My last book of 2020, a year that has felt like a long hibernation. A year when more than ever I needed to meet someone like Tove Jansson. UnfortunateMy last book of 2020, a year that has felt like a long hibernation. A year when more than ever I needed to meet someone like Tove Jansson. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet her in person because A) she's dead, B) she lives on an island in Finland, C) I'm rather shy, D) lockdown. I did get to meet many of her wonderful characters, though. Thank you Tove for bringing some much needed poetry, solace and fun to my days. And thank you to all of you kindred spirits out there, wherever you may be, you passionate readers who, virus or no virus, will go on reading long into the night of many Winters to come. So long as there are books to read, the reader will read. We shan't be deterred!
"Now came spring, but not at all as he had imagined its coming. He had thought that it would deliver him from a strange and hostile world, but now it was simply a continuation of his new experiences of something he had already conquered and made his own."...more
Pretty dry stuff. A 130-page catalogue of the works that poured out of the composer's goose quill, full of uninteresting details such as: how many basPretty dry stuff. A 130-page catalogue of the works that poured out of the composer's goose quill, full of uninteresting details such as: how many bassoons were used in the B minor Mass. What this biography lacks is imagination. A sense of place, of the kind of person Bach was, some telling detail about the way he ate or spoke, or where he got his wigs, or what his wives thought of him, or at least a little life in the writing, a sentence that has some panache, an adjective placed just so -- these things are nowhere to be found. I'm sure there are any number of fascinating biographies of the master of counterpoint. This is not one of them....more
Any hobgoblin will tell you that the difference between the uselessness of everything and the usefulness of everything lies in the question of whetherAny hobgoblin will tell you that the difference between the uselessness of everything and the usefulness of everything lies in the question of whether you are a muskrat with a sense of humour or not....more
When Shelley's body was found After he’d drowned In the Gulf of Spezia Summer of 1822 There weren't many Distinguishing features left To identify him by- When Shelley's body was found After he’d drowned In the Gulf of Spezia Summer of 1822 There weren't many Distinguishing features left To identify him by-- It had been rolling around In the sea for ten days The one thing that proved it belonged To the poet however Was that when it was being Cremated on the beach In the warm July night All of it Went up in smoke All of it Except for the heart The heart remained intact-- You cannot burn a poet's heart Fire will not burn fire...more
Title: A Little Princess Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett Genre: novel For ages: 8-12 Similar to: Arabian Nights, Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens Setting: ATitle: A Little Princess Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett Genre: novel For ages: 8-12 Similar to: Arabian Nights, Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens Setting: All-girls boarding school circa 1900 Main characters: Princess, dead father, evil stepmother (proprietor of boarding school), jealous sisters (fellow pupils), prince charming (Indian gentleman), tree stump (low IQ bosom friend), scullery maid, fairy godmother (lascar), pet monkey, sparrows, rat Plot: riches to rags, then rags to riches Mood: claustrophobic Colour: red and black Texture: sackcloth Smell: damp attic Language: elegant, none too sentimental, uncomplicated syntax Moral: people only respect money, but no amount of money can buy a heart of gold Alternative title: Martyrdom: A User’s Guide Ending: happy Ulysse's Subjective Star Rating (USSR): 4 stars...more
I can't tell what I like better: Tove Jansson's writing or her illustrations. They go so well together like sunshine and water on a bright summer day.I can't tell what I like better: Tove Jansson's writing or her illustrations. They go so well together like sunshine and water on a bright summer day....more
When I was a kid I wouldn't have touched Anne of Green Gables with a ten-foot pole. Now I’m a forty-year-old man weeping over a pair of puffed sleevesWhen I was a kid I wouldn't have touched Anne of Green Gables with a ten-foot pole. Now I’m a forty-year-old man weeping over a pair of puffed sleeves. What happened?
There seems to be a misconception that Anne of Green Gables is a book for children. If this were the case, then it would be a book for extremely precocious children. In fact, I have my doubts as to whether I am old enough to be reading this.
This is a beautiful, rewarding book for intelligent children of all ages. The prose is lush without ever being flowery. As a reader you get to spend time with the loveable Anne and her dearest friend Diane. You get to witness the influence of Anne’s sunshine personality on the heart of stone of every grown-up in Avonlea. You get to bite your nails in anticipation of how Anne will get out of her many scrapes. You get to live in a remote corner of the world and watch all kinds of flowers bloom. And most importantly, you get to feel glad to be alive.
Like most readers I fell in love with Anne, but my favorite characters in the book were Marilla (a Sancho Panza to Anne’s Quixote) and Matthew Cuthbert. The quiet love and devotion these two display towards their adopted child is a lesson not only in parenting but also in simple human tolerance.
Anne of Green Gables may not have the scope of a novel like War and Peace nor the mind-blowing modernism of Ulysses, but it will do something that neither of these seem capable of: it will make you care more about whether a cake will rise properly than about who wins the battle of Waterloo. A truly remarkable feat for any kind of writer to accomplish.
Ladies and gentlemen look no further, here is the Great Canadian Novel....more
After finishing the first of the seven novellas published in this volume, I decided to stop for a while. I will come back to it eventually. I think I After finishing the first of the seven novellas published in this volume, I decided to stop for a while. I will come back to it eventually. I think I might be the first case of someone developing a tropical fever simply by dint of reading words....more
A perfect book. A wonder. Small yet complete. A world in a grain of sand sort of book. If you haven’t read this, better go into it as I did, knowing nA perfect book. A wonder. Small yet complete. A world in a grain of sand sort of book. If you haven’t read this, better go into it as I did, knowing nothing about it except that the author, Tove Jansson, was a complete artist who could paint, draw, write, swim, garden, cook, tell jokes, live and love like there was no tomorrow.
Hats off to the translator who really makes this one sing.
“It was a pretty day, and the sea was running a long, windless swell. It was on days just like this—dog days—that boats went sailing off all by themselves. Large, alien objects made their way in from the sea, certain things sank and others rose, milk soured, and dragonflies danced in desperation. Lizards were not afraid. When the moon came up, red spiders mated on uninhabited skerries, where the rock became an unbroken carpet of tiny, ecstatic spiders.”
And how about those NYRB books? A publishing confectionery. I had to hold myself back from licking the sky-blue inside cover on numerous occasions....more
Some books seem to have been written with the sole intention of filling our days with a little sunshine. As You Like It, The Rape of the Lock, The Pic Some books seem to have been written with the sole intention of filling our days with a little sunshine. As You Like It, The Rape of the Lock, The Pickwick Papers, Treasure Island are such books. You can add Frenchman’s Creek to the list without any hesitation.
There is nothing very deep about this story. It will not make you see the world with newer eyes nor will it rock the foundations of your being. It is simply a well-written tale full of rapier-sharp dialogues, fine observations and an atmosphere of devil-may-care romance. The main characters are: a level-headed heroine, her insufferable husband, a dashing French pirate, his faithful servant, a villain and two despicable lapdogs. The story is well-paced, with each chapter ending in a juicy cliffhanger, suspense building and building until the final climax. I had to put the book down on several occasions to allow those tiny shivers the full run of my body (yes, that’s a good thing). And by the last page my heart was thumping like the heart of a 13-year-old girl (that’s a good thing too, I think).
I recommend this book to any of you who have thought of giving everything up to become a pirate. Here you are facing the open sea, hair in the wind, one leg up on the gunwale of your life, eagerly scouring the horizon for some unlucky ship to wreak havoc on, make off with the women, and to hell with the rest....more
I was going to write something about this unique, wonderful book; about how it touched me in a way few other books have; about how it changed me ever I was going to write something about this unique, wonderful book; about how it touched me in a way few other books have; about how it changed me ever so subtly and forever. I was going to share my deepest thoughts and feelings about this with you. But I let the moment pass. And now I can’t seem to remember what it was I wanted to say....more
There is something most refreshingly macabre about these bite-size novels of Amélie Nothomb’s. Call them cyanide macaroons. Succulent on the outside, There is something most refreshingly macabre about these bite-size novels of Amélie Nothomb’s. Call them cyanide macaroons. Succulent on the outside, deadly within. The poison in this one being, as always, puberty, which like a rare disease imparts to the characters’s minds something like genius.
How to cure an intelligent 16-year-old of severe dyslexia? Get him to read from cover to cover and in one sitting, first the Red and the Black, second the Illiad, third the Odyssey, fourth Kafkas’ Metamorphosis. A simple solution, yes, but one that in the hands of Amélie Nothomb can only lead to the pastry-like perfection of the novel’s denouement....more
I will forgive this novel's soft porn tendencies and give it five stars because it is truly amazing.I will forgive this novel's soft porn tendencies and give it five stars because it is truly amazing....more
An essay about how to teach children who will not learn, written by a self-proclaimed classroom dunce who later became a teacher and a famous writer. An essay about how to teach children who will not learn, written by a self-proclaimed classroom dunce who later became a teacher and a famous writer. Do you want to know what his secret is? Read the book. Or go listen to the Beatles instead....more
Step inside the mind of a security guard at Sephora les Champs Elysées for a few hours and see what he sees.
Code-barres
Un code-barres est tatoué sur lStep inside the mind of a security guard at Sephora les Champs Elysées for a few hours and see what he sees.
Code-barres
Un code-barres est tatoué sur le cou d'une jeune fille. Grande tentation de lui passer le pistolet à infrarouge de la caisse pour savoir combien elle coute.
Tatouages
Sur le cou, son tatouage aux traits fins et précis représente un lotus qui a le même graphisme que "Lotus", la marque de papier hygiénique. Avec sa peau très pale, c'est un peu comme si elle avait un rouleau de PQ coincé entre la tête et les épaules.
Rebelle
Une femme intégralement voilée porte un petit panier dans lequel est posée la bouteille de parfum "Lady Rebel" de Mango.
Biologie du vigile
Ténesme impérieux...Une heure avant la pause, cette violente envie de pisser....more
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