in love with books

There was one moment in the novel...When the apples dropped from the hands of the grandfather, I had this uncanny feeling that I was there myself, that I can sense the loss of everything, the disappearance of hope, terrible burden of being so tired that rest is impossible and a sadness so deep that it cannot be expressed...I really felt that I can feel the dust soaking every part of my being, getting into my lungs and killing every light inside.


Kad su djedu  ispale jabuke, točno sam imala osjećaj da sam i ja tamo, kako i ja mogu osjetiti gubitak svega, svake nade, umor onkraj odmora i tugu tako duboku da ne može pronaći izraz....kako i ja mogu osjetiti prašinu kako natapa svaki dio tijela, kako ulazi u pluća i guši svaki trag svjetlosti.

Stil pisanja je odsječen, jasan i jednostavan, a u ovoj priči preklapaju se san i java i dočaravaju savršeno krhko psihičko stanje čovjeka koji je izgubio sve, djeda koji putuje s malim unukom koji je oglušio od bombardiranja kako bi sinu donio vijest …

The idea behind the book is great- shading some light on an fascinating fictional hero. In some ways it does adds some dept to Zorro, but mainly by filling in information and feeling around him, not really developing the Zorro himself. Basically, it's a good novel, but it has its flaws. 

The main problem I had with this book was the protagonist. As I said, I don't think he was portrayed that well, he remained a bit one dimensional. For me, the whole concept of his mixed origin was extremely interesting, yet I did not really get into his character. Actually, it is the Zorro's mother and grandmother that stuck in my memory( together with some other characters like that friar character in the beginning, I liked him, he reminds me on the friars I know)...Yes,another important character- Zorro's best friend - he is cool, but doesn't he take all the attention from Zorro? Is it good to have a hero that's not really sympathetic although he is in the focus of the story? …

summary: There are a lot of good stories for children, but not that many on this level, the ones you can read and admire when you're all grown up. Every time I read Ivana Brlić- Mažuranić's stories, I find something new and interesting, some detail  I haven't previously noticed..the way she incorporates Slavic mythology and oral tradition in her fairy tales is just amazing. 

Ima puno dobrih dječjih priča, ali nema puno dječjih priča koje možeš čitati i kad odrasteš i svakim čitanjem pronaći nešto novo. Uronjena u usmenu tradiciju, a opet toliko originalna i zanimljiva Ivana Brlić Mažuranić zaista je nešto posebno u svijetu književnosti za djecu (a ja bi dodala i za odrasle). 

Jedna od zanimljivosti autorice je i njena sposobnost da poveže slavensku mitologiju i usmenu tradiciju u naoko jednostavnu priču koja će privući i velike i male. Popularnost Ivana Brlić Mažuranić je u svakom pogledu opravdana.

Nedavno sam je ponovo čitala i bila sam oduševljena. Njeni nezaboravni likovi…

Summary: This book is a compilation of Jeger's Cosmo columns with addition of few short stories. I've found it to be a pleasant surprise, as the author is too intelligent to be just another recycled Carrie. It is not life- changing book,nor would I regret bitterly not having read it, but it is pretty good and an easy read.

Ugodno iznenađenje...Moram priznati da kad sam počela čitati prvu priču (knjiga je skup kolumni uz tu i tamo neku kratku priču) pomislila sam " Ne!...još jedna reciklirana Carrie." Srećom, Rujana ima previše inteligencije i sklonosti ironičnosti da bi posve zagiblila u plitku baru meni omraženog chic lit-a. Sviđa mi se kako spaja podatke u svojoj glavi i kako u hrpi slova koja na tren izgledaju kao neurotični dnevnik možemo pronaći nekakvu poruku.

Moram priznati da nisam preveliki ljubitelj proze ispovjednog karaktera...ali ono ispovijednog u detalje. Razvoj društvenih mreža i stalna izloženost svačijoj privatnosti, nekako me je ostavilo ravnodušnom …

Initially, I was somewhat skeptical about this novel mainly because the plot didn't look too attractive. It sounded like a familiar and perhaps even dated topic- a married man madly in love with a young woman. Love triangle- how much times have I read about it? However, it somehow manages to be really good, the story itself is captivating and emotions described really captured my attention. 

I was very interested in the trio, maybe because just when you think you've figured them out, they turn into something new, making you realize that he wife is not such a harpy as she seems or that Eileen is not so boringly and unconvincingly innocent. It's not just a story about love; it's about something else as well. As much as it is about drama of being in love, it is also about the purpose of life and other questions one may asked oneself...themes like religion and suicide are in there as well.

"The Temptation of Eileen Huges" opens up with three characters: Bernard, Mo…

“Raisin in the sun” is a memorable, beautiful and powerful play. Despite the fact that it has some flaws, I think it is ,generally speaking, a success.  In addition, it is such an important play for many reasons, some of which I will get into.

I liked the theme of this play and in particular the emotion and force  behind it. I think Hansberry was successful in creating the atmosphere and the setting, although she does not use much description. Yes, plays don't really have descriptions in a sense that a novel does, but what I mean to say is that she "shows" rather than "tells", i.e she is a decent dramatist. For instance you get the idea about characters from dialogues; there are no long monologues (that would be really out of place in this kind of play). It's a play that is set in a specific time and place, so it was important to recreate this- she did. In that sense there is a really natural feeling to the play.

The dialogues were really good, the conversati…

Emotivan, ali oslobođen patetike, pun boli i smijeha, mješavine sreće i nesreće, ovaj roman opisuje djetinstvo djevojke prognanice iz Vukovara, njeno odrastanje u stranoj (novoj) sredini, kao i borbu za preživljavanje i pronalaženje smisla u kaotičnom svijetu devedesetih. 

Osvježavajuće iskren glas spisateljice, genijalan u svojoj jednostavnosti, vrlo topao, a često i vrlo smiješan, te sam način pripovijedanja prebaciva nas u jedno drugo vrijeme i jedan drugi svijet. Djevojka iz hotela zagorje progovara intimnim glasom, bez prikrivanja, bez uljepšavanja, bez politike, ali ne bez duše, baš naprotiv s puno hrabrosti, pronicavosti i sposobnosti za uočavanje detalja, osobine koje ima u tolikoj mjeri da bismo ih mogli nazvati i mudrošću.

Jako talentirana spisateljica, kojoj predviđam svijetlu budućnost, učinila je ovu svoju životnu priču sveljudskom, sjajnom i dirljivom, a sigurna sam kako će mnogima od nas( pogotovo onima koji kao ja pripadaju njenoj generaciji) biti poznata i bliska. Predi…

Vidjela sam na kiosku ovu knjigu i odmah sam je kupila iz više razloga, primjerica lijepa naslovnica, nagrada Kiklop i činjenica kako ju je napisala mlada spisateljica, a mislim kako treba poticati naše mlade spisateljske snage...No, moram priznati kako me razočarala u popriličnoj mjeri, a nije da sam očekivala neko remek djelo, ali jednostavno očekivala sam više ili veću količinu spisateljskog talenta.

Ideja, koncept što već priče mi je zanimljiv ( mladu ženu anđeo priprema na smrt)  iako se ne može reći kako nije već viđen. Radnja se jako sporo odvija, likovi su nezamljivi, a glavni lik mi je poprilično iritantan, ono nešto malo filozofskih misli se stalno ponavlja i ponavlja, a zaista nema ničega za zadržati pažnju ili puno toga oko čega bi se moglo zamisliti, svakako ničega što bi prominjenilo vaše viđenje svijeta.

Jedina iznimka među suhoparnim likovima mi je Danijel, taj anđeo, i to u određenim djelovima, inače i on kao lik pun je nelogičnosti, npr. mrtav je već 32 godine, a po sv…

A diary of obsession- that's the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about this novel. Not just love/ hate type of relationship but the kind of obsession that can drive one mad, that is at its root is mad... Written in third person narration, it feels somewhat like a diary because there is so much focus put on the inner state of the protagonist. The subtitle of the novel is “a story of darkest Earl's Court" and it is certainly dark...If dark is a novel that opens up with an alcoholic experiencing a click (basically an alcoholic blackout) during which” he remembered, without any difficulty, what it was he had to do: he had to kill Netta Longdon." That’s just the beginning, it get worse…for the George the protagonist, things just seem to go downhill. There is something tragic in it and something inevitable. Netta has poor George in her net (as her name indicates), pushing him lower and lower…

The novel is well written...Not that I would know what an alcoholi…

Now, this is what I call SF. Very good SF. The protagonist is a young women who grows up in a post genetic wars society. The world where she lives is ruled by nobility flying around in zeppelins (hence the name sky lords.) Sounds interesting?

Furthermore, she lives in an Amazon feminist kind of society, where women are genetically engineered to be taller and stronger than men because women are by nature less violent....Someone got it in their head that it would be good idea if they (the ladies) are in charge of things. She seems to be a little shorter than the average (and has her own insecurities about that), but still very much an Amazon.

However, our young protagonist is taken from this interesting society  and has to ,more or less, struggle desperately for her life for the rest of the novel. 

Besides our lovely protagonist, the only character that stands out for me is Milo- intelligent, sadist, manipulative- he is superbly portrayed. It is ironical that he is all things that his name…

This edition consists of five short stories. They always talk about Fitzgerald as a writer that defined the Jazz Age and etc but for me that is not that important. What draws me to his writing is probably the way he creates his characters, sometimes managing to capture their very essence. I’ll give you a fair warning. This is not going to be a short review as I'm going to say something about every short story included in this book. 

First things first.

The Diamond As Big As The Ritz 

5/5

Beautifully written and absolutely unsettling because of its implications. One of them: an extremely wealthy person can get away with anything. True today as ever? Sure and as long as money equals power it will stay that way. 

It was quite revolting to read because as the story started it seemed as if the writer was making that absurdly wealthy man (the diamond’s owner ) without a conscience something of a hero. Fitzgerald certainly had a way of making the filthy rich look ever so glamorous. He does th…

I really liked this warm and autobiographical account of a child growing up in a complex world. I did have a feeling that I'm seeing a world with a child's eyes...and that is something that it is not easy to convey in written form. Sure, there are many books about childhood and children's books, but it is not that often that you find a book that really shows what it is like to be  a kid and is not at all a children's book.


What I could see right away is that this is an author that is good with words. There is just something effortless in the way he writes. The words just seem to come to him, in a way his prose is like poetry...every word just feels so right.

This short (at least in comparison with other works that I'm reading) novel was quite easy to read. Actually I'd finished it before the opera that I was listening to was finished so that's like hour and a half...Yes, it was an enjoyable but not exactly light reading in the sense that there is a sadness  p…

Finally a man (and an intellectual) that really thinks with his head. Written as a series of interviews focusing mainly on the important events of the 90ties with just a bit of linguistics at the end, this book is in some sense really mind-blowing. It goes strait to the point (or rather points since it deals with different problems and comments different events) and it is very easy to read.

There is so much information in it that I wasn't familiar with (and I thought I knew something about the topics covered). What I liked most about it is that it speaks about things that I have been thinking about, that have been bothering me, about issues that I care about- just I did not manage to arrange them so clearly in my head or connect them in a way Chomsky did. The author speaks in such a simple and direct way that it is quite easy to follow even when he jumps from one topic to another.

It is nice to see that someone is trying to grasp the complexity of the 90ties world politics (wars, ag…

A masterpiece...no question about that. Conrad is one of my favourite writers and he never fails to impress.

The funny thing is that for about a third of the novel, I had this strange feeling that there is something that was alluding me, something that I was not quite getting, like the story was for whatever reason hard to follow and yet at the same time I felt immersed in the story and wanted to read more and more...

The characters seemed as real and as vivid as they possibly could had and still I felt a sense of distance, a fairy tale feeling. As I made my way towards to end, I had a feeling of sudden clearness...the same that a person coming out of the dark must have once his eyes get accustomed to the light, a feeling of seeing what you had hoped to see, that is usually joyous in its essence. Not that I wouldn't mind having a second look at it. A novel like this one should be read twice. I still have a feeling that I have missed something.

I was and (usually am) immensely attract…