Ataraxia

  Tinkers by Paul Harding 9 out of 10 This book might work as a litmus test, in the sense that most people would notice the marvelous aspects, after all, it has won The Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 2010 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction - while others, such as this reader, while aware of the strong points, might still fail to absorb the bliss available beyond the depressing fact that the main character lies dying in a hospital bed, placed though in his own house, and once in a while we are reminded that he has this amount of time before his departure, then another, diminished interval – which is evidently interesting, creative, probably original – that serves to make the atmosphere gloomy around here… “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven...” ― John Milton, Paradise Lost…therefore it is so often the reader that creates a rather dark, negative background for an acclaimed novel like Tinkers, or rather filte...

  Swamplandia! By Karen Russell Otherworldly and outstanding One principle or rule of happiness is: -            Diversity We need variety to enjoy almost any activity- food has to be different- according to the Lasagna Principle coined by Professor Tal Ben Shahar from Harvard-you cannot eat lasagna all the time, even when that is your favorite food. In terms of reading subject, Swamplandia! Offers an Incredible Escape- the location is as outlandish as possible: -            Swamplandia! Is a very different theme park, somewhere in the wild, in a swamp, where 92 crocodiles live Up to the end that is, where I kept wondering what happened to them; they are called Seths and I forgot why. The plot of the story is also out of the ordinary, with two se4parate tales, told in a different way, by different narrators. I loved the Kiwi escape, Kiwi being the son of Chief Bigtree and Hilola, who...

  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is in the 1094 th place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, although it does not make my Top 5,000, however likeable, it lacked ‘substance’ for this reader, notwithstanding the fact that it is a subjective, quite superficial verdict – Jhumpa Lahiri https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-interpreter-of-maladies-by-jhumpa.html has won The Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Interpreter of Maladies, you find another few thousand reviews of magnum opera from The GOAT and other web pages on my blog, where I took a look at some other works by the same author   6 out of 10   The Namesake is the fourth oeuvre by Jhumpa Lahiri https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/after-pulitzer-prize-winner-interpreter.html that I have the chance, or bad luck to read, if you listen to critics, and even the algorithm of The GOAT site, then this is formidable, if you want my opinion, it is rather flimsy   I was thinking of the...

  The Bear is one of The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov, which are included on The Bokklubben World Library’s Best 100 Books of All Time list, and they are ranked 127th on The Greatest Books of All Time site…you have thousands of reviews on magnum opera from the aforementioned and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, where my macaws are the stars   10 out of 10   The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov are included on The Bokklubben World Library’s Best 100 Books of All Time list, and they are ranked 127th on The Greatest Books of All Time site https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-short-stories-of-anton-chekhov-are.html and The Bear is one of them   Elena Ivanovna Popova, a little landowning widow with ‘dimples on her cheeks’ lives isolated, does not go out, but Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov, a middle-aged landowner, walks in and shouts, curses, because he claims t...

  Un Om Mare aka A Great Man by Mircea Eliade, the acclaimed expert on religions has written Bengali Nights, which is his highest rank work on The Greatest Books of All Time site, not that it is very relevant, I have found quite a number of outstanding chefs d’oeuvre on the ‘lowest shelves’ there – however, you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other web pages on my blog, which I plug here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and my YouTube channel   8 out of 10   I have written a couple of reviews https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/maitreyi-by-mircea-eliade-fascination.html of works by Mircea Eliade, and it looks as if I will post a ‘series’, the plan is to listen to more of his stories, seeing as they are available on YouTube, perhaps elsewhere as well, and they are interesting   Mircea Eliade is one of the most important, I should put in best experts on religion, especi...

  Kontinental ’25 written and directed by Radu Jude was The 2025 Winner of Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay, it was also nominated for The Golden Bear for Best Film at The Berlin Film Festival, it is also The 2026 Winner of The Gopo Awards (the local Oscars) for Best Feature Film, Best Actress in a Leading Role, it also won some other trophies – you have thousands of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   8 out of 10   I have seen and written about I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History as Barbarians https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/i-do-not-care-if-we-go-down-in-history.html although the most important, probably best film of Radu Jude is Aferim! Which won The Silver Bear in Berlin, just like Kontinental   The latter was on Cinemax last night and I still do not know what to think about it: on the one hand, i...