Ataraxia

  For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, author of The Old Man and The Sea, my note on that is at   https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-killers-by-ernest-hemingway.html where I have a few hundred other reviews   8 out of 10   The Old Man of The Sea is included among The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, as compiled by The Norwegian Book Club, when they asked luminaries such as Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer (for the latter I am not sure though) which would be the great magnum opera and ergo we have the answers   For Whom The Bell Tolls and Farwell To Arms, along with The Old Man and The Sea are all placed on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, while you will find The Sun Also Rises among the 100 Best Novels of The Modern Library assessment, which is to say that Erenst Hemingway was one of the best authors ever. Alas, I do get some of theta ‘vibe’, I enjoyed The Old Man and The Sea, short stories https://re...

  Ascent by Jed Mercurio is on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, it reminds me of the much better The Hunters https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-hunters-by-james-salter-aka-james.html by James Salter   7 out of 10   Yefgenii Mikhailovich Yeremin is the main character in this novel, I did not want to put in the hero, for I don not see him as one, just as he might not be the anti-hero, in spite of the fact that he fought for the Soviet Union – I am already contradicting myself, how could he kill for those dictators and still be in the grey zone?   Nonetheless, this debut is compelling – ‘Stalingrad 1946, 29 million countrymen died in the Great Patriotic War and his whole family was among them’ the child is going to an orphanage and the ordeal there makes the reader cringe, and this first chapter is about a victim of the soviet regime, not a perpetrator of violence We could also look at the universal values, see that this is a story th...

  News From Nowhere by William Morris is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the Science Fiction section – you find notes on books from that list at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-voyage-to-arcturus-by-david-lindsay.html where I have a few hundred reviews   7 out of 10   To start with a brief conclusion, there is a lot of nonsense in News From Nowhere, and unfortunately, I have experienced this society inspired by Marxist ideas, together with hundreds of millions, and it is terrible, murderous, and think of North Korea, if you have any doubts, albeit if you muse about it, God be with you, you need help   Alas, I have only seen now that William Morris was a Marxist, and this is too late, the information would have been useful a priori, I would not have touched News From Nowhere, or just took it with a pole, nevertheless, it is also true that his ‘true colors’ show quite soon after engaging with the opus, hence the reject...

  Chariots of The Gods by Erich von Daniken – another look at this book is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/01/note-3-and-final-on-chariots-of-gods-by.html where there are thousands of other reviews   8 out of 10   I have read this book when I was a teenager and thought it fantastic, not anymore, though there are some good points, and if some years ago, one would be a crank if one maintained he had been taken by aliens (well, that is still true) seen them, or some ships, UFOs have become something else now, I forgot the name   However, even if it is not mainstream and not everyone will accept that we have aliens among ourselves – Orange Jesus is the paradigm of the fool from another planet, but metaphorically, not ad literam – there have been some changes, they have commissions, committees investigating sightings of unexplained phenomenon Actually, I think that is the acronym UAP or something, as in Unexplained Aerial…no, that’s not it, but let us ...

  The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life by David B. Agus, MD author of A Short Guide to A Long Life – one of my takes on this book is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/note-on-short-guide-to-long-life-by-dr.html and I will soon write another review on this   9 out of 10   This is essential reading, in that we all want a Long and Happy Life, unless of course, we are talking depression, suicidal tendencies and other ailments, but then the good doctor has some suggestions that will work for, better said against such states, like the immersion in nature, the seventeen minutes or so daily of contact with it   I am blessed to have two macaws – also had five borzois, all at the same time, a few other canines, and now I have to feed many cats in the garden, the other day I have had the record dozen guests – and according to doctor David Agus, there is a lot to gain, I just have to sit back and watch, take notice, apply and ...

  Au Revoir Les Enfants by Louis Malle – my previous note on this wonderful work is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/au-revoir-les-enfants-written-and.html where I have some other texts   9 out of 10   Trying to start off with a joke, the title is very attractive for this cinephile, because it means Goodbye Children, and considering where I live, that would be a nice prospect, if it could happen literally, as in this is a gated community we have here, with fat cats, and spoiled children, who abuse firecrackers and almost anything   As it is clear already, I will get to some points in Au Revoir Les Enfants, Insha’Allah, and then rant on this topic, and possibly others – as I write this, I have John Oliver in the background, with his latest episode of Last Week Tonight, where Orange Jesus rambles on something, what an idiot, OJ, not Oliver – so you have been warned It may not be necessary to keep using these spoiler alerts, albeit some fellow did ...

  A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, along with Herland – my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/09/herland-by-charlotte-perkins-gilman.html within the following lines, there will be more links to the same blog, maybe there will be more than the 7 clicks it gets daily   9 out of 10   Apparently, this is not just one of those books everyone must read, but the "greatest novel of the twentieth century”, it was a central influence on C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, and through him on J. R. R. Tolkien, who said he read the book "with avidity"…Clive Barker called it "a masterpiece", so what else is there?   In many ways, it feels as if there would be nothing to add to the above, I mean if a few say this is nec plus ultra, crème de la crème, magnum opus, who am I to deny, or ponder these pronouncements, well, I am the one who writes these lines and Protagoras comes to mind ...