Tag: book-blog

Blood Sword

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

When I was a child in the 80s and early 90s, computers were rare. Computer games were a scent from another world you could see and enjoy briefly, if a kid whose parents had an 8-bit computer, would invite you home and let you play when their parents were not watching. I used books to fill my curious brain with data. I liked them very much and I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.

It was 1991-2 when some clever folks started translating non-linear books with choices. There are two doors in front of you. The left one is small, with an iron frame, and the right one is large and barely hanging. Which one would you open? If you choose the iron door, go to 185, and the broken door is at 195. Reading these felt challenging and great. The best from that time was the series Blood Sword.

I couldn’t buy it at that time because they were expensive. A friend let me read his. And decades later, I saw someone sell the first 3 books on Facebook, in pretty bad shape. The seller was apologetic. “You know they’re kind of cut, and have handwriting inside and so on. Are you sure?”. Not a problem, it’s actually better that way. Which modern-day book gets to that shape from being read a hundred times? Can we find a Hobbit read more than 2-3 times? Or a Game of Thrones?

These are the first 3 books from the series, and book 4 is on its way to me. I’ll figure out the missing book 5 sooner or later.

Reading Challenge

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

I completed my 2023 reading challenge of 39 books – it is the first more ambitious reading challenge I set for myself in years.

https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/41622441

The books that chose me this year were almost entirely light reads – Fantasy, Sci-fi, and a variety of Crime/Thriller.

The highlights of the year for me are:

  1. Jonathan Moore – Noir/Thriller author who captivated me with a gothic atmosphere and romantic characters (4 books read, all of them in Bulgarian).
  2. Two Years Before the Mast – a biography from 1840, written with such a strange and infectious optimism that springs out of the pages almost 200 years later.
  3. 10% Happier by Dan Harris – quite a personal journey into the world of spirituality and meditation with a personal message: “You can scratch your nose as well”.
  4. The Three-body Problem by Liu Cixin – is a good reminder that Sci-Fi exists and is still fantastic, well at least until you reach the 1000-page third part.

50th International Book Fair in Sofia

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

I love the bookseller events in Sofia. They usually happen 2 times/year, and if the weather is good, I would go multiple times. This fall, I was short on time and visited once but it’s still open tomorrow as well. This is my harvest.

Physical books take up space, cost more, and are less available than electronic books but they still bring me far more joy. Nothing in the book is going to start blinking to get my attention. I won’t be tempted to context switch elsewhere like I am when reading on a screen. And last but not least – I pay for translation, paper, and publishing, and help some small businesses stay afloat.