"On a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, there lives a boy as innocent of …
Review of "L' isola di Arturo" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Romanzo molto bello, quello del "ragazzo guerresco", veramente una piacevole lettura. Contiene molti dei temi comuni di un romanzo di formazione, ma è ambientato in questa bellissima isola del golfo di Napoli (vengo da lì vicino, tra l'altro) e ha quindi il sapore leggero e soleggiato del Sud Italia. Arturo nasce orfano di madre, cresce tra mare e spiagge e sogna mondi esotici. Vive di forti emozioni e fa fatica a capire quelli attorno a lui. La prosa è erudita, un po' antica ormai, ma molto scorrevole.
Review of 'Twyford Code, The (air/exp)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Quite the page turner this one. I liked it as it's original, in the way it's written (the structure, mostly made of recorded conversations that have been transformed to written text) and the plot full of twists. I can't say much otherwise I'd spoil it, but it's a clever read and there's lots of themes: old spy stories, family belonging, crime, friendship... Around the middle of it I was almost getting tired with what seemed a far-fetched and endless story, but then it took yet another turn and got me even more interested.
Bel libro, molto leggibile nonostante il tema sia corposo (e non particolarmente allegro). Ho apprezzato particolarmente la presenza di numeri, vale a dire la quantificazione di molti eventi (e.g. le descrizioni dettagliate della composizione di un esercito): ritengo che la storia si debba insegnare prestando un occhio maggiore alle statistiche. Ho imparato molto!
Nice fiction work about a famous Scottish painting on show at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. I live there so when I happened in a bookstore and looked for novels set in Scotland this caught my eye and I bought it. The painting in question is at the centre of a research effort for its attribution which generates a dive in the past to the age of the Enlightenment, with the accent on the role of some women and their contribution to the turmoil of ideas of the time. The book is written as a mirror story that develops today but also in the 18th century and I appreciated the alternation of chapters set now and then, it gives the whole thing a quick pace. I found the overall idea nice but somewhat the narrative is a bit contrived, the story takes turns that are too improbable at …
Nice fiction work about a famous Scottish painting on show at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. I live there so when I happened in a bookstore and looked for novels set in Scotland this caught my eye and I bought it. The painting in question is at the centre of a research effort for its attribution which generates a dive in the past to the age of the Enlightenment, with the accent on the role of some women and their contribution to the turmoil of ideas of the time. The book is written as a mirror story that develops today but also in the 18th century and I appreciated the alternation of chapters set now and then, it gives the whole thing a quick pace. I found the overall idea nice but somewhat the narrative is a bit contrived, the story takes turns that are too improbable at times - I won't say more because I don't want to create spoilers. Also, the prose contains too many ordinary details (things like the character takes the mug, slices a cake, cleans this, does that) that disrupt the reading flow without adding much of value. All in all though it is an interesting piece of work that raises an important point: how much do we really know about the contribution of women to what we are today, as a human society? How much of that was covered, even regarding a supposedly open and progressive time like the Enlightenment? This is something we all need to see more books about, to look back at history with a different eye and get rid of outdated conceptions while at the same time give people the right credit. I learned a few things, especially in regards to the city I live in.
Review of 'The Pants of Perspective' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Very fun, entertaining and inspiring read, much like the previous one from the same author. I've been on a reading journey though books on adventure and exploration and this one is perfectly placed as the quintessential type of book I like when I think of such topics. I've enjoyed and appreciated it a lot as it's real, genuine: McNuff puts on paper all that she lived, describes the beauty of the world but doesn't spare you the hard moments and all in all regales you with a sofa version of her trips where you feel like you're going alongside her. Really well written and I love her humour, humility and positive attitude.
This is a great collection of 50 short biographies of adventurers which have all made a dent in our understanding of the world and fuelled others' spirit of exploration. I bought it at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Perth (Scotland) on a day out. It is a great volume to have in your library if you're interested in the topic.
"The acclaimed author of the influential bestseller The Black Swan, Nicholas Nassim Taleb takes a …
Review of 'Antifragile' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It's a book whose central idea is very clear and, I found, very interesting. It then grows as a tree to develop this idea into intricate branches, all very connected to the root though. The central idea rotates around the concept of antifragility (of course, you saw the title) which is the ability of certain systems to thrive from attacks and get strengthened by them, rather than be victims of it. The book gives plenty of examples and sometimes goes deep into history. A good and recommended read, I only found the (many) parts where the author criticises personalities, institutions, other ideas, a bit excessively bitter.
Well-written crime novel, it transports you into the Poland of the end of the 1800s, giving a lot of historical context as well as describing social customs in detail. The story sits well with the crime novel tradition and I really enjoyed it.
Review of 'Around the world with Auntie Mame' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is possibly even more delightful than the first book in the series, and I really wish the author had written more of these. Funny and witty, it's been such a wonderful read. Also, it is very interesting to read this now and see how '30s Europe was portrayed (there's Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and the USSR, for once).
Delightful and witty book! It's the story of this quirky and lady, living in NYC in the '20s who all of a sudden finds herself raising her nephew. Lots of adventures follow: she's educated, wealthy, full of life and very modern (read: libertarian). Honestly a great read, you end up laughing a lot.
Review of 'The Candid Life of Meena Dave' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Nice novel about the concept of belonging and having/finding a place to call home in life. I have enjoyed it, though I found the descriptions of emotions and feelings a bit contrived at times.
Great adventure, I really enjoyed this one. Anna went off on a cycling adventure that led her to pass through all 50 of the US, experiencing both the nature and the human element. All spiced with a nice level of wittiness and fun - it's a very enjoyable read even if you aren't that much into cycling.
This is a dive into post-war Russia, and a coming-of-age tale narrated from the perspective of the protagonist, a young girl growing into a woman who makes her (painful) choices from the reality around her. She, born and raised in a provincial town and in a regime-devote family, decides to go study acting in Moscow, and builds a career in the profession. She never bought into the ideology of the Soviet all-encompassing state, but her disdain of the condition she lives in grows more and more with passing time and with her discovering how things really work under the facade of greatness and order the state instills in its propaganda. It is an interesting novel because it makes you realise, for those of us who haven't experienced living under a dictatorship at least, how the gradual destruction of free thinking accompanied by a self-reinforcing sea of lies can be put …
This is a dive into post-war Russia, and a coming-of-age tale narrated from the perspective of the protagonist, a young girl growing into a woman who makes her (painful) choices from the reality around her. She, born and raised in a provincial town and in a regime-devote family, decides to go study acting in Moscow, and builds a career in the profession. She never bought into the ideology of the Soviet all-encompassing state, but her disdain of the condition she lives in grows more and more with passing time and with her discovering how things really work under the facade of greatness and order the state instills in its propaganda. It is an interesting novel because it makes you realise, for those of us who haven't experienced living under a dictatorship at least, how the gradual destruction of free thinking accompanied by a self-reinforcing sea of lies can be put in act. I found the many descriptive passages a bit affected when they were probably meant as lyrical, but all in all the text is fluid and the story quite captivating. It also leaves lots of room for thought.
Hard to review such a book, because there's a risk of saying banal and commonplace things. It's a really interesting book and recommended to everyone. The author reconstructs, with precise research work, the story of the Sackler family and their shady role in sparking the opioid abuse crisis in the USA, sustaining and feeding it with their own addiction to money. Not just that, but their lack of any sort of empathy and any form of human compassion that led them to manipulate the judiciary system at their advantage, for decades. It's a painful read and very informative.
![Arthur Conan Doyle, Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2006] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Paperback, 2006, Scholastic)](https://bookwyrm-social.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/images/covers/1130f756-5d92-4c81-8e4d-580b60da6580.jpeg)
