The Whole World and Me

Blog withdrawal

Friday, May 02, 2014 Papillon 0 Comments Category : Busy , Life

It's been two months since my last post!

This statement just hit me really hard... This blog is a work of love and I've been neglecting it due to a crazy amount of work (as always!). This just makes me sad, you know? While browsing through my past posts, there's this tendency of mine to disappear for a month or two every now and then. I always come back promising you, and myself!, that I will make an effort, I will continue writing, and yet here we are again.

Honestly, I'm sitting here wondering what the hell am I going to write about? Should I just post some pictures and be done with it? Would that soothe my conscience? Or should I write about the last books I've read? Well, that was my last post so not highly original. Damn! Could it be that I've got nothing interesting enough to write about? Am I just so focus on writing press releases and communication proposals that I can't put together a decent entertaining/moderately-interesting post? Now I just feel depressed....

Let's try the basics... what I've been doing lately:

- Work, that goes without saying. It has been a busy time with new projects, events and a lot of things happening. On the other hand, it has also been a time of growth and evolution, one that I hope continues in the right direction. There's exciting things around the corner and I have been having some fun preparing them. It's always nice when your work gives you the opportunity to participate in great projects that you can be involved with from the start. So that's what's been occupying my time as of late.

- Love. It is always challenging to find time for love and your relationship, especially if it's a new one, when you are BUSY at work. But I've managed, thank the heavens!! I also should say, for the sake of truthfulness, that I am lucky to have a very understanding partner who, even though hates the fact that sometimes I can't really disconnect, is always there ready to listen, to organize fun and romantic dates and to hold me and kiss me until I stop thinking and talking about work! (thank youuu!)

- Friends & Family. There hasn't been much time for my friends or my family, unfortunately. I try to be there for them as much as I can, but I'm still just one person with two arms, two legs, one mind and 24 hours a day. Yeah, I know, lame excuse, but it is what it is. What sucks the most is that three of my most beloved friends are going through tough times and I haven't always been able to be there for them, only on the phone which we all know is not really being there. You guys, I do the best I can, but I should definitely do more, so no excuses for me! I love you all!!

- Travelling. From work to pleasure, this girl has been travelling. Twice to Italy and once to paradise. This last trip, just a quick four day getaway, was just heaven. I will share some photos soon.

- Reading. So many great books, so little time! I've discovered two amazing authors who have been able to literally glue my eyes and hands to their books - Marisha Pessl and Jeremy Bushnell. Fantastic books, amazing stories, inspiring tales!

I guess this sums up most of what's been going on for the last couple of months.

I will not say, once again, that I will try to write more and post more. I think I just have to do it and stop wasting time with promises!

So, I'll leave you with that!

See you soon and enjoy the sun*

Book Nostalgia

Thursday, February 27, 2014 Papillon 0 Comments Category : Books , Dark Places , Gillian Flynn , Must Read , Sharp Objects , The fault in our stars , The Hunger Games , The reluctant fundamentalist

I get very nostalgic when I finish a book. It's the same with TV shows, but mostly with books.

I have this aching feeling of lost when I have to say goodbye to these people who have been in my world, who have lived with me for a while... and that's just sad... Of course there are books that are harder to say goodbye to than others, but I always feel a little sad, nostalgic is really the word!, when I turn the last page. In fact, there are some books I have delayed the ending. I was appreciating them too much, I was enjoying the company of the characters so much that I wasn't able to part with them.

Books are my escape, they are the realm where my fantasy worlds are drawn and where I can be whoever I want and can do amazing things: I can read minds, I can be a spy, I can shoot arrows, I can be Arab, I can be American, I may have cancer or be a survivor of a horrible crime... the possibilities are endless and the lives are there to be taken and lived and I am here, avid to escape.

I have read great, amazing!, books recently! Which means there has been much sadness going around. I often return to book series in between great books. Just because there's some comfort in getting back in the lives of people you already know, it's not that hard to say goodbye because you know they continue to live on in the next volume.

Oh well... today was the day to say goodbye and, as always, I'm flooded with this nostalgic feeling, not really ready to let go, but already eager to start something else, get to know someone else's life...

(Truth be told, I had to go to a bookstore during my lunch time as I have no new book at home to start reading and I was starting to feel a little anxious!!)

So, here are the last books I've read and had a really hard time saying goodbye:

I like the so called "fantasy novel", specially when it is a sharp criticism of our world. The Hunger Games Trilogy is exactly that, a sharp critique of the world we may be creating. I enjoyed Katniss's company, she's a much deeper character that the movies portray (it's not that easy, believe me, that girl is a well of conflictions!). But most of all, I enjoyed the idea of the book. When asked how she came up with the idea for the book, Suzanne Collins said she was doing some mindless zapping one night and on one channel she watched some kids doing crazy things for money is some reality show; on the next channel, a news report showed other kids fighting a war which is always about money. This was how the story started to unfold in her mind and The Hunger Games shows just that, as well as so many other things that may be a very real consequence of what we are doing today.

I am a HUGE fan of Gillian Flynn. After Gone Girl (see enthusiastic post here), I was hooked on her writing, even though I usually don't like this dark, macabre style, Gillian can make any story so compelling you can't seem to put the book down. Normally, i'm not in the best of moods when I read her books, it's like I have this dark cloud over my head, but they are worth it. Dark Places is her second book and is really in between her first, which I also read recently (see below) and Gone Girl. It is as great as the other two and as dark, but in a way a little lighter. I don't know how to explain it except to say it was easier (not sure if this is the right word, but I'm going for it) for me to read this one than the other two. I highly recommend it, specially after reading Charlize Theron will be the star of the movie which will be based on this book (I can totally see her as Libby Day!!)

This was hard, like really, really hard to read. But one of the most amazing, dark, sad, disturbing stories I have ever read. There was this black cloud around me, my boyfriend even threatened to burn the book, because I was so affected by it. But isn't that what great literature is all about?!?!

This was a great surprise for me! I adored this book. It's such an honest account, such a contemporary and pertinent story. And the way it is written really allows you to get into the psych of the main character and you really understand him... And by understanding him, you start to understand other fundamentalists who may as well be reluctant fundamentalist and who have very solid reasons to be and act as they do. Just one warning: DO NOT watch the movie!!! I have never seen such a bad rendition of such an amazing story!!! But do read the book, it is worth it and it will make you think!!

What can I say... how can I express what was the experience of reading this amazing, wonderful, touching story?

Maybe some quotes from the book will help, because I really do not have the words:

As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.

My thoughts are start I cannot fathom into constellations.

You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world... but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.

There were others, but I leave you with these, hoping you find some worthy suggestion for some much needed escape from our worlds and lives!

Be back soon!