Ataraxia

  Hatter’s Castle by A. J. Cronin George Bernard Shaw once said some intriguing things about Hitler, in a televised speech that I saw in a documentary about him. Shaw was a…show off. In the same film, he was turning around and saying to the camera this is my left side, now my front… on Hitler he had some good things to say, shockingly. But in a coup de grace, Shaw wended by saying something along these lines: -            the only other thing is that: humanity would have been better off if Hitler had never existed The same thing can be said about James Brodie, the main character in Hatter’s Castle. He is perfect, to borrow Shaw’s irony, but only as a negative personage. It is difficult to think of someone else who is so evil, even if names do come to mind: Saruman, Mephisto, and Jack Nicholson aka Johnny in The Shining…as it happens, the test on myself provided two non-human roles. Yes, most of time we have a negative counterpart fo...

  Belles Lettres Papers by Charles Simmons is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, albeit it is only 6353 rd on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find a few thousand reviews of magnum opera from these and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html Newbold Press has a successor: Orange Caligula 10 out of 10   I have been ecstatic https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-belles-lettres-papers-by-charles.html when I first read Belles Lettres Papers and it was been enchanting to re discover the mirth, hilarity of some of the passages, gems like ‘a degree from Willaim and Harry’, the list of the twenty-five best American writers   Indeed, I have been consulting the list of The Greatest Books of All Time, I read oeuvres, sometimes chefs d’oeuvres from The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and other sites, now I see that the GOAT even has suggestions, one was more than relevant...

  Jagger in Jail by Nigel Smith Very good! This is not Macbeth or Richard III. It is light entertainment. But it is fun, if we consider who the hero is, we are looking at the Ultimate Entertainer. -            Mick Jagger has graduated from rebel and revolutionary- at least in words, statements- to an establishment figure The premise of the play is a real incident that took place many years ago: -            “Feb. 12, 1967- Mick Jagger & Keith Richards -            The Rolling Stones’ first brush with the law came when police were tipped off about drug use during a party at guitarist Keith Richards‘ home. Richards and singer Mick Jagger were arrested, and four months later received very harsh sentences: three months for Jagger and a year for Richards. Two months later on appeal, the sentences were dismissed.” However, in the play ...

Vassa Zheleznova by Maxim Gorky is not a formidable play, if you ask me, but the performance of George Constantin as Prokhor Khrapov is magnetic, pure magic – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, my macaws are the stars of that channel   12 out of 10 for George Constantin, but only 7 out of 10 for the play   I have not been elated by Mother https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/mother-by-maxim-gorky-nine-out-of-10.html the work by Maxim Gorky which has been included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, and I was under the impression that the author has collaborated with the Soviet regime to some extent   I wonder where this work would be in one of the new book clubs; there is an article in The Economist of May 7 to 14 about the...

  Vassa Zheleznova by Maxim Gorky has only four reviews (now five) on Goodreads, and only 52 (53 with this) ratings, furthermore, it does not exist on The Greatest Books of All Time site, which may have some twenty thousand entries or more, although I have found myself at odds with the algorithm they use – you have a few thousand of my reviews here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html   9 out of 10   George Constatin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-marriage-proposal-by-anton-chekhov.html was the greatest thespian that I know, better than Jack Nicholson, to name just one, maybe the next most formidable competitor, and he makes Vassa Zheleznova worthwhile, at least the version I saw   Otherwise, this is a modest offering, from what was not the best Russian creator, never mind looking at the world at large – these are personal views, ergo stop here, for you may find other utterings offensiv...

  Tropisms aka Tropismes by Nathalie Sarruate is one of Le Monde’s 100 Books of The Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Monde%27s_100_Books_of_the_Century but does not make it on Realini’s 500 Books To Read compilation http://realini.blogspot.ro/ 8 out of 10     If we look for the definition of tropism, we may fall on the wrong meaning, but that confusion (for those of us less erudite, knowledgeable, educated) is in itself 5hrowing a light on the book that Le Monde has picked to sit along A La Recherche du Temps Perdu on the list of 100 Books of The Century   http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world ? Marcel Proust is the greatest writer that the under signed has ever known http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/un-amour-de-swan-by-marcel-proust.html - there is a video in which Nathalie Sarraute talks about her experience when first reading the magician and everything was taken aside…   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy...