TOMISLAV TAKAČ

TOMISLAV TAKAČ

Oct 21, 2023 | BOOKS, BOOKS

Tomislav Takač is a writer whom I admire especially for how he shows belief in his dream.

About himself he says: My name is Tomislav Takač and I am a 32-year-old laborer and a beginning writer in Subotica. I started writing 4 years ago and since then I have been writing short stories and have written and published the novel Strigorovu Šuma.

He has been updating me on his progress for a long time, and in the beginning we tried to overcome linguistic obstacles because despite the great help of translators it is not always easy and straightforward to understand a written text without losing its distinctiveness.

However, Tomislav began to translate and write in English as well, so I was able to truly understand the nature of his book Strigorov’s Forest. 

Originally started as Strigorova Šuma, the book has since been translated and Tomislav has also produced a kind of animated trailer.

Knowing me, you must have guessed that I really liked it immediately, from the first notes of the “soundtrack” … you recognized it too, didn’t you?

Rock aside, I became immediately attached to Erena’s character, I could say that she brought me into Tomislav’s world: a Fantasy world composed of fantastical figures but traversed by fully realistic action protagonists.

The secret of the silver door is the first story Tomislav pointed out to me.

Here instead you can find the first chapter of Yelena, First Blood.

Among the other stories I particularly liked Jack which I also found moving.

Not only Fantasy then, not only Action, not only Science Fiction, but the sum of many different facets that come together transporting the reader on an incredible journey.

And Tomislav concretized this path in every possible way, even working with an artist to turn his story into comics as well.

Coffee is often mentioned.

Regarding the cafes, Tomislav sent me videos showing Sarajevo.

I thank him because it gave me great pleasure: so far my knowledge of Sarajevo was limited to reading Margaret Mazzantini’s Venuto al mondo, for which I thank both Monica and Elisa. 

Do you know better than I do?

Tomislav was kind enough to send me this video that shows an interesting coffee route in Sarajevo and describes us Bosnian coffee and their Java

I got hooked on this tradition of “fortune-telling,” you know we had already mentioned the reading of the coffee grounds, but in this case the story being told and the star at the bottom of the cup are really enchanting.

I also found fantastic the coincidence that the particular street shown in the video of this Bosnian café was a street dedicated to shoe making. 

And this is a small view of Subotica, Serbia, Tomislav’s hometown.

THE BOOKBINDER OF LOST STORIES

THE BOOKBINDER OF LOST STORIES

May 13, 2023 | BOOKS

The Bookbinder of Lost Stories is the book I read, again thanks to Monica.

 

Speaking of friendship, Sas Bellas Mariposas  and Mamaglia are skilled fan of the author: Cristina Caboni, so maybe they would like to tell us something about her.

In the meantime I would like to chat more about how I especially liked the parts that describe the binding process in the early 19th century.

Nowadays how long does it take to create a book?
There are several 24-hour delivery options on the web.

And each time we find ourselves with the usual question: have we gained or lost?

Recently with my husband we have been looking for someone who was still in a profession related to the traditions of the past, but here in the area unfortunately we do not have old style jobs anymore.

It is very sad to be aware that the precious chain of passing on knowledge and teaching patience and time needed to acquire skills has been interrupted.

By interrupting the oral tradition, we will deprive ourselves of the privilege of being able to know stories because there will be no one left to tell them.

So I would very much like to take up the concept of “binding” lost stories to unite them and to keep them living with us.

I spent a lot of time listening to one of my grandmothers telling about her childhood in a peasant family, talking to me about a seemingly distant era, about an essential lifestyle, about objects that we will never use.

My other grandmother, had less life to live but equally her tales remain indelible to me, as well as the memory her rice-fields worker  knees.

My great-grandfather, on the other hand, was a carter, and his traveling for work gave him the opportunity to meet and to marry my great-grandmother: German, in spite of the saying “wife and oxen in your own country …” jokes aside, theirs was a rather unconventional marriage considering historical period and social conditions.

But tell me please! I would love to “listen to you.”

If you have a craft to tell, if you want a story not to be lost, if you wish to pass on a tale, a thought, a concept, a proverb, an experience or even just a comment, I will be grateful and add it to the lost stories to be bound.

FILOSOFEGGIANDO IN ALLEGREZZA

FILOSOFEGGIANDO IN ALLEGREZZA

Aug 19, 2022 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG

Filosofeggiando in allegrezza is the blog that gives us a new stage of the Journey from mug to mug, and now I have plenty of joyful serenity for these pictures too!

As you may have guessed, the photo below the title is from Spain: Galicia, and to be precise it is from the Vigo Book Festival. 

As Feiras do Libro de Galicia take place every year in various towns and cities in Galicia, in the spring and summer months, with stalls run by booksellers, and an extensive program of parallel activities, such as readings, meetings with authors, exhibitions, book presentations, etc., that make these events a meeting of great cultural interest.

The writer who most universalized Vigo was Jules Verne, in a passage from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Have you read it?

I missed it until my son brought it home from the elementary school library, but there’s always time to recover, right?

In Verne’s novel, the Vigo estuary hides very rich treasures from the Battle of the Bay or Battle of Rande.

“So, Mr. Aronnax (…), we are in that same bay of Vigo. It is up to you to unravel its mysteries.”

The battle took place on October 23, 1702 between the Anglo-Dutch and Spanish-French coalitions during the War of the Spanish Succession. Spanish galleons arrived at the Vigo estuary laden with the greatest treasure that had ever crossed the Atlantic: gold and silver, jewels…

“The sand was littered with those treasures. Then, laden with that precious booty, those men would return to the Nautilus, deposit their burdens and resume that inexhaustible fishery for gold and silver.”

Since then hundreds of dives have been made in the waters of the Vigo Estuary in search of treasure. Without going any further, six battle-related wrecks were located and identified in 2011.

Thus, don’t you think that the quote chosen to introduce the Festival:

THE BEST STORIES BEGIN WITH GOOD COFFEE

is simply perfect?

If you want to discover further interesting anecdotes about Galicia, don’t miss the description of the trip here on Filosfeggiando in Allegrezza. 

Speaking of precious things then, here are two coffees from Monforte de Lemos!

So after Verne we can also mention Miguel Cervantes’ El ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha, precisely with reference to the Count of Lemos.

But about Monforte de Lemos you can ind more details on Filosfeggiando in allegrezza in the second part of the report.

And what about you? Where have you had your coffee lately?

KEEP CALM AND GO … BOOKCROSSING

KEEP CALM AND GO … BOOKCROSSING

Apr 2, 2022 | BOOKCROSSING, BOOKCROSSING

Keep calm and go… bookcrossing is the new creation by Keep calm and go volunteering  team.

In the picture their box inaugurated on Monday 28 March, isn’t it delicious?

It is located in the Cairoli Park, in via del Piave, in Belluno. 

If one day maybe you find yourself in the area …

What do you think of bookcrossing?
Have you ever donated or collected books?

Speaking of the guys from Keep calm and go volunteering, on the subject of books, Lorenzo gave me a new precious advice!

Un altro giro di giostra by Tiziano Terzani.

Do you know him?

I really hope to read it soon: Lorenzo particularly emphasizes the considerations regarding coffee and the way it is drunk while we work, a sign of a frenetic society.

I found this excerpt:
With the streets populating immediately after dawn, New York lost its enchanted air to my eyes and at times it appeared to me as a monstrous jumble of many desperate people, each one running after some dream of sad wealth or miserable happiness. By eight, Fifth Avenue, south of Central Park, a stone’s throw from my house, was already full of people. Whiffs of airport perfumes filled my nose at every woman who, running with the usual breakfast packet in hand, brushed past me to enter one of the skyscrapers. What a way to start a day! I was thinking of the Florentines who, upon entering the Petrarca Bar in Porta Romana, do not simply order a “coffee”, but a “high” coffee, or a “macchiato” one in a “glass” or in a “cup,” a creamy cappuccino without foam or «A heart of coffee in glass» and I thought of the young Francesco who pays attention to everyone’s tastes. For most in New York, the coffee is an acid soup placed in a paper cup with a plastic pacifier-shaped lid to be able to sip it, still hot. Walking.

This is surely linked also to the famous “first coffee of the day” and to the favorite way of having breakfast we were talking about.

The cup in the photo below, on the other hand, has nothing to do with breakfast, it is taken from: The Duke, another precious tip from Lorenzo, this time cinematic.

Do you agree this is a very sweet image?
Do you already know this movie?

And what would you recommend to Lorenzo and the volunteers?

ELENA AND LAURA

ELENA AND LAURA

Dec 12, 2021 | THE X-MAS CAROLS

Fifth day of the Advent calendar with Elena and Laura: two sisters and a room of books! 

I find the sharing of this strong passion for reading between two sisters fantastic.

Elena and Laura make me think back to the times when my brother and I exchanged books,  in our case the preferences were a bit different, but this was an added value for me: in some way this helped to complete.

My brother writes very well, even though he doesn’t want me to say it.

So I will say that Elena and Laura are really good and talented, I followed their The house of souls  published serial on the blog and, in case you haven’t read it yet, I absolutely recommend that you retrieve it!

I also report their novel The secret of the trees  of which I anticipate only one name: Endelaman Crosel who struck me not only for the particularity, but because it was invented by Elena-child-version. 

The Christmas story by Elena and Laura instead is called Christmas, snow and chocolate:

A snowball hit the mailbox just as Ella was closing the shop. She turned abruptly and met the eyes of two children intent on a battle: they seemed mortified. She smiled and waved at them. The two smiled in turn and ran towards the park… go on here. 

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