Ataraxia

  Perfume – the Story of a Murderer aka Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind – another look at the story is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/note-on-perfume-by-patrick-suskind.html 8 out of 10     This note comes rather late, there has been a take on the novel in 2016, on this blog, but nothing in writing – hence, this will be not just biased and all over the place, as usual, but to be avoided, perhaps at all costs – not that there will be a flood of curious people, waiting fervently to see what the under signed has to say about Perfume…   After all, it is one of the bestselling German novels and has been a huge financial success for nine years – if you ask me, I would much rather have Thomas Mann https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-magic-mountain-is-classic-that.html on Any Given Sunday, or any other day of the week, it is the crème de la crème However, the book did create a good impression, even for this fussy, pretentious reader, at the time, i...

  Moonlight by Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney 9 out of 10     This is an acclaimed film, it won the 2017 Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture of The Year, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role and I could only finish it last night, for some wrong reason – it was late when it aired, did not really feel another gay romance would really make my day, and others   Brokeback Mountain https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/02/brokeback-mountain-by-annie-proulx.html is just one of those stories, which I enjoyed a lot, it is just a question of how many, and also, the issue I have when I do not relate, identify with the character, seeing as I do not understand same sex love… Sapphic love is excluded, and then, this is a limitation that would prompt a change of reading material – you would find something which is not way better, but also acceptable, politically correct, since I see myself as open-minded, my absolute favorite writer ...

  A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list and was also shortlisted for The Booker Prize in 2005 9 out of 10     This is an extraordinary novel, which has elated this reader, notwithstanding the fact that it has a lot of fighting in it, World War I is, if not omnipresent, on almost every other page, and even when the plot takes us to Dublin or Amiens, the horror is in the background and overwhelms the reader with its monstrosity   One of the episodes comes to mind now, told by a friend of the hero, William ‘Willie’ Dunne, Pete O’Hara, the latter had come across a calamity, with people, animals killed, and in the middle of this, there was a young woman, tied, with her skirt lifted at the back, and all the signs of rape and torture, a terrifying site Pete O’Hara was with just a few other soldiers and one officer (as I recall) and the leader tells them they will take the woman along, only some of the soldie...

  Transfer de Personalitate aka Personality Transfer, based on Povestiri Vesele aka Stories by Jaroslav Hasek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-good-soldier-svejk-by-jaroslav-hasek.html   7 out of 10     The adaptation of a story by Jaroslav Hasek that I have seen last night was not just flawed, it seemed rather bad, albeit it was nominated for some prizes by the UNITER, which means either I am talking nonsense (spoiler alert: it sounds about right) or they do not know what they are talking about, and the third option:   The level in that year (and maybe for longer) for theater productions for television, in my land, dropped so low that this bizarre offer was As Good As It Gets – indeed, as far as I can tell, the actor in the leading role of Josef Pabliceck used to be the dean of the University of Acting, and maybe he still has that important position There is also Dorel Visan, another thespian of the old ...

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Down fallings, and Complete Career of the Nickleby Family by Charles Dickens, author of Oliver Twist https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/10/oliver-twist-by-charles-dickens.html and a good number of other great books 9 out of 10     Nicholas Nickleby is one of my favorite Dickens works, sitting up there with Great Expectations https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/great-expectations-based-very-loosely.html which is included by the luminaries of our time among the Greatest Books of All Time, the remarkable writer has no fewer than nine works on another important compilation, the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read – Nicholas Nickleby is not there though   It will be interesting to see if I ever finish Hard Times, or some other rather lengthy beano, which I have started, but going in the neighborhood of one thousand pages does not enthuse this lazy bum,...

  Vitrina cu Sarlatani aka The Display with Charlatans by Radu Paraschivescu, author of Aforismele Tranzitiei https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/aforismele-tranzitiei-catalog-de-perle.html   8 out of 10     This book is very helpful, albeit it would be more useful for the Charlatans on Display, and alas, they do not read this, or anything else…a thought comes to mind, at the Agora where we exchange views on a regular basis aka the Downtown Sauna, they tell me to leave off the damn books, because I talk too much about them   The advice is munificent and pertinent, because as they say ‘you have to keep your feet on the ground’, on the one hand, and then these Charlatans that are the topic here do not care about literature, or psychology (which is a favorite subject of mine, as it will be clear soon) and they even reject the idea of conversation Let me offer you the example of one of these impostors, who has been a frequent visitor of the sauna r...

  Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen, author of Tourist Season https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/tourist-season-by-carl-hiaasen-nine-out.html 8 out of 10     This is one of the few times when I disagree with The Economist, on the matter of the most amusing novels, albeit they are spot on with Lucky Jim https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/lucky-jim-by-kingsley-amis-author-of.html by Kingsley Amis, with Nature Girl, they may strike the right cord with some readers, but not the under signed   The Loved One https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-loved-one-by-evelyn-waugh-10-out-of.html by Evelyn Waugh is on the same short list, where Waugh is praised for other magnum opera, such as Scoop, or Decline and Fall, the journalist explains that this is a compilation of what he prefers, and two out of five may be good enough Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen was included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, and that opus was not my cup of tea either, good eno...

  Ghidul Nesimtitului aka The Rude Man’s Guide by Radu Paraschivescu, author of Aforismele Tranzitiei https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/aforismele-tranzitiei-catalog-de-perle.html and other amusing books 9 out of 10     Radu Paraschivescu is one of the most respectable, successful intellectuals in our realm, a sage who combines the works that make people laugh, with much more serious novels, and to top all that, he is also a…soccer commentator, I am not sure what he imparts there, but when switching between channels, I see him explaining matches   Indeed, this is why his name came up at the Sauna Downtown, when some mates were discussing a rather loathsome coach (he would be a prototype in the Rude Man’s Guide, if somehow he is not there) who has a relative, nephew or some other, in a very serious condition, strangers donated to alleviate that, but this trainer did not The name of the author was mentioned, because he is a guest on these shows, perha...

  Limba Pasarilor aka The Language of The Birds by Andrei Plesu – author of Despre Ingeri https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/05/despre-ingeri-by-andrei-plesu-10-out-of.html   and other magnum opera 10 out of 10     Andrei Plesu is perhaps the most admired, poplar and important luminary in this land – he certainly is for yours truly – and furthermore, he should be known and acclaimed across the globe, if you ask me, and presumably others, a titan, brilliant intellectual who is not looking down at the hoi polloi, albeit he can be a splendid critic   The demi God has a divine sense of humor, combining it in his writing and speeches with the esoterical, inaccessible really for the common reader (however, I need to add here that the ‘average human’ does not reach for this Magister Ludi, indeed, people read less, and when they do, they opt for rather undemanding material) One of my favorite reads is Comedii La Portile Orientului https://realini.blogspot.c...

  The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh is alleged to be one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and the biggest selling Vietnamese book in the country's history…although banned in the communist country for years 8 out of 10     The Sorrow of War is remarkable in that it does overwhelm the readers with The Atrocities of Conflict, and, just like All Quiet On The Western Front https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/all-quiet-on-western-front-by-erich.html it makes clear that battles involve monstrosity, people vaporized, civilians abused, raped, tortured…   This narrative, which takes place in Vietnam, has also recalled A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-good-scent-from-strange-mountain.html by Robert Olen Butler, which has won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1993, a fabulous writer that has meant a lot to me, in the last years I have made a video about A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain and found a comment from ...