Ella's Inner Genie The Superpower of Children by Jacqueline Pirtle

Ella's Inner Genie

The Superpower of Children by Jacqueline Pirtle is the most beautiful reflection of the author: after having improved in fact with her books women's existences, she doesn't abandon her idea to present to everyone, children included a self-help book and this one is for sure a serious, powerful tool for them but also teachers, parents, educators in general who want to see improvements in children or to try to see the way they imagine themselves, their genie, people surrounding them. It is absolutely a great tool in case you notice some changes in your kid's behavior. 

Who hasn't had a fantastic companion during the childhood age? It's normal, common. I remember Pantoufle the Kangaroo in the case of Vianne Rocher's daughter Anoux in Chocolate the book by Joanne Harris, but I invite all of you, adults, to remember your inner voice and the beauty that presented you. 

What is a genie if not that encouraging voice exploding in the kid's mind, telling him/her what to do and how to be more happy and cheerful?

Who are children if not little adults in grade to absorb every emotion that they intercept along their way?

Children were born like any other individuals to follow their dreams and their inner voice and, simply to build a successful, plenty, beautiful still little life.

Childhood is crucial for the rest of the existence of an individual: children growing harmonically will live a beautiful existence. That's why Jacqueline asks to parents, educators, people interested in the future of these little new individuals, to help them to discover their most genuine self, encouraging passions, accepting who their children are. 

The chapters will help children in the understanding of their wishes, desires. What they love to do, their interactions with parents, siblings, their inner voice and potential conflicts with parents because of different expectations: that research of happiness that sometimes is a bit distant from the one desired and wanted by parents. 

But, we know like an intelligent family will be in grade to successfully resolve problems. 

Enjoy this wonderful self-help book: I loved a lot the latest pages where children will portray in words and drawings their existences, telling much more of themselves and their existences, but also of their inner genie! and how they visualize him or her!

Superb and highly recommended! to children, parents, and educators.

Anna Maria Polidori 

Tell me a Story, Please by Kyoko Hara and Kazue Takahashi

 Tell me a Story, Please

by Kyoko Hara and Kazue Takahashi is a beautiful and inspiring children's book released by Museyon Books. The tale is the one of a kid, a female one, called Yuka, who asked often to her mother of reading to her some fairy-tales. Yuka was at the first year of school, so she was in grade to do that, but her mother was so funny when she made weird, strange voices of several characters, like the horrible wolf of Little Red Riding Hood for example. But...Her mother was also pregnant and soon there would have been the arrival of a new baby and so brother or sister. Yuka wanted to be much more educated with this new baby than not what her biggest brother had been with her. Once born Yuto, the problem was simple: Yuka didn't find anymore in her mother, her reader because she was too busy. She tried with several people; an elderly for example who fell asleep immediately after having started to read.Yuka was depressed: one day she entered in a close forest where there was a beautiful maple tree, and she sat. She opened discomforted the book, and starting to read-aloud. Immediately a curious squiller made her company, asking for more fairy-tales as for all the rest of animals of the forest, with which she became great friends with, because she became their reader. One day, these animals asked her a fairy-tales where they were all included. Bloody hell! Now, what to do? Because there wasn't realistically a fairy-tale including all of them but....One day looking well she thought: well, why not the Bremen Town Musicians?

Oh, that animals had been so satisfied of this fairy-tale! They would have wanted to be like that Musicians. They will, you see, at the end of the story, and like for that Musicians, they will set free their place from a big danger!

Absolutely beautiful, fantastic, tender illustrations. Another wonderful children's book from Museyon!

Anna Maria Polidori

Non nel mio Nome by Michele Santoro

 Non nel Mio Nome

by Michele Santoro is a pamphlet that you'll read in a few hours published by Marsilio. In this little book the lucid analysis of the beloved journalist and ideator of many successful political talk shows these past decades and years. Why did he decide to write a book like this one? 

Because of the Ukraine war with its own contradictions. 

Son of an anarchic and of a communist, Santoro has always been a thinker of a reality recently more complicated than not the one that we have known in the past.

What kind of democracy is this one? A democracy paralyzed, in the hands of that "propaganda of regime" without any kind of sensibility for minorities or people in difficulty. There is to add that this war is adding new discrepancies and new poverty in always more large segments of our society. This one is a world where a bunch of people have in their hands most of the richness of the Planet. The rest of the population is not heard, live in passivity a condition where, also when they would want to try to say something, no one would hear.

War is the worsest answer to a problem adds, Santoro. There is a brief reconstruction of the Russian years after the end of the Communism; the errors of Boris Yeltsin, the arrival of Putin, lived like an unknown man, but that, with the time has been in grade to re-put things in order, followed by people. People in particular youngest ones, have experienced the freedom created. My russian friends travelled in the entire world. Not just Meloni and Salvini fell fascinate by him but also Berlusconi writes, Santoro. Berlusconi would have done the impossible for becoming the italian Putin writes ironically, Santoro.

Santoro is tired of this policy where politicians are not anymore in grade to resolve the problems of people, asking so to economists to do that, and, in these cases creating a lot of messes: yes, because when you call an economist, the economist will resolve the problems maybe of Italy but not the ones of people, because who work with money can't see people as persons with problems. We experienced Monti, and recently Draghi. Both of them delusional experiences.

Santoro appreciated the Five Star Movement, (I really am a fan! I wouldn't never have said it four years ago!) becoming recently skeptical because no one would have believed that someone like Beppe Grillo one day would have told to his movement that they would have joined a government with Draghi, close to Mario Monti for mentality. That's why some big esponents decided to go away from the Movement: an unacceptable position the one of Beppe Grillo.

A movement the one of Grillo, who intrigued till the very first moment Santoro, who gave a lot of space to them and their ideas.

There is a reconstructon of the final days of the government Draghi with the scission of Luigi Di Maio at first, and then the end of the government Draghi. Draghi wanted in fact to become President of the Republic, and Santoro tells that later sounded pretty upset because they didn't keep him in consideration...Substantially Draghi decided to leave. 

The past: I remember the years, and moments when Indro Montanelli in the tv program of Santoro launched this provocation: "Please give me back my newsmagazine, Silvio!"  Yes: Indro Montanelli worked for Silvio Berlusconi, he was the editor and ideator of Il Giornale, and things were going on well; just, Berlusconi changed character completely once in policy. He pretended that the newsmagazine of Indro had to follow him blindly: Montanelli said no (great, Indro!) and Berlusconi removed him. Freedom has always a great price, in a way or in anoher.

There is an explanation of the war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack, that would have brought a lot of departures and after all they found Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Gino Strada, founder of Emergency told to Santoro that a war is the saddest existential condition of the man: he said that with the cost of an F-35 is possible to create 1000 places in intensive care. 

Realistically when a country says that intends to go in another country for humanitarian missions, you know that a war is in act. Putin, adds Santoro, called it a special operation: but the de fact is that also our countries sometimes don't tend to call, because maybe not elegant, a war, with its name. 

War is always a lies writes Santoro and who wants to condamn Putin for war crimes should also remember Bush, Blair for what done in Iraq, remarks the journalist.

Journalism with the time became always more close to the ideas of the government, so we receive writes Santoro communication but not anymore information.

When the Ukrainian war started and the first timid voices of dissent became clear, these people were classified like filo-Putin writes Santoro: that meant at first being a sort of enemy of Italy, of the Ukrainian crusade started by Europe, UK and USA. 

It was a great mediatic strumentalization: a newsmagazine published lists of people tendentially filo-Putin, but this one is an abnormality, and a sad, sad and dangerous fact, writes Santoro, because in a democracy I must tell my opinion with freedom. It can be also pretty different from the one expressed by the biggest part of the population but a lack of information would also create a hole that in a democracy can't be permitted. Sharing informations is important for personal growth.

Please, read this book. To me, you will find more than a good vibe and great ideas for changing in better Italy and the world. A world warless, first of all it is what all we want so badly.

I thank Marsilio for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori 

June by Emmanuelle De Boysson

 When, less than a year ago I asked to Emmanuelle

which was the book she was writing, she said me: the biography of June wife of Henry Miller.

De Boysson post-poned the release of this book because of a massive health problem experienced months before: the author shared with her friends and readers everything of her health issues: back to her normality, she completed it and the launch of the book was just few days ago.

JUNE:

a biography, this one that will leave the reader sad and happy, at the end, because its'a a mixture of sadness, love, joy, but also controvertial feelings, and sacrifices.

The book opens when a jeep that arrives to the house of the brother of June, Peter, Arizona. June is not anymore in great health: she is a drug addicted, she suffers of bones problems because of multiple fractures. Although still in her 60s, she is a sick lady.

But...Memories flies in a distant past, when life appeared exciting and we discover a beautiful smiling girl,June, just 21 years: 1923 the year of her meeting with the man of his life: Henry Miller in a local where she worked in, called Amarillo. 

Henry is bewitched by this girl. An intelligent girl: she read Dostoïevski told him. Miller is surprised. Someone who read Fedor after all can't be poor. 

Realistically June was born in a South European country,  Roumanie, in Czernowitz precisely, but later her parents moved in Austria, Wien and in 1907 they left for the USA. She is a jew, but she tries to hide it for not being discriminate. 

Love between June and Henry is extremely sensual. It starts with some letters sent by him, direct, precious in the local where she works. It will be an extremely passionate love-story the one lived by them. Talking, June discovers that Henry works for the Western Union but that he is in love for writing. He would want to become a writer.

June loves his man and she strongly encourages him to continue his writings, leaving behind the work at the Western Union. 

Henry, anyway, is not alone. He is still married. His wife is Barbara and his daughter Beatrice, still little. He wants to divorce but dramas will accellerate this process, when the wife of Henry will find them to bed. 

Undecided, confused, strained for what happened, jealous of the first wife of the beloved writer, June will try to kill herself. 

Recovered, she will try to work for a theatrical company with the purpose of earning some money. She loves theater and she would want to become a star. At the same time Henry proceeds with the divorce. Their marriage will be modest but felt although a doubt will pass on her mind that first june 1924: Will, Val, as she called Henry, marry me for love? 

Why having doubts? Henry is a man of culture. curious, poetic. Her life with him plenty of joy, celebration and sensuality. 

They buy a new house, in a best corner of NYC, although it is pretty expensive. 

In the while, Henry reads Melville, Conrad and Whitman the poet of optimism. 

Considering that she doesn't earn a lot working as actress with that company, she tries again another local. 

Sacrifices in fact are many: from food to clothing, they couldn't buy anything. The Remo sounds the only alternative to starvation. Henry tries to collaborate with a newsmagazine, but he is rejected. Again and again. 

It's the Blue Parrot where she works that opens a world populated by gangsters, drug trafficking, politicians, corrupted people of every genre. In this multiform universe, there is also a strong population and community of gays and lesbians. 

She starts, for money to betray Henry. Henry accepts the state of thing, accepting prostitution as a necessity. And to him, the possibility to continue to writing. Emmanuelle describes it in this way: "Un accord tacite que Miller appellera d’ailleurs « prostitution efficace et légitimée » 

With that money she had the possibility to buy winter clothes, maintaining the husband. 

In this world she meets Jean. Jean is a female of strong character who will capture the attention of June. She will invite her to stay to their home. Henry accepts without any kind of enthusiasm the arrival of this guest. A guest who will become fundamental in this phase of June's existence and a person with which June she will start a sapphic love story. Henry will be devastated by this news, and he won't never accept these state of things. The two will spend a vacation in Paris together, but something will go wrong and June will return alone to NYC.

She will receive later a letter where someone explains her that Jean killed herself. 

June will be so sorry for this news.

At the same time the fertile imagination of Henry would want to write something on this love-story.

Oh: June is scandalized. She couldn't tolerate it.

At the same time, La Ville Lumieres fascinates her so badly and so she insists with Henry: you should go there she tells him.

And Henry accepts. At the same time June has a new and important lover in NYC. This lover promises her the release of a book signed by her. Henry wouldn't never want it...

Once in Paris, Henry Miller of course falls in love for Paris, and for the beautiful parisiennes. In particular for Anais Nin at that time married with a certain banker called Hugo. Anais is rich, generous and a lady tempted by men and women. The first time in Paris, June discovers the persisting courting of Anais. She becomes more insisting when she discovers that previously she had had a sapphic love with Jean.

Henry is worried. He wouldn't want a repetition of what seen in NYC with another lady.

But June loves and only loves Henry. The second time she will be to Paris, she will guess that something weird is going on between her husband and Anais. After all she had left him all alone in Paris...Anais would suggest a menage at trois, but June rejects it. It's the end of the love-story between June and Henry. 

Wonderfully written, as always Emmanuelle put all her french pathos in the description of all the possible shades of love.

Highly recommended.

Anna Maria Polidori 

Mumin S'innamora by Tove Jannson

 Mumin S'Innamora by Tove Jansson is the 21st latest adventure lived by Mumin. 

These books are relased by Iperborea. 

Who are the Mumin? They are a special family of trolls: but no, children, they are not scaring, are we joking? They are as cute as a hippo, and this tender family is special. Curious, opened to the world, eccentric, every adventure they live is singualr, entertaining and absolutley funny! Being tender, your children will be for sure captured by their adventures and I highly recommend their adventures and books to everyone, kid or adult. They are relaxing, they speak of good feelings: an important moment of escapism that will present us a good smile..

The creator of the Mumin, Tove, was finnish. His father was a sculpture, her mother an illustrator spending her time in Helsinki and a little island of his beautiful country. The world of childhood will fascinate her for the entire life.

Mumin is an avid reader, and this period is in love with the idea of romantic potential love-stories, neglecting because of his beloved books and fantasies the partner, their house.

A big flood will see Mumin as an indiscuss protagonist in saving the existences of several creatures who works in a Circus. Oh, will he meet the star of the Circus, called La Guna? Yes!!! What a joy. What a beautiful, stunning troll, what a class, oh, he is in love for her. The wife of Mumin becomes upset and will escape away. She can't tolerate that her husband is so ridiculous with that disgusting and capricious troll that La Guna is. 

La Guna and the wife of Mimun will start to make good friendship, deciding to live alone, separate from their males companions: same will do the males, the companion of La Guna and Mumin happy and cheerful to stay alone from their companions although at the end they will all make peace!

So sunny and funny.

Beautiful.

Anna Maria Polidori 

Memorie del Sottosuolo di Fedor Dostoevskij

At the end of this book take a long breath. 

It will be necessary.

It's a strong, strong book this one by Fedor Dostoevskij Memorie del Sottosuolo translated by Paolo Nori.

Published by Garzanti, this book tells the story of a man of circa 40 years: a man bullied when little, deformed by the experiences and people met along his life, someone unable to love. 

Many the considerations of the author: in this case Fedor's character starts a personal dialogue with his readers. Readers that he wants to keep informed: readers that he wants to be real participants of his existence. An existence not beauty, not completely realized; a vicious existence sometimes. A life lived in the envy and jealousy for the Other. The character portrayed by Fedor has been bullied. Traumatized, lived his feelings in a dangerous distortion researching in the scholastic phase of his existence a friendship with someone just for having that person in his own power and control: the purpose, to move the friend against the rest of the classroom his main temptation.

Fedor writes that it is impossible to forgive, and that maybe we reach a point of our existence where we understand that we can't change our faith; we can't change who we are, and we can't expect anything else. 

There are heavy considerations of great actuality on the state of the world during the XIX century.

Blood is everywhere. Napoleon, the biggest and the littlest one defeated in Russia, the North-America.. But...Man became a best creature? No. Civilization maybe will help this new man to feel more pleasure in spreading always more blood. 

Fedor understands that, after all, the most sanguinary statesmen have been also the finest men existing in the world. Civiliziation means having a man much more disgustingly sanguinary than before.

There will be a moment in which questions wil disappear leaving the place to the answers. People will build a crystal palace: it will be the Bengodi Palace.

A long digression involves personal profit. Starting from the consideration that after all man is stupid and ungrateful: he will be influenced often by other men with original ideas. 

Man sometimes wants something stupid, but also something that it is not naturally in his own path. A different destiny: a different choice: the risk. The risk of an existence unplanned, keeping aside the planned options.

Man is a strange creature because would want to reach a goal but when it reaches this goal he isn't satisfied anymore and must search for something else because, simply he wouldn't want to reach that goal after all. I would want to add that reaching a goal means a stabilization that man maybe can't prove at long.

Is it realistically true, asks Fedor that wellbeing, but also what it is normal and positive is great for man? Maybe man wants also to suffer: maybe sufferance is more important than wellbeing. 

There are things that we can tell to everyone: others that we can tell to real friends: other ones to ourselves but in secret and other ones that we wouldn't want to confess to ourselves.  

Every man of this time is a slave and a coward and can't be the opposite. It's a nature-law this one. If someone tries to be corageous, the next time will be a coward. This one writes Fedor is an aeternal conclusion. 

But who is the Romantic man in Russia? Oh, certainly someone distant from the german perception. Russian romantic understands everything, and, mainly he is a practical man.

One day this character will invite himself to spend a dinner with some old friends: he will end-up drunker, will meet Liza, a tender 20 years old girl: Liza will search again for him but he was disgusting with her, leaving in the reader the idea that, after all, this man doesn't deserve anything beauty in his life.  

I liked this book, but at the same time this character devastated me because there are not excuses. A person can have experienced a sad past, being bullied at school, having met wrong people, but no one should become an ugly (inside) person as this character is. It should be the opposite: a person of light, an example to everyone l

Highly recommended book.

Anna Maria Polidori 

 

La Sposa della Seta by Oswald Wynd

 La Sposa della Seta

by Oswald Wynd published by Garzanti is an interesting book. When I started to reading it I found similarities with a non-fiction book published by Columbia Press and written by Vishakha N.Desai World as Family. In fact, both these protagonists, one of them Japanese, the fictional one Omi, and Vihakha, a real Indian lady, left the comfort zone of their countries for studying in the USA, and once returned home they were changed forever. 

Omi, a Japanese girl studying in the USA appreciateds a lot the Western philosophy of living and once returned in her country, she understands that very differently from the moment in which she left the country for the USA, there is a big closure and diffidence regarding the USA. 

The winds of war are mounting: her parents, opened-minded, returned to be pretty traditional Japanese folk, asks her to marry someone that they would have picked up. Omi is insofferent: she wants to live a different and more free existence and she doesn't recognize her country. So, she makes friendships with a woman who, later will be arrested. Being sunspected, because friend of this lady, but because she had an important father, Omi won't be arrested but will live a sort of exhile in the countryside, where the family has a house. There, she will study, she will live isolated, she will write a lot, she will have a brief relationship. Once returend she marries Ishii, a man in the silk business, and although her relationships with the husband are good, and they have a baby the husband is hiding something crucial. At the same time World War Second starts, and Japan enters in war. A war that will see the biggest destruction with the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: that's why Japan decided that it was better to end that war. These bombs apart, also some relatives of Omi died because of the horror of war. In that moment the husband of Ishii will take an important decision, like also Omi that will kill someone close to her from a life, for protecting the memory of her husband and doing what asked to her.

Intense, beauty.

Highly recommended. 

I thank Garzanti for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori