Two novels, one play ( literary recommendations and an outfit post) / Dva romana, jedna drama ( književne preporuke i odjevna kombinacija)

Before I get into my book recomemndations of the day, I want to recommend to you a play titled The Man Who Turned Into Sofa. I have listented to it for the first time last night.  It is currently available for free and will be for next to two weeks. So, go ahead and  listen to this play on BBC ( LINK). Don't miss it! Yesterday when I finished listening to it, I was all teary eyed. I can't say that it is a complete surprise because being a reader of Rosalind blog (link) for some time now, I'm familiar with her immense writing talent. What makes this play special is that is cowritten with her parents who are writers as well. It is brilliantly writen and the production is exceptional. Narrated by the writers themselves (Andrew Fusek Peters, Polly Petters and Rosalind Jana Peters who potray themselves) and by Lorcan Cranitch who plays the sofa, accompanied by a wonderful selection of music, it is an emotionally profound and incredibly honest journey into depression. 

As difficult and hauntingly sad this theme is,  it didn't feel overwelmingly sad. I actually found this play to be  uplifting because one can really feel the love the family members have for one another. I would have to say that it is an unbelievably brave account of a family dealing with depression together.  The writing is, as I said, simply brilliant and it is very well balanced. The humour, the love and the honesty are so wonderfully captured in this play....together stand against the darkness of clinical depression....and they prevail.

Prije nego što prijeđem na književne preporuke dana, želim vam preporučiti dramsko djelo koje sam sinoć slušala. Trenutno ga možete besplatno poslušati, a biti će dostupno u toj formi još dva tjedna na službenoj stranici BBC-a (POVEZNICA). Nemojte ga propustiti! Jučer kada sam ga poslušala, bile su mi oči pune suza. Ne mogu reći da je potpuno iznenađenje jer već dugo čitam  Rosalind na njenom blogu (poveznica) i poznat mi je njen impresivni spisateljski talent. Što čini ovu dramu posebnom je što su je zajedno s Rosalind napisali i njezini roditelji koji su također spisatelji. Fantastično je napisana, a i produkcija je izvanredna. Čitaju je osobe koje su je napisale ( a to su Andrew Fusek Peters, Polly Peters and Rosalind Jana Peters), a ovo duboko emotivno i nevjerojatno iskreno putovanje u depresiju, prati i divan izbor glazbe. Glas kauča koji igra važnu ulogu je dao Lorcan Cranitch. Koliko god da je ova tema teška, nisam imala osjećaj da me preplavila, naprotiv ljubav koju članovi ove obitelji imaju jedni prema drugima je kao svijetlo u tami. Opisala bi ovu dramu kao nevjerojatno hrabar prikaz obitelj koja se bori protiv depresije zajedno. Pisanje je kao što sam rekla briljantno i u sjajnoj ravnoteži. Humor, ljubav i iskrenost su tako dobro prikazani u ovoj drami...zajedno oni stoje protiv tame kliničke depresije...i pobjeđuju.

Alright. Let's talk novels now. The one I'm holding in my hands, pretty content it matches my outfit, is the first novel in Belgariad series i.e. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. It is pretty easy to define it genrewise, it  a coming of age story that falls into  young adult and fantasty genre. The story follows a young boy being raised by his  tall aunt (my favourite character in his novel) on a small farm. Garion grows up not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen to him. 

 Despite the fact that Garion feels a sinestry presence haunting him, a dark shadow, he is never certain whether this is a product of his imagination. However, soon he is to discover that he is not so ordinary and he will get involved in the world of magic and adventure. Does that sound familiar? Well, this book does have a fair amount of genre stereotypes but that doesn't mean it is not any good. In fact, being published in the early eighties, it could even be said that some better known works have copied or at least borrowed some aspects from it. My opinion of it is very simple. I rather liked it but I'm not head over heels with this book. It is entertaing, fun and well structured, a real page turner, but that is all. It isn't terribly deep and it is no Tolkien. It doesn't really live up to great masterworks of fantasy, but it comes close. I got this novel from a friend and I'm thinking about rereading it. I did like it, I just didn't find it exceptional. If you like fantasy, give it a try. It is an entertaining read, I just didn't connect with it on a deeper level.

Dobro. Sada ćemo pričati o romanima. Onaj koji držim u ruci, zadovoljna što mi se slaže s odjevnom kombinacijom je prvi roman u Belgariard seriji, Pijun Proročanstva Davida Eddingsa. Prilično ga je lako žanrovski definirati, to je tipična priča o odrastanju žanrovski gledano fantastika i roman za mlade. Priča prati dječaka koji odrasta na maloj farmi, a odgaja ga njegova visoka teta ( moj najdraži lik u knjizi). Garion odrasta ne očekujući da će mu se išta neobično dogoditi. Iako osjeća da ga progoni neka mračna prisutnost, tamna sjena, nikad nije posve siguran je li to samo proizvod njegove mašte. Međutim, uskoro će otkriti da nije tako običan i postati će dio svijeta magije i avanture. Zvuči li to poznato? Dobro, ova knjiga doista prati niz žanrovskih stereotipa, ali to ne znači da nije dobra. Zapravo s obzirom da je objavljena u ranim osamdesetima, moglo bi se reći da su neka poznatija djela kopirala ili barem posudila neke ideje iz nje. Moje je mišljenje jako jednostavno, svidjela mi se, ali nisam luda za ovom knjigom. Zabavna je, napeta i dobro sastavljana, ali to je to. Nije veoma duboka i nije Tolkien. Ne može se reći da je dorasla najboljim djelima fantastike, ali je blizu. Dobila sam ovaj roman od prijateljice i sada razmišljam da ga ponovo pročitam. Svidio mi se, ali mi se nije činio izvanredan. Sviđa li vam se fantastika, pročitajte ga. Zabavno je štivo, ali nisam se baš povezala s njim.

Oscar Wilde. Don't get me started on Oscar Wilde. I've read everything he has ever written. I've spent hours browsing the net, looking for anecdotes from his life and I even enjoyed watching the movie versions of his plays (that I probably know by heart). I remember dragging different editions  Collected Works of Oscar Wilde with me everywhere. I was and still am fascinated by him, both as a writer and a person. There probably isn't a day when his famous 'overdressed and overeducated' quote  doesn't pop out in my mind...I've encourntaed many of his sayngs along my mental pathways. I consider him to be quite a brilliant playwrite, yer what I want to recommend to you today is a novel. What a novel it is! It is the only novel that Oscar Wilde wrote, but as they say for life, if you get it right, one is enough!

Oscar Wilde. Bolje da ne krenem doista pričati o njemu. Pročitala sam sve što je ikada napisao. Provela sam sate na internetu tražeći anegdote iz njegovoga života, a čak su mi se svidjele i filmske verzije njegovih drama. koje sam pročitala toliko puta da ih znam napamet. Sjećam se kako sam vukla različita izdanja njegovih sabranih djela svugdje. U meni je budio i još uvijek budi zanimanje i kao pisac i kao osoba. Vjerojatno ne prođe dan, a da ne pomislim da njegov poznati "overdressed and overeducated'" citat. Srela sam brojne njegove izreke na svojim mentalnim putevima. Smatram ga odličnim dramopiscem, ali danas želim preporučiti njegov roman. I to kakav roman! To je jedini roman kojega je Wilde napisao, ali kao što kažu za život, ako ga dobro proživiš i jedan je dovoljan!

Before I say anything about the novel, I just want to emphasize how much  I love the novel's preface. It is surpringly short and simple, but it is , nonetheless, one of the best defences of  art that I have ever read. I happen to think that The Picture of Dorian Gray has never been as relevant as today. Our society has grown so obsessed with looks and physical beauty, that such a novel is really (or it should be) a must read. Sure, this novel is more than just a warning what happens to those overly obssesed with their apprearance but I had to mention that aspect of it. Probably this novel would be relevant even if we didn't lived in such a society for it is indeed timeless. That is always a sign of a true masterpiece, isn't it so? I will never forget reading it for the first time. Most of my friends read it in high school but I read it a bit later when I was already at the University. Let me tell you, it was quite an experience! I swallowed the book in under an hour and I remember that feeling of being completely blown away. How could I forget it? I'm sure I will always dinsticly remember that first reading experience. Since then, I enjoyed reading it many times...and when you reread a book that many times, it really stays with you. So, my experience of reading it was quite intense! As for the novel itself, perhaps the best way to sum my feelings about it is to say that it never really ceased to enchant me. This novel layed its spell on me in my early tweenties and it still hasn't been lifted.

Prije nego što kažem išta o samom romanu, željela bi samo naglasiti koliko mi se sviđa predgovor. Začuđujuće je jednostavan i kratak, ali je tome usprkos, jedna od najboljih obrana umjetnosti koju sam ikada pročitala.  Doista mislim da je Slika Doriana Graya roman koji nikada nije bio aktualniji jer je naše društvo postalo toliko opsjednuto izgledom i fizičkom ljepotom da bi takvo djelo stvarno trebalo biti obavezno štivo. Naravno ovaj roman je puno više nego upozorenje što se događa onima koji su previše opsjednuti fizičkim izgledom, ali morala sam i to spomenuti. Vjerojatno bi ovaj roman bio relevantan i  da ne živimo u takvome društvu jer je bezvremenski. To je uvijek znak remekdjela, zar ne?  Nikada neću zaboraviti svoje prvo čitanje. Većina mojih prijateljiga ga je pročitala u srednjoj školi, ali ja sam ga pročitala kasnije kada sam već bila na fakultetu. Mogu vam reći da je to bilo zanimljivo iskustvo! Progutala sam knjigu u manje od sat i još se sjećam toga osjećaja potpunoga zanosa. Od tada sam uživala čitati ga ponovno puno puta, a kada toliko puta pročitate neku knjigu, ona postane dio vas. Tako da je moje iskustvo čitanja bilo jako snažno! Što se tiče samoga romana, možda ću najbolje sažeti svoje osjećaje ako kažem da me nikad nije prestao očaravati. Začarana sam negdje u ranim dvadesetima i ta čarolija još nije podignuta.

UPDATE: MORE BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS: WE OF THE FORSAKEN WORLD BY KIRAN BRAH AND HEART OF THE MATTER BY EMILY GIFFIN (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

WIW IN MOSTAR + ZULEIKHA (A BOOK REVIEW) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

WARD NO.6, A SHORT STORY BY ANTON CHEKHOV (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

THE ASPERN PAPERS BY HENRY JAMES (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

Françoise Sagan: Réponses 1954- 1974 (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE, A NOVEL BY ISAAC ASIMOV (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

A PROVINCIAL ROMANCE, (ROMANS PROWINCJONALNY) BY KORNEL FILIPOWICZ (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)

These photographs were taken more than a month ago. I'm wearing a vintage top I painted myself and a skirt that is recent outlet find. The books I'm holding are Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Pawn of Propecy ( first novel in the The Belgradian Chronicles by David Eddings). The bag I'm wearing is a Croatian traditional folklore bag  and it is very special to me because it was a gift from my late grandmother. Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!

Ove fotografije su uslikane prije više od mjesec dana. Nosim vintage majicu koju sam sama oslikala i suknju koju sam nedavno pronašla u outletu. Knjige koje nosim u ruci su Slika Doriana Graya Oscara Wilda i Pijun Proročanstva Davida Eddingsa. Torba koju nosim je hrvatska tradicionalna folklorna torba, a ima posebno mjesto u mom srcu jer mi je poklonila pokojna baka. Hvala na čitanju, želim vam svima ugodan dan!