Review: The Books of Jacob

The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An epic dedicated to Jaboc Frank's messianic movement, of which I knew nothing about. It probably would have helped to be more familiar with it, or with Polish history, but as it was this seemed to be a very long novel that delves deep into the old religion Umberto Eco-style, but without the intrigue and excitement you find in his books. 

I was sort of looking forward to diving deep into this book and enjoying it, but I must admit that by the end I was just trying to get through it. 

Still, a lot of interesting information about a time, place and religious movement I was entirely unfamiliar with. 

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Review: Beginning with My Streets: Essays and Recollections

Beginning with My Streets: Essays and Recollections by Czesław Miłosz

I thought I would find the first part, discussing Vilnius and Lithuania, the least interesting, since I know so little about that region. But it turned out to be enthralling. Especially his back and forth with Tomas Venclova. I confess the other sections then didn't retain my interest all that long, and this book probably should've been a dnf for me. This is mainly because I think Milosz is too poetic and philosophical for me, and I just found it hard to keep up. For this reason I won't give a rating, but I'd rate the first part 4.5 stars. 

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