Ataraxia

  Aridosio by Lorenzino de Medici The life of the author, who was also a…assassin, sounds much more interesting than the story that did not really appeal to me To clear the air from the start, I did not like this play. It is a subjective assessment and flawed, if we consider that Aridosio is labeled as one of the best plays of its time. There is an irresistible temptation to be cheeky and say something like: -            If Lorenzino was so good, how come I had never heard about him before this morning? -            Only it comes back in the form of: you are no erudite, that’s why… There is probably more in me from the Jack Nicholson character in Prizzi’s Honor, charley Partanna than from a scholar. When Charley Partanna, a hit man for the mob is confronted by his wife, who works oddly in the exact same line of business he says: -         ...

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has an astounding for me 41 st place on The Greatest Books of All Time, which means that I should be more careful in the future with this site, it may reflect importance, value and more, but it does put at the bottom magnum opera that I venerate – the other day I have found a masterpiece by my absolute favorite Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis somewhere at ten thousand or worse – and here we have this horror feature that I do not see much to enthuse about, right at the top…however, you find more than five thousand reviews of books from this list and others, along with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made compilation and others on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you care to visit Frankenstein vs Orange Woland     7 out of 10   Spoiler alert: whatever I had to say about Frankenstein is already up there, in the headlin...

  A Buyer’s Market by Anthony Powell   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 ...

  The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell   With The Kindly Ones I have reached the middle of A Dance To The Music Of Time, the epic work of Anthony Powell. Why is it called The Kindly Ones? “The Greeks, because they feared the Furies, had named them the Eumenides, “The Kindly Ones „flattery intended to appease their wrath…” Even if war is looming over the atmosphere of this volume, the sixth in a long but splendid book, there are hilarious passages. Humor is one of the aspects I like most in Powell’s six volumes that I’ve read so far. We are introduced to a new, rather comic character, although a girl commits suicide because of him. Doctor Trelawney is the self imposed leader of a kind of cult, which happens to be located near the childhood residence of our hero, who is based on the author of the book. Members greet each other with a pompous or deep, depending on how you look at it: “ “The Essence of the All is the Godhead of the True” To this the response is: “The Vision of Vision...

  Burmese Days by George Orwell is ranked 791 st on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where you find a few of his books, from Nineteen Eighty Four, Animal Farm to The Essays which I have recently read nevertheless, the algorithm changes the places in the hierarchy, ergo you could see a different structure, I don’t know what data is used, however, if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – that notwithstanding, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you are interested, why plug this, I don’t know     9 out of 10   Nineteen Eighty Four ...

  50 shades of grey by E. L. James Lame   This is so popular that I am guessing there would be a tone of ratings and a few thousand reviews on goodreads. -            What is the point of adding to the clutter? -            For starters, this will be negative- a spot of dark matter in a sea of pink fluff… Furthermore, I dare say that the book is no big deal, even if I did not read more than a few chapters, which were enough. To be fair, I wish I could right as bad (if I am consistent in my criticism) or as well, if I am to establish as a reference point my own mumblings. But if we are to compare 50 Shades with Maugham, Proust, Flannery O’Connor then there is very little to say. And a question pops up: -            Why would you want to read 50 shades instead of Catch 22, The Grapes of Wrath and books in the same super- league I f...