village, where she finds her outlook on life and love challenged in every way. Prudencia Prim is a young woman of intelligence and achievement, with a deep knowledge of literature and several letters after her name. But when she accepts the post of private librarian in the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, she is unprepared for what she encounters there. Her employer, a book-loving intellectual, is dashing yet contrarian, always ready with a critique of her cherished Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. The neighbours, too, are capable of charm and eccentricity in equal measure, determined as they are to preserve their singular little community from the modern world outside. Prudencia hoped for friendship in San Ireneo but she didn't suspect that she might find love nor that the course of her new life would run quite so rocky or would offer challenge and heartache as well as joy, discovery, and fireside debate.

You see, the description is so nice, that I thought I will love the book, but no, I didn't. I have a few problems with it. First, when is the story happening? There are computers, and cars (no sign of mobile phones tho) but the protagonist talks like she just came out from Jane Austen novel. I mean, who talks like this nowadays? Miss Prim constantly uses words like sensitiveness, virtue (might be just the Slovene translation, but we don't use words like this anymore in everyday conversations). Then she is offended by everything, she is always lifting her nose. In one of the conversation with her boss she makes a remark about the prettiness of a woman. The boss says that the woman is indeed pretty, and then she is offended, because, which man compliments another woman when he is in company of another woman. I mean, really?

Second, there we have the idyllic village of San Ireneo de Arnois where everyone can make a living just by their hobbies. All the people there left their old lives to pursue happiness without the stress of everyday lives. Well I think to myself, they must've had pretty good paying jobs to afford such luxuries. So if I sum up, I'm pretty disappointed with this book. 

The nail polish is from H&M with the name Blue My Mind. I don't think you can still get it. The formula is ok, the brush is average, but good enough for decent application. The colour is the best thing about it, I must say that it was hard to photograph because the colour in real life is darker. 

Here is another photo, it's blurry, but here you can see the true colour of the nail polish.

Have a nice day :)

What I'm reading + NOTD pt.16

With this weather it's not unusual that this is the third book post in a row. When it's raining and it's foggy outside what is there to do than read? 

This time the young adult novel A Swift Pure  Cry brought me to Ireland in year 1984. After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. She must also deal with school, friendship and first love. At top of that Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again. This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality it will move the hearts of any who read it.

Here I would like to write some things about the author because she was not just the writer, but also an activist and helped the children in need. In 1984, she joined the writer's organisation International PEN, initially as a researcher for its Writers in Prison Committee and later as Program Director of PEN American Center's Freedom-to-Write Committee in New York City. Her work there included founding and leading the Rushdie Defense Committee (USA) and travelling to Indonesia andGuatemala to investigate local human rights conditions for writers. During her seven-year stay in New York, Dowd was named one of the "top 100 Irish-Americans" by Irish-America Magazine and Aer Lingus for her global anti-censorship work.

On her return to the UK, Dowd co-founded, with Rachel Billington, English PEN's readers and writers program. The program takes authors into schools in socially deprived areas, as well as prisons, young offender's institutions and community projects. During 2004, Dowd served as Deputy Commissioner for Children's Rights in Oxfordshire, working with local government to ensure that statutory services affecting children's lives conform with UN protocols.

Before her death from a severe case of breast cancer, the Siobhan Dowd Trust, a registered charity, was established, wherein the proceeds from her literary work will be used to assist disadvantage children with their reading skills. If you'd like to learn more about the Trust click here. 

After reading all of this it seems a little bit shallow to talk about the nail polish, but since this is now a regular category on my blog, here you go. The nail polish is from H&M with the name Lady Luck. It is a duochrome that shifts from green to blue. The application was easy, two coats were needed for full opacity.

Have a great day! :)