Ataraxia

  Of the seven deadly sins, Roger considered himself qualified in gluttony, sloth and lust but distinguished in anger. The first time the two men met, an incident with a briefcase lock had suggested to him that here was a formidable rival in the last-named field The notion of the universe as the handiwork of the Almighty received a severe check at Pargeter. It was no wonder that people were so horrible when they started life as children.   Irving Macher runs off with Helen Americans pursue the dollar; the British had an empire. Fascinating to see the underlying assumptions and goals of a culture laid bare in its idiom. Fascinating, but not surprising. Language is before anything else the great social instrument The character’s promiscuous womanising and inordinate drinking certainly had autobiographical sources. For the novel’s American setting, Amis was drawing on his experience as a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in 1958–9, when, he informed his frie...

  Lord of The Flies by William Golding is on a series of paramount lists: The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels, 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, on The Greatest Books of All Time site it is ranked 50 th , and it is a chef d’oeuvre selected for my own favorites’ compilation, if you want the conclusion in a sound bite:   Jack has moved into the White House, in the meantime   You find thousands of reviews of 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   I was impressed by The Lord of The Flies https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/lord-of-flies-by-william-golding.html the first time I took it on, I even remember reading in while taking a bath – and with this, here we have the spoiler alert: you should not be reading this, not because I will say what happens, it is mayhem ...

  Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell is the twelfth volume of the chef d’oeuvre A Dance To The Music of Time, which is included on some of the most prestigious (perhaps all of them) lists: The All-TIME 100 Best Novels, The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels, and it is ranked 329th on the Greatest Books of All Time site, most important for this space, it is one of my Top 50 Favorites…you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other lists 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   Alas, I have reached the end of A Dance To the Music of Time https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/hearing-secrets-harmonies-by-anthony.html for the second time, in a few years, maybe there will be a return to Hearing Secret Harmonies and the rest of this magnum opus   There is a lot going on, and after a spoiler alert – which s...

  A Work of Art by Anton Chekhov 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 https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-short-stories-of-anton-chekhov-are.html is one of The Best 100 Books of All Time – I am curious to see what AI, or autocorrect until them will do with the verb – because we have ‘Stories’ it looks like plural, except this is just ‘one chef d’oeuvre’   This Work of Art is both thought provoking and jocular: “SASHA SMIRNOV, the only son of his mother, holding under his arm, something wrapped up in No. 223 of t...

  The Untouchables written by Oscar Fraley, Eliot Ness, directed by Brian de Palma has won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Sean Connery, and it is a wondrous motion picture – you find 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 and YouTube channel   9 out of 10   Let me put in here my conclusion: https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html Eliot Ness fights Al Capone and wins, the mob boss is sent to jail for many years, I think it was Alcatraz, alas, another gangster has won, he is now the quintessential Godfather and controls much of the world   Kevin Costner is formidable as the hero, Eliot Ness, incorruptible, determined, brave, resilient, intelligent – he seems to have no chance, his men are killed, corruption is pervasive, and Al Capone appears to cont...

  Little Children written by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, directed by the former was nominated in 2007 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Kate Winslet, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Jackie Earle Haley and for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay- it is a feature I liked, even seeing it for the second time, albeit it would only make it to my Top 500 or so, it is not on the say level with say Parasite…you find 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   Kate Winslet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-reader-by-david-hare-based-on-novel.html is excellent as Sarah Pierce, the main character of Little Children, she has won The Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Reader, and has an immense career, I think she moved into directing, something with her daughte...