18 May 2021
You open this article: the headline on the main page, familiar photo on the cover caught your eye, and you are probably expecting something about Groundhog Day – you have watched this film. It became a kind of symbol of the time loop as a trope in art. Repetition of the same period over and over again at first glance seems like something ecstatically boring. So why do we keep reading books about time loops? How do authors keep us on our toes? And is there a future for such stories? Let's figure it out.
Author's Point of View
15 May 2021
Let's face it: reading is not the easiest hobby. It takes a lot of time, because not everyone manages to concentrate on a book in a subway car, sometimes immersion in the world of literature must take place in very special conditions, in silence and behind a closed door. Everyday life swallows us up, but we want to read so much! So audiobooks come to the rescue. So where did they come from and where does it all lead? Let's take a look at the history of this unusual literature format – audio.
Author's Point of View
14 May 2021
On rainy spring days, you will certainly want to please yourself with something. A good way is to do your favourite hobby, chat with friends or … just eat. Surely, “delicious food” comes right after fiction on your list of favourite things, and when they are combined, it becomes a great way to cheer yourself up and inspire future achievements – maybe even culinary ones. Today we will remember ten excellent fiction books in which cooking plays an important role, and the recipes that are certainly worth a try. Prepare handkerchiefs: some of the descriptions will make your mouth water.
Author's Point of View
5 May 2021
It doesn't get easier in time. Uncertainty and anxiety have become our constant companions, and no matter how much time passes, it only becomes more difficult to cope with them: after all, anxiety has an easy cumulative effect. So what do we do? Let's resort to someone else's experience. Surely, you are already tired of all these modern recommendations for dealing with pandemic stress in the style of "sing more often". What can people who have been in it for hardly a year know about real life in a pandemic? Amateurs! Today we'll turn to the experience of isolation in fiction and the lives of writers themselves – they would certainly know a lot about how to stay at home and not go crazy (or at least try).
Author's Point of View
5 May 2021
60 years ago, at a poetry evening at the Town Hall Theater in Berkeley, a poem was read from the stage that changed American literature, and then the whole world – "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg. But is there really a need for a reason to write about this very important period in literature? The Beat period not only made modern poetry the way we see it, but even influenced music. Today we take a look at the history of the beat generation – in dates, numbers, faces and the most important aspects. Briefly and to the point.
Author's Point of View
30 Apr 2021
Reading has never been a cheap hobby. Just think how much you've spent in your entire life on your home library, a part of which you have never even read! Prices keep going up; the wallet becomes empty at the sheer sight of price tags in a bookstore. So what's to be done? Should you just sneak the coveted book on the sly, while no one sees? It's time to get on the slippery slope of crime… and immediately get off it, because stealing a book is immoral and reprehensible. Without a long introduction, let's finally talk about book stealing.
Author's Point of View
26 Apr 2021
Have you ever lost your library book? If so, then, in addition to an incredible sense of shame, you also received a small fine or a requirement to replace the loss with an exact copy. And you got off easy! Even some five hundred years ago, the loss or even theft of a book could seriously jeopardize the integrity of your mind and body. Today we will continue the topic raised in the previous article and talk about the most unusual way to protect a book from being stolen by an intruder. About the curse.
Author's Point of View
23 Apr 2021
Original scripts appear less and less in the film industry, and there are more and more adaptations of popular books. Let's be honest, not all of them are successful – at least, to our taste. What's wrong with film adaptations, then? Why are we almost always dissatisfied? Let's talk about the art of book adaptation!
Author's Point of View
21 Apr 2021
No matter how much advanced you are as a reader, no matter how many tons of books you absorb, almost certainly one genre of literature has slipped out of your sight. Plays! We have quite a vague idea about them – there are a lot of dialogues, few descriptions, a conversation with the skull of a jester… We often perceive plays as preparatory material for staging, as if only directors with actors should open them. But what if I told you that everyone can read plays? Sit back and warm up your vocal cords – we are starting!
Author's Point of View
20 Apr 2021
It happened to each of us. You cram into a crowded subway car, you can hardly find a free space to fit at least your head, a book is in your hands, you open it – after all, you stopped at the most interesting moment, how can you not read it? That is when it happens. Someone else's curious glance slides over the pages, the uninvited reader almost puffs in your – what an audacity! Although... What's the big deal? Why does a glance at someone else's book, thrown by a fellow passenger, awaken so much anger and irritation in us? Let's try to figure out.
Author's Point of View
16 Apr 2021
What do we know about North Korean literature? In fact, almost nothing. What about literature about the country itself? The National Library is full of amazing books on the subject that have become rare in stores or have disappeared altogether. Fasten your seat belts: we are starting a long journey to the most mysterious country of our time.
Author's Point of View
15 Apr 2021
The disappearance move is almost more common in detective stories and thrillers than finding a dead body in a locked room or investigating serial murders. The main character follows in the footsteps of the lost lover, daughter or close friend, revealing more and more secrets that filled her life along the way. Fascinatingly, isn’t it? Certainly. Just pay attention: the statistics of such literary disappearances has a significant gender preponderance. So why does a woman disappear in every book? Let's take a look at the history of one of the most popular tropes in modern detective fiction.
Author's Point of View
8 Apr 2021
Take a look at your bookshelf. Closer. What does it remind you of? An uneven row of books of all sizes and colours? Perfectly even row, where everything is arranged exactly in alphabetical order? Chaotically volumes thrown on each other mixed with postcards and magazine inserts? Whatever is in your bookcase, you've probably thought about sorting it at least once. Home libraries always look flawless in photographs and in movies – if only it were like this at home! It's time to dust off the spines and learn about ways to tidy up your bookshelves. And to figure out how the National Library is doing it.
Author's Point of View
3 Apr 2021
Arguably, the history of reading is the most curious and non-standard element of book culture, because the process is so natural! We wonder about the origins of book spines, bookmarks, capital letters and archetypal plots, but what about reading itself? From clay tablets to libraries, from reading aloud to speed reading: a fascinating story was under our own very noses all this time. It's time to dig into it.
Author's Point of View
30 Mar 2021
How does your day begin? The howl of an alarm clock, a whistling kettle, the noise of a crowded bus, the click of a turnstile in the subway ... It's sad to admit, but everyday life is everyday life - our daily routines are usually simple, prosaic and similar to each other like two drops of water. But for people from the world of creativity, isn't everything different? Writing isn't waiting for you in the office from nine to six, it's always with you. So how can you live if work does not leave you for a minute, and inspiration is ready to slip away at any moment? Let's take the liberty of taking a look at how famous writers of the past lived – point by point and by hour.
Author's Point of View
16 Mar 2021
If writers have unspoken rules, one of them almost certainly sounds like "don't write in the second person." After all, such an appeal to the reader looks at least specific, as a maximum it is uncomfortable, it is better not to risk it. But is it worth it to be so categorical about this technique? Well, let's find out!
Author's Point of View
22 Feb 2021
We love buying books even more than reading. After all, who doesn't dream of your own home library? Acquiring a new book is a very special excitement, the feeling of having something truly amazing, a whole world in paper. And, of course, on such important things one involuntarily wants to write in big letters "MINE". Humanity has courteously taken care of this. Keep your sense of beauty and possessiveness at the ready: today we will look at a brief history of ex-libris.
Author's Point of View
11 Feb 2021
Remote work, self-isolation and other "pleasures" of modern life sometimes make you feel disconnected from society. There is only you and the walls of your apartment. Do you feel like the last person on the planet? Are you losing touch with family, friends and reality? We have one fun way to get you back on the ground – with the help of books, of course. Or rather, with a way to absorb them. Stretch your vocal cords: it's time to talk about reading aloud!
Author's Point of View
3 Feb 2021
Ergodic literature sounds like something sinister and forbidden, doesn't it? It would be worth calling ergodic old books in leather covers, hiding in themselves dark secrets or something like that. It's too much like Lovecraft. But it is worth looking at such books closer, and it turns out that there is nothing frightening in them (except the name, of course). Gather all your literary makings: we immerse ourselves in the world of books, whose text is curled up so that you love and hate it at the same time.
Author's Point of View
29 Jan 2021
Everything affects our perception of a book – our mood on that day, the quality of the paper, the time of day and, of course, the place of reading. What can be more important than that? When you are comfortable, even the most difficult constructions are read in one breath. It is easier for someone to concentrate in the deep silence of their own room, and someone can not read without a library atmosphere around. So many places to read, so many nuances!
Author's Point of View
