Czechmatediary

Are you tired of asking your friends and relatives to send you Czech/Slovak books? The situation gets really uncomfortable: books are usually heavy and the postage fee ends up being ridiculously high and you end up feeling totally guilty since your friend/relative pays that fee without wanting you to to pay him back.

Forget these awkward moments because I have recently discovered  a Czech website which has electronic books on-line! All you have to do is register and start reading (click here).

CZ: Ja nevim jak vy, ale ja mam ohromny seznam ceskych knih, ktere mym rodicum postupne posilam, aby mi one knihy preposlali do USA. Problem je v tom, ze knihy jsou tezke a postovne je diky tomu nesmirne drahe. Vzdycky je mi mych rodicu/kamaradu lito, zo to plati, aniz by chteli neco nazpatek.

Provnile pocity ted uz ale muzeme vsichni hodit do kose, ponevadz jsem nasla tzv. Imperium elektronickych knih, kde si muzete elektronicke knihy precitat zdarma. Staci se jen zaregistrovat a zacit cist!

To add to the diversity of this blog I decided I am going to introduce you to the world of Czech and Slovak fairy tales (and if you know all about them it may just be a good review for you). Since we are currently in the middle of – for some of us – quite the hash winter, there is no better suited children’s tale than the one about the Twelve Months (O Dvanacti Mesickach). I found it translated into English  in the “Hudba in the Czech Republic” blog and that person did a marvelous job (Czech translation can be found here):

CZ: Ahoj! Tak jsem si rikala, ze bych mohla k pestrosti tohoto blogu take pridat treba pohadky. Vestina lidi ted dosti mrzne, tak jsem si rikala, ze je velmi vhodne venovat se pohadce O dvanacti mesickach, co rikate? Anglicky preklad jsem nasla na blogu zvanem “Hudba in the Czech Republic” a cesky preklad muzete najit zde (kliknete zde).

ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a mother who had two daughters. One was her own child, the other her stepdaughter. She was very fond of her own daughter, but she would not so much as look at her step-daughter. The only reason was that Maruša, the stepdaughter, was prettier than her own daughter, Holena. The gentle-hearted Maruša did not know how beautiful she was, and so she could never make out why her mother was so cross with her whenever she looked at her. She had to do all the housework, tidying up the cottage, cooking, washing, and sewing, and then she had to take the hay to the cow and look after her. She did all this work alone, while Holena spent the time adorning herself and lazing about. But Maruša liked work, for she was a patient girl, and when her mother scolded and rated her, she bore it like a lamb. (more…)

I don’t know how about you but I like to read (the proper English word for it would be a “bookworm”). I make myself read Czech books as well so that the Czech reading part of my brain (called the “czechothalamus“) doesn’t completely shut off. That is also why I am always on a lookout for a good Czech book. The Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny recently announced “The Best Book of the Year” called the “Lexicon of the Czech Literature“. It consists of 4 parts and contains a mixture of authors that were published exclusively by the Academia publishing company. (more…)

The Czech literature is in trouble. Especially the current novels. The writer Jiri Kratochvil made a very good observation when he wrote “after a long, long time the Czech literature is not only free but also turns its back on any kind of ideology, mission and service to the nation”. When the Czech magazine Tyden had its “The Best Book of the Century” contest in 1998 the only current novel that had placed in the first 50 places was Sestra (Sister) by Jachym Topol – it won the 26th place. Lidove Noviny announced their “Book of the Year” list in 1991 with following 5 novels placed among the winners:

• Nesmrtelnost (Immortality) by Milan Kundera (more…)