tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34330949503191425612026-10-02T11:45:26.165+03:00A blog for passionate readersLorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.comBlogger167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-38046551245484541882012-12-19T16:12:00.001+02:002012-12-19T17:26:43.406+02:00

A pick-up artist must be the exception to the rule. You must not do what everyone else does. Ever. When I first met him I was strangely attracted to him because he was acting a bit like an asshole. I liked his smile and the sense of fresh air when you meet someone different that doesn't instantly interrogate you: where you work, how old you are, where you live and what you grandma's middle name

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-91923556858234810652012-12-11T11:48:00.001+02:002012-12-19T12:31:42.564+02:00

It took this blog 2 years and 6 months to reach more than 100,000 views. For some this might seem a modest accomplishment, but for me it is a great source of pride. Some of the views most probably are worthless (i.e people randomly stumbling upon the blog and leaving it quickly) but on a Tuesday morning, when this dreamt of Friday seems so far away, I intend to be positive. Even if 1/2 ot these

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-15318504102659165912012-12-10T20:39:00.000+02:002012-12-10T20:46:18.383+02:00

The first one was The Shadow of the Wind., the good daughter, who always comes home on time and brings joy to her parents. The second one was The Angel's Game, the bad daughter, the naughty, dark, suspicious and always causing trouble one. The third one is The Prisoner of Heaven, the one I will call the honest and revealing sister, the one that tells you truths that prompt revenge. The

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-52162535215036296352012-12-10T18:59:00.002+02:002012-12-10T18:59:58.263+02:00

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. The first

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-88435597582284646072012-11-07T12:20:00.001+02:002012-11-07T12:20:47.193+02:00

I sincerely thought that after Forty Rules of Love and The Bastard of Istanbul, there is not going to be much that Elif Shafak can surprise me by. I gave the benefit of the doubt to both novels and even though I wasn't disappointed at all, I have to say I wasn't out in the balcony screaming THIS IS FUCKING GENIUS either. However, my ever loving aunt decided once again that I really need to

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-91162780595938492482012-10-17T13:23:00.001+03:002012-10-17T13:23:48.587+03:00

After reading the more than 1,000 pages long The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, you would think there is possibly not much more he can actually say about Kingsbridge and its cathedral. The novel is extensive in description, spanning more than 20 years and covering every possible spectrum of human emotion and relationship. Quite entertaining, of course, and when you finish that last page (

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-25257652342096345202012-10-12T18:43:00.000+03:002012-10-12T18:43:44.751+03:00

Set in the turbulent 12th century, when medieval England is torn by a civil war, The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of the building of a magnificent cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge.There is everything, and a lot of it in the nearly 1,000 pages novel: love, hatred, deceit, rape, wisdom, jealousy, manipulation, life as it was back then and most certainly as it is right now.

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-53316528699883406052012-09-10T19:17:00.000+03:002012-09-10T19:22:44.419+03:00

I enjoyed Elif Shafak's Forty Rules of Love as much as I would enjoy a light slightly over positive book about love, gratitude and selfelssness. Yet, it wouldn't make it to my favorite lists and Shafak for sure wouldn't make it to the authors I follow with excitement. I find her rather too obvious, an author whose writing is too much telling rather than showing. Her prose is so understandable

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-85659634018685270732012-09-05T19:33:00.000+03:002012-09-05T20:23:58.351+03:00

All the novels I have read are for other people. Interesting, challenging, disturbing, motivational, whatever they might be, they are still for other people. I have identified with them, differentiated from them, loved them and hated them, but I was never them. Calvino is the only writer (so far), who writes about me. Puts me in the center of his novel. Actually, he puts you, as well. Yes, you,

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-57758923095130563322012-09-04T13:40:00.000+03:002012-09-05T01:43:37.506+03:00

Even before I started 1Q84, I was trembling with a sweet impatience and anticipation. The days, weeks, and months passed, yet I knew somewhere a different world was awaiting me, the world not of 1984 but of 1Q84. A friend of mine said I would absolutely love 1Q84. Well, if she meant I would actually be staying until 4 o'clock because my hands were glued to the book and my eyes - to the story,

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-4295747145295881652012-09-01T19:45:00.003+03:002012-09-01T22:44:08.740+03:00

Probably one of the most inane questions I've been asked. So when confronted with a stupid question, answer with another question: "In what sense?" The book I would like to re-read over and over again? The book I've read the most and know by heart? The book, which style I admire? The book that made me think the most? The book that inspired me to do something? The book that I simply couldn't rest

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-70597874930132800262012-08-18T23:45:00.001+03:002012-09-01T19:47:37.569+03:00

My reading behavior has been beyond approach lately and I am quite tempted to excuse it with "Oh, I am an investment banker, I work such long hours". Don't even get me started on the pride with which investment bankers share the hours they work it. As if it is the greatest accomplishment in life to be in the office from 9 until infinity. Anyways, I have been bad myself, reading a book every

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-78271519733719979012012-08-14T13:12:00.001+03:002012-08-15T02:39:14.592+03:00

In World War I the world fought imperialism. In World War II it opposed the Nazis. In World War Z, however, humanity is facing a somewhat more elusive enemy. How do you defeat someone, who cannot be killed because he is already dead? World War Z is exactly what the title says - an oral history of the zombie war, a war set in the nearby future, which nearly eradicated humanity as we know it.

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-84449933752940088322012-08-11T01:00:00.000+03:002012-08-11T01:00:32.068+03:00

After reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being and realizing that this was my book form (if I ever become a book, this is what I'll be) I became determined to read everything Kundera has ever written (ok almost everything). That is why when I stepped into a bookstore on Brick Lane a couple of weeks ago I ignored the piles of books on the way and went straight to a corner, where I was told

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-50421933291531737872012-07-12T14:01:00.000+03:002012-07-12T14:06:09.922+03:00

The second book from Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire largely reminds of political elections in Bulgaria. Five kings are fighting for the Iron throne and almost all of them have no claim on it whatsoever. Robb Stark is determined to avenge his father's death and to wipe of the face of the earth every Lannister still standing. Only 15-years-old and with the help of his notorious mother

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-43140124922308009452012-07-01T19:56:00.000+03:002012-07-01T19:56:59.884+03:00

I have never actually liked epic fantasy novels. I barely finished the first part of LOTR (yes I know the books are better than the movie) and I was quick to claim fantasy epics as something I would never waste my time on. The magic swords, the creatures, the wizards, the rings, all of that made me bored as hell. However, as I have discovered quite a few times in my life, the things I tend to

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-38065410337585557932012-05-27T22:10:00.000+03:002012-05-27T22:10:35.309+03:00

The exam period apocalypse I currently live in has been involuntarily reflected into the books I read. Cormac McCarthy's The Road followed the journey of a father and son through a destroyed world, but the author never gave a clear indication of what led to this devastation. The Cellist of Sarajevo describes another apocalypse - the siege of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-3437091237126846482012-05-26T22:42:00.000+03:002012-05-27T22:10:58.234+03:00

In Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale The Road a boy and a man walk alone through burned America. They don't have names; they could be anybody and nobody in the same time. The world as we know it is destroyed. The sky is gray, the snow is gray, the whole world has turned gray. McCarthy doesn't give an explanation for what had caused this devastation. We as the readers must accept the result

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-5876274509759918142012-05-22T19:57:00.000+03:002012-05-22T20:26:09.419+03:00

Nobody ever sees anything. Nobody every hears anything. Nobody ever tastes anything. Nobody ever smells anything. The material world as we know it doesn't exist. Merely, it is a hologram created in our mind. Yes, you heard right. I am not touching or seeing my laptop while I am writing this. I am not seeing the words on the screen. I am merely in touch with the computer's energy field. You can

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-5150093495301388892012-05-14T20:47:00.000+03:002012-05-14T20:49:41.744+03:00

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is what I might have looked like if I was a book. It encompasses fully the storm of thoughts about live, existence, love, and purpose that constantly leaves me sleepless during the night. While reading, I felt that these were the thoughts I was trying to convene to people but I was never able to formulate properly. The Unbearable Lightness of Being was more than

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-79242166096269482562012-05-08T20:43:00.000+03:002012-05-08T20:50:19.483+03:00

Remarque is comparable to no one when it comes to the immigrant's soul. Being himself an immigrant from Germany and having been persecuted numerous times for his writings, he understands the immigrant's dilemma - a longing towards your country, whose people have turned into murderers, and a clear understanding that in order to live you have to flee this country. Shadows in Paradise follows the

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-37099612847071322592012-05-04T20:13:00.000+03:002012-08-11T01:07:35.701+03:00

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do. Steve Jobs Usually I am against quotes that are so overused that even hearing them makes my stomach turn upside down. However, Steve Jobs' famous quote is not only inspirational for many people; it is a sentence, which summarizes in 19 words the amazing, controversial, turbulent, and eventful life

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-40541499265207269052012-04-24T14:11:00.000+03:002012-04-24T14:11:12.782+03:00

My first (and only until now) encounter with the magic of magical realism was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude. I was much younger (and naive) back then and I quickly deemed the book "unreadable" and left it alone in the list of "Books I just couldn't finish no matter how hard I tried". Ever since then I agreed with myself that magical realism was not a bite for my mouth. Salman

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-52071569039835712812012-04-10T19:58:00.000+03:002012-04-10T19:58:06.038+03:00

Revolutions are usually initiated to improve the quality of life of people. Otherwise, how would you motivate them to abandon their secure but unhappy and deprived life and to fight for some long-awaited ideal. Unfortunately, revolutions rarely change the world for the bette, or lets say, rarely bring the benefits that people expected them to. The communist rule in Russia came to free the Russian

Lorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10561307383920420313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3433094950319142561.post-85237477731594069372012-03-17T20:34:00.000+02:002012-03-17T20:35:17.245+02:00

The second book of the trilogy picks up where the first one left us off - Katniss and Peeta have managed to set a precedent in the 74 years history of the hunger games by becoming the first two winners. Through carefully manipulating the public with their tragic love story, they won on their side not only the citizens of the capital, but the whole country. The Capitol, in fear of a massive

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