44 Scotland Street

One of my favourite writers is Alexander McCall Smith. It is not about anything in specific. It's just that his books (the way they're written, characters, stories etc) makes me happy. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I'm writing this post about 44 Scotland Street, a new series of adventures set in Edinburgh.

The first characters we meet are Bruce and Pat. She's looking for a new place and he's got a room to rent. From the very first pages we get to know a lot of both. For example, from the way he complains about the previous flatmate, who left everything in the room and in a very messy way. Not fair, I should say, but very intriguing considering the way Bruce goes on and on about her.
And Pat? Well, she's trying to find herself, her place in the world (in all possible ways) and changing house seems to be the first step.

Something I really liked about the book was the author's ability to make me get into things in a very natural way. For example, the feelings, memories, thoughts characters have to deal with in connection with smells. Lizzie Todd, for example. She goes 'home' to visit her parents and on her way in, just before she opens the door she smells something which is familiar but doesn't give her any positive feeling: lavender. In fact, from a very young age she learned not to love it. I think this image is quite strong. It was for me because when I read the few sentences that describe it, I tried to imagine what Lizzie felt like. Everyone should be happy, relaxed, safe at "home" but Lizzie can't.

Pat finally finds a job in a art gallery. Her boss is someone called Matthew who seems very busy reading the newspaper and who's always having a break - quite interesting way of keeping a business, don't you think? - I think she's my favourite character in the book because she's very naive and quite funny, especially when she realises she really like Bruce and somehow she gets to compare him to a statue from Michaelangelo (the David, which is the tall one, naked, very sporty). Don't ask me why but I had imagined Bruce so very different from David and all I can say about this is... love's blind.

We will miss you, Amy

Just a quick entry to announce the death of British singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse. She was a great artist. Unfortunately, as many of her predecessors, she was addicted to drug and alcohol. She was only 27 years old, the same age of Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison when they died.

Rest in peace Amy, we will miss you.

Brit Library and Google

The British Library has agreed on putting something like 40 million pages on the internet in a digital format. Books include titles from 1700-1870, in several languages. The first published are feminist pamphlets about Queen Marie-Antoinette. For example, Les droits de la femme. A la reine, [The Rights of Women. To the Queen] by Olympe de Gouges which I downloaded and read. I'd suggest you to do the same]

The files are free to download. In fact, the text no longer is under copyright laws.

I am not very keen on reading from a computer - I'd rather touch and smell the book - but I think this is a fab project we should all support because it's not about reading 'old stuff'. It is about understanding that culture, books which made history, is for us all and should be available to everyone.

A new start

Hello everyone,

welcome back to my blog. It used to be up (and running although not very often) a few years ago but then grandpa fell ill and I simply no longer had time for anything other than taking care of him. I so much wanted him to recover that I completely forgot about myself. Would I do it again? Yes! Because after a year he's now 'okay' and today it's his 92nd birthday (celebrate!;-)

Last year he was in intensive care and there was no real celebration but we're here now and it feels like we've been blessed.

However, I still have problems sleeping and relaxing (I somehow become a very anxious person which is not in my nature, not to this level). Therefore, a friend of mine bought me a book by Marianne Williamson: A course in weight loss. She says it helped her a lot accepting some of the losses in her life and giving up smoking (which we were all so worried about) because the book is not (only) about letting kilos go (apparently using the verb "to lose" is a mistake). It is also, and more importantly, about letting go of all the problems life throws at you. In fact, every single time something bad happens you tend to add weight to extra protect yourself. Is it really so? I am not sure this book can help (me) relax, but I feel like I need to get my life back on track and I feel this might be a good way to start. Therefore, I decided to get back to my blog and see what happens.

The idea is to write about lessons in the book (21. But my friend said it took her a long time to really understand the whole thing so she read it all in one go and then step by step, a couple of pages a week, which is what she suggested me to do), books I read and news about the book world I so much love. I hope you will join me on this emotional journey;-)

The first news I am going to mention is J.K. Rowling's new website. It's about Harry Potter.

I haven't seen the website yet but I did watch the last movie in the series. I think they did a brilliant job.

The Invention of Solitude

I haven't been online in a while: computer not working, then a number of unexpected extras on my plate. I am tired of getting extras, tired of updating the blog less than I'd love to. Guess you too are tired of hearing me saying this...but believe it or not, there's nothing I can do about it - unless you expect me to sleep less than I already do (average of 5 hours a day...my mind doesn't stop unfortunately).

Anyway...here I am, so very happy of writing ...and I hope you will somehow still want to listen.

I came across Paul Auster a few months ago. A friend gave me The Invention of Solitude saying I should read that. I didn't have time so the book kept looking at me every single time I went to bed - put it there thinking I would be able to read a couple of pages before sleeping -. I finally managed to read it last night - couldn't sleep but was to tired to do everything other than relax and read -.

It's a short book, less than 200 pages, and it's divided into 2 parts: 2 narrators, 2 different perspectives. The title of the book is taken from part 2, which, I guess, was supposed to be the best/more interesting. Is it really so? Would love to have feedback from you. IMHO it is not. In fact, Part one is challenging and so very emotional. Part two is boring, a summa of quotes, bits and pieces from several authors. Some are very interesting but the whole thing is way too "croweded" if you allow me.

The book has a very powerful beginning: a son having to deal with the death of his father, a man he did not really know because they were never that close and did not live together (his parents were divorced). Still, his father, a man he's just beginning to know via the objects in the big house, full of absolutely everything.

How would you feel for a man who was by name your father but not by heart, not the way a "real" or "good" father is?
The narrator doesn't seem to know. He remembers, he criticises, he feels. And it is just amazing that you, the reader, a stranger, cannot help but feeling the exact same way. I did at least. I could see the big rooms, filled with objects; I could hear the silence; I could smell death...

Death is a major character in this novel. It is the answer, the question, the connection, the solution. It is the element that makes characters "human".

Then, there is part 2. The narrator is no longer the son, it's the father this time. We get to understand him a little better than we did through his son's tale. But it does feel as if he was trying to impress the reader considering the number of quotes and the way he describes some parts of his life.

If I was to analyse the structure I would say it does make sense that part two is the last one because it is based on the father's view. Solitude is the key word in this part as well as that of the father's life and choices. I couldn't help thinking the structure of the novel seems to send some sort of message from Paul Auster: there's no hope because there's none at the end of the novel; none in the father's view (part 2) whereas part one, the son's tale, is more vivid and somehow represents light at the end of the tunnel: his son, his family, the differences between his life and that of his father. SO I'd suggest you to read part two first...

It was not my cup of tea but don't think it's bed either.

Labels: Male writers , solitude , novels , narrators

Die, Slowly

Hello everyone,

I don't have much time these days, for nothing basically...so I decided to take a book of poems and read at least one a week. It's a real treat!!;-)

I want to share one with you, hope you'll enjoy!

DIE SLOWLY, Pablo Neruda

He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace, who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones is rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck,
about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.  

He or she who abandon a project before starting it,
who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know,
he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
always reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort by far greater than the simple fact of breathing.
Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness.

bookshops, characters and solitude

I recently found out a friend of mine works, part-time, in a local bookshop which has been there my whole life. Same place, same people. The owners are two sisters who, I understand, decicated their entire life to books. Since they never got married they share a flat not far from the bookshop and their daily routine is something like...they open the bookshop at 9 am, close it at 12:30 am for lunch, open it again at 2.30 pm and close it at 7pm.

I confess I was always curious about them, what they do, how their lives are really like and I was somehow happy to find out someone knew them. I didn't get to know anything special, nor of great interest...but in a way they look like characters from a book - to me at least - and the feeling was that of finally opening the book.

Still, it was also quite upsetting: do all people who dedicate their lives to books die 'alone', have no children, no love, nothing of the kind?

Do people from small bookshops do nothing but read and read and...read? I know there's a lot to say about theme, I know they have so much to offer but I also have the feeling books are losing their ability to connect people.

I remember attending a conference once about the importance of tales for kids. The speaker pointed out that tales give children the opportunity to learn about life, to understand they are not alone and can overcome problems, just like Cinderella does.

I've always read about the solitary life of writers and I myself know how difficult it is to have a socialise while trying to write a novel but I do have the feeling modern times stole the magic within/around books. We read, but have no time to share.

Not so long ago people would meet in cafes to talk about books, literature in general...where's all gone?

As much as I love internet I think it created a funny idea of what 'Culture' is...need info? Check online...easy, practical, fast. Still I miss the touch and smell of books...