The Medici Family-my 4th novel from the shortlist of Bancarella Literary Award

• I just finished reading the historical novel about the family of Medici from Florence. It's a story which is part of a trilogy written by the Italian author Matteo Strukul. It is shortlisted for the Bancarella Literary Award . It's the 4th novel that I've managed to read from the Bancarella shortlist. This trilogy has become famous in Europe in less than a year and it's been translated into Dutch, English and Spanish. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. It fallows the lives and adventures of two brothers Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici from 1429 to 1453, with a bit of a romance. It's an enjoyable read, and a turn page one. What I liked most about the story are the detailed descriptions of places, palaces, pieces of art and the physical descriptions of the characters. It gives so much detail about the city of Florence in the 15th century and its people and customs. However I expected more from the character in terms of language and psychological representation. They seem so flat. I could not relate to any of them neither good nor bad. However if you are interested to know more about the life of this famous family, the construction of Florence and its people, it's a good way to start. Enjoy your reading!
  

Bancarella Literary Award 2017

• Bancarella Literary Award,  is an Italian prize born in 1953. It is celebrated every year in the town of Pontremoli, in the province of Massa Carrara, Tuscany. It is a prize established by Italian booksellers who chose the best one out of a selection of six novels. The lucky winner is announced in the penultimate Saturday or Sunday of July. The short list contains six novels all written in Italian by Italian writers or literary translations from foreign writers. Over the years, the award was given to well know International writers such as Hemingway for The Old Man and the Sea" (1953), Boris Pasternak for "Doctor Zhivago " (1958), John Grisham, Umberto Eco and Elizabeth Strout. This year the winner will announced on July 16th. The novels from the short list are: "Il giardino dei fiori segreti" by Cristina Caboni, published in October 2016; "La locanda dell'ultima solutudine" by Alessandro Barbaglia, published in January 2016; "Gocce di veleno" by Valeria Benatti, published in September 2016; "Magari domani resto" by Lorenzo Marone, published in January 2017, "I medici una dinastia al potere " published in October 2016. This list also contains a Japanese writer Yung-Myung Lee and the Italian translation of his novel "La guardia, il poeta e l'investigatore " published in Italy in January 2016. This last novel was also translated into English under the title "The Investigation " published in 2015.
  

GREAT STORIES BY CHEKHOV

Thank you NetGalley and Dover Pubblications for giving me the opportunity to read this beautiful collection of short stories by Checkov. It's a collection to be published in January 2017 and translated by Constance Garnett, who actually translated most of the classical literary productions of Russian literature.

Whenever we think of Russian literature, we think of words like "hopelessness", "despair", and "dark"; but I can think of only two words when it comes to it "amazing" and "truthful". Despite his blunt and to the point writing, Checkov will always stand out for his concise messages and beautiful descriptions of characters and places. His style can easily be described as Impressionist. Impressionism as a movement was based on capturing a subjective experience rather than the realistic description of it. Checkov does not give too many details in his stories and leaves us as readers to peace the story together from his hints. As a reading audience we totally depend upon the appearances and actions of the characters. Each story is told through the characters' actions, movements and thoughts. If the action becomes confusing sometimes, it's because the characters are confused too. By the way of telling the story, we as readers become caught up in the plot as if it were happening to us right then and there.

Some critics described his stories "short and sweet". They may be short in length but they make up for the content. Checkov describes the characters in such a way that the audience already knew them. Checkov's writing style is so wonderful because of that. It make us connect with the charactes, bad or good, and he does that in such a beautil way.

I totally recommend this short collection of stories for all of you who love Russian literature and short stories.

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?