Ataraxia

  Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1931, although it is rated an astonishingly low 11449 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, I liked it, even if I was not ecstatic about it, especially when it got too long, winding on beyond the point where it should have stopped – you find thousands of reviews on magnum opera from the GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, if you care to visit   8 out of 10   I remember a critique made by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/03/take-girl-like-you-by-magister-ludi.html regarding the ‘Checkoff formula: you take a lot of characters, all miserable because of something they won't do, and let them talk without influencing each other for three acts, and at the last moment you introduce some arbitrary calamity, or some proposed change like a return to Petrograd or a holi...

  The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope Not really bad, but not overwhelming either I did not take this story too much at heart. In fact, I was hesitating: -            Is this a children’s or teenagers’? -            I am still not sure, albeit there are arguments for all options… There is a note on this tale that says that it gave the start to a type of novel or film where the action takes place in a fictional country: -            The Ruritanian romance The first film in this genre that comes to mind is The Prince and the Show Girl, with a couple of extraordinary leads: -            Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, two greats that did not get along as we learn from other films and accounts of the production -            The Princ...

  Swan’s Way is the first part of In Search of Lost Time which is second best on The Greatest Books of All Time site, in the same second spot on the Le Monde’s 100 Books of The Century, it is part of Bokklubben World Library’s Best 100 Books of All Time, and also one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, last but not least, Marcel Proust is my all-time favorite – you find thousands of reviews from the aforementioned lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   10 out of 10   A La Recherche du Temps Perdu aka In Search of Lost time is nec plus ultra, the crème de la crème https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/albertine-disparue-by-marcel-proust.html the epitome of sophistication, flamboyance, I was thinking that in the age of the mobile phone, Marcel Proust could be an antidote…   Alas, it is much more likely – chances could be placed in the high nineties’ percent – that the Gen Z and other new gener...

  The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, where it is included in the Mystery Section; nevertheless, I was not captivated by it – 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 and YouTube channel, where my macaws are the main attraction   7 out of 10   There are mystery novels that mesmerize https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-daughter-of-time-by-josephine-fey.html such as The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, which is not just captivating, but it offers a trip in…Time, solves a crime, and then restores the reputation of a loathed monarch, Richard III   ‘And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain’ we know Richard III as that epitome of vileness, I was overwhelmed by the scene wherein he s...

  The Swiss Family Robinson by Johan David Wyss 7 out of 10 This book is included on The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list. From the start I must say that it could, should may be a better word, be one of those that will be eliminated in the future, given that perspectives change and attitudes towards other people, animals are very different from 1812, when this story was published. If one is sarcastic, one could say that this novel is a long list of animals killed by the Family Robinson, many of them not out of necessity to get food, but just because one or the other protagonists needs something to keep knives in and more generally, because the attitude was completely different two centuries ago. Evidently, in the present, many vicious individuals still see wild life as potential trophy, soulless machines, just waiting for them to aim, shoot and kill - some from the infamous Trump family come to mind, with about the same advanced perspective as the Robinsons. And mind y...

  Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala From a Positive Psychology perspective Heat and Dust is an extraordinary book. This masterpiece has two heroines in my view: -            India and Olivia The country is fascinating in this story that presents the reader with many of the aspects of this phenomenal land. Even if or because it is so different, a reader is much more interested in visiting after finishing this work, albeit things must have changed from the time the narrative takes place. -            Olivia is an English woman married to Douglas and an enchanting character. -            She finds herself in some extreme situations, but there are so many strengths, facets that we admire. instead of keeping a "colonial" distance, this protagonist immerses herself into this different culture Another personage has the opinion that one c...