Silvie's bookshelf
Words and something more
Why I Am Not A Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto
This book makes you uncomfortable for sure but is there other way for progress?
Zen in the Art of Writing
This is one of the best books about the craft of writing, where do ideas come from, and how to treat the impostor syndrome.
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
"Don't worry about failures or rejection, nurture your inner child" pretty much sums up this book.
Les Trois Mousquetaires
Maybe as a child you read it with different "eyes" but somehow I could not relate to Dumas' novel. And as much the story was focused on D'Artagnan, my favorite character was Planchet.
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction
Derek Thompson is one of my favorite (contemporary) writers. Naturally when I found out about his book I wanted to read it as soon as possible. Like most of his articles, Hit Makers is well written, offers great examples and suggest some explications for why we like what we like and how the combination of old and new can make a song/book/app become viral.
On Writing
Some books about writing are great, this is one of them. With one part memoir (as in "this is how I came to write") and the rest about the craft of writing (anything from dialogue to storytelling and what not to do) On Writing is a must read for any writer or future writer. ps: My favorite quote is this one: "The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate—four to six hours a day, every day—will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things and have an aptitude for them"
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Psihologia poporului român: profilul psihologic al românilor într-o monografie cognitiv-experimentală
O carte care merită citită în special datorită graficelor alăturate textului. Cum menționează şi autorul la început dar şi la sfârșit, rezultatele nu au surprins (ele au fost asemănătoare celor din Bulgaria sau Turcia) însă a fost un lucru bun să fie adunate sub aceeași umbrelă.
Brain Droppings
While not being as entertaining as one of his YouTube videos, this book is relaxing in itself and helps you disconnect.
Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts into Books
Poynter offers some good advice for those wanting to (self)publish. But, these advice is more related to the process of how to choose a topic for a book, how to find a cover photo/blurb writers etc In that sense "Writing Nonfiction: Turning thoughts into books" is not about writing (although he suggest that you can write a nonfiction volume in less than a month [!?]) but the preparation to write. And if this book is any proof, his other 119 books (yes, he said somewhere at the beginning that he wrote 120 books; online it also mentions some 700 articles) won't get my attention in the next few decades.
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
Some good suggestions for my never ending to-read pile of books.
Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London
I had some great expectations from this book and sadly they were not met. This is one part memoir (most of it), one part cultural history (women walking, mostly, in Paris and New York), one part literature (I got some interesting suggestions for my to-read pile) and one part diary (Oh Mon Dieu! to speak in Elkin's favorite language). If you came here looking for the history of walking in (creative) women, Flâneuse is not the book on the topic.ps: I won't even comment on the comparison to Susan Sontag from the front cover blurb.
Rien où poser sa tête (L'arbalète/Gallimard)
Life during World War II through the eyes of a polish women that sells french books in Berlin and then is hunted down like an animal for the simple reason of being Jewish. A most powerful memoir.
Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Readig this book made me more self-conscious than the looks of guys when I wear a short skirt and I'm not even the book's target (I think). More selfhelpy than I would have liked.
Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me.
I really liked some of her movies and naturally with this book I had some expectations. The memoir seemed dry and at times the author was, trying too hard to portrait either her problems or the road to a healthy lifestyle. I imagined that the daughter of a songwriter would be friendlier with words.
Currently reading
Mrs. Dalloway
You Can't Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction--from Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything in Between
Mrs. Dalloway
An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris
Live or Die
