I had no idea this novel was a reimagining of the "Island of Doctor Moreau" by HG Wells. Set on the back of the Caste War of Yucatan, we are warned from the first pages that due to its isolated position the peninsula has often been confused with an island. Carlota has a calm life with her father in a remote mansion where the Doctor leads his research financed by wealthy farm owner Lizalde. All's well until the son of Lizalde finds out about them.

I've finally read this remarkable classic; a suitable read at this time of the year, as there is nothing scarier than war and it is all the more scarier that such horrors are still happening.

"What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through the years our business has been killing;–it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?"

This is a collection of short essays by Romanian writers, literary critics and artists on the books from world literature that have shaped them and left a profound mark on their lives and which they recommend to children, teenagers and adults. A book about books, about the pleasure, the importance, the impact and the art of reading, with so many interesting references.

This book is beautiful and heart-wrenching through its realistic depictions of normal people trying to live their ordinary lives in extremely violent times.

In 1970s' Belfast, a young Catholic school teacher falls in love with a Protestant married man and we see the tragedy of living during the Troubles unfold.

I enjoyed both this one and "Milkman".

Maggie O'Farrell is such a great storyteller!
This historical fiction creates a possible context for the birth of one of the most famous theater plays of all times. In the 1580s in Stratford a couple has two girls and a boy. The boy called Hamnet dies at the age of 11. The name of the father is never mentioned in the novel, but four years later he writes a play called "Hamlet", while we know that Hamnet and Hamlet are actually the same name.

In this historical fiction, in 1882 Josef Breuer, a physician who made discoveries in neurophysiology, meets philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The first is a renowned scientist in his mid-life crisis, the latter is a difficult to treat patient with a fabulous mind.
Their conversations are absolutely brilliant and set the bases for psychoanalysis at a time when Dr. Breuer's young friend Sigmund Freud is just a 25-year old medicine student.

The reason this is not a pick is it explains what we have to do and why, but not how.
I especially enjoyed the chapters about the multiple faces of women's ego: the generous (the victim, the martyr, the savior, the empathic), the controlling (the perfectionist, the helicopter, the tyrant, the shield) and those who take (the diva, the princess, the child), about purpose, being disconnected from ourselves and being our own parents.

Writer and photographer Molly dies after an ugly disease. Her husband, who took care of her throughout her last years, organizes her funeral, which is also attended by three of her lovers. All four men know each other very well, while two of them happen to be close friends. The plot is built around the dynamic in the relationship between these four men and their history with Molly. The ending is surprising and gripping!

What a visionary and captivating dystopian world the author imagined, with so many and clearly portrayed characters. It felt like reading a very long manifesto and ode to the author's philosophical views and values of character she wanted to see in a man.
I'm glad I read "The Fountainhead" first, which is an overture to this one according to the author.

"Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them."

Oh my! I've started reading this chunkster. 1,168 pages printed in the tinniest font of all; probably the equivalent of 2,000 pages in normal size font.
Thankfully the novel is gripping!

Hadley is a very young palliative care nurse who does her job with a lot of compassion, kindness and concern for her patients. She shares some of the most impactful moments she witnessed and lessons on how to die and how to live from her experience with patients in their final moments

“I have cared for enough end-of-life patients with varying religious backgrounds to believe that how you live your life is more important than what you believe in.”

This is the 2nd installment, pursuing Noam and Noura's impossible love story through the millenia. Hit by a mysterious thunder in the neolithic age, they become immortal. Ever since, they try to surpass obstacles to be together as they have at least one immortal ennemy.
While trying to detract a terrorist attack in the present day, Noam writes his memories; he depicts their tribulations in the age of flourishing Mesopotamia and the Tower of Babel.

I enjoyed this memoir structured in 17 emotional stories, all focusing on near death events experienced by the author at different ages and in different places. The writing is wonderful and shows the beautiful miracle that is to be alive.

“I swam in dangerous waters, both metaphorically and literally. It was not so much that I didn't value my existence but more that I had an insatiable desire to push myself to embrace all that it could offer.”

What more to say about this brilliant book that hasn't been already said?
The writing strikes with emotions, the descriptions of Parkinson's disease are torturingly realistic and the twist in the end is so full of meaning.
A mother torn down by Parkinson's disease is striking to prove her daughter didn't commit suicide.

The title of this memoir is 'Happy Requiem for My Father', an intended contradiction of terms to celebrate his father's memory on a happy note. The author collected funny, special and significant memories of moments and conversations with his cherished father from his childhood, teenage years and adulthood, from the 1970s to the present day. It's also an indirect portrait of how society changed during this period.

I am unable to review this book as I lack specialized knowledge. It is addressed to specialists in psychotherapy and professionals rather than to common readers. The authors explore in detail the mechanisms behind the functioning of the brain, mind, body and attachment to determine how change in a person occurs during the therapeutic process. They analyse scientific discoveries and personal theories developed during their clinical practice.

This is a nice vacation read with a heartfelt and sensitive story. Meredith hasn't come out of her house for three years. A couple of good friends visit her regularly, while her relationship with her mother and sister looks to be strongly affected by some past incidents. The traumas behind her severe anxiety issues are slowly revealed. With the right amount of support, patience, perseverance and compassion, healing is possible.

A magnificent novel apparently belonging to the naturopathic horror genre. In 1913 a student goes for treatment to a sanatorium located in a mountain resort standing over a subterranean lake with special healing properties and haunted by local legends on persecuted witches and mysterious crimes. His pension mates have regular philosophical debates and among other subjects we find out how men thought of women at the beginning of the 20th century.

I loved this short story collection by Romanian author Mihaela Buruiana.
Each story focuses on a very well defined and relatable main character, who interacts at some point with the ones in the other stories. The first part of the book shows some of their childhood experiences and the second half captures moments in their adult lives. There is a wonderful coherence in the way the same character acts as a child and as an adult.

I read this one in a couple of hours, I just couldn't put it down!
Vivek's story is the heart-wrenching story of so many others in his situation.

"I often wonder if I died in the best possible way - in the arms of the one who loved me the most, wearing a skin that was true."

"His grief was chasing him from room to room, begging him to spend some time alone with it."

"Men's courage was different from women's courage. Men's courage lay in going out and nearly getting killed. Women's courage—or so everyone said—lay in endurance."

This book published in 1986 explored in quite a peculiar manner the ordinary life of Jean, from childhood in the interwar period to her adulthood in the 2000s. Jean questions the idea of truth. The last chapter was more philosophical, with a touch of sci-fi, foretelling the use of AI.

A helpful book! Emotionally focused therapy strengthens couples' emotional bonds in key moments to support a successful long-term relationship. The premise is adults are emotionally attached and dependent on their partners just like children are to their parents.

“Love has an immense ability to help heal the devastating wounds that life sometimes deals us [...] Loving responsiveness is the foundation of a truly compassionate, civilized society.”

This book was a lot more interesting than I expected. It is a brief, captivating and adventurous history of how hormones and our biochemistry have been discovered and why these powerful chemical substances are mysteriously responsible for what makes us humans and for every aspect in our lives: behaviour, sleep, metabolism, immunity, sex, moods, drive and motivation.

I should have checked more about this one before picking it. I simply do not have the patience anymore to read anything in the "chick lit" category. It is an enjoyable and realistic read overall, but too boring and predictable.
A mother is dying of cancer and she writes heartfelt letters and a diary to her four daughters, to explain what remained unsaid between them in an attempt to shed light on some issues and help them navigate through life.

This is a fast and enjoyable read. The book is aiming to explain what modern societies have lost compared to tribal societies. More comfort and more resources are not enough for a human being to feel fulfilled. The most important human needs include among other a sense of belonging and a sense of achieving one's potential by striving for the greater good, which were met by tribes and almost not at all by the modern world.

The premise of this book is great, recent research leads to the conclusion that everything we thought we knew about animals should be reexamined in a different light.
We might not be intelligent enough to understand how intelligent animals are.
Animal cognition is fascinating and different and we should not try to assess how smart animals are by using the same tools and mechanisms by which we judge human cognition.

Two painters, both called Asle, live on the West coast of Norway; one of them is the narrator. They look identical and their lives seem two different versions of the same life.
The novel is written in stream of consciousness but the prose is slow and flows so beautifully. Their story is very intriguing, they interact with each other and it feels like one of them is a sort of an alter ego. It makes the reader wonder if both lives are real.

Very useful self-help book explaining the role of cognitive therapy in fighting depression. With some practice, the recommendations can be applied directly by readers to change the patterns of thinking.

"Almost all negative emotional reactions inflict their damage only as a result of low self-esteem. A poor self-image is the magnifying glass that can transform a trivial mistake or an imperfection into an overwhelming symbol of personal defeat."

I loved this formidable book, the concepts and philosophical ideas it throws a debate around, beyond the story and the plot itself.

It also helped me revisit my childhood in 1980s and 1990s' Romania: the queues, the perpetual penury, the regular public electricity and heating cuts, the transition to the so-called democracy, privatizations, pyramid schemes, huge inflation, corruption and migration, and fortunately no civil war.

This is a wonderful collection of short fantasy stories for kids and adults, published recently by a young local writer. The plot is placed in the present as well as in fairytale and fictional times, with a bit of magical realism here and there and a beautiful and heart-warming writing.

In a French village ravaged by WWII, the astonishing friendship between two girls generates a temporary farse in the literary world and separates their destinies by sending one of them to Paris and then to a British boarding school.

Although the writing and existential questions are beautiful, the ressemblance with my "My Brilliant Friend" is shocking, but Elena Ferrante's novel remains more remarkable, more powerful and overall exceptional.

This is a page turner, with an unreliable narrator walking the reader through his twisty storytelling. While the plot is not fully unpredictable, the novel still keeps you hooked until the end.
A famous retired cinema star invites her closest friends for a short vacation to her private Greek island where things go awry.

This is a beautiful philosophical study around the pursuit of happiness in Western societies, which has created an entire cult dedicated to assessing everything through a filter of pleasure and of the duty to be happy.
I just picked it at a wrong time and I hope I'll revisit it more seriously at a better time in the future.

An exquisite story about falling and failing in so many ways. Marta is part of a family of Czech descent living in the US. Their family is haunted for generations by a superstition related to defenestration, a deadly fall at a certain point in their life, as if it was written in their genes and as if the fall were calling to be accomplished.

"the two of us poised on a sweet precipice before falling blindly forward into the rest of our lives."

I thought the book would focus more on explaining how to find one's Ikigai, the Japanese concept referring to finding the reason to live, for a life of purpose and joy.
But it's rather about people observing some healthy lifestyle principles and nothing new. A good summary for those who haven't yet watched the documentary on the Blue Zones - those places around the world where the average life expectancy of inhabitants exceeds 100 years old.

Julia travels from New York to the small birth village of her father in Burma to try to find out what happened to him as he disappeared four years back. A mysterious local who seems to know her closely tells her the heart-breaking story of her father's youth, before he moved to the US. Although the story is a bit too "fairytalish", I still enjoyed the writing and the atmosphere created by the immersion in the Burmese life, culture and traditions.

This is a very touching depiction of how it feels to be an immigrant returning to your home country 20 or 30 years later. After the fall of communism in 1989 in Europe, Irena returns from Paris to Prague. She and others like her return led by nostalgia, but the ignorance, under all its forms, displayed by their relatives and former friends shows how absence can create a huge chasm between people, with no hope to reconnect with the past.

This is a nice vacation read. Grace Monroe seems to lead a good life in 1950s' London aristocracy. She receives an unexpected inheritance from a mysterious lady in Paris, whose identity Grace will be struggling to discover. The storylines of the two ladies unfold beautifully but are too convenient and predictable.

A wonderful collection of four short stories by one of my favorite authors; a bit dark but deeply heart-warming.

"There is a warm sadness and a cold sadness. The warm one is when you love. The cold one is when you don't love. In the warm one, there is someone. In the cold one, no one. When I suffer because Eva no longer lives, this makes her stand by my side. If I stopped suffering it means she would die again and vanish forever."

I enjoyed this historical fiction based on real events. In 1921 Lesley and Robert Hamlyn are a British couple living in the colony of the Federated Malay States. They are visited by famous writer Sommerset Maugham, who discovers a past connection between Lesley and Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, which proves more surprising and entertaining than he could have imagined. Love, friendship and sexuality at that time and place were complicated.

This book is rather a memoir with heart-wrenching personal stories and some pieces of advice here and there, but Cheryl Strayed definitely writes her answers beautifully, compasionately and with so much common sense and deep empathy.
I've noticed people complained that most of her recommendations were not easily applicable, but hey, these are not psychotherapy sessions, but simply an advice column and for that matter an exceptionally done one!

"Love at First Sight Stories", a lovely collection of short stories by five Romanian authors. The first four stories revolve more around the innocence with which the characters experience their first love and its tornado of thoughts and emotions, while in the last story a love at first sight strikes at an old age and just proves that it has the power to rejuvenate but also reignite passion for love in a life long stable relationship.

Nora finds her sister brutally murdered and sets on a personal quest to find the killer, while the police keeps investigating. This a good twisty crime thriller, but the novel is even better at showing the relationship between the two sisters and Nora's grieving after losing her sibling. Nora is apparently not a very reliable narrator which helps the tension building.

A very useful book; it explains in detail the functioning of our happy chemicals and how we can make the most out of them.

“When your happy chemicals droop, it feels like something is wrong with the world. It helps to know that your happy chemicals are meant to go up and down so you can focus on your next step toward happy chemicals instead of on the flaws of the world.“

A woman meets a man at the airport and discovers they travel to the same destination. They are irresistibly drawn to each other and start a passionate relationship. She feels something is not right and tries to escape several times, but he brings her back each time and gradually makes her entirely dependent on him. Her parents' breakup and the failure of her previous relations weigh on her but give her the strength to end this toxic relationship.

Brilliant and very original collection of short stories. There is such a smooth and flawless transition from reality to fantasy and back to reality and a formidable imagination for building exquisite and unexpected fictional worlds in a relatively short number of pages.

“The boy is loved. The loved one suffers. All loved ones suffer. Love is not enough. Love is enough. The thing that you wished for. Was this it?”

“Her chest feels very tight, as if she‘s suddenly full of poison. You have to keep it all inside. Like throwing yourself on a bomb to save everyone else. Except you‘re the bomb.”

“Everyone who is alive has a ghost inside them, don‘t they?”

🙈😂

"Happiness! Misery! If you were one, bet on it the other was on the way. That was what everyone liked to see. It was what the whole thing was about. The demon lover has a pair of gold cuff links, those faces. Meggie gave them to him. You know the ones I mean."

"Modern Fables" is a sublime collection of short stories, that bring a tear to the eye and warmth to the heart.
The author's writing is heartfelt, tender and compassionate. She can see the exceptional in ordinary people she interacts with, and she has an incredible talent to highlight the fragility and the mightiness of the human being.