Hauntingly relevant ancient Mesoptamian Proverbs about love and friendship

A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue. ~ Assyrian Proverb Tell me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are. ~ Assyrian Proverb Friendship is for the day of trouble, posterity for the future. ~ Babylonian Proverb What comes from the heart is known by the heart. ~Continue reading “Hauntingly relevant ancient Mesoptamian Proverbs about love and friendship”

10 Uplifting Things I Found on the Internet This Week #8

Here are some randomisities both old and new that I found this week and wanted to share with you. Take 1 or two with a cup of tea and a few buttered scones and have a good lie down if you want to have a break from the world for a while. 1. In theContinue reading “10 Uplifting Things I Found on the Internet This Week #8”

The world according to Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov defied description with his writing. With his limber and sharp mind he was able to craft and bring alive 18th Century Russia in such a delicate, poignant and deeply emotional way that it will leave you breathless and gasping. To read his short stories is to be plunged into a completely different realm.Continue reading “The world according to Anton Chekhov”

Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

*Contains no plot spoilers. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Pachinko is a family saga about Korean migrants living in Japan against the backdrop of the unheaval of the 20th Century. The novel traces struggles, triumphs and colourful personalities of several generations of one family. It rockets along at an amazing pace and doesn’t let up. This is a bookContinue reading “Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee”

Travel: Roaming in the gloaming in the land of soft colours and dramatic firmaments

Around ten years ago, I had the best trip of my life when I went to the Isle of Skye, Scotland with the Polish bear. We cozied up in the most comfortable little croft in all of the Scottish isles. Located in Borreraig, the farthest point of the Isle of Skye and as far awayContinue reading “Travel: Roaming in the gloaming in the land of soft colours and dramatic firmaments”

Kissing in the dark: The non-corney Valentine’s playlist

I just love these songs though, they have something sexy and slightly dark and thrilling to them, a perfect antidote to the sugary-sweet pop that masquerades as modern music and the more cliched romantic songs you would expect for Valentine’s Day. There’s a bit of house, disco, chill-out, jazz, rock, funk…all of it is pretty amazing in my opinion, let me know what you think. Are there any songs you can remember that remind you of certain romantic encounters? let me know…

Film Review: Corpus Christi (Boże Ciało)

*Contains no plot spoilers 4.5 stars Readers of this blog will know that I do love Polish culture and Polish films. Here’s another great Polish film that has come out recently and is currently nominated for an Oscar for best international feature film. Corpus Christi, or Boże Ciało as it’s known in Polish, is a blackContinue reading “Film Review: Corpus Christi (Boże Ciało)”

Wallace Stevens – Somnambulisma

On an old shore, the vulgar ocean rolls Noiselessly, noiselessly, resembling a thin bird, That thinks of settling, yet never settles, on a nest. The wings keep spreading and yet are never wings. The claws keep scratching on the shale, the shallow shale, The sounding shallow, until by water washed away. The generations of theContinue reading “Wallace Stevens – Somnambulisma”

Book Review- Picnic in the Storm by Yukiko Motoya

* Contains no plot spoilers Japanese author Yukiko Motoya’s collection of short stories have a definitive style and are matched with substance. It’s obvious that she gets a bit of inspiration from Murakami’s magic realism style, although seen through Yukiko’s lens, the world is from a woman’s perspective. Her stories seem to feature unremarkable everydayContinue reading “Book Review- Picnic in the Storm by Yukiko Motoya”

So long, Marianne: Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen

In November 2016, the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, renowned for his melancholic and romantic ballads, died a few months after the woman who inspired many of his famous songs – his Norwegian lover and muse, Marianne Ihlen. On the summery idyll of Hydra, Greece in 1960, there was a bohemian community of artists and musicians livingContinue reading “So long, Marianne: Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen”