About

Mission Statement

Hi! I am Diana, and this site is for all those who are curious about the world of literature, but also want to explore other fascinating aspects as they relate to art, history, music, travel, different cultures, philosophy, psychology and anthropology.

Diversity of Interests (KNOW & EXPLORE)

I am a writer, critic and researcher, but am striving to be a bit of a polymath, and have interests that range from world history, mythology and mysteries to anthropology, psychology and philosophy.

🤯I am interested in the human mind and its mysteries, deep existential states, and the psychological “dualities”, such as “the body” vs. the spirit”, and, thus, prefer stories with deep, preferably existential, character studies, or with the theme of the society vs. the individual. What intrigues me is the human nature, as well as the eerie, the unexplained, the unknown and the fantastical. I am currently learning the piano and Japanese, practising yoga, as well as writing a historical novel on alchemists in the 17th century France.

My current immediate research interests are:

• World Cinema;
• Japanese Language, History & Culture;
• Philosophy and History of Psychiatry;
• The Nature and Origin of Human Consciousness; &
• The Law of Complicity & Attempts (I am a law graduate, after all!).

I write on art, music and mythology on this site, and love sharing my enthusiasm for certain subjects through this site, enabling people to KNOW more and EXPLORE broadly.

A Multinational Outlook (DISCOVER)

“Art and knowledge know no borders“.

🌎 Since I am from Russia/UK, love and speak Spanish and French, and am currently learning Japanese, as well as interested in many world cultures (from Latin America to Tibet), I consider myself a citizen of the world and love promoting world literature and the awareness of different cultures.

Thus, the aim of this site is also to introduce world literature and various aspects of world history, while also spotlighting painters from all corners of the world. The key is to keep DISCOVER-ring.

A Passion for Literature (THINK & FEEL)

“…some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don’t understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they’re there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it’s the other side that matters…” (Saramago).

I believe that reading is important and life-changing, and, beyond reading for pure entertainment, what is important is not how many books you have read, but how much you have understood of what you have read. I was brought up on Alexander Pushkin, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Mark Twain, and Mayne Reid.

📚 My favourite genres now are classics, “existential” fiction and literary fiction, but I also read plenty of historical fiction, science-fiction, crime thrillers, detective stories, horror and non-fiction (see my review index), and apart from these individual genres, I also champion world and translated literature on this site.

I provide more or less in-depth critique of books, and the aim of the site is to promote and encourage reading widely and diversely, as well as THINK-ing critically and FEEL-ing deeply about what we read.

My all-time favourite fiction books are:

So, THINK & FEEL, DISCOVER, and KNOW & EXPLORE with me…