The Widow of the South

I've finished "The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks. I've read it in English. Anyway I think it's not translated. It's novel about Civil War in USA. About brave man who holding only the colours run trough the battlefield to enemy's side. And his life was spared. Nobody knew why. He was taken prisoner and later was brought to hospital, which had been set up in house not far from famous Tennesee battlefield.And this man fell in love with owner of the house - Carrie McGavock, who had been already married and had children.

Novel is based on true events. Author found documents, letters, photos belonged to Carrie. Here some of them can be viewed. Story is really amazing not just because of true events. It has some episodes when reader can feel acute tension. Most passionate chapter is one when Carrie is beating her beloved up.

Author made a great work and this novel without any doubt is worthwhile.

And I want to add that reading this book can be compared with walking around the cemetery in sunny summer day. There is a small cemetery near my grandparent's house. And sometimes I like to go there and feel calmness...

Book Fair

Today I spent about 5 hours searching for some interesting books at the International Book Fair. There were a lot of books, but most of them were rubbish! I wanted to find Faulkner, but I couldn't...

My friend Kate managed to buy "Stephen Hero" by James Joyce. Some days ago I realised that I wanted to read his "Ulysses". And I ordered it at the internet bookshop. This year Book Fair was rather boring. There weren't any famous authors there... But there were a lot of religious literature... I don't like it.

Also there was Flower Salon in exhibition complex. Very nice! I enjoyed a lot of interesting flower compositions, my favourite garden gnomes and other cute figures...

And after that I found what I really wanted to have. It's "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell. The book looks like a brick. It's small and very very thick. I'm going to read it soon after I finish another story about Civil War.

Oh! And I bought a lot of lovely postcards! It was a good day :)

Mother's skin, Father's skin...

It was rainy today and really cold. But it couldn't prevent me and my friend Kate from getting new experiences. This morning we were trying to find the former Dutch Church on Nevsky Prospect to see Flower Festival. But we couldn't. Wind was really strong so we decided to have a cup of coffee in the nearest cafe.

Then we went to the Al-Gallery. And watched installation art there. It was an exibition by Vita Buyvid, famous photographer. I like her "Skins of the Bobrovy Family". You can see it on photo. All skins are made of plush and look really nice. As a part of installation there were tv sets. Different women on the screen were repeating: "I'm a bitch", men were complaining: "She is a bitch".

Also there were portraits of families. In the pictures some people were bleeding or had black eyes. Author wanted to show that sometimes we hurt our relatives with words. And wounds we leave in their souls can't be seen. But these wounds are never healed.

Later we attended a lecture about Nabokov. Writer Vyacheslav Kurizin showed some interesting pictures somehow connected with Nabokov's life. And later Kurizin read his "Christmas Story" written in the Nabokov manner. It was interesting because there are few places where prose can be heard.

When I was going home the wind almost blew me away. Weather was really nasty, but it didn't spoil my day.