Tag: Reading

Review: Genius by Harold Bloom

Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds [2002] – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

Using the structure of Lurianic Kabbalah, American literary critic Harold Bloom (1930-2019) talks about one hundred literary geniuses in this book that presents each of the authors’ major works, biographical trivia and Bloom’s own insightful commentary. Virgil, William Shakespeare, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Henry James, Lewis Carroll, Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, George Eliot, Miguel de Cervantes, Jorge Luis Borges, and Fernando Pessoa are just some of the authors included. Since there are so many, I chose to briefly comment on only seven of them in this review.

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10 Best Last Lines

Much has been made of opening lines in fiction, but what about closing ones? Do last lines matter as much? Should aspiring authors learn to perfect them? Below are 10 best last lines (in no particular order) that showcase a mixture of poetic, chilling and moving book closures that leave a memorable impression on the reader.

I. “Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope’.” …”Who knows if we shall ever see them again?’ Morrel said, wiping away a tear. β€˜My dearest,’ said Valentine, β€˜has the count not just told us that all human wisdom was contained in these two words – β€œwait” and β€œhope”?’ – The Count of Monte Cristo

II. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – The Great Gatsby

III. “After all, tomorrow is another day.” – Gone With the Wind

IV. “He loved Big Brother.” – 1984

V. “But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.” – The House At Pooh Corner

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10 Books That Made Me + The “Five Questions” Tag

I first spotted this tag on YouTube (probably at CriminOlly), and thought I would also give it a shot. The goal is to list 10 books that influenced or shaped you the most as a reader. The books listed below awakened my curiosity about literature, introduced me to its true power, and also shaped my literary taste (something that cannot be taught, but can only be acquired, right?) I do not think I will ever outgrow my existentialism reading phase that I started as a teenager, and I will also not list books that influenced me in my childhood as I had already done a similar list – see here, where I included such authors as Jules Verne, Jack London, Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry, Alexandre Dumas, Gianni Rodari, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Below is also the “five questions” tag, which is a variation of questions found in the Pianist magazine.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens 🏠
The Cave by JosΓ© Saramago πŸ¦‡
The Stranger by Albert Camus πŸ–οΈ
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut πŸͺ–
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy πŸš†

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Review: Cassandra at the WeddingΒ by Dorothy Baker

Cassandra at the Wedding [1962] – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

Cassandra Edwards is a graduate student who is supposed to be finishing her thesis and enjoying her student life. Instead, she is an emotional and mental mess, a state that no one sees and only her twin sister Judith guesses. When the date of Judith’s wedding approaches near, Cassandra drops everything and goes back home to attend the event, but the homecoming is not altogether joyful as Cassandra (packed with her bitter-sweet memories, unrealised hopes, deep attachments and her neurotic fears of betrayal) starts to spiral out of control. Judith’s impending wedding may be a catalyst for Cassandra’s final unravelling. Baker’s novella is direct and unrelenting; a book that examines closely one unbreakable bond and one fractured mind, all from the point of view of one subversive, unforgettable narrator.

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Review: Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum

Grand Hotel [1929/2016] – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

Like Vera Caspary’s Laura and Luigi Bartolini’s Bicycle Thieves, Grand Hotel is yet another novel that is likely best known as its ecranisation – the 1932 Oscar-winning film Grand Hotel, starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford. And, indeed, the story is cinematic. Austria-born author Vicki Baum puts at its centre one of the most intriguing tourism inventions of the late nineteenth century – a grand hotel that, in its heyday, was the pinnacle of travelling luxury, providing all kinds of exclusive comforts for its rich clientele under one roof, creating β€œa home away from home”, and catering for each of their guests’ whims, rather than passively accepting them into the accommodation. Into this already intriguing institution, Baum puts the most diverse characters, from one capricious aging ballerina to a lowly bookkeeper suffering from an incurable illness who just so happens to find himself amidst all the luxury thanks to his life savings. Together, this cast of curious characters presents a microcosm of the Berlin society of the mid-to-late 1920s, a roller-coaster period of changes characterised by the questioning of moral norms and the gender roles shift. By juggling her colourful characters and their situations so skilfully in the novel, Baum delivers one of a kind, part tragic part comic exposΓ© of lives lived.

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My Recent Trip to Paris: Cultural Highlights

I have recently returned from my trip to Paris, France and am sharing my highlights. Though the big attraction of my trip was the MusΓ©e de Cluny, there are some smaller, “off-the-beaten track” museums in Paris that I have also always wanted to visit, and I present two of them at the end of my post.

MusΓ©e national du Moyen Γ‚ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.
  • MusΓ©e de Cluny

Address: 28 Rue du Sommerard, Latin Quarter, Paris; Metro: Cluny – La Sorbonne. Admission: Ticketed.

The Museum of the Middle Ages is one of the largest collections of medieval art and artefacts in Europe, and is located in the former town-house of the Abbots of Cluny, which also has elements of Gallo-Roman ruins. It has medieval sculptures, tapestries, metal-work, carvings, religious, household and war items, and stained-glass examples on displays. My highlight was, of course, The Lady and the Unicorn series of tapestries, which I have wanted to see for a long time. The beautiful tapestries, with elegant depictions of animals and plants, were woven in the late fifteenth century, and each represents one of the five human senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sixth tapestry, titled A mon seul dΓ©sir, is said to represent the sixth sense of the heart or intuition.

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Review: Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig

Burning Secret [1911/2008] – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…1/2

“I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.” Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry, The Little Prince

Stefan Zweig knew that authentic drama, horror, trauma may simply reside in one’s realisation of personal circumstances, situation, predicament. The story in this psychologically astute novella takes place in Semmering, Austria. When one dashing dandy, a baron, stops at a resort all alone, he is ready for his next romantic conquest partly to ward off the boredom in this place. He is young, but already an expert womaniser, and his gaze falls on one beautiful woman who also happens to be with her twelve year-old boy. The Baron’s pursuit of the woman starts through befriending that boy called Edgar, but the Baron does not even realise the dangers behind sowing so many seeds of attachment, as Saint-ExupΓ©ry also wrote in The Little Prince: “you become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed“.

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September 2021 Wrap-Up: From White Nights to Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

White Nights [1848] by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

“…he is an artist of his own life and creates it himself every hour to suit his latest whim“. I loved Jayshree (Literary Gitane)’s review of this short novella by Dostoyevsky and have also decided to read it (but in the original Russian language). The story takes place over a period of four nights, and our narrator is one dreamy young man who wanders the streets of St Petersburg feeling lonely, alienated from everyone and experiencing a strange sense of dread, anxiety and abandonment. His chance encounter with a kind seventeen year old girl named Nastenka suddenly gives his life a new meaning and purpose, a new direction into which he can pour all his buried tender feelings. Just a night after their first meeting, the narrator and Nastenka open up their very souls to each other, sharing with each other their deepest and most secret thoughts and feelings, but to a what (disastrous) end?

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January 2021 Wrap-Up: From The Glass Menagerie to A History of the Universe in 21 Stars

The Glass Menagerie [1944] by Tennessee Williams – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named DesireΒ [1947]) published his partly-autobiographical play The Glass Menagerie in 1944 and this debut became an instant theatrical success. The play only has a handful of main characters, and centres on Amanda, a domineering mother to her two grown-up children – quietly rebellious Tom and completely submissive and “hopeless” Laura who “lives in a world of her own”. When Tom arranges for “a young gentleman caller” to come over for dinner so that he can meet Laura, the family’s hidden neuroses and insecurities come to the surface. Still reliving her years as a southern belle (probably as a way to cope with the Depression era realities), Amanda “overpowers” each individual around her, and her children devised special strategies to deal with their mother’s encroachment, and general isolation and loneliness. If Tom “goes to the movies” and drinks, Amanda’s unmarried and disabled daughter Laura retreats in her own imaginary world of glass figurines (which stand for the fragile world of dreams that is about to be shattered by the brutal reality).

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July 2020 Wrap-Up: From Old Goriot to A Year in Marrakesh

Le PΓ¨re Goriot [1835/1991] by HonorΓ© de Balzac – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…   

This French classic lived up to my high expectations and even went beyond them. This is a tale of Eugène de Rastignac, a young man from countryside, who gets entangled in some tricky situations while chasing his coveted place at the very top of Parisian high society. Impoverished Father Goriot may just force the young man to rethink his quick and morally-dubious leap to success.

The Betrothed [1827/1942] by Alessandro Manzoni – β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…    

This tale of two lovers separated by circumstances may remind of Romeo & Juliet, but there is more here than first meets the eye: colourful characters include the Unnamed, the Nun of Monza and Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and it so happens that Renzo and Lucia must face a plague, a city in revolt and a war before even thinking about any reunion. This is a true Italian classic.

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500 Followers Reached + Thank you! + Latin Quotes on Friendship & Reading

followed-blog-500-2xWordPress informed me that I reached 500 followers on my blog, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers and readers for following me, and reading and commenting on my posts! I am also pleased that people are “liking” my travel, art and general culture posts, and not only my book-related content. To “celebrate” this milestone, I am sharing a couple of quotes by Seneca, who was a Roman Stoic philosopher, on friendship and reading.Β 

“Lectio certa prodest, varia delectat” –Β  “A limited list of reading benefits; a varied assortment serves only for delight/pleasure” or “Desultory reading is delightful, but to be beneficial, our reading must be carefully directed.” (It is quality rather than quantity in our reading that matters).

“Non refert quam multos sed quam bonos libros habeas ac legas” – “It matters not how many, but how good books you have, and that you read them“.

“Cum his versare, qui te meliorem facturi sunt” – “Spend time with people who will make you a better person”. Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The Book Blogger Confessions Tag

I saw this tag at The Orangutan Librarian and decided to post my answers to it too. I will probably end up being hated for some of my opinions below πŸ™‚ but a confession is a confession. 

Celestial Bodies Book CoverI. Which book, most recently, did you not finish?  

Celestial Bodies by Jokha al-Harthi (translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth). This is the recent winner of the International Booker Prize and, naturally, I wanted to read it as soon as possible. It is a tale of three sisters and their relationships in Oman. It is told through various characters’ perspectives, not only of the sisters’ but also of their children and husbands, apparently. I read first twenty or so pages, and though I liked the beginning, reading about the perspective of Mayya, one of the sisters, when other characters started telling about themselves, my attention veered off and I did not finish the book. I promised to myself to come back to this novel to finish it. The book has all the qualities of an important novel and I especially love that it is set in Oman, portraying a different culture. Continue reading “The Book Blogger Confessions Tag” →