My last article was a confession of the overwhelming nostalgia that I felt while being away from home for so long. I mentioned the strong feelings one gets when listening to old songs, which brought me to the idea of starting a series of Romanian Nostalgia cures, starting with my favorite way to self-soothe: translatingContinue reading “Romanian Nostalgia – Lyrical Edition”
Category Archives: Literature
The Missing Women Problem in Fiction
I have to confess something: I’m at a point in my life where I am unable to enjoy films, shows or books that are so clearly geared towards a male audience. What do I mean by this? I mean, if there are no women in the story, or the women are reduced to mere loveContinue reading “The Missing Women Problem in Fiction”
Shadowing Carlos Ruiz Zafón And His Own, Everlasting Shadow
“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.” This first line of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novel The Shadow of the Wind still echoes in my mind, haunting my dreams while also reminding me of my own humble beginnings; just as the protagonist’s, Daniel Sempere’sContinue reading “Shadowing Carlos Ruiz Zafón And His Own, Everlasting Shadow”
The Dreaded 30
It is impossible to pass through life in a university without hearing someone complain about aging. Almost every time someone announces their birthday it comes with a sigh and a disenchanted remark about the passage of time. Judging by the students’ expressions and words, you would think they had just been at a syndicated AmericanContinue reading “The Dreaded 30”
The grimm side of fairytales
When hearing the phrase “once upon a time…” most of us already know that we are about to be told a fairytale. I don’t have any statistical facts on this, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that most children love fairytales. Maybe it’s because of the desire that humans haveContinue reading “The grimm side of fairytales”
Warriors: Coming of age through cats
I get a variety of reactions when I tell people that the series I read throughout my childhood and early teens was one about cats. What’s so great about cats? How can you read book after book, thousands of pages about cats? What can the writer possibly still write about? I too wondered thatContinue reading “Warriors: Coming of age through cats”
The Disappearance of the Hatchet Job
In 2012, review aggregator website The Omnivore launched the Hatchet Job of the Year award, given to the “the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review” of the last year in Britain. The prize was a year’s worth of potted shrimp donated by The Fish Society. By now defunct, the award was onlyContinue reading “The Disappearance of the Hatchet Job”
One Hundred Years without Jack London
Jack London, who died exactly 100 years ago, was an American author mostly remembered for “dog stories”, as London himself termed them laconically. The Call of the Wild and White Fang are novels about dogs in the Canadian wilderness, bestsellers in their time that continue to be taught in schools and adapted into film andContinue reading “One Hundred Years without Jack London”
Moors In Elsinore
I love Shakespeare and is there anything more amazing than combining his legendary poetic style with the narcissistic, pompous, and contemporary enigma that is Kanye West? Methinks not. Watch the clip here.
The Wide-Stretched Realms of Pride and Prejudice
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that every article written on Pride and Prejudice starts in the same way. Being a huge fan of the book myself, I have looked forward to sharing some of my views on the story for quite a while. Perhaps contrary to expectations, this will not be an article concentratingContinue reading “The Wide-Stretched Realms of Pride and Prejudice”
