Literary Pick (****)

Maria Callas: Sacred Monster
-Stelios Galatopoulos

Lyrics

Vissi d’arte
Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore,
non feci mai male ad anima viva!
Con man furtiva
quante miserie conobbi aiutai.
Sempre con fè sincera
la mia preghiera
ai santi tabernacoli salì.
Sempre con fè sincera
diedi fiori agl’altar.
Nell’ora del dolore
perchè, perchè, Signore,
perchè me ne rimuneri così?
Diedi gioielli della Madonna al manto,
e diedi il canto agli astri, al ciel,
che ne ridean più belli.
Nell’ora del dolor
perchè, perchè, Signor,
ah, perchè me ne rimuneri così?


-Tosca's Aria from Puccini's Tosca

Literary Pick (****)

No Fear Shakespeare

-Sparknotes

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read my first Shakespeare play. I enjoyed the story of King Lear so much! more than I ever thought I would. I didn't expect parts to be so comical. I was under the impression King Lear was a totally solemn story, but instead was rather dramatically amusing. I do have to admit I opted  for the "plain English" version of this edition because I feel that since it's my first time reading Shakespeare, it's much more important to first understand what the play is about before reading the work in it's original text.

Quote of the Day

“On a day of burial there is no perspective--for space itself is annihilated. Your dead friend is still a fragmentary being. The day you bury him is a day of chores and crowds, of hands false or true to be shaken, of the immediate cares of mourning. The dead friend will not really die until tomorrow, when silence is round you again. Then he will show himself complete, as he was--to tear himself away, as he was, from the substantial you. Only then will you cry out because of him who is leaving and whom you cannot detain.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Literary Pick (***)

Siddhartha

-Herman Hesse

The novel by Hermann Hesse is basically about a young man (Siddhartha) who abandons his noble family home to lead an ascetic life, but he then meets the Buddha, and goes after a life of materialism, realizing 20 years later he is repulsed by his new lifestyle of lust (in which he conceives a son with a courtesan by the name of Kamala) and over-indulgence, he  once again abandons everything and goes in search of himself. He then meets with a ferryman Vesudeva, who guides and teaches him to listen to the river, which is meant to symbolize "the great song of a thousand voices consisting of one word:  OM-perfection." Only then does Siddhartha achieve true enlightenment. I give this book three stars for it's category, which is spirituality. I normally wouldn't read a book on this subject, but It's a classic and a short read so I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed how it was written and I learned a few things about Hindu religions and monks.

Design Traveller

Literary Pick (****)

The Book Thief
-Markus Zusak

This is one of the sweetest books I've ever read. It's like the Author took The Diary of a Young Girl and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn and meshed them together to create The Book Thief.
The Conceptual purity of expression in giving colors feelings was something I could immediately connect with. One of my favorite quotes in the world by August Macke is..."My entire joy in life comes almost entirely from pure colour". I've always believed colors play a much more essential role than just the superficial aesthetic value they initially present. There are times when I can clearly see a certain day and it's atmospheric greenish tint, and it astounds me when no one else around me sees it. I believe assigning colors to emotions and events is the primary quality of this novel. It's what pulled the reader into the history of the events and what gives it true affection and compassion. There is also the story of Liesel, a little Jewish girl who is adopted by German (non-Jewish) parents Hans and Rosa Hubberman, in the fictional town of Molching in Munich, Germany... I won't give much away because I don't want to ruin it for the people who haven't read it yet, (*ahem*..my husband) but it's a story about hope, not giving up, standing up for what is right, even if that means possible persecution.
The authors ability to add tenderness to a history which is so obviously tragic, and from a German perspective, in any manner, is praisable to say the least. What's even more amazing is that the author is so young. Only 36 years old. I'm pretty hard to impress when it comes to modern literature, but I must say, this book is one that will have it's place among the classics years down the road.

The cover (Domino cover edition) seems inappropriate for the theme of the book. I could think of several other ideas which would be much more suitable for the story. Like an accordion...or maybe an illustratrion of a little boy and girl.