“This is how I live, I am thinking.” “I walked east to St. Mark’s Bookshop, where I roamed the aisles, randomly selecting, feeling papers, and examining fonts, praying for a perfect opening line. (…).” Written in poetic, luminous, melancholic and fragmentary prose M Train by Patti Smith is an introspective […]
Appointment with Yesterday by Celia Fremlin | Book Review
In her book Appointment with Yesterday Celia Fremlin explores the position of older women in the society of the 1970s England focusing on the disintegration of one’s mind and paranoia in the domestic setting shown through the lenses of relationships, abandonment, guilt and using the institution of marriage as a […]
8 Books that Feel like a Warm Hug
I have prepared a list of books that are comforting and offer a peaceful and calming refuge to escape into. AUTUMN ROUNDS BY JACQUES POULIN Autumn Rounds by the Canadian writer, Jacques Poulin is a gentle, tender, luminous and deeply meditative novel exploring the meaning of solitude, literature in our life, […]
Brian by Jeremy Cooper | Book Review
Brian is a profoundly moving meditation on the meaning of solitary life, of art and cinema in shaping one’s perception of and connection with the world, of the hidden depths of human soul often kept private in fear of misunderstanding and stigma, and of the importance of companionship and community. […]
Autumn in London | A Visit to the Rare Books Fair, John Sandoe Bookstore and the Highgate Cemetery
I hope you all are doing well and stay healthy. I am sharing this little video of London during late autumn months. In the last few weeks I visited the Rare Books Fair held at the Chelsea Old Town Hall, and while in Chelsea I went to see one of […]
10 Books with Inspirational Male Characters
I made a list of books with inspirational male characters. I tried to include books from various cultures which I hope can be of interest to all of you. The list includes books from Mauritania, French-speaking Canada, Turkey, USA, Cuba, Ukraine, Algeria, Pakistan and France. The characters I appreciate are […]
A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery | Book Review
A Single Rose by a French writer, Muriel Barbery is a beautifully crafted book which can fill one’s heart with gentle warmth, peace, and hope for a better tomorrow. If you are in need of reading something delicate, comforting written in ethereal prose, this slender volume won’t disappoint you. This […]
The Halfway House by Guillermo Rosales | Book Review
Guillermo Rosales (Havana 1946 – Miami 1993) was a Cuban writer of excellence with a very unique style and profound level of sensitivity shining through his words. Prior to his death, he destroyed all his work except for two books ‘El Juego de la Viola’ and this one, The Halfway […]
8 Best Books by Elif Shafak
I always devour every book written by the Turkish writer Elif Shafak. I deeply connect with the way she tells the stories of people on the peripheries of society and how she gives a voice to the voiceless. In her books, Elif Shafak always offers a nuanced perspective and avoids […]
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga| Book Review
This Mournable Body by the Zimbabwean writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga, tells a story of a middle-age woman, called Tambu living in Harare (Zimbabwe) who is trying to find her way in this world. Tambu leaves her stagnant job as a copywriter with hope that she will find a better job where […]