Stanlio
Stanlio

Groucho Marx — Groucho e io | DeRank™: 0,00

- an autobiography of Groucho...
- from the very beginning, from the choice of name (Julius Henry Marx), destined to win the favor of an uncle whose fortune, alas, "turned out to consist of a stolen number nine billiard ball, a box of liver pills...
- Fifty years of American epic pass before us through Groucho's humorous gaze: the youth of the five brothers spent in Yorkville, on Manhattan's East Side, with their father the tailor ("That dad was a tailor was an idea shared by only him")
- we will emerge from this book dazed and happy, as if having watched one of Groucho's best films... (from Adelphi) more
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Sándor Márai — Le braci | DeRank™: 0,00

After forty-one years, two men, who were inseparable in their youth (one of those male friendships no less intense than the bond between identical twins), come together once more in a castle at the foot of the Carpathians. One has spent those decades in the Far East, while the other has not left his estate. But both have lived in anticipation of that moment. Nothing else mattered to them. Why? Because they share a secret that possesses a singular power: "a power that burns the fabric of life like malignant radiation, yet at the same time gives warmth to life and keeps it in tension." Everything converges towards a "duel without swords" – and one far more cruel. (from Adelphi) more
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- "In life, there is a kind of invisible rule that whatever you start one day, sooner or later, you must bring to an end."
- Only Márai can compete with himself – and here, once again, he tells us a story that grips our minds in a vise until the last word is spoken. (cit. Adelphi) more
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"A gentleman from Venice!": this is how he introduces himself at the Cervo Inn, with his clothes tattered and stained with blood, having nothing with him but his dagger and his arrogance, that infamous adventurer whom readers will instantly recognize as Giacomo Casanova.
But why, now that after his daring escape from the Piombi he could resume his libertine existence wandering the courts of Europe, where the powerful are ready to open the doors of their palaces to him and the most beautiful women welcome him into their alcoves, why does Giacomo linger so long in Bolzano, in this city so "serious and virtuous," "orderly and full of common sense," and therefore "damnedly foreign" to him? (from Adelphi) more
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Legend has it that a magical ring granted King Solomon the power to speak to animals and understand their language. Konrad Lorenz, one of the founders and foremost theorists of ethology, found, one could say, an equivalent of that ring by studying for many decades, with loving patience and keen observation, the behavior of animals, whom he always wanted to be surrounded by, not only in university laboratories but also in his private life. (from Adelphi) more
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Lorenz guides us here first towards the origins of the "encounter" between man and dog, when the relationship was primarily with their two very different ancestors: the jackal and the wolf. These origins leave their marks in all the complex forms of understanding, obedience, hatred, loyalty, and neurosis that have developed throughout history between dog and owner.
(from Adelphi) more
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Jack London — Martin Eden | DeRank™: 0,00

- It tells the difficult life of a working-class boy, a sailor whose name gives the title to the novel, who desperately struggles to become a writer, inspired and supported in this by his love for "Bellezza" and for Ruth, a young daughter of the upper middle class in San Francisco. The class difference between the two young people and the related difficulties for Martin to be accepted as a possible husband for Ruth by her family will allow London to expose many of his theories, as he was a convinced socialist.
- The novel contains a strong critique of the cynical capitalism that prevailed at the time and had forced many Americans into a life of misery and makeshift solutions. (it wiki) more
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C.S. Lewis — Perelandra | DeRank™: 0,00

...a daring venture to write a trilogy of metaphysical science fiction, the world had not yet been overwhelmed by myriad tales of star wars.
Lewis anticipated them – but he quickly went far beyond.
In fact, what mattered most to him was not the creation of distant cosmic settings (in which he was, after all, a master), but something more adventurous: to narrate a new challenge between Good and Evil where Good manages to win in a plausible way...
(from Adelphi) more
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Oxford, 1937: in C.S. Lewis's apartment at Magdalen College, J.R.R. Tolkien and the host read to a small group of friends who gather regularly on Thursday evenings some chapters from the novels they are writing: The Lord of the Rings and Out of the Silent Planet.
The two great fantasy sagas indeed emerged and grew in parallel – and both were founded on the same realization: “I’m afraid,” C.S. Lewis had told Tolkien, “that if we want to read stories that we like, we will have to write them ourselves.”
(from Adelphi) more
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Mia Martini — Oltre la collina | DeRank™: 4,48

I have no trouble imagining how shocking and innovative this album must have been in the landscape of Italian pop music back in 1971, given the way certain themes are addressed in the lyrics and the interpretations and vocal style of an extraordinary singer like Martini, so intense and visceral, unlike anything that had ever been heard in Italy before. It's a truly poignant album, perhaps the one that most reveals the gash in her soul, which, apart from her talent, allowed her to deliver such extraordinary interpretations. And then that voice... The songwriters behind her are more inspired than ever (right, Claudiò?) the covers (like "Into the White" by Stevens) are excellent, and then there are two tracks like the title track and "Lacrime di marzo," which are heart-wrenching. "Lacrime di marzo" is her "Fruit Tree," no doubt about it. A spine-tingling album for me. more
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dsalva

Steppenwolf — live | DeRank™: 4,15

Classy USA-CND psychedelic hard rock in a live setting, a joyful summary of the early stunning works. more
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dsalva
great respect for Zeppelin, but there is much better than what is recorded on this sole official live of the band currently active. What a pity, and the fantastic How the West testifies to that. more
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Tomáš, Teresa, Sabina, Franz exist for us immediately, after just a few touches, with an irreducible and almost painful concreteness. (Adelphi) more
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Milan Kundera — Amori ridicoli | DeRank™: 0,00

The world, as it appears with an air of serious composure, is happily falling apart before our eyes, shattered by the dual force of eros and mystification. (from Adelphi) more
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In a quaint spa town with a démodé charm, eight characters find themselves caught up in an ever more dizzying waltz: a lovely nurse; a talented gynecologist; a wealthy American (part saint and part womanizer); a famous trumpet player; a former political prisoner, victim of purges, and about to leave his country... (from Adelphi) more
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As a character in the novel says: "Man's struggle against power is the struggle of memory against oblivion..." more
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Milan Kundera — La lentezza | DeRank™: 0,00

- suddenly, it will become clear to us that to speak of slowness means to speak of memory
- and to speak of memory means to speak of everything
(from Adelphi) more
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Milan Kundera — L’identità | DeRank™: 0,00

There are situations in which, for a moment, we do not recognize who is next to us, where the identity of the other fades away, while, in reflection, we doubt our own. (from Adelphi) more
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Milan Kundera — L’ignoranza | DeRank™: 0,00

We believe that our memories coincide with those of those we have loved, we believe we have lived the same experience, but it is an illusion. (from Adelphi) more
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Harvey Cheyne, fifteen years old, son of a wealthy American railroad magnate. Already at his age, he has everything, but he does not know the value of hard work and money earned through sweat. He is a spoiled brat, the son of a magnate, who was rescued from drowning in the Atlantic Ocean by a Portuguese fishing boat. (from wiki) more
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