Ataraxia

  Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding – author of Bridget Jones’ Diary https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/bridget-joness-diary-by-helen-fielding.html   7 out of 10   This book was recommended by The Economist as one of the best comedies – trying to be funny, I would protest and say I do not know why – along with The Loved One https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-loved-one-by-evelyn-waugh-10-out-of.html and I agree with the latter   The Edge of Reason is not bad, but far from one of my favorite reads, indeed, it seemed quite silly, and very often…there is the upside of this, for it does have some clever insights, quotes from Buddhism, and books on that, such as ‘the atmosphere around you is a reflection of your inner world’ words to that effect Besides, Helen Fielding has taken inspiration from Jane Austen https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/01/persuasion-by-jane-austen-10-out-of-10.html some names, even scenes, and Jane Austen is ...

  The Man With The Scar by Somerset Maugham – one of my favorite writers, author of The Verger https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-verger-by-somerset-maugham-another.html and other magnificent tales   10 out of 10   The Man With The Scar is part of the fabulous collection Ten, and it is very brief and yet, wonderful, for we have a tragic turn of events, the protagonist loves a woman, but he now reminds me of…Shakespeare and a sonnet I admire – ‘ my love is as a fever longing still, for that which longer nurseth the disease, feeding on that which doth preserve the ill…   The uncertain, sickly appetite to please…my reason, the physician to my love, angry that his prescriptions are not kept, has left me, and I desperately now approve, desire is death…past cure I am, now reason is past care, and frantic mad, with ever more unrest, my thoughts and my discourse at random from the truth vainly expressed…’ In brief, this is about ‘being crazy in lov...

  A Country Cottage by Anton Chekhov – the Short Stories of this sublime writer are included on The 100 Greatest Books Ever Made – author of The Shooting Party https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-shooting-party-by-anton-chekhov-we.html   9 out of 10   Anton Chekhov is one of the greatest writers in history, his short stories and plays are landmarks, masterpieces that will enchant future generations, if they do not have to live on such a hot planet, that they can hardly breathe   You can read A Country Cottage at https://americanliterature.com/author/anton-chekhov/short-story/a-country-cottage/ and in quite a number of other places, including archive.org, the LibriVox, Gutenberg sites and more ‘Two young people who had not long been married were walking up and down the platform of a little country station’ – this is the beginning of what is a flash story, only a couple of pages long, which makes it even more remarkable   "How beautiful it ...

  Gigolo and Gigolette by Somerset Maugham – author of The Verger https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-verger-by-somerset-maugham-another.html and other spectacular stories   10 out of 10   Gigolo and Gigolette is another tale from Magister Ludi Somerset Maugham, one in which human tragedy is expected, might happen, but – spoiler alert – we will not know, for the dénouement is left for after the ending, maybe she will take the plunge and win, something else could happen, another solution to their problem could be found   Gigolette is Stella, and she has a daring, life threatening act, in which she jumps from a dizzying height into a small pool of water, which is set on fire, and the fact that she survives is a miracle Sandy Westcott is a personage that comes to the ‘show’ every night, because ‘he does not want to miss it, when she dies’ or maybe if she dies Syd Cotman is Gigolo, the two are married, furthermore, they love each other, we even ...

  A Season in Sinji by J.L. Carr – author of the brilliant A Month in The Country https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-month-in-country-by-jl-carr-10-out-of.html both included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list   10 out of 10   This marvelous magnum opus is now one of my favorite reads, and I wonder why it is neglected, yes, it is on the aforementioned list, which has another JL Carr fabulous work, I am sure, although I have not opened it yet, The Harpole Report on the 1,000 Novels compilation, but the internet has little about these landmarks   Furthermore, even if it has quite a few pages about cricket, and I am absolutely out of the picture on that, ergo there is no radiance to get from it, A Season in Sinji is monumental, seen from this space, a fabulous combination of humor and tragedy, questioning the meaning of life and laughing at almost everything Tom Flanders is the narrator, arguably the hero of the story, he takes himself in jest...

  Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler – this is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List   8 out of 10   I am tempted to try a stupid joke, and conclusion to the experience of trying to read this rather long novel – Solomon Gursky Was Here and so what, it did not have an impact on yours truly, which does not mean much, if anything   ‘Mordecai Richler, an anglophone in Quebec, a Jew in Canada, a Canadian throughout the world…Like Gustave Mahler, 'I am thrice homeless, native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans…’ sounds interesting Alas, there is a fear that with over five hundred pages, this book would prove too much to handle, and once the page three hundred threshold is reached, I find myself asking why on earth did I lose this much time with this Gursky?   In its favor, Solomon Gursky Was Here seems to have everything, even an incident in this town, where I live, a flight attendant is presumably assaulted, or claims to have ...

  Wailing Well by M.R. James, or you could choose Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/08/ghosts-by-henrik-ibsen.html   8 out of 10   Ghosts are not my thing, though I do not think I have ever seen one, so they have not done anything to me, if they exist -sounds like that Pascal wager, somehow in reverse – if they do not exist, there is no problem…   If they do, but decided to avoid me, then there is the same happy circumstance -Pascal said something like ‘you should believe in God, if He is not extant, you lose nothing, and if He is waiting up there, you are safe’ For the ghosts, there is little to find similar, and as for Pascal’s wager, surely the Almighty, omniscient Man with the white beard upstairs would be aware of the trick and refuse accession on the basis on that scheme   Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis called Him ‘the great sculptor and colorist’ https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/memoirs-by-kingsley-amis-author-of-...