Thursday 30 December 2021

Books I read in 2021. And I dearly recommend them.

I won’t disappoint you this year, either. I have prepared a list of the books read in 2021 that I dearly recommend to you.

Should you be curious to read my books, you can find some of them here, here and here.

 

The list of good books I read in 2021 is as follows:

Fragile – Goșu Simona

How Close Are the  Cold Rains – Coșa Bogdan

All the Promises I Made to My Father – Ioana Maria Stăncescu 

The Chestnut Man – Soren Sveistrup

The Little Man in the Wall – Marian Coman

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Truly Madly Guilty  – Liane Moriarty

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face – Alan Alda 

The Bastard of Istanbul – Elif Shafak

Interpreter of maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri

The Foreigner – Stephen King

The Pyramid – Cristian Englert

The Ballad of the Colorless Strawberries – Zully Mustafa 

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine – Gail Honeyman

The Captives – Debra Jo Immergut

10 Ways of Dealing With People Who Make Your Life Miserable – Lillian Glass

The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey

The Silent Pacient – Alx Michaelides

Larry and the Dog People – Paul J. Henderson

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – T.S. Eliot

As If Nothing Had Happened – Alina Nelega

The Kukotsky Enigma – Lyudmila Ulitskaya

Honour – Elif Shafak

Bastian – Dora Pavel

Let’s Talk About Death – Michael Hebb

The Grace Year – Kim Liggett

Britt-Marie Was Here – Fredrik Backman

The Case of the Missing Marquess – Nancy Springer

A woman is no man – Etaf Rum

The Wives – Tarryn Fisher

A Question of Death and Life – Irvin Yalom

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave – John Boyne

Informative Note Written at a Typewriter – Ileana Vulpescu

Fidelity – Marco Missiroli

The Penalty Area – Alain Gillot

Betty – Tiffany McDaniel

This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay

Passions – Sofia Nădejde

The Tale of the Good Old Man – Italo Svevo

The Orange Tunnel – Nichita Stănescu

The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

The Prophecy and Other Stories – Drago Jancar

On Writing – Stephen King

Nomad – Ayan Hirsi Ali

The Doctor King’s Eyes – Haralamb Zincă

The Thing Around Your Neck – Chimamanda Adichie

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

Candidates to Happiness – Ileana Vulpescu

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes – Ruth Hogan

The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell

It Was Her – Mark Hill

Waiting for Monsieur Bellivier – Britta Rostlund

The Surprises of Captain Apostolescu – Horia Tecuceanu

Four Reflections of the Truth – Ana-Maria Negrilă 

The Empire of Old Maids – Liliana Corobca

The Golden Rule – Amanda Craig

The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty – Vendela Vida

Three Apples Fell From the Sky – Narine Abgaryan

Prey – Ayan Hirsi Ali

The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak 

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay

Wednesday 29 December 2021

The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak


When reading this novel, a soothing balm is cast over the reader. Something not at all new for the literature written by Elif Shafak. To my mind, this is a guarantee for the last two novels she wrote – 10 minutes 38 seconds in ThisStrange World, being the other one. These novels are far more healing, melancholic than the others, and this balm is far more soothing.

I hate to give details about the plot of a novel, but I can tell you this – you will relive the magic from The Arabian Nights. And the author’s voice is so gentle while carrying the reader from one character to the other.

I leave below two paragraphs that I find amazing:

‘… Adam and Eve yielded to the allure of a fig, the fruit of temptation, desire and passion, not some crunchy apple. I don’t mean to belittle a fellow plant, but what chance does a bland apple have next to a luscious fig that still today, aeons after the original sin, tastes like lost paradise? ...’

‘Because the past is a dark, distorted mirror. You look at it, you only see your own pain. There is no room in there for someone else’s pain. ...’

Sunday 19 December 2021

The exercise of gratefulness

My Christmas tree was trimmed already. It has squirrels and it is read.

Starting with yesterday, I have been receiving adornments for it. Adornments that have easily found their place in my Christmas tree. I have received them from dear friends, and I was reminded that this week I have not played the exercise of gratefulness.


Thus, today I am grateful for all of my friends.

For all the friends that, even if we do not keep in touch on a regular basis, I feel close to. For those that were once very close, but no longer are. For those that insist, regardless of the space we have among each other, to remain close (and sometimes to make such gestures like the ones that helped adorning the tree, as you see above).

Long live the friendship!

Friday 10 December 2021

Faith


I was speaking (on speaker) with Nephew and my sister about a future test that the Nephew must take at Religion. And so, we inevitably got to the big question.

‘Do you believe in God?’, I asked.

‘Yes. Otherwise, how can the 8 I took at Maths can be explained?!’ he answered.

Monday 6 December 2021

Saint Nicholas came today!

Yeah, I must have been really good.

Later edit: my nephew called and confirmed that I was good. And this is why he will bring me halvita (it's a type of nougat, but more creamy and tasty; it's almost a forgotten art because few people know how to make it). 
How lucky am I, to be the aunt of a nephew with such golden heart!