In the mood for ... Venice

February comes with the Venice in February reading challenge, hosted by Bellezza and myself, and I am so looking forward to reading about Venice and rediscovering this amazing city. You can join us here, and the only rule is that you have to read at least one book Venice-related. The blog also has a long list of books about or set in Venice, so you only have to bring your mood with you... Here's what I am going to read and hopefully post about:

Peter Ackroyd's Venice, a Pure City (a non-fictional book about the city, comprising architecture and history) 
Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (a reread, together with Bellezza)
Michelle Lovric's The Book of Human Skin (set in Venice, the story seems quite good)

Also, check the blog for everything Venice - related: music, history and art. 

LET THE CARNIVAL BEGIN! :)

Diego & Frida - Six Word Sum Up

Frida was an amazing woman with an incredible talent. She started to fascinate me back in high school, when I discovered her breathtaking paintings and her unbelievably aching yet admirable life. Since then, I have bought (or received) her art albums and read one or two books about her life.  In 2011, in Istanbul I even admired some of their paintings and sketches from the Gelman collection.

Most of Frida's work and life revolve around her love for Diego Rivera, whom she considers more than a lover. In a poem quoted by Le Clezio, she states that Diego is her best friend, her fellow artist, her father and mother, her child, her universe.

Art - the only way to exist. 
 
The book is written by Le Clezio, the French writer who was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature back in 2008. I expected more insight into Frida's life, but I guess I will have to read her diary, which is on my list. The book focuses on the romance between the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, their political involvement and their travels to the United States and Europe. The biography is a short one, but it is the perfect introduction in the lives of the two painters, Diego the Womanizer and Frida the Sufferer... 

"L'infirmité progressive, l'enfermement dans la solitude de la douleur ont transformé le rêve d'enfant en fantasme, et donné une valeur presque mythique à cette autre elle-même, qu'elle scrute indéfiniment dans son miroir." p.65

Read for my pleasure, Birgit's Non - Fiction Challenge and New Authors Challenge :) 

Murakami Day

Today, Haruki Murakami turns 64, and since I am a huge fan of his work, I thought a short post is required. Short due to the fact that I have to get back to finishing his "Kafka on the shore", a book about a boy who runs away from home, an old man that can talk with cats and... talkative cats, of course. More about the book in a future review, but for now, here are some beautiful quotes from his novels:

 “But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.”(Norwegian Wood)

“It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.”(Kafka on the Shore)

“Is it possible, in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another? We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close can we come to that person's essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?”
(The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)

Cards received from friends afar :)

You may remember about my participation in the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange. I guess I live on a different planet and I was beginning to worry, but the card from my partner in crime, Bellezza, is finally here. And, because people simply love me, I also got one from Rikki :) What a lovely surprise from both of them. Bellezza sent me the wonderful geisha bookmark (we do share our love for Japanese culture and literature) and a funny Christmas card, and Rikki surprised me with a monthly calendar in the form of bookmarks and a homemade card. Now, all I need are the books and the time. The friends are already here :) Thank you!

My Challenges in 2012

2012 meant 10 Reading Challenges and a lot of great books and authors that I discovered. The 71 books read during what was supposed to be a very busy year made me realize that keeping track and getting involved in challenges is a highly positive thing. I simply loved reading Japanese literature and I will continue to do so in 2013. I am also looking forward to Venice in February Reading Challenge hosted by Bellezza and myself and I am optimistic I will be reading more than two books for Birgit's Tea and Books challenge.

Here is a glimpse of my 2012 in books:

1. Best book I read: The Museum of Innocence (Orhan Pamuk)

2. Book I was excited about and thought I was going to love more but I didn't: The Daylight Gate (Jeanette Winterson)

3. Most surprising book: Soni (Andrei Ruse)

4. Favorite new author of 2012: David Foenkinos

5. Book I recommended the most: Manuscript Found in Accra (Paulo Coelho)

6. Most thrilling book: Piercing (Ryu Murakami)

7. A book I will definitely enjoy re-reading soon: The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)

8. Favorite cover book: Furious Love (Sam Kashner)

 9. Favorite quote from a book read in 2012: Nothing to Be Frightened of (Julian Barnes)
 “When we fall in love, we hope - both egotistically and altruistically - that we shall be finally, truly seen: judged and approved. Of course, love does not always bring approval: being seen may just as well lead to a thumbs-down and a season in hell.”

10. Worst book: Fear and Trembling (Amelie Nothomb)

Post inspired by Elena.

Emily

The poet Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on 10th December 1830, in Massachusetts. She used to live in total isolation from the world but she continued to read and send letters and poems to her friends. Upon her death, nearly 1,800 poems were discovered in 40 handbound volumes, which make her a very prolific writer. My favorite poem, and probably yours as well is HOPE.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

Click here for a beautiful reading of the poem on Paganini's music. 

My Reading Challenges - January 2013

2012 has been the year of great Reading Challenges and because I managed to read fantastic books and discover incredible authors, I will take part in a few (let's say eight or nine) such reading challenges.
For January 2013 I am planning to read Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel) for the Orange in January Challenge and because I realized it has more than 650 pages, that will also be for Birgit's Tea and books Challenge; Kafka on the shore (Haruki Murakami) and A Quiet Life (Kenzaburo Oe) for Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge and Tony's January in Japan; Diego and Frida (Le Clezio) for Birgit's This isn't Fiction Challenge, for which I decided to upgrade my challenge to ten books instead of five. Anything else may and will be included on the list :)
Happy Reading in the New Year!

What Should I Read Next?

Let's imagine that we do not have those piles of books under the "I will read those next month or next summer" headings and we have just finished a book we enjoyed without knowing what to read next (I really doubt that could happen soon) but let's just pretend... How could we find something similar to what we have read, imagining that we would like to read a different author, and not the one whose book we finished... Clever people thought about this and this wonderful site was created, WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT?, which can recommend you different books based on your reading(s). You can also create lists, share them or even buy those books from Amazon. Is there anything else missing? let me know :)

P.S. Unlike The Book Seer which cannot offer any recommendations and tells me that I should stop reading books (loool), What Should I Read Next? actually works :)

Soni - Six Word Sum Up

 Once every few months I come across a book written by a Romanian author which really, and I mean really amazes me. I wish this had been translated into English so maybe you could grasp the reason why I am so thrilled about Andrei Ruse's "Soni". The book was written in 2008 and in September 2012 the third edition appeared, with a few changes (for the better) in the story line, a better publishing house and even more publicity around it, moving from being a controversial book (due to its sex scenes and the use of drugs) to one meant to change your perspective on life.
"Soni" is a book about a 26 year old girl who finds out she has stomach cancer. Needless to say that she goes through all these stages of fear, rage and bad decisions in order to get to the "other side". Which other side? I won't spoil it for you so you'll have to read the book... but be prepared for everything good and bad in-between the covers.

"On our first day at school we should be told that we are going to die. Then, the alphabet."

Cancer Is Not the Final Frontier. 

Now back to "Dealer for a day" :)

Let's talk about ...

Incredibly witty Alain de Botton openly and philosophically talks about sex. I can't wait to get my hands on his latest book :)

Alain de Botton on How to Think More About Sex from The School of Life on Vimeo.

Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange 2012

Here I am, signing up for my first card exchange, hosted by Leeswammes’ Blog and Stiletto Storytime and I am quite excited about it, mainly because I have discovered  this year great people behind the blogs I read and follow, so it will be nice to exchange winter cards with them (or one of them). I am looking forward to discovering my "partner in crime" :)
Find out more by visiting the blogs mentioned above, and if you have a book blog then you may join in the fun...

It's all about Ali!

It's all about Ali! by biaa on Storybird Don't mind the biaa thing, it is just a cover-up :) 

Fear and Trembling - Six Word Sum Up

 This is probably the first time I have been disappointed by a French writer, especially after I found her first book, "Hygiene and the Assassin" incredibly well written and shocking and that fact truly raised my expectations for her other books. Yet, "Fear and Trembling" did nothing except to annoy me up to its last page. Written in 1999, seven years after Nothomb's literary debut, this short novel is supposed to be about her less than positive cultural experience in Japan. But it is not. In fact, all I could grasp was this masochistic side the main character showed towards any Japanese person she encountered. There was too much humility from the main character's part to be able to somehow sympathize with her.

Life reduced to happily scrubbing toilets.

P.S. The book received le Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1999, so you may give it a try, maybe you will find the story amusing.  
P.P.S. The woman on the cover is Amelie... 

Somebody is Camping in My Head

The Daylight Gate - Six Word Sum Up

This is the first time I haven't been blown away by a Jeanette Winterson book and I even know the reason to my "un-amazement": it is neither the subject - hunting down the Pendle witches, which can be quite thrilling, nor the idea of Jeanette experimenting with a horror novella for the first and last time, in her words... It is, in fact, the change in her writing style, which I simply used to adore. I kept on reading the short novel, waiting for a glimpse of her style, but it felt like I was reading a book by an ordinary writer who had nothing to do with the mesmerizing way in which Jeanette usually writes. And when I came to the line "Do you remember?", which also appears in the story "Goldrush Girl" I even smiled, but that was it... the falcon has flown away never to return (read the story to understand the meaning). I really hope her next literary piece will be a return to her famous, non-conformist style, with or without Shakespeare being mentioned :) For those who love horror stories, the book is a must.

Are all clever women powerful witches?

"She heard wings. She held out her arm. It was her bird. He scarred her arm where she had no glove but she did not care because she loved him and she knew that love leaves a wound that leaves a scar."

To read more about the book, click here. 
Read for the LGBT reading event, hosted by Roof Beam Reader.

Romania, let's read!

 Someone has finally noticed that Romanians do not read. With an average of 5 euros a year spent on books by a Romanian, we are on the last place compared to any other European country, so the Federation of Romanian Publishers and Distributors decided to start a national campaign to promote reading as a means to personal and social development. Yaaay!
I am not sure about that social development, but anything bookwise taking place in Romania is worth noticing  and even applauding, although there are plenty of criticism that can be expressed: the campaign only happens in several cities, so calling the campaign national is a bit too much; reaching people in cities with plenty of book shops is less impressive than going into small towns where book shops hardly exist and literary events are practically nonexistent.
Still, I am looking forward to finding more about this campaign, initiated a week ago. Maybe the Federation will provide more info on the related events, contests and book launches...

The French Do It Better

At least when it comes to good movies. In the past few months I have been watching a lot of French movies and they all lead me to this conclusion: they are all more emotional, more interesting and less tacky than most/all Hollywood films. You only have to watch "Cafe de Flore" to realize this simple truth. If time allows it, you can also watch "Seraphine" (the story of a housekeeper turned painter) or "Tomboy" (a girl who truly wishes she were a boy). They are both so beautifully filmed, and the stories are so touching you will have a problem watching any other movie that isn't French, because they are so addictive :)

My next stop: Romain Duris' filmography.

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 :))