The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First and foremost, this is a story of the circus.
I discovered The Night Circus through its advertising minigame by the same name, and that probably painted my relationship with the book in a peculiar way. The game follows one’s view of the circus as a reveur, a recurrent visitor, visiting the various tents and shows, glimpsing several mysteries that are left unexplained – until you … (Read more)
La nostra intervista per OFF, la rubrica di Telereggio dedicata al circuito Off e mostre collegate di Fotografia Europea.
I’m sick and tired of hearing “you can’t really know someone via the internet, you need to meet them in real life”, there are so many things wrong with that that I don’t even know where to start with.
First of all, no matter what Facebook calls them, social networks are not there to make friends. Sharing cat videos on social networks is not a ‘virtual friendship’, not because of the ‘virtual’ part but because it’s not a friendship; if … (Read more)
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A little more disjointed and less intimate than the second book, but it is to be expected, as the cast and scope of this story is far wider, going from bildungsroman to political intrigue, diplomacy, travel and adventure… and applied theology, of course, this being the book of the Daughter.
If there is a fault I can find is that, with so many things happening in … (Read more)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
While it might be an interesting window in the world of the rich and careless of the Jazz age, The Great Gatsby suffers from not having a single sympathetic character. The whole cast is made of wimps, frauds, cheaters, liars and mostly people who don’t know how to fill an afternoon, and yet not a single one of them has a motivation for anything they do in … (Read more)
Una mia foto sulla copertina dell’edizione tedesca del romanzo “Orpheus’ Letzter Tanz” di Christobel Kent!
I love the concept of ebooks, just like I loved the idea of digital music since the birth of the mp3. While it would take something major for me to even think about parting from my paper books, there is something endearing in the thought of a portable format, something you can backup, and that allows you to read hundreds of books on a device the size of a paperback.
However. Let me tell you a little story.
I have … (Read more)
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Astounding! I did not read the first book in the series as I was told this one would stand on its own, and so it was. A powerful story about an unlikely heroine: a once-crazy, middle-aged dowager queen that only wants to have a little room for herself and be treated like a human being from her peers. Of course things go downhill and Ista finds herself … (Read more)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A delightful satire on gothic romance, full of of wit and love for the genre – for only a connoisseur would know its tropes, merits and flaws so well as to construct such a tale. I know some will not agree, but I would venture to say that Northanger Abbey did for gothic what The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy did for sci-fi, or Young Frankenstein for the horror/Hammer … (Read more)
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m afraid this book didn’t quite rapture me the way previous stories by the same author did. The premise is wonderful, the historical and cultural setting is spot-on, the elements are all there, but in the end they don’t quite seem to gel the right way and they often leave me wanting. Oddly enough, at times the story seems to run too fast with its gaps of months and … (Read more)
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
International intrigue, kidnappings, missing documents and constant deceiving… the plot of this fast-paced novel is as witty and compelling as the main characters, steadfast Tommy, no-nonsense Tuppence and the rich and extravagant Julius (who, if this were a movie, would be chewing scenery left and right). While the fear of a labour strike paving the way to a Socialist revolution in Great Britain might seems a bit silly … (Read more)
A friend of mine is auditioning for a part on the audiobook for Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Since the thing is done via a web contest, it would be extremely appreciated if you could go and vote for him (requires registration).
Just listen to that sexy voice! You know you want to!
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This review is SPOILERY
This novel will repeatedly challenge your point of view. Armed with mind links, prostheses and mechanical extensions, multiple personalities, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, self-regenerating spaceships and gene-resurrected vampires, the humans in the book often feel more alien and inscrutable than the mysterious structure they are sent to investigate – in particular because the main character and narrator is, himself, incapable of true empathy. On the other … (Read more)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m conflicted about rating this book. One one side, the writing is fluid and the worldbuilding is spectacular: the middle-eastern/Islamic cultures are well rounded and believable, and there is no dumbing down for the Western reader (if you don’t know what a dhoti or a burnous is, get ready to google a lot in the first few chapters; also, a bel dame is not a French pretty woman); and … (Read more)
LENTA CONVERSAZIONE – opera a otto mani di Stefano Anceschi, Gabriella Becchi, Ian Gazzotti, e Barbara Leoni, a cura di Cesare di Liborio
UniMoRE – Sede di Ingegneria
Padiglione Buccola
zona S. Lazzaro, Reggio Emilia
Inaugurazione: venerdì 15 aprile 2011, ore 11:30… (Read more)
