Today is the birthday of Romanian poet and translator Paul Celan (23 November 1920 – abt. 20 April 1970) . Born into a Jewish family in Romania (Ukraine) . Celan was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize in 1958 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 1960. 1 ) Celan was born as Paul Antschel but changed his name to Celan (pronounced Chelan). 2 ) Celan’s father was a Zionist and insisted his son learn Hebrew. Celan’s mother loved German literature and insisted that German will be spoken in the house. Paul Celan abandoned Zionism after his Bar-Mitzvah but finished his Hebrew education. 3 ) During World War II Celan and his parents were deported into a ghetto on October 1941. Celan kept busy but translating Shakespeare’s Sonnets and writing his own poetry. In the Ghetto Celan was exposed t traditional Yidish songs and culture. When the ghetto was dissolved Celan was working as a forced laborer clearing debris and destroying Russian books. 4 ) Celan tried to convince his parents to leave Bukovina, but they refused. One night Celan was so mad he slept at a friend’s house. That night, 21 June, his parents were deported to an interment camp in…

Twelve year old Hugo shoulders a lot of responsibility for his age. His parents are dead and his caretaker is his drunkard uncle, tender to the train station’s clocks, which one day simply disappears.

Son of a watchmaker, Hugo who loves to tinker with mechanical toys takes it upon himself to maintain the clocks while hiding in the hidden world of the train station. One day he finds an automaton, a mechanical man, which was cherished by his late father. Hugo restores the toy using his father’s notebook as a reference, he gets his parts by stealing them from the old man who owns a toy kiosk in the station.

The story is about an author named David Martin who accepts an assignment to write a book for a very rich client.

An offer too good to be true.

Article first published as Book Review: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M. J. Rose on Blogcritics. About: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M. J. Rose is fictional book in the Reincarnationist series. This is the fourth book in the series, however they are all standalone books. 384 pages Publisher: Atria Books Language: English ISBN-10: 1451621302 My rating for The Book of Lost Fragrances – 4 Great price on this book in paper or elec­tronic for­mat through the Man of la Book Affil­i­ate Account More books by M. J. Rose Thoughts: I have read the previous three books in M.J. Rose’s (website) Reincarnationist series but I have to say that I enjoyed The Book of Lost Fragrances the most. While many people don’t read fiction, and I was one of those, I changed my mind with the condition that I’ll learn “something” from the book. That something could be about history, human condition, or anything else. I especially appreciate the Author’s Note at the end of such books which tells me what is real and what isn’t. Actually, if there isn’t an Author’s Note I might not even bother reading it. The Reincarnationist series deals with certain objects which help people remember past…

With all the action and adventure, this is ultimately a melancholy book. Allon is a flawed hero (but aren’t they all), who is, this time, out for revenge

October 14 1822, the anniversary of poet Victor Hugo & his childhood sweetheart Adèle Foucher. The marriage survived infidelities, children and scandal.

A beautiful book, a lyrical and relatable story of the author who was born in Russia but spent his summers with his grandmother Charlotte Lemonnier

Today, August 5, is the birthday of French writer Guy de Maupassant who was born in the year 1850. Monsieur Maupassant wrote mostly short stories.

A fictional book set in Paris, France. The book discusses philosophy, culture, the class system and more – sometimes on account of a strong story.

The “League of the Scarlet Pimpernel” is famous for rescuing French noblemen from certain death in creative and daring ways. A bounty is placed on their leader