My personal thoughts of Dracula by Bram Stoker

I have a confession to make, this is the second time I read this story. The first time I read it was back in 2002 or 2003 (again in winter) and I remember being overwhelmed by it. I've always related this novel to those winter cozy readings, maybe because of the beautiful winter descriptions of Transylvania presented by Stoker. I started reading the novel and listening to the audiobook at the same time, but at some point I gave up on the audio thing. Overall though, there are definitely lots of things I liked about this novel. I liked the epistolary format in the use of letters, diaries , memoranda, ship's log and newspaper articles. It also provides multiple points of view from a multitude of characters. The descriptions of characters and places are wonderful and this makes it a turning page novel. However, there are also some weak points. For example, the newspaper articles are not very convincing and the use of the melodramatic long speeches just made me collapse. More than once I found myself wishing they would stop talking and just get on with it.

Although I wasn't properly terrified of Dracula, I did find the narrative quite suspenseful, or at least I thought I did until towards the end of the novel. The climax when it finally came, it was over in a flash. Overall, this was lots of fun. It hasn't exactly converted me to vampire fandom, although I'm thinking about reading its predecessors, Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" and John Polidori's "The Vampire Tale.". Not anytime soon, though. For now I'll happily go back to avoidng horror.

"Autumn" by Ali Smith

This is going to be one of my favorite books of the this year. This book is for book lovers, for people who love stories. There is a lot of intertextuality as well as it's a good story on its own. Ali always sets her novels in the present, but history transcends the story. So if we talk about a present, we also talk about everything that came until now and how we got to be and to live in this now. “Time travel is real, Daniel said. We do it all the time. Moment to moment, minute to minute.”
In this novel we focus on two main characters: Daniel Gluck and Elisabeth Demand, which are both such great names. We start with Daniel being washed up on the shore on an island. The first line of the book is: “It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times”. So we open with this rephrasing of Dickens and also as we move forward through this chapter we get an image of Shakespeare as well. If we think of someone being washed up on an island, we think of plays like “The Tempest” or  “The 12th night”. We begin this novel with links to other books, and by this Ali Smith is showing us that books cannot exist on their own, they exist with regard to everything that has come before them. This is a theme that goes throughout the entire novel and it's about Daniel who teaches Elisabeth about the origins of words and how words were invented to suit our purposes throughout time and history. The beginning of the book is also a reference to another well known character and that is Peter Pan. Peter Pan and the timelesness of the island and of the children living there. Ali idealizes the idea of childhood and by going back to the past, we go back to a state of innocence, thus this obsession of youth, another current theme in the book. 
When Daniel meets Elisabeth he is 80 and she is about 8. He likes to tell her stories about the origins of words like Humpty Dumpty. We have so many references to literature and classic novels, in this case “Alice in Wonderland”, that are woven throughout the entire novel. Another current theme is about changing identities and discovering new identities. In this novel we do not know how the characters look like. So, therefore, it's up to the reader to build up the characters' identity. However, we find these nods related to the characters that make us think how they really look like. The ambiguity of being black or white, between being English or a foreigner is so subtle in this book.

"Sono rimasto a fissare quell'albero a lungo. Pareva così forte così bello. Ferito proprio nel mezzo. Ma vivo e sano. Cee mi toccò la spalla lieve. Frank? Si? Vieni, fratello mio. Andiamo a casa." ("A casa" di Toni Morrison)

Reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Man Booker International Prize 2016

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Han Kang is a South Korean writer. She was born in a family of writers and novelists, her brother and brother being also writers. Her novels The Vegetarian and Human Acts are her first translated works in English by Deborah Smith. In 2016 her novel The Vegetarian won Man Booker International Prize and she is the first Korean author to be nominated for the award.

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This book is so strange and weird at the same time. It's th first time I am reading any Korean literature in translation, so I cannot judge it too much. In short, it's the story of a woman named Yeong-hye who decides to become a vegetarian and how her family reacts to this decision. The novel is divided into three parts, each told from the point of view of a person who is impacted by her decision.

The first part is narrated by her husband who describes her as plain looking and who chose her because she was unremarkable in every possible way. Then she suddenly had a dream. A rather bloody dream that turn her away from meat and all animal products. In the second part we see her through the eyes of her brother-in-law, an unsuccessful video artist who struggles to create some vague pornographic visions. He sees her in a total different way, an enigma with a strong sense of self-posession and sexually attractive. Finally, in the third part we see her complete transformation, her struggle with mental illness and how this affected her sister. In her sister's view she is altogether a victim and a manipulator, a psychiatric patient who is so capable of controlling those around her.

It is not a novel about becoming vegetarian. It is more about obsessions, acting on obsessions and family relations. Despite being a novel about Yeong-hye we never hearher perspective. It is also a novel that makes you react against abuse, either physical or psychological, family relations and societal norms. The writing is so impactful and heartbreaking. So, I'd say take 24 hours, read the novel and then make up your mind, is it reasonable, provocative or it leaves you helpless?

Why we should all be feminisits by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is my first Adchie reading. It was such a great and fun read. A short and effective essay on Feminism and gender and why it is so important even today. If you download it on your kindle, it will take you about half an hour to read it!

Adchie was born in Nigeria in a family of six children. At 19 she leaves her home to the USA to study Communication at

Drewel University in Philadelphia. She is best known for her novels Purple Hibiscus published in 2003 and nominated for The Man Booker Prize in 2004, Americanah published in 2013 and Half a Yellow Sun published in 2006.

This essay is so perfectly written and presented in a simplistic manner without any touch of negative humour thrown in to engage a live audience. Adchie is part of the new wave of speakers making feminism more accessible. A self proclaimed "happy feminist who does not hate men, who likes lipstick, high heels for herself but not for men", she adds a much needed touch of humour to the topic and addresses the ridiculous stereotypes of a feminist.

She presents male/female differences clearly. Her example of cooking fit perfectly. Women are not born with a cooking gene and yet they are expected to do so. Still, men are top chefs, making most of the money. Evolution and culture? Male figures grow stronger and more aggressive. And culture is the result of behaviors and beliefs that describe a certain group. It's people who make culture and not the other way around.

We should all read this from highschool teenagers, University students, adults, men and women. It should become an obligatory study part of the curriculum. We should all be feminists.

We should all be feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Favorite fragments from the book: 
1. “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.” 

2.“We spend too much time teaching girls to worry about what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don’t teach boys to care about being likable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough, which is bad enough, but then we turn around and either praise or excuse men for the same reasons. All over the world, there are so many magazine articles and books telling women what to do, how to be and not to be, in order to attract or please men. There are far fewer guides for men about pleasing women.” 

3.“A woman at a certain age who is unmarried, our society teaches her to see it as a deep personal failure. And a man, after a certain age isn’t married, we just think he hasn’t come around to making his pick.” 

4.“We teach girls shame. “Close your legs. Cover yourself.” We make them feel as though being born female they’re already guilty of something. And so, girls grow up to be women who cannot say they have desire. They grow up to be women who silence themselves. They grow up to be women who cannot say what they truly think. And they grow up — and this is the worst thing we do to girls — they grow up to be women who have turned pretense into an art form.”