Ataraxia

  Harry Potter and The Philosopher Stone by J.K. Rowling is ranked 236 th on The Greatest Books of All time site, it is clearly an immense success, along with all the other parts of the franchise – only this one has more than 11.5 million ratings on Goodreads, except that for the purposes of this space (which belongs to me, more or less) Harry Potter One, and the rest of them, although I may take the trouble to put in a few lines for the rest of them as well, is a waste of time, even if I have to admit I can speak (in a way) only about the adaptations, which I saw when my daughter, Hannah, was a child and this was ‘a thing’, I wonder if she liked it – this should be ‘the whole review’, even if there is some more down there – you also find thousands of notes on books from The GOAT and other sites, and on films from The NYT 1,000 Best Movies Ever Made on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   6 out of 10   I have here a...

  American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis has been adapted for the big screen by the author of the original novel with Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner, or they are just credited in this way – nevertheless, this note will be more about American vs Orange Psycho, or American Psycho is now The Orange Psycho- the novel is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, except that I did not find on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and there must be glitch there, for they go all the way to 10,000 or more, and this must be at least in the first 5k, not a great favorite of mine though…speaking of that, you find thousands of notes on films and books from the aforementioned and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and my YouTube channel maybe one or two are worth it     8 out of 10   While both the book and the film are interesting, these lines will be more about how the American Psycho has metamorphosed in...

  Spencer by Steven Knight is an acclaimed motion picture, it was the 2022 Nominee for The Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Kristen Stewart, she was Spencer aka Princess Diana – notwithstanding the appreciation of the experts – it was also the nominee for The Critics Choice Award, and for other trophies – I was not thrilled by either the feature, or Ms. Stewart…indeed, she was impressive as a child in The Panic Room, later on in Seberg, but Love Lies Bleeding and Spencer have disappointed this cinephile – you find thousands of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other sites on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   6 out of 10   I remember the time when we heard about the death of Lady Diana: we were on a trip on the mountains, in Predeal, somewhere near the center of my country, and we arrived near the top after quite a climb (for my wife and I, plus De...

  A History of The World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is an outstanding work, which was to be expected, seeing as the author has been – I am not sure if he still is – one of the editors of The Economist…I think he was in charge for the latest issue of The World in 2026, every year, they publish what they except to happen in the next, and I think they did not foresee the war against Iran, and the cataclysmic consequences, to grasp the size of the catastrophe, you could do no better than read The Economist – you have thousands of reviews on books recommended by this distinguished publication, also from The Greatest Books of All Timea and other pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   9 out of 10   This is a fabulous work, which takes a creative look at history – by the way, one of the mesmerizing, hilarious luminaries of America, H.L. Mencken, said that ‘historians are failed novelists’ https://realinibarzoi.blogs...

  Peaky Blinders by Steven Knight – this feature has had the premiere on Netflix a few days ago, and although I like Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan- Tim Roth was once glorious, especially in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, but also in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern   Are Dead, only recently I have seen him in anything worthwhile, or up to his best standard – this thriller was not satisfying, its Metascore is poor – you find thousands of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other sites, together with reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other lists on my blog   https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel   6 out of 10   If we compare this with The Godfather https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-godfather-ii-by-mario-puzo-this.html then, let me think, there is nothing more to say is one thing, and then the other…why would we compare ...

  A Buyer’s Market by Anthony Powell 10 out of 10 This is the second novel in the twelve-novel series A Dance to the Music of Time. It reminds me of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. It is magnificent, elaborate and very often hilarious. Like in a Psychology test, to put down feelings, words, adjectives associated with the exquisite experience of reading this book: majestic, British, superb, splendid, wonderful…nec plus ultra, but then there are another 10 volumes and I expect them to be at least as majestic as the first two. In fact, I love the British, not the ones we met drinking their brains out, but the gentlemen of the Victorian period, the ones from this novel, or from the stories of Somerset Maugham. Sometimes I wish I had lived in The Great British Empire, in the XIXth century, even if I haven’t quite made up my mind if in rainy Britain or in the Indies, or perhaps some other colonies. I laughed with tears at the beginning of A Buyer’s Market, when sugar is poured on Windmerp...