A Book and Literary Travel Blog
As my stress levels have been skyrocketing over the last weeks and months, I often find myself seeking a refuge in books. During the times of anxiety, I am always in need of reading something heartwarming, soul-healing, soul-soothing and gentle. I have prepared a list of 10 books that can help you soothe your soul […]
Over the weekend I went to Waterstones Piccadilly in Central London, the biggest bookshop in Europe, with books spread over five floors. I made a relaxing video inside this bookstore. It was extremely busy and crowded so the footage is not the best, but I hope this little video will give you an idea of […]
I am currently reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I invite you for a 25-minute evening reading session accompanied by soft and relaxing music. I hope this video will help you to find peace and calmness.
Daughter [Dotsya] by Ukrainian writer, Tamara Duda [Tamara Horicha Zernia] has been included by the Ukrainian Book Institute in the list of thirty most important books published after 1991. Tamara Duda was awarded the 2022 Shevchenko National Prize, the highest literary award in Ukraine. It is worth mentioning that Duda was working as a volunteer […]
Autumn is my favourite time of the year. As we are slowly about to say goodbye to summer and welcome Autumnal Equinox in the Northern hemisphere on 23 September, I put together a list of few books with autumn vibes, a beautiful veil of melancholy and nostalgia. In my view they all are great reads […]
Written in sparse, minimalist prose, Without Blood by the Italian writer, Alessandro Baricco is a poignant short story exploring themes of morality, a vicious cycle of revenge and violence, the destructive nature of war, its cruelty, savagery and its long legacy on the lives of its participants and survivors. Other themes include the existence of […]
What We Live For, What We Die For by Ukrainian writer, Serhiy Zhadan born in Luhansk Oblast (Eastern Ukraine), currently living in Kharkiv where he supports defense of the city and his country. Zhadan’s collection of poems written between 2001 and 2015 reminds us that Ukraine is an extremely diverse and multifaceted country with its […]
“I think I’d forgotten that she had been free before my birth – even joyful (…) that she had once been young and full of dreams (…) her freedom and contentment had become an abstract notion, something I vaguely knew.” “ (…) the telling of her life’s story was the best remedy she could think […]
“The greatest mystery of my life: living in the aftermath.” The Teacher by the Israeli writer, Michal Ben Naftali is an exceptional and profoundly moving novel. I cried towards the end of the book and after I closed the last page of this book. The Teacher tells a story of a woman, Elsa Weiss, born […]
“I say, too: could all of us, perhaps, without knowing it, the French, the Italian, the Maltese, the Jews, the Greeks, the Muslims of this country, we who watch and play together at the café, in this small nowhere-town, yes could all of us already be refugees, already hostages or prisoners, or even disappeared?” “In […]
Below you can find a list of books by the contemporary Ukrainian authors exploring the war in eastern Ukraine which started in 2014 as well as the annexation of Crimea. All these books are available in English and constitute an important contribution to the public discourse when it comes to better understanding of Ukraine, its […]
I have prepared a few book recommendations written by the African writers including Mohamed Sarr, Kamal Ben Hameda, Adrienne Yabouza, Mbarek Ould Beyrouk, Ivan Vladislavic, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Tete-Michel Kpomassie, Leila Aboulela, Scholastique Mukasonga, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Kaouther Adimi, Andre Aciman. I hope you will find this list of books useful and interesting.
Journey to Karabakh by the Georgian writer, Aka Morchiladze is set in the post-Soviet Georgia of the early 1990s and in the heavily contested region of Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This book can be read as a metaphor for the meaning of individual freedom and social as well as cultural constraints imposed on us, […]
“People change over time. People’s lives, and loves, are ever shifting, never permanent. But everyone has one goal that never changes: the pursuit of that word “happiness”. Everyone has the right to pursue a happy life, and no matter what people do to pay the bills, it’s always a happy life they’re striving after.” By […]
These are some of my favourite books under 200 pages including Patrick Modiano, Zofia Nalkowska, Adrienne Yabouza, Mohsin Hamid, Tahar Djaout, Yevgenia Belorusets, Octavio Paz, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alifa Rifat. I hope you will find these recommendations of interest.