A thing of beauty is a joy forever (Keats)

Dune

I always thought I'd not go the easy way and watch Sting playing Paul when he was way younger to discover this classic Sci-Fi book. However, this was one of the books which took me ages, if not decades, to read. I heard about it when I was only in primary school; I knew it was famous worldwide, and also that Sci-Fi was "weird".

Thanks to that prejudice, I didn't open any Sci-Fi or Fantasy books till I was about 16. Then, this strange blockbuster Lord of the Rings introduced me to this kind of literature. But that's another story.

As for Dune, I always had in mind those used books you find in dusty second-hand bookshops; either that or the movie being broadcasted again on TV.

And then, when I moved in with my beloved one, I saw that Dune book on my bookshelves everytime I was picking something to read. Given the state of the book, I could see it had been much loved. With a sigh, I decided it was time to give it a try.

So what were my impressions? I haven't been raised in a Sci Fi culture as I said, and coming from historical novels or essay background, it has been an interesting dive into a whole new kind of literature. I can't pretend I wasn't a bit sceptical by reading about giant worms and Lady Jessica. I mean, to me it was as if Galadriel had been christened Britney in LOTR. However I could only stick to what had been previously said about it; it's addictive and very nicely written. But as always when you're very much looking forward to being impressed, it somehow failed leaving me with this sweet bewilderment I look for when reading a new book.

Lazy afternoon in Paris

A Parisian afternoon, from the Centre Pompidou.

A glimpse of Paris

The way it feels when I listen to...

Pink Floyd. This legendary band was an enigma for me until:

- A road trip with a friend to have a lunch in another city. Till now I can see the surprise in my friend's eyes when I confess I don't know Pink Floyd that well.

- The shivers I get listening to High Hopes. The feeling this sound is bounding our friendship forever.

- The recognition when I hear Another Brick in the Wall. Of course I knew the band, I could be so dumb.

- The pain I felt when I have to discover Learning to Fly after my friend departed. But also the feeling of having been so lucky to meet him and have the honour of being his friend.

The way it feels when I listen to...

Queen in the middle of the night; desperately "kitsch" and yet... Funny as it seems, it brings back memories of:

- my dad, always and often, who hopelessly looked like Freddy Mercury on one of the very very few pictures I have of him. When I hear Mercury I think I listen to the songs my father liked and danced on, although there is still no excuse for the "kitsch-ness" of it as for listening to it in 2011,

- the movie Philadelphia, because Mercury was one of the first public victims of aids,

- ... a trip to Wicklow Mountains in a car with three Italian friends, amongst whom a couple in crisis and an apprentice monk.

- my mum rolling her eyes and muttering "this is SO old-fashioned, I used to listen to that when I was 17" and me so wishing I could have been 17 in 1977.

J'étais derrière toi

Era dietro ti...these words often come in my mind when i think about romance. J'étais derrière toi is a French novel written by Nicolas Fargues.

Born in 1972, the author write quite like Frédéric Beigbeder; yet the violence in the words is different since there are no drugs and a little bit more lasting grace left after you've read the last lines. It's very much accurate in the depiction of the french new lost generation, those 30 something young men for whom introspection is the way to go. In literature at least, the results of this constant thinking is awesome, as Nicolas Fargues gives a vibrant depiction of the breakdown of his main character's couple and the man's encounter with his italian student lover. A common subject is treated there, but I felt for this man, I ached when the manipulative wife beats him with words and kicks, and I dreamed I could be this girl he fell for in a little Tuscana village. I - again - fell in love with a book character and a man who didn't exist. If this is a mistake this is the sweetest one I'm making book after book and I hope it will never end. But that's another story.

Like a symphony, there are different rythms in this novel, and sometimes the authors talks - out of the blue - to the reader. There is a nice conclusion, a wee bit expected but cute nonetheless, which makes you want to start again from page 1. Which I did again several years after my first reading. I was amazed by this second one, given the fact it gave me the exact same feeling I had at the time and brought back memories from my own romantic love stories.

In two words, reading this book, ideally with a glass of chianti and a lover on the side, might be the inner meaning of Dolce Vita..

The Well and the Mine

This novel was written by Gin Philipps.

Alabama, 1931. In a little coal mining town, families struggle not to starve. Tess, a young girl, once daydreams, sitting on the porch at dawn. Suddenly she sees a woman throwing a baby into the family well. At first, no one wants to believe Tess's story, till the baby's body is discovered. Tess and her elder sister Virgie will then try to find out who was the woman who killed her baby. But things are not always so simple in those Depression-era days. Through the words of each member of the family, Leta, the hard-working mum, Albert, the father and coal mining employee, Virgie and Tess, their daughters, and little Jack, the youngest of the family, we have here an accurate insight of what was life in working classes during the 1930s.

A Mighty Heart

I've always claimed I didn't like Angelina Jolie but this is another movie which definitely made me change my mind, along with Changeling and Gia. Because this is yet another movie she carries to the top, playing it so rightly. Based on the novel written by Marianne Pearl, this movie is about the above quoted wife of beheaded journalist Daniel Pearl, killed in Pakistan in 2003.

Jolie plays Marianne Pearl, between the days following her husband's kidnapping at the end of January 2003 and the discovery of his body (early February) and of the gruesome video of his beheading. Knowing it really happened makes this movie even more moving and intense, especially since most of us remember having heard (or seen?) the news on TV.

The entire cast plays brilliant parts, which was a must while treating a contemporary event, otherwise this would have resulted in a tearsome and cheesy drama, whereas here it is absolutely true to the point.

Dead Man's Shoes

This movie is a thriller directed by Shane Meadows (This is England). There is a guy who's pursuing a band of drug dealers and threatens to kill them all, because once those gangsters molested his younger brother. Mixing gory scenes with humour, and showing the audience drug's effects on people addicted to it, this movie is very sensible, yet utterly violent despite its laughable scenes.. Located in rural England, it shows all the latent violence linked to drug market, as well as the damages it does on people. The music is very well chosen and its beauty strangely matches the ugliness of it all.