Ataraxia

  The Housemaid by Freida McFadden has managed to get onto The Greatest Books of All Time site, although it is as low as 16709, nevertheless, it does have an astounding 3,464,056 ratings and 293,265 reviews on Goodreads, with this, we need to add to the ridiculous number…I have about 200k reviews on my blog, I am exaggerating, and even there are too many, they generally avoid the likes of The Housemaid, which is not something I get busy with https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     6 out of 10   Arthur Schopenhauer https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-history-of-philosophy-by-bertrand.html said “One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind.   In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.”   Ergo, we should avoid The Housem...

  Shane by A.B. Guthrie, Jack Schaefer was nominated for most of the important Oscars in 1954: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for both Brandon De Wilde and Jack Palance, Best Director -George Stevens and Best Writing, Screenplay for A.B. Guthrie Jr. furthermore, this is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, you can find multiple notes on films from the NYT 1,000 List on my blog and YouTube channel the blog is here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   8 out of 10   Shane is an impressive motion picture, with a role model of sorts at the center, Shane, the gun fighter (oops, this is already a contradiction in terms) who defends the weak, fights the strong and rich (for 1889) and thus displays a string of character strengths as we find here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/search?q=seligman   Martin Seligman is the co-founder of Positive Psychology, in 2000, and he has researched cha...

  The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil is on all the prestigious lists for the best magnum opera, from The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read to Le Monde’ Best 100 Novels, to The Bokklubben World Library Best 100 Books of All Time, finally, it is ranked 89 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and it was compared, placed on the same level with Proust and Joyce…you can find more of my reviews at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     9 out of 10   The man Without Qualities is an impressive chef d’oeuvre, even I can see that, although I must say I had to put it aside, with the (maybe vain) hope that I will find the gumption, zest to start again (soon), after all, why abandon such an acclaimed novel…the first answer is that it has no fewer than 1774 pages, and I only got to about 400   On the other hand, that should not be such an impregnable obstacle, af...

  On The Road by Jack Kerouac is one of Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels, it is also on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list and it is ranked forty second on The Greatest Books of All Time site, it was called ‘A quintessential novel of America & the Beat Generation’, I have read it for the first time about twelve years ago, I think, and taken it for a second time over the past few days, and I have a mixed verdict, influenced by what (the MAGA side of) America has become, other reviews and notes on films are available at   https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   8 out of 10   I could see that On The Road is a good book, if not the ‘inspirational work of lasting importance, a classic novel of freedom & longing’ for me, it does not mean a thing that I am not exhilarated, it just proves to me again the futility of reading these notes, writing them may make some sense, I was explain to a mate from the sauna   ...

  Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell has been a tremendous success; therefore, I took it up to enjoy this acclaimed novel…alas, it did not work for him, and this about ends my review. Except there is some more, even if it is irrelevant – I am amused somewhat by the thought that I can still see this text wiped out from Goodreads, together with its author, it happened before, because I voice my various concerns, often unrelated to the topic…I even advertise my blog, in fear that I could be banned from Goodreads, ergo there would still be this space https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     8 out of 10   I have tried to read Hamnet, that is have someone read it to me, in audiobook format, but somehow, I was not paying attention, evidently, I blamed the ‘other side’, the book was not for me, although I admit it must be impressive, with all that applause, we have the "De gustibus non disputandum est" argument to use   Flow h...

  The Thin Blue Line written and directed by Errol Morris is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – it is on their list, you can take the challenge at their site and see how many of those films you have seen, my number is at 778, but I am going through almost one every day, unless I take up some of the most recent – Blue Moon https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/blue-moon-written-by-lorenz-hart-robert.html is number one in my book, for 2025, just as Ethan Hawke would get the Oscar, if my vote would be decisive, and evidently, if I were a voting member of the Academy, here I give the trophies, so there it is     9 out of 10   I have been rather put off by some of the films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made that I have seen lately, for instance Women in Love https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/02/women-in-love-written-by-larry-kramer.html which is not bad, but coming with (too) high expectations it does not o...