Piercing - Six Word Sum Up

You probably know about my Japanese Literature Challenge... and "Piercing" is one of those books read for this challenge and which really made me thankful for having decided to join in, since it is a book you will never forget. If this is not enough for you to read it, then take into consideration that I stopped twice because I was shocked by the images and situations it presented... My first book by Ryu Murakami, but definitely not my last!

Unimaginable obsessions defeated by daring prostitute.

The Guardian has a great review here and I have a tempting passage below :)

"As he opened his eyes he found that his senses of sight and sound and smell were getting entangled with one another, and now came a snapping, crackling sensation and a pungent whiff of something organic burning. Yarn or fingernails, something like that. He moaned beneath his breath: Not again. It always started with the sweating, followed by this smell of charred tissue. Then a sudden sense of utter exhaustion, and finally that indescribable pain. As if the particles of air were turning to needles and piercing him all over. A prickling pain that spread like goose bumps over his skin until he wanted to scream. Sometimes a white mist clouded his vision and he could actually see the air particles turning into needles.
Calm down, he told himself. Relax, you’re all right, you’ve already made up your mind you’ll never stab her. Everything’s going to be all right."

Read for The Japanese Literature Challenge and The New Authors Challenge.

Gods

Ms. Sexton went out looking for the gods.
She began looking in the sky
—expecting a large white angel with a blue crotch.

No one.

She looked next in all the learned books
and the print spat back at her.

No one

She made a pilgrimage to the great poet
and he belched in her face.

No one.

She prayed in all the churches of the world
and learned a great deal about culture.

No one.

She went to the Atlantic, the Pacific, for surely God...

No one.

She went to the Buddha, the Brahma, the Pyramids
and found immense postcards.

No one.

Then she journeyed back to her own house
and the gods of the world were shut in the lavatory.

At last!
she cried out,
and locked the door.

by Anne Sexton

Gourmet Rhapsody - Six Word Sum Up

This book is written by Muriel Barbery, the author of the famous and extremely beautiful book "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". I was expecting so much from the book and I was more than "full" :) It is definitely a "must" once you have read "The Elegance...", because you may want to know what other secondary characters in "The Elegance" are doing 'now", but just prepare to get hungry, while reading and looking for that exquisite flavour... Thank you Bellezza for this great opportunity!  

Proust-like cook redefines taste, smell, life.

 P.S. Here's a "taste" of this wonderful book:
"Meat is virile, powerful; fish is strange and cruel. It comes from another world, a secret ocean that will never yield to us; it bears witness to the absolute relativity of our existence, and yet it offers itself to us through the ephemeral revelation of unknown realms. When I was savoring these grilled sardines, like an autistic child whom nothing could trouble at that point in time, I knew that this extraordinary confrontation with a sensation from elsewhere was making me human, bringing its contrasting nature to bear to teach me my human essence. Infinite, cruel, primitive, refined ocean; between our avid teeth we seize the products of your mysterious activity. The grilled sardine suffused my palate with its frank and exotic bouquet,with each mouthful I grew more mature, and every time my tongue caressed the marine ash of blistered skin I felt exulted." 

P.P.S. Don't click here if you are planning on reading the book :))

"Love matters."

Jeanette Winterson is interviewed by the Australian television ABC about her latest book, "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" 
First aired on the 31st of July 2012.

 P.S. Happy Birthday, Jeanette! I hope the weather is fantastic in Paris! :)

Night train to Lisbon - Six Word Sum Up

I heard about this book after Jeremy Irons accepted to play the leading role in the movie that is going to be released next year. Adding this to the fact that I have been planning for two years to visit Portugal, the book seemed like an interesting choice, and so it was. I recommend it to anyone who actually knows that there is more to life than our daily routine and it is never too late to decide to do whatever you feel like, no matter the social constraints.

You are more than your routine.

Read for the New Authors Challenge and the European Reading Challenge...

My MDNA

"Somebody" is turning 54 today!

The Mighty Gatsby

 "The Great Gatsby" is one of my all time favorite books and F.S. Fitzgerald is among my favorite writers, so to see that Buz Luhrmann, whose "Moulin Rouge" I adore has directed a new adaptation for the screen, with Leonardo DiCaprio (as Jay Gatsby), whose acting skills are more and more amazing with every new movie.... it really feels like this movie is going to be EPIC, even though it is quite hard to beat Redford's Gatsby. I can't wait till December!

It is so hard to caress...

It is so hard to caress an angel on his wings!

No matter how close, he keeps away from touch

For fear you could catch him,

He swirls, comes back, quietly flaps his wings,

It is the only sound he is capable of.

The angels, they do not know how to speak,

Words are incapable

Of expressing them,

Their deaf message is their presence.

The way they approach

To embrace you with their aura,

But quickly draw away,

Scared of intimacy,

Protectors, but not familiar,

Always leaving a distance through which

My words crawl to reach them,

Without knowing if

They are too weak to touch their hearing.

What a handicap of faith:

Not knowing if you are heard or if you hear

And out of all senses only the tactile dream remains

Of caressing, without scaring, an angel on his wings …

By Ana Blandiana

The original version is here. 

Paris en Juillet

"Il faut avoir vécu des années dans le rien pour comprendre comment on peut être subitement effrayé par la possibilité." (Foenkinos' La Delicatesse)
Unexpectedly, Paris was quite cold this July, but that did not keep me from enjoying its beauties :)  
Seine's banks, full of souvenirs and old books...

My friends, the gargoyles, up the Notre Dame, always waiting for something...

Le Marche aux Fleurs, one of my top 5 favorite places in Paris...

"La Delicatessse", by David Foenkinos and "Paris Revealed" by Stephen Clarke were two reads I loved and recommend if Paris is on your mind for a future vacation and if you want to discover either its secrets and past, or if you want to get an intimate account of a sad Parisian's life and loves...

...and "Cafe de Flore" is a superb film, mostly set in 1960s Paris, starring Vanessa Paradis.

Fifty Shades of Grey - Six Word Sum Up

Whoever thought erotic literature cannot sell was completely mistaken. The hype that surrounded this book (actually, trilogy) made me read it because I was way too curious about it. Surely, it is quite erotic, in the sense that a 49 year old woman is writing about her fantasies and this made me wonder if I will be dreaming about that when I am 49 as well... Totally undemanding literature, which can be perfect for a few summer nights, depending on your mood!

Dark desires can never be boring.

Read for the New Authors Challenge...

Mon Merveilleux Amour

Story Birds

I have discovered the most wonderful site, STORYBIRD, which I am going to use with my students starting in September.
Simply lovely! Take a look and create your own stories... Boys I Have Loved by czikimonkey on Storybird

Paris in July

Nothing beats Paris in July... well, maybe Venice in February :)

I decided to join yet another reading challenge - Paris in July - since I love Paris and I will be visiting the city this month so, this July it is time for Paris again and since we're talking books, I will be reading Foenkinos' "La Delicatesse" (which I plan on buying from Paris), Patchett's "Bel Canto" for Orange in July Challenge and "Paris Revealed" and "The Last Time I Saw Paris" because they seem just the books to read while in Paris (actually, while waiting for planes to take off).
See you soon! :)

Word of the Day 6: BRIDGE

One of my favorite idioms in English is "burn your bridges", meaning to do something with the result that you will not be able to return to a previous situation again, even if you want to . Sometimes it is imperious to do it in order to let go of the past and move forward, less burdened and more confident.

Still, before thinking that everything is "water under the bridge" (what happened in the past should be forgotten), you should take all precautions in order to leave all worries behind while "crossing that bridge when you come to it", since you do not want to take bad memories with you on the other side...

The Summer Without Men - Six Word Sum Up

It has been my first encounter with Siri Hustvedt ( the surname has Norwegian origins) and I am sure I will be reading some of her other books in the near future, especially since she is so interested in psychoanalysis and she has included this aspect in her writing. Here's one of her interesting interviews on the topic.

A cheated woman goes beyond despair.

Read for the New Authors Challenge.

Overchallenged

2012 is definitely the year of challenges ... reading challenges! I have decided to join EIGHT and now I am wondering whether I will be able to finish them. Five months have passed and here is a recap of what I have accomplished so far:

Orange January: 2 books: Rape (Oates) and Small Island (Levy)- completed;

Venice in February: 4 books: The Passion (Winterson), Vivaldi's Virgins (Quick), Invisible Cities (Calvino) and Crossing the Bridge of Sighs(Michael) - completed;

Murakami Challenge: I started 1Q84 (two more volumes to read and two other novels by him);

New Authors: I have read 23 new authors, my favorite ones being Pamuk and Foenkinos;

Orange in July: 1 book to be read (Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett );

Tea and Books: 1 book read (The Museum of Innocence) 1 to finish (1Q84);

European Reading Challenge: 8 books read, there might be more, but I am not sure;

Japanese Reading Challenge: 1 read, a lot more awaiting...

What are your reading challenges these days?

Popcorn for the Soul

Ten People, Ten Colours... Ten Books

Juu-nin to-iro is a Japanese proverb meaning that everyone has their own tastes. For the next months, my tastes will coincide with Bellezza's and her Japanese Reading Challenge 6 which I have joined for the second year. I am so thrilled to be reading Japanese literature, mainly because it is so different from any other and I managed to gather ten books, mentioned in the collage below.

Five of them are written by Haruki Murakami, but I am not sure I will be reading all of them. My goal is to finish 1Q84 for Birgit's Tea and Books Challenge and two more, for the Murakami Challenge. I will also be reading Yamada's In Search of a Distant Voice since I loved Strangers... Any other book will add to the pleasure. So, will you be joining us? :)

23 :)

The Woman in Black - Six Word Sum Up

     Do you believe in haunting ghosts? 
 

This is quite a creepy book to read, and I stopped reading it a few times, probably because it somehow got to me. Susan Hill has also written a series of crime novels, which I might tackle, after I get rid of this awful feeling of being watched and followed by a woman in black...

Read for the New Authors Challenge.