It was a bad year for Capricorns

The first thing I heard in the morning in radio was that it was a bad year for Capricorns. I laughed with my mum about it. I don't believe in horoscopes and don't really care about zodiac signs but it was indeed not a good year for me. Twisted leg, health problems, no vacation at all. I didn't send much letters, I almost didn't go to cinema, I didn't go to the theatre, didn't read much books, I didn't travel. I was too tired or too sick or too depressed. So I will welcome 2013 with big pleasure and great hopes.

What good happened to me in 2012:

I've been to Red Hot Chili Peppers concert

I started learning Arabic

I met new friends

I've been to Cracow for a weekend

I've been by my beloved lake for 4 days

I did piercing in the back of my neck

My favourite RHCP song :D

Mazury in Poland where I go every year (at my lake:)):

My piercing :D

And that's all I can think of actually. I didn't make any statistics regarding letters. Maybe I'll do it next year... I probably won't, I know myself well enough :P Last year I read 30 books so this year I challenged myself to read 35 but I read just 25 books this year. Oh well. But I started reading normal books (not just short stories for beginners) in Spanish so at least I'm proud of this. I read 18 books in Polish, 2 books in English, 5 books in Spanish.

My top 3 books read in 2012:

1. Rosario Tijeras by Jorge Franco. It is about a girl raised in poor and dangerous district of Medellin. She gets involved in criminal activities. She meets 2 guys from good families, one of them becomes her lover, the second one a great friend, though both are in love with her. Rosario although she might seem heartless and fearless killer, is very emotional, loving, hurt, scared, depressive, lost, living life to the fullest although she's playing with death a deadly game. I couldn't not fall in love with Rosario, like the guys in the book. And it joined a list of my favourites:) The movie based on this book is also awsome.

2. Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński. It's a non fiction. Kapuściński was a Polish journalist and writer. This book is about the rules of two shahs of Iran, father and son, and the life of people under their regime untill the revolution. It's not a typical bigraphy of the shahs but an analize of their rules and Iranian society. Written in an interesting way, great to learn something about Iran's history.

3. Geografias by Mario Benedetti. 14 great stories about dictatorship time in Uruguay and nostalgia about a country on an exile. Benedetti wrote this book while being on an exile himself.

I think I can call this an Arabic year. Besides starting learning the language, I've been going to this Arabic club, listening to Arabic and Turkish music over and over again, trying all kinds of sheesha.

My best musical discoveries this year:

Buika! I am enchanted with her voice.

Hindi Zahra.

My lovely Chavela Vargas died this year which made me feel sad:( I will never have a chance to listen to her alive. El ultimo trago hoy sera para mi Chavela;) I will love her forever.

Do you have plans for tonight? I'm going to have fun in Arabic rhythms, haha. I have already painted my nails golden color:) Now I just hope I will be able to squeeze myself in my dress after Christmas :P

I wish you all Happy New Year :)

A Charming Mass Suicide by Arto Paasilinna

After starting my adventure with Finnish literature with Moomins book, I reached for another Finnish author Arto Paasilinna. I got this book from book exchange otherwise I probably wouldn't bump into it. The title intrigued me:) Although it sounds scary, the book is truely positive. It starts when two men decide to commit suicide and they choose the same place and time for it. When they meet there, they decide to postpone the suicide and moreover they come to an idea that there must be much more people with the same intention in Finland. They send an advertisement to the newspaper and gather a group of desperates who want to finish their life and they set off by bus in a journey through Europe to look for the perfect place to commit mass suicide. The story is a bit predictable but it 'radiates' with positive emotions and it contains considerable dose of black humour:)

Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson

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The first book that I read this year was... Moominland Midwinter by Finnish author Tove Jansson. Surprisingly, Moomins are not known everywhere but in Poland this was very popular cartoon when I was a kid. Somewhere inside, although the number of candles on birthday cake is growing dangerously, I am still a kid and love fairytales. And Moominland Midwinter is just perfect story for this time of the year.

Moomins fall into winter hibernation each year but this time the Moomintroll wakes up suddenly in the middle of the winter and cannot fall asleep anymore. His family sleeps soundly, Snufkin is gone till spring and the world outside is... lost under the deep duvet of snow. Reading this story is like discovering winter once again because that's what Moomintroll does, only he does it for the first time in life. Lonely at first, he soon becomes accompanied by a bunch of little creatures and animals that come to his house in search for shelter... and strawberry jam. Moomintroll, in the beginning miserable about the winter, slowly accustoms to it and maybe even starts to like it. Sounds nice, huh?:)

I have also made quite a discovery (that is probably nothing new to those who read Moomins stories but it is new to me). As a kid I only watched the cartoon and never read the books before. Now who watched it too, put your hands up if you were scared of The Groke!

Turns out this scary Groke, my childhood fear is not a bad creature. She's just lonely! She looks for warmth but wherever she comes everything freezes. No wonder noone wants to be close to her. Poor Groke:( *hug*

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Fonchito y la luna by Mario Vargas Llosa

I had a bad day. So what did I do to improve my mood? The answer is simple if someone knows me a little - I went to the bookstore. I was wandering among bookshelves and stopped by L. There stood rows of Mario Vargas Llosa beautiful Polish editions. He's one of my favourite writers. But unlike other of his political or humorous erotic novels, this short story he wrote for children. It's very short, it doesn't even take ten minutes to read it all. But it's so charming:)

It's about a little boy who likes a little girl in his school. He asks her if he could kiss her in the cheek but she sais that she'll allow him to do it only if he gives her the moon. Impossible?;)

My problems didn't disappear but a smile appeared on my mouth when I read this magical tale:) Like someone gave a moon to me too:)

Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra



Gustave Doré: Don Quijote de La Mancha
and Sancho Panza, 1863



Alonso Quijano, an aging country landlord, after reading too many books about chivarly, announces himself Don Quijote the la Mancha, the knight errant. He chooses for his lady love an unaware of anything country girl, Aldonza Lorenzo whom he entitles the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, a princess in whose name he's going to undertake every defiances. Together with a country man of the name Sancho Pança, his squire, deluded with promises of riches and an island to govern, they set out on a journey full of adventures and imaginations. They meet all kinds of people on their way to whom Don Quijote appears as a madman, though an educated one, that talks with sense in between the ilussions of chivalrous world. And Sancho Panca a naive, simple and hilarious companion of his, that casts proverbs not always matching the situation.

I read Don Quijote for a looong time. I made a mistake to do it in English. I normally don't have problems with books in English, not even with the 'older' style but I must admit I had some troubles with this one. The small font put me off a little too. And it's a huge book. Plus I read other books along with this one. All these reasons resulted that I read about the adventures of the famous knight for so long. Finally, I finished it... well, I thought that when this day comes, it'll be "finally" but I actually feel it's a pity it ended already. Because I am totally enchanted with the characters of Don Quijote and Sancho Pança. I liked them more and more with each page. After first chapters it seemed like a hilarious story about a madman in an armour and a naive fool on an ass. But then it turned out a story about a dreamer who follows his dream and an adventurer who catches the occasion. I don't even believe Don Quijote was mad. He was crazy, his dream was hopeless but isn't it the crazy ones that make their dreams come true?  I don't believe Sancho wanted the money and reign. He wanted adventure although he maybe didn't even realise it himself. Both characters are so complex that I think everyone can see them differently. There's so much to be found in this book: the overview of Spanish society at the turn of 16th and 17th century, the satire of famous then books about knight errantry... but it's definitely not overdue as there can be found universal values as well. That's not only an adventurous story but a story about friendship and human nature and the pursuit of unattainable in spite of everyone.

I'd love to recommend this book but I already see that you can either love it or hate it. You can either be bored with it to death or enchanted. You can either take the man and his master for a fool and a madman or see something more in them.

As for myself, I fell in love with Don Quijote and Sancho. They left in my heart warm feeling and melancholy and I already miss them dearly. I am sure I'll get back to them, next time in my native language as I'm afraid I didn't catch all of Sancho's proverbs.

The Wedding of Zein by Tayeb Salih

This is a charming short story. One day in a little Sudanese village spreads a gossip about the wedding of Zein. The people are astonished with the news as Zein neither has looks nor brains and is considered a weirdo in a village. He's a good boy, giving most help to disabled and poor and bringing joy to everyone with his jokes, stories and laughter. He's said to be born with laughter on his mouth instead of crying after all. Zein falls in love with different girls from the village all the time, but each time the girl is given to someone else. Because although people dearly love Zein, noone would give him his daughter. So how is it possible that Zein is getting married finally?

So that's the main story in the background of which we can observe the daily live of the Sudanese village, the habits and customs of the people there. And the other picture of muslims than it is given in the books about badly treated women and tv programms about fanatics. I think we need more literature like this.

 PS. And the cover of Polish edition is so lovely :D The colors are as warm as the story inside;)

No Word from Gurb by Eduardo Mendoza

No Word from Gurb is a grotesque story of two aliens in a form of pure intelligence who come to Earth in a mission of exploring the life of creatures living here - humans. They land in Barcelona and soon one of the aliens - Gurb disappears. The other one gets a human form and in the meantime of looking for his friend, lives among people, whose behaviour, habits and being in general finds weird and irrational. He gets involved in many funny, sometimes absurd situations.

My impression of the book is mixed. There were couple of funny moments and I had to smile couple of times when a place I've been to or food I've tried was mentioned. The alien turned out to be a great fan of churros which I totally love:9 The book captures well the atmosphere of the city. But it wasn't as funny as the recommendations stated or maybe it's just not my sence of humor (I must admit I'm not a fan of grotesque) as some situations seemed too absurd or unnecessary. Although I liked the general idea of the story it didn't arouse an excitement in me. It was okay but not a revelation.

 

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churros <3

Me, myself and Don Quijote

RAE (Real Academia de la lengua Española) is organizing a project El Quijote en YouTube. It's about people reading the fragments of Don Quijote. Each person got a concrete fragment of the book which had to record in the period of one day and post it in YouTube. All fragmens form a whole novel. People from all over the world could take part in it, as long as they can speak (or at least read:P) Spanish. And in the end, 2149 people participated. The idea of this project is marvellous, in my opinion.

Although I hadn't read Don Quijote before (I am reading it now and already love the story, I even dropped some tears of laughter yesterday while reading it), I myself have taken part in it. I did it long time ago but was too embarassed (I still am!) to share this news with anybody. First of all, I HATE my voice recorded. Second of all, my Spanish still needs a lot of work. I am quite embarassed about my accent (especially when I pronounce the word 'blasfemo' O.o). And finally, I can't say I look my best in there:P However (maybe I will regret it later:P) I decided to show to my dear blog readers my fragment (Libro 1, capítulo XXX, fragmento numero 556).

—¿Cómo que no la has visto, traidor blasfemo? --dijo don Quijote--. Pues ¿no acabas de traerme ahora un recado de su parte?
—Digo que no la he visto tan despacio --dijo Sancho--, que pueda haber notado particularmente su hermosura y sus buenas partes punto por punto; pero así a bulto me parece bien.
—Ahora te disculpo --dijo don Quijote--, y perdóname el enojo que te he dado, que los primeros movimientos no son en manos de los hombres.
—Ya yo lo veo --respondió Sancho--, y, así, en mí la gana de hablar siempre es primero movimiento, y no puedo dejar de decir, por una vez siquiera, lo que me viene a la lengua.
—Con todo eso --dijo don Quijote--, mira, Sancho, lo que hablas, porque tantas veces va el cantarillo a la fuente..., y no te digo más.
—Ahora bien --respondió Sancho--, Dios está en el cielo, que ve las trampas y será juez de quien hace más mal: yo en no hablar bien o vuestra merced en no obrallo.

I probably still would sit quiet about this but to my biggest embarrasment, I appear in a video of RAE introducing this project! Out of so many people, they took my fragment there. I just can't believe it.

 

Anyway, I agreed to upload my video there, so I must swallow my embarrasment now I guess:P Yes, I am aware of the number of times I used the word 'embarrased' in this post. It just emphasizes how I feel about my 'show'.

The project is over already and now we can enjoy it's results :)

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Şafak

The Bastard of Istanbul is a story of two families whose fates mix together. The main characters are two 19 years old girls – Asya Kazanci whose family, due to the curse, consists mainly of women (men die in the young age), living in Istambul with four excentric aunts, grandmother and greatgrandmother. All women differ in characters and belifs, yet live piecefully and in love together. The second girl is Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian, an American of Armenian decent. Her father is Armenian and her mother a simple but warm woman from Arizona, who after divorce marries a Turkish man. In search of her cultural roots and family past, Armanoush goes for a journey to Istanbul where she stayes with her step-father’s family – the Kazanci women.

This is a nice, lightly written novel, although it touches the problem of Armenian-Turkish conflict (for which Elif Şafak was brought to trial) and presents a painful family secret. It acquaints the reader with Turkish culture and the life of Istanbul. You know these books that take you to the places they describe and it feels like you can touch and smell them like you really were there? This is the case with The Bastard of Istanbul. It smells with spices from Istanbulian market and sounds with the buzz of the streets. While reading I was sure I’d hear a scream of raisins seller through a window for a moment. In the novel there’s also place for magic and mystery. You discover how everything is connected with each other step by step and how it all leads to an ending in which the significant role plays one Turkish dessert, which ingredients compose the titles of the chapters.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

I have finished this book some time ago but I just can’t find the right words to describe the novel and my feelings about it. Because I feel that whatever I’ll write won’t be enough to express it’s beauty. Always when I read Murakami’s books I find myself thinking how elusive life is and how our decisions affect other human beings. Norwegian Wood is a story about loneliness, love, making choices and growing up. There is also a stable element of Murakami’s – women. All of them special in their own way. And of course it’s filled with music. Like it was playing in the background during reading...

The plot…

Toru Watanabe had only one friend in his life - Kizuki. When he dies in the age of 17 something dies in Watanabe too. But life goes on, Watanabe moves to Tokyo and goes to university.

A year later he bumps into Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko in the subway. They never talked much when Kizuki lived but they decide to spend Sundays together walking through the streets of Tokyo. The memory of the dead friend floats in the air and they try to cope with the loss each on their own way but Naoko is not strong enough. One day she disappears and Watanabe finds out she is in a psychiatric hospital-like place near Kioto. They exchange some letters and arrange few visits, hoping to be together when it ends.

There is also Midori, an eccentric girl from his university who is fascinated with cooking and porn movies and says inappropriate things all the time. They have much fun and feel good in their own company. But friendship evolves in something more. In the end Watanabe must realize what he wants and take life in his own hands.