Ataraxia

  Out of The Shelter by David Lodge was longlisted for the Booker Prize, it does not exist on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where I looked for it and found Changing Places, a chef d’oeuvre for me, at 1754 th and other magnum opera by the same author even lower down the ranks…notwithstanding this algorithm, which I will be tempted to avoid in the future, this oeuvre was perfect for the under signed – you find thousands of reviews on works from the GOAT 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 shine   10 out of 10   David Lodge https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/about-magnum-opus-changing-places-by.html is one of my favorite authors, and Out of The Shelter was perfect in my view, in an afterword, the author says that some of his friends prefer this to his other novels, I do not know if I will go that far, but I was mesmerized   Timothy You...

  By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, allegedly, nonetheless, it is only 2456 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, not to mention that I did not even think I should bother after the first few pages – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera and lesser works from the aforementioned and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube page, where my macaws steal the show   6 out of 10   I love poetry https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-sonnets-by-shakespeare-is-supposed.html I even know three or five sonnets, including: ‘My reason, the physician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except…’   The introduction to By Grand Station I sat Down and Wept says: ‘I doubt if there are more than half a dozen mast...

  Hurrah for St Trinian’s by Ronald Searle is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, but it is only 4310 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find thousands of reviews on magnum opera from these and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   7 out of 10   Molesworth https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/down-with-skool-by-geoffrey-willans.html is another book by Ronald Searle, written with Geoffrey Willans, which is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, I have read two parts, and I still have the third and last, except the enthusiasm has diminished   The jokes, drawings are not bad, but they appear somewhat lame, take this one in which a man cancels his trip to Venice, on the phone and we see his bathroom in the background, and the fact that he has plumbing issues, ergo a little lagoon is about to be created at home, why bother to go all the way to Italy fo...

  The Lighthouse written by Robert and Max Eggers, directed by the former was nominated for an Oscar in 2020 – you find notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other web pages on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel   8 out of 10   To the Lighthouse https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/to-lighthouse-by-virginia-woolf-is_6.html shows up when you google for ‘lighthouse’, and I remember this: ‘with Virginia Woolf I want to keep saying 'No, he didn't', No it didn't happen as you describe it', No, that isn't what he thought, No, that's just what she didn't say’   Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis was not very critical only with Virginia Woolf – ‘My own experience in reading Dickens, and I doubt whether it us an uncommon one, is to be bounced between violent admiration and violent distaste almost every couple of paragraphs’ there is also this: ‘I had...

  Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, although it is ranked only 2496 th on The Greatest Books of All Time…you have 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   10 out of 10 in some way, but also 8 out of 10 somehow   Project Hail Mary https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/04/project-hail-mary-by-andy-weir-is-one_22.html came to mind, since they sent the hero (Ryan Gosling in the movie) there to explore, and something similar happens in Rogue Moon, notwithstanding the quite clear differences, one is a volunteer, the other is forced to go   The science from this Science Fiction oeuvre is not attractive for this reader, it surely has to do with incomprehension, lack of interest, besides, this was published in 1960, and in the meantime, even the Chinse have travelled there, though I am not sure ...

  Dirty Tricks by Michael Dibdin is one of the five oeuvres by the same author which are included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, although it is ranked only 6846 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find reviews of magnum opera and lesser works 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   8 out of 10   Michael Dibdin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-rich-full-death-by-michael-dibdin.html is the author of five detective books that are on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, he has written much more, but these are among the best, at least according to The Guardian, others disagree, and Dirty Tricks is just 6846 th on The GOAT site   With this mystery, I have read all five: Ratking, Dead Lagoon, Dirty Tricks, A Rich Full Death, Vendetta…the feeling I have now is that I liked Ratking best, and then Dead Lagoon...