The most dangerous game in The Hunger Games

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Hunger Games have begun. There is only one rule - no rules. Strikingly similar to a gladiator arena, Suzanne Collins takes us to an arena in a futuristic America, where 24 children are turned into beasts and forced to kill each other. Only one can survive.

The USA as we know it is destroyed. The Capitol, the powerful capital of the newly created country Panem controls the other 12 districts through deprivation, obedience and fear. The 13th district has been eliminated, when it rebelled against the controlled society. For remembrance and punishment, the Capitol has introduced a new form of entertainment - the Hunger Games. Each year a lottery chooses a boy and a girl between the age of 12 and 18 from each of the districts, who are thrown into an arena carefully controlled and managed by the game makers. Natural disasters, traps, and occasional gifts are thrown in order to turn the competitors against each other and to provide a bloody massacre for the viewers. This year, however, the organizers haven't taken in mind one factor - Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss has the unfortunate luck of living in the poorest of the districts - 12. No one from the district had won the Hunger Games in 30 years and the region is deprived from the awards associated with them. After her father's death in the mines she starts taking care of her mentally disabled mother and younger sister Prim. In order to feed her family in the most starving region of the Panem, Katniss daily breaks many rules - she escapes through the electric fence guarding the district, she hunts for wild animals, and she sells them on the black market. Together with her best friend Gale they have mastered the art of survival, while secretly dreaming of escaping. Katniss has this opportunity earlier than she imagined. On this year's Hunger Games her sister is chosen as a tribute, or a contestant. Without thinking, Katniss takes her place towards a sure death. The other tribute is Peeta, the quiet son of the baker, who has secret powers and a secret affection for Katniss.

The games have begun. The contestants are in the arena, thirsty for victory and blood. As usual, the trained tributes from the wealthiest regions have the edge, while Katniss is fighting hunger, thirst, and loneliness. Her training in the woods with Gale, however, has prepared her and she throws into the game with the greatest desire not to win but to stay alive - because this is what she has promised her little sister. The Hunger Games drive out the most animalistic features in these children, who in their acts resemble more wild animals set free than human beings with heart and soul. However, the Capitol hasn't taken into consideration that Katniss, Peeta, and several others actually feel. Katniss forms an unusual bond with a 12-year old girl from another district and desperately tries to protect her. Later, her life is saved by a contestant from the same region grateful for her help. But most importantly, Peeta is set to ensure that Katniss will survive.

"I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me. If I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me." That is what Peeta wishes before the games have begun. However, this is exactly what the Capitol is trying to do - show people that they are owned, controlled, and can die just for the pleasure of the strongest. Violent death for some is a nice pleasure for others. In The Hunger Games Collins portrays a futuristic society that scarily reminds us of our own (without mentioning any names I would just like to point out that several months ago certain people were celebrating the death of another human being). Her talent to describe a dystopian future world is comparable to Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury. The book is dark, violent, and consuming. Maybe because it is about children or maybe because it actually places people directly against each other, The Hunger Games had a greater impression on me than 1984 and A Brave New World. I kept asking my self what would I do if I was turned against 23 human beings with the highest stake - my life. It is immensely difficult to remain a human in this situation. It is almost impossible to feel compassion for someone, when you know you have to kill him to survive. Yet, Katniss and Peeta have something the Capitol hasn't expected - a great desire to stay alive TOGETHER. This might cost them their life but if they succeed it might cost the Capitol even more - its power.

I can't even begin to explain how obsessive, infatuating, and consuming this novel is. I don't have the time. My hands are trembling to get hold of the next book. For a trilogy named a bestseller from almost every newspaper, the first book The Hunger Games sets the stake very high. Given Collins's amazing imagination and great skills of a storyteller, I really doubt the following two will be worse.

Matched - Condie's Dystopia Where the Society Decides How You Live, What You Work, Whom You Marry, and When You Die

I finished another dystopia in the style of the famous Zamyatin, Huxley, Orwell, Bradbury, and Burgess. Matched by the still young and inexperienced author Ally Condie learns from the best; yet the novel lacks the power, strength, gloominess, and total desperation of the famous predecessors. Still, a rather good read proving that dystopia is not dead and even more important now in the light of our technology-dominated world.

In Condie's world society controls everything - the way you live, whom you marry, what you eat, where you work, and even how you die. People live a life pre-determined by the Officials. Freedom seems a small price to pay in exchange for a well-regulated, healthy, and successful life. Cassia is a girl, who strongly believes in the Society and its means of guiding life. At the age of 17th she is to be assigned a life-partner based on thorough investigations about her character. She is to be "matched". In her lucky case, to her best friend Xander. His friendly face appears on the screen as the best match for a husband, securing a long happy life and healthy offspring. For a moment, though, another face flashes, the fase of the strange Ky. This sets Cassia to doubt the matching, to mistrust the society, and the oppose the choice that has been forced upon her.

Matched is a novel mostly about freedom of choice. Are we ready to abandon this luxury for a comfortable life? Indeed, through technological investigations society has established a perfect world. People are assigned jobs that match their character. All of them are specialists in their field knowing nothing about other fields though. They follow a carefully prepared personal diet that provides the exact amount of calories needed. They are matched to the most suitable member of the opposite sex and their children have the perfect genes. And exactly at the age of 80 people have to die. Society has decided that this is the perfect age to live the world and in a sort of way help people do so. In this obvious perfection, Cassia falls in love with Ky, who is a deviation. He is not "right" and "perfect" according to the norms of society. He is different. And the different are not to be tolerated or let to live according to their rules. In Matched, we see the imperfections of a perfect world, who limits the individuals. The only thing that sets them free is love.

The previous examples of dystopian novels also used love as a trigger for change. The characters in 1984, Brave New World, and We started doubting the status quo the moment they fell in love with the wrong person. In Matched, love is the central theme. The lack of freedom in love suffocates Cassia and prompts her to fight the Officials, to abandon the security, and to isolate from society in order to find Ky. This is a really wonderful love story in the light of dystopia. Although it doesn't have the literary qualities of the other dystopian novels and in times it is largely predictable, Matched should be read. At least, it leaves you with a good taste in your mouth and with a hope that may be totalitarian regimes could be overcome with the power of love. Something that Orwell, Huxley, and Zamyatin certainly don't believe.

"We" is Bigger Than "I" in Zamyatin's Dystopian World

Before George Orwell, Anthony Burgess

Ray Bradbury, and Aldus Huxley, there was the pioneer of the dystopian novel. The first man who wrote a shocking novel about the extremities of totalitarianism and control was actually Russian. Yes, Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley were taught about socialist dictatorship by no other but Yevgeny Zamyatin.

We was published in 1926 as a response of the author's personal experiences during the Russian revolutions in 1906 and in 1917. The dystopian world of We is set in the future, where people do not have names but numbers. Males have odd numbers prefixed by consonants while women - even number prefixed by vowels. All of these "numbers" wear identical clothes, sleep in identical places, and are subject to the ideal of industrial efficiency. Human beings are screws in a machine - the "I" is not important; the "We" creates the state. The whole country is made up of glass as to facilitate control by the secret police and the spies. The ruler is (and has been for quite some time) the same one, the Benefactor, always chosen non-anonymously, as there is no other candidate. The control over society is secured by the successful victory over the two things that drive it - hunger and sex. People eat only mechanically prepared food (the ancient, or future equivalent of GMO) and have sex with whomever they want but only in the pre-determined hours.

In the light of this totalitarian regime, the main character is D-503. He is the builder of the Integral, a space ship supposed to take the logic of the One State to the rest of the universe. However, love and affection mess up the mechanically functioning mind of D-503. He begins doubting the regime and its sustainability and he visits a doctor, fearing he might be having a soul. The reason for his rebellion is a woman, an idea followed by Orwell and Huxley as well. I-330 is magnetic, sensual, and sexual. She dreams of life outside of the wall that surounds the state from the wild nature. She smokes, drinks, and experience the pure pleasure of sexual affairs. Her character and passion attempt to shaken the carefully mechanized world in which D-503 lives.

The Integral that is supposed to send the message of power and control to other nations is analogous to the Marxist's view of a Global Communist state. The focus is on industry and mechanization, which break down actions to easily understood and performed tasks, which require no imagination or creativity. D-503 writes a poem, the initial purpose of which is to share with the others the happiness and wisdom of the One State. Zamyatin here is disgusted with the use of literature by the communists to manipulate and shape public opinion. D-503's poem is a manifesto of conformity and equality but as the protagonist begins to experience his "soul", his attitude towards the regime understandably changes.

We certainly set the beginning of the dystopian novels that widely spread in the second half of the 20th century. Authors were fascinated with the topic of totalitarianism gone mad, especially in the light of the USSR and its rise to power. In We every hour of life is determined by The Table, a precursor of 1984's telescreen. The benefactor is the equivalent of Orwell's Big Brother. The similarities with Brave New World are even more obvious - the control of sex, the focus on industrialization and mechanization, the lack of the family, and the programming of people to love the regime that deprives them. Huxley indeed goes a bit further with his society of promiscuous conformists, pleasure seekers, and happy consumers.

To be honest Zamyatin is not as good as the other authors that followed him. His novel is still a child in its ideas about the endless possibilities of control mechanisms over the society. yet, the Russian is the first one to see through the idea of social equality and to the devastating effects its extreme form might lead in a futuristic world. In that sense, his contribution to the future development of the dystopian literature is incomparable.

A Summer That Doesn't Want to Go Away - Ray Bradbury

Don't you just love it when it is October and it is still sunny and warm outside. The summer doesn't want to leave us in the dark hands of autumn. It still spreads hope, smiles, and positivism with its dying rays. We pray and cry "Summer, don't go away" and it rewards us with yet another wonderful day.

This is a story about a similar summer. A summer that doesn't want to leave and give way to autumn, school, leaves, darkness, depression. This is a story about a small American town, where the young and the old are captured in a mock war under the burning sun. Farewell Summer is the long expected sequel of Bradbury's bestseller Dandelion Wine. In the latter we met Douglas, his brother, his friends, and his family enjoying a wonderful summer, trying to capture all of the moments, so that they don't fade away. However, as all good things, summer must also come to its end. Douglas doesn't want to let this happen. He gathers his friends in a fight as old as the world itself - the young generation against the old generation. The boy is trying to destroy the town clock in order to stop time and let the summer go on forever. The ruthless battle opposes the strength and spirit of the young against the wisdom and experience of the old. There is no loser at the end; both sides realize they are not to fight time and they are to live in harmony, to understand, support, and learn from each other. Douglas and his friends cling to their childhood but eminently they start growing up. Douglas experiences his new-born sexuality, his first kiss, his first heart skips. The summer has to go but the good times for the growing ups are yet to come. And the old ones have nothing to do but remember the past, share their wisdom with the new generation, and leave a mark behind themselves.

Ray Bradbury is unsurpassed in his ability to combine magic with reality. His novels depict realistic events but from time to time the author gently inserts a little bit of fantasy. Both Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer are simple stories about the magic of childhood, the power of memories, and the relentless passing of time. Yet, these novels show us some truths about the relationships, love, friendship, and compassion, which seem strikingly obviously but yet somehow along the way we have forgotten them. It took 50 years for Bradbury to write the sequel of Dandelion Wine but the waiting was all worth it. Another amazing novel saturated with nostalgia but also with hope.

It is weird reading about a passing summer when I am about to experience my own. Probably the greatest summer is ahead of me. A summer of changes, a summer of writing, a summer of self-development, and maybe a summer of loneliness. Maybe it is best I experienced Farewell Summer now. I will know to capture every moment and to experience every sun ray. Because time waits around the corner and soon I will see the green green grass of home turn brown and yellow.

Death is a Lonely Business; Reading Bradbury's Criminal Novel is a Boring Business

If I hadn't seen the author's name on Death is a Lonely Business's front cover, I would have never guessed it was Ray Bradbury. That Ray Bradbury, who wrote the denunciative critique Fahrenheit 451. The same Bradbury, who shared his childhood memories in the amazingly nostalgic Dandelion Wine. No, this genius of 20th century literature cannot possibly write such a mediocre collection of words. I wouldn't call it a novel; it doesn't deserve this praise.

Death is a Lonely Business is a criminal thing. However, those of you raised with Chandler, Christie, Doyle, etc do not be misguided that you might enjoy this. You won't. The plot is set in Venice, California, a small town near Los Angeles and Hollywood.A mysterious murderer kills innocent people without leaving any trace behind. Our character (also an author but unfortunately quite a bad one) together with a provincial detective (who also attempts to be a writer) try to solve the murder. At the end our "brave", "clever", and extremely boring protagonist manages to do this by himself through shallow conclusions. Really,even I could have come up with a better plot and I am not really into detective stories.

The author mentions in an interview that he grew up i Venice, California and a lot of the images in the novel were actually memories from his childhood there. In addition, most of the characters were inspired by real people, whom Bradbury met at some point of his life. Again, we can feel a slight nostalgia (very slight) as in Dandelion Wine. Also, critiques claim that the protagonist is Bradbury before he got married. I sincerely hope that one of my most favorite authors was not such a person. This is by far the worst thing (again not a novel) that I have read in a long time.

First of all, the plot - shallow, predictable, unrealistic, and boring. The protagonist - scared, oversensitive, constantly crying or complaining about something unaccomplished autor.He quite resembles Hamlet, to be honest. I would never believe that such a person will have the guts to go after a murderer, let alone solve the crime. Yet, by the powerful means of Bradbury's imagination, he does. OK, Bradbury claims that he didn't want to focus on the plot line but on the feelings created in his personages. The author aimed to deflect the attention from the crime and into the experiences and the anguish of the main characters. Than why did he write a criminal thing? Why didn't he just write a novel about feelings, nature, signs, whatever he wanted to show and just guide the reader through his intimation and even make him/her feel as if he/she was actually there, looking through the narrator's eyes, feeling the shivers through his body or the pain in his soul. No, he had to burden us with this ridiculous crime, which at the end becomes even more ridiculous when the murderer and his motives are revealed.

Throughout this collection of words, Bradbury attempted to be original. Either that or he was just high or drink. His comparisons and descriptions makes me wonder whether I am at a crime scene or in the zoo. Really. To compare waves to elephants is just too much. To say that the elephants were roaring and to expect me to deduct that the waves were crashing on the shore is as insane as to tell me the sun is rising and to want me to imagine the moon. I mean, metaphors are good; they make the text richer, more sensual, more influential, more touching. However, they only do that when they are clever and to the point. As if trying to sound smart Bradbury opened the metaphor synonyms dictionary (something like the Word synonyms dictionary) and changed everything. Attempting to look original, the only thing he does is sound weird and stupid.

As I soon as I finish writing this review I will do my best to forget I ever read this and mainly the fact that this was written by Ray Bradbury, an author whom I greatly admire.

Communism, Oops, I mean Animalism

1984 by George Orwell is a manifestation of the failure of communist regimes, which fail when their leaders become corrupted with power and start serving their own interests rather than the interests of those, who they are meant to serve. But before inventing the utopian world of 1984 with its new language, Newspeak, used to transform reality, to turn black into white, and to conceal important truths, Orwell wrote Animal Farm.

The subtitle is 'A Fairy Story'. Indeed, in Animal Farm animals behave, speak, and think like human beings. However, unlike a fairy story, the novel doesn't have a happy ending. It tells the story of a revolution, that had the best intentions to change the lives of the animals in Manor farm for the better by overthrowing their cruel owner. However, the leaders become corrupted with power and the initial ideals are carefully modified in order to serve not the community, but the chosen few. 'All animals are equal' turns into 'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal'. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Animal Farm is a witty allegory of the Russian revolution and its terrible consequences in the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the novel Major, a forward looking pig sets the principles of Animalism, according to which animals should be working for themselves, and not for the human beings. All animals are equal and should share the benefits of their work. Similarly, Lenin, highly influenced by Marx, presented the postulates of communism, which triggered the Russian revolution in 1917. Unfortunately, Major dies and the struggle for power is divided between the two pigs Napoleon and Snowfall. Eventually, Napoleon overthrows his opponent largely through methods of fear and terror. Snowball is exiled from the farm and is now portrayed as an enemy to the principles of Animalism. Similarly, Trotsky is outcast from the Soviet Union by Stalin.

As Napoleon gains more power, he orders working conditions and targets, which are hard for the other animals to achieve. Some of them still work hard because they believe in the initial principles of Animalism. Slowly, however, these principles become perversely changed in order to serve the pigs, who become the chosen few in the farm. Analogically, Stalin uses terror and secret police to control people and to hide the true severe conditions in the Soviet Union.

Eventually, the animals suffer even more than before the revolution. They are forced to work longer hours, they starve, and they are suppressed by Napoleon and his army of fierce dogs. The new commandments of animalism allow the pigs to enjoy a lifestyle similar to Mr Jones's, the previous owner. They drink, wear human clothes, play cards, and sleep in beds, all of which contradict the initial principles set up by Manor. Obviously, Stalin and his loyal supporters also formed a higher class, which enjoyed the benefits of power.


The Flag of Animalism. Quite resembling something familiar, eh?

The revolution in Animal Farm (and in Russia accordingly) fell apart not because of the principles of equality. It fell apart because the leaders became corrupted. They served themselves and not the community, slowly but surely turning into the dictators they so wanted to overthrow in the first place. Orwell ingeniously points out the shortcomings of totalitarianism, and on a larger scale the shortcomings of the human behavior. Animal Farm is a political satire with all the powers of a myth. It is also a realistic examination of the importance of honesty and truth, two things the world desperately needs after the two world wars.

Orwell believed in the values of democratic Socialism and liberal and social conscience. His works have influenced many writers to focus on the communist myth (especially the Soviet one) and the reasons for its collapse. Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, Anthony Burgess, and George Orwell, all authors use quite different, yet witty and profound perspective to investigate the devastating effects of a world, where truth is concealed, mind is controlled, and people are severely suppressed with the false illusion of equality.

Strangely, a book against informational propaganda was in fact negatively affected by this same propaganda. Animal Farm was finished in 1943, during the Second World War but was published late in 1945. The reasons: at the end of the war the Soviet Union was a British ally against Hitler's Germany. Thus, it was seen by many political leaders that Stalin and Soviet Communism should not be criticized, even indirectly. God bless, though, Orwell was not one to be persuaded by such orthodox views. His novel, a precise attack on the failure of the Russian revolution was published.

I will finish off with a sentence I saw in a movie last night, which I believe very well adapts to the topic. The use of information and disinformation is ultimately power. The Soviet communists are well aware of this fact and effectively use it to establish and stabilize their power.

Dandelion Wine or How to Capture Summer in a Bottle

Have you ever tried to capture summer moments so that you go back to them in cold winter nights and remember the good times? Have you ever realized that you forgot some of the precious magic of summer, when you were content, pleased, and happy? Have you ever cried when summer is over and counted the days till the next one? If your answer is "Yes" to any of these questions, this is your book.

Dandelion Wine by Rad Bradbury is a gentle, touching nostalgic novel about summer days gone by. Combining reality with fantasy, the book represents the magic of childhood, the excitement of simple experiences, and the childish curiosity about the meaning and purpose of life. Through the eyes of the main character, 12-years-old Douglas Spoulding, the author explores the daily summer routines of a small fictional town, Greentown. People there live a simple, calm, and uneventful life, waiting for days, months, and years to pass. Douglas, with his passion, desire for knowledge, and curiosity stands out in this crowd. The boy is fascinated with summer days and nights. He records all of his experiences into a little notebook, afraid that someday he might forget them. Despite playing with his friends, Douglas is also preoccupied with topics far too mature for his own age. At the beginning of the summer he suddenly realizes he is alive and has to take advantage of every opportunity, to enjoy every moment, to run barefoot on the grass, to eat as many ice-creams as possible, to have new shoes, to swing, to laugh, to play. Mid-summer, the boy is faced with the inevitable truth that he is going to die. He losses his best friend, his grandmother dies, and Douglas is now disillusioned and confused. Yet, what the author is trying to tell us, is that the contentment of people depends on their ability to deal with and accept the imperfect aspects of life and to find pleasures in the small things.

The entire novel is trying to show the reader how much happiness and joy is right in front of our eyes but we fail to notice it. The first summer day, the time you hang the swings, the first time you wear your trainers, the first time you eat ice-cream, the first time you hear the crickets sing, the first time you run in the grass, all of these events excite Douglas and his friends. The boy's philosophy of life is so mature, yet grown up people very easily forget it. We should live today, grab up everything we can, enjoy it, play with it, write it down, make someone smile, capture the sun, the moon, the wind, the grass, because this day is never going to come back.

Most of the short stories are in some way related to Douglas, his family, or his friends. The old characters are nostalgic about their youth, their loved ones, who have died, their experiences. The young ones listen to their stories with amazement that these old people have sometime been young. Overall, Bradbury's heroes are sweet, loving, sensitive, caring for life, living in memories or carefully storing them for future years. Bradbury's heroes are healthy and happy mainly because they live today, without plans for the futures, without waiting for something grand to happen. They realize that existence is about is the little pleasures that we experience every day, even every hour, in between the big, shaking events that transform our lives drastically.

All of these summer moments are accompanied by the gentle touch of dandelion wine. For Douglas, the wine symbolizes all the summer joys, trapped in a single bottle. Every day has its own bottle, which reminds the boy of what he did, what he felt, or what he learned that day. So that in the winter, he can go down the basement, open the dandelion wine, and return to this blissful time.

Dandelion Wine is a semi-biographical novel. It combines Bradbury's actual experiences as a little boy in a small US town with his unique imagination. Most of the stories were published previously as short-stories before being combined into one large novel. These romantic and sentimental short stories are in a huge contrast with the grim, depressing world that 451 Fahrenheit portrays. As if two different people wrote two different novels, both of which feature intimate reflections about our world, even though in totally different aspects. Ray Bradbury is a name that combines everything - science, fantasy, horror, science-fiction, and...nostalgia.

In Dandelion Wine reality is sometimes overwhelmed by fantasy to arrive at a wonderful novel, which warms up even the most cynical and cold heart. I will be re-reading it over and over again when I feel I am living not in the present but in some uncertain future. Because the present is all we have and we should enjoy it with a bottle of dandelion wine.

My Experience on the Sofia Book Market

The annual Sofia Book Market is a fact. From 7th to 12th of December the National Culture Palace becomes the center of a reading fever. All publishers and bookstores are there, presenting their most famous bestsellers and trying desperately to make the ever so poor Bulgarian reader spare some money on a new book (s). Of course, there is 20% off on every novel you purchase, which is a very good reason to at least think about improving your library.

I do not need to mention that I was there the first day the market opened. I spent 2 blissful hours going around it, checking out new and old books, making a list of all the novels I wanted to buy, smelling new books, asking questions. Basically, I has having the time of my life. I was pleasantly surprised by the initiative of the French Institute. The latter created a reading cafe in the middle of the market, where one can sit, go through some of the contemporary (and no so contemporary) French pieces of literature and just read. Basically, you can sit there the whole day, surrounded by the smell of books and read with no fee at all. You don't have to buy a book or pay anything; you are entitled to read as much as you want. I took advantage of this opportunity and that is how I stumbled on a book, which I bought afterwards.

Laurent Gounelle's L'Homme Qui Voulait Etre Heureux (The Man Who Wanted to be Happy) attracted me firstly with its title and then with the description on the back. Gounelle is a French psychologist and writer, who explores the problems of human happiness and mental equilibrium. As my mom says lately I am more and more into psychological books, novels that explore the nature of human content and stability, novels that help you discover who you really are and what you want out of life. By exploring so many different aspects, I get closer to understanding myself and my dreams. I also realize I am not the person I thought I was. I realize the dreams I thought would make me happy upon achievement do not bring anything but mere resentment and disappointment because I am still not happy. That is why I am determined (and actually fascinated by the possibility) to read as many self help, self understand, or whatever those books might be called. Some are very good (Eat Pray Love) some do not work for me (Froth on the Capuchino) and others just transform my world view completely (Ayn Rand's literature, although she is not really a self-help type of writer). I can't wait to see what Gounelle has to say about the subject since once more I will have the chance to touch the Buddhist culture and way of thinking through exploring L'Homme Qui Voulait Etre Heureux.

Of course I didn't want to limit myself to only buying one book but unfortunately due to budget restraints I had to. I nevertheless made a list of all the books I wanted to buy eventually (so that I do not forget) and I attempted to convince my mother that I absolutely desperately need all of them. She was not that sure at all, given that my room starts to look more like a library than like a living space ( I literally have no space to accomodate my books already) + she doesn't really believe in buying books. She is the type "I will borrow from the public library" type. I am different, so I am determined to own these novels one way or another. So here is my wish list for next couple of months:

1. Anne Heller - Ayn Rand and the World She Made
2. James Clavell - Shogun
3. Ray Bradbury - All
4. George Orwell - Animal Farm
5. Arthur Clarke - A Space Odyssey














If you still haven't visited Sofia Book Market, I urge you to do so. We must support this amazing initiative and prove that Bulgarians still read and are still ready to spare some cash for a good book.

A nerd? A passionate reader? A book lover?

Another birthday is over and yet life continues in its normal direction. And for me that direction is rather unfortunate since it involves a large amount of exam stress.

On the subject. As lovely as my birthday was, it was made even lovelier by the amount of books I received as gifts. Only slight concern: do people actually think the only thing I do is read and drink wine?

I got three as different books as you can possibly imagine. My lovely flatmates surprised me in the morning with 101 Essential Tips to Everyday Meditation. I have always longed to try meditating but I always postponed it with the excuse that maybe it is too hard and I won't be able to achieve it. I have no more excuses now so beware meditation, here I come. I hope it really reduces the levels of stress in my life, which are pretty high right now. The next book is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. As mentioned under one of my posts, it is a necessary complementary reading to 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Can't wait to be dipped into yet another book about the human race degradation into control, unhappiness, and emotional poverty. As a rule, I saved the best for last. A very special person gave me Ayn Rand's new book We the Living. According to the summary, this novel is going to be both quite different and the same to Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but Rand chooses to focus on life in the USSR and to explore the extreme level of dictatorship in one of the most influential countries. In the same time, the author elaborates on the clash between the Man and the State, which can be related to the clash between the Man and the Society in her two other powerful works.


It is so unfortunate that I have exams right now and have absolutely no time to devote to these three amazing books expecting me on the shelf. Sadly, the only reviews I can write now are about investment analysis and business economics. Three weeks and here comes summer!

Hammer & Sickle or the Power of Totalitarian Propaganda

Where did Big Brother come from? If your answer is "Australia", "BBC", or "Niki Kunchev invented him" (you will only get this joke if you are Bulgarian) then you better stick this post on your wall.

As the title suggests I am going to focus on a rather controversial issue: totalitarianism. I am from Bulgaria, once under USSR communist influence, but now a democratic country (at least that's what we believe). I have never lived in communism ( if we don't count those 5 months since I was born and before communism in Bulgaria ended but I don't really have any valuable memories from that time) but my parents and grandparents have. And all I hear is: "Oh, it was safer, people were equal, there was no poverty and unhappiness". To what extent that was true and to what extent were they under powerful propaganda I cannot say and I am not inclined to judge either.

Now on the books. Two novels, which I desperately recommend, have focused on what will happen if totalitarianism not only spread but developped. George Orwell's 1984 presents a utopian world, where The Party controls not only people's lifes, but their thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Big Brother's voice (like in the reality show) sounds in every home, sees everything, and tells people what to do and how to behave. Winston's job is to change history by changing the newspaper's articles depending on the Party's political moves at that time. However, he meets a girl, and together, they try to reveal the roots behind the Party's power over people.

In Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag lives in a society where books are illegal (IMAGINE THAT!). His job is to burn all books, except those that serve the Party's propaganda. 451 refers to the degrees, at which paper burns. Similarly to Winston, a woman changes his perspective and provokes him to search for answers beneath the ordered totalitarian world.

Both novels are masterpieces, although I personally prefer 1984. It focuses more on the totalitarian regime and its ways to control people, to ensure their subordination, and to prevent acts of disobedience. I have read the novel twice and it always sends shivers through my body. What if we ever reach that state? Can you imagine being told what to think, how to feel, where to go, and how to act...

I can't wait to read Ayn Rand's essays on the subjects. She had to fleet the USSR and she expresses a rather firm opinion (that's Ayn Rand after all, she always has a firm opinion!) on totalitarianism and capitalism. I am sure here works would be worth reading.

On a final note, if you have never lived in a communist country, if you have lived and you don't remember, or even if you  have spend most of your live under totalitarian regime, these two novels are worth reading. Depending on your moral codex they will astonish you, provoke you, amaze you, or angry you, but one thing is sure - they will not leave you disappointed or indifferent.