The Party by Elizabeth Day

This has been my favourite book of this year so far. Such a well crafted novel, compelling enough to pull you through and a very good read. I enjoyed it so much from the first page till the end.

 This is a story shaped in the form of two diaries, one is Martin's and the other belongs to his wife, Lucy. It reminded me of Brideshed Revisited and The Greater Gatsby, but better written. I also loved the way the book shifts between Martin's police interrogation, his childhood memories, his school years and the time he met Ben and of course the party itself, the key event of our story. Lucy's diary entries scattered throughout the book helped me as a reader to see, feel and under how misplaced they were feeling as part of this so called friendship with Ben and Serena. She was the only one who could see Ben and Serena for what they were, manipulative , selfish and self centered. I spent so much time trying to figure out what kind of a character Martin is: a psychopath, madly and obsessively in love with Ben. What was it that made him go on lying to himself and increase his obsession for Ben. I tried to relate all this to his unhappy childhood, the negative presence of his mother and this ongoing desire to be liked and accepted by others. It's a novel that I truly recommended to you all! 

A Slightly Enormous Book and Bookish Things Haul

Tipsy Book Review: The Party by Elizabeth Day

"The Investigation" (La guardia, il poeta e l'investigatore) by Jung Myung Lee, my 3rd read from the Bancarella shortlist

• Can you fall in love with a book? Well, I did. "The Investigation " is my 3rd read from Bancarella shortlist of 2017. I gave 5 out of 5 stars. I really hope it wins the Award this year. I read the Italian translation of Benedetta Merlini and publishing by the famous Sellerio Publishing House in 2016. I believe it's the most beautiful novels I've read in such a long time. It's such a beautiful story about freedom, humanity, the survival in the war, the love of literature and books. It is inspired the life and death of the Korean poet Yun Dong-ju and uses some of his posthumously published poems that are presented throughout the book. The story is set in the Japanese prison of Fukuoka in the 40s during the war the Japanese took against the Korean.But I don't want to give too much away. Now that I read it in Italian I will definitely search for the English translation. It's such a beautiful and captivating story, that's not worth telling but reading and feeling each page of it.
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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.