Stacey Lee, Downstairs Girl (MYTH)
Downstairs Girl revolves around Jo Kuan, a US-born Chinese woman.
She lives in Atlanta in the basement of a newspaper and works as a maid.
One day, the girl finds out that the publication is on the verge of bankruptcy, and she may lose her corner.
Then Joe comes up with a new heading and starts an anonymous women's advice column.
She raises many questions that are relevant to her readers, but not everyone is satisfied with what thoughts the girl broadcasts.
The heroine's life is in danger when ill-wishers decide to reveal her secret.
The work is included in the list of recommendations from the Reese Witherspoon Literature Club.
Downstairs Girl Stacey Lee is smart, insightful and funny.
It is a bold portrait of a young Chinese-American woman named Jo who faces adversity and finds a creative way to use her voice for the greater good."
“There are not many Chinese in the city, especially after the story with the rabid rapist.
Of course, you were very young and you don't remember.
— I read my father's articles.
I finally breathe.
The wild-eyed rapist was never caught, but another man was arrested, who looked very much like the perpetrator, except for the ten-inch difference in height.
The unfortunate man was released - or rather, his soul was freed when the body was uplifted on a centuries-old oak.
After that, almost all the Chinese remaining in Atlanta hurried to leave.
“I think we're talking about the same person,” Nathan says.
“I didn't remember her name.
Perhaps you could ask Mrs English.
I'm curious about this girl.
I have to try not to gasp.
Hammer often said that when people are connected, their energy flows begin to flow towards each other while the mind tries to find patterns.
That's why Old Jin strictly forbade uncles from breaking the rules.
We leave footprints not only on the ground.
Did I leave another mark by writing an article on behalf of Miss Berries?
Yes.
It seems like it was a very bad idea to send a letter to the Bellams."
© MIF
Rinat Valiullin, Single (AST)
“Not Married” is the continuation of Rinat Valiullin’s literary trilogy “Not!”, which includes the books “It doesn’t add up - don’t subtract”, “Not a fool” and “I don’t want to”.
In them, the author writes about overcoming circumstances and self-love.
The new book also contains stories about women - bright, strong, but with their own weaknesses.
Sometimes they make mistakes, but in spite of everything they continue to go to their happiness.
Rinat Valiullin is known as the author of such novels as "Where Kisses Are Rolling", "Effectivity", "Each Silence Has Its Own Hysteria", "Affection", "State - Peter".
The writer is fond of painting - some of his works can be seen on book covers.
"I'm all wet because of you.
We could sit at home and drink tea.
It was necessary to give birth to such an idiot.
The boy whined softly, sobbing, not so much from resentment as from dislike.
- Enough already nurses dissolve.
Get a hold of yourself.
Are you a man or not a man?
Heard from the bench opposite.
There was a mother with a mammoth.
The mother was still venting her displeasure.
"Well, why are you acting like a kid?"
And stop whining already, my head hurts.
Why are you different like a woman?
I won't go anywhere else with you!
“Well, is it possible to do this with children, even with their own,” the old man sitting next to me could not stand it.
You are only adding fuel to the fire!
After all, when a child feels bad, he looks for support in his parents, and after the words you said, the baby will think that you don’t care about his problem and you don’t want to listen to him.
The child may develop psychological trauma.
After all, you need to cry, because you release your emotions, and after such an unsuccessful phrase, the child will be afraid to cry.
What are you, a psychologist?
Yes, psychologist.
- Do you have any children?
- Not.
- You can see it right away.
- What can be seen?
“What you don’t understand a damn thing about life.”
© AST
Richard Schwartz, My Different Selves (MYTH)
Doctor of Psychology Richard Schwartz argues that every person has several subpersonalities.
Only by recognizing and understanding each of them, you can get rid of conflicting feelings and achieve inner harmony.
“We are born with subpersonalities, or parts.
These parts are not imaginary and not symbolic.
These are all individuals that exist as an inner family within us - and the key to health and happiness is to respect, understand and love each of their parts, ”says Schwartz.
The internal family system he developed is used in the treatment of depression and addictions, as well as in recovery from injuries.
“However scary and crazy the notion of multiple subpersonalities may seem at first, you will soon see that it is very convenient.
Your concern is justified, because plurality is condemned by our culture.
A person who consists of several personalities is considered abnormal, and the presence of alters in him is explained by the fragmentation of a previously unified mind due to trauma.
The unified mind is identical to the normal mind.
And only tragedy can break it into pieces, like a vase.
Because this paradigm dominates, we fear our parts and treat them as symptoms of disease.
In trying to manage unpleasant thoughts and emotions, we fight, ignore, discipline, hide, and shy away from impulses that prevent us from doing what we want.
And then we shame ourselves for not being able to deal with them.
We hate everything that gets in the way."
© MIF
Peter Vronsky, The Sons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present (AST)
The book by criminologist and doctor of historical sciences Peter Vronsky tells about serial killers who lived in different eras.
According to Vronsky, the term "serial killer" appeared in 1981.
Before that, they were called witches, werewolves, vampires and Hitchcock psychos.
The author talks about such famous criminals as Ted Bundy, Richard Cottingham and Zodiac.
He explores the phenomenon of serial killers, talks about their motives and psyche, and also talks about why their crimes interest and captivate people.
“The next morning, when I arrived at the film lab, my eyes were drawn to the newspapers spread out in the waiting room.
The headlines screamed about the fire and the decapitated bodies.
When I realized that we were talking about the hotel where I was the previous morning, I did not immediately connect the man from the elevator with what happened.
The now-famous phenomenon of serial killers and their crimes was unfamiliar to me, so the puzzle of a jerk, a bag full of bowling balls, and a massacre on the top floor did not work out in my head.
Like any other person in those years.
Only after a while, when Cottingham was arrested and I first saw his photograph in the newspapers, everything suddenly fell into place.
I immediately recognized him.
The same idiot that made me wait!
That’s when bowling balls suddenly took on a whole new meaning.”
© AST
Elif Shafak, "The Island of the Lost Trees" (ABC-Atticus)
The plot of the novel "The Island of the Lost Trees" simultaneously unfolds in two countries and periods: in 1974 in Cyprus during a military coup, and in London in the late 2010s.
Two stories are connected by fig trees: in the past, the Greek Kostas and the Turkish woman Defne met in love near the old one, and the young one grows next to the house where Kostas and his daughter Ada live.
The publisher calls the work "a romantic love story against the backdrop of civil strife and the horrors of the civil war."
“A heartbreakingly beautiful novel centered on the dark mysteries of civil wars and the evils engendered by extremism: Cyprus, lovers born under an unlucky star, crippled destinies of children… (And one of the narrators is a fig tree!),” says writer Margaret Atwood of the book.
“A sudden gust of wind cut into my body like a serrated knife.
Kostas seemed to notice this, as he stopped digging.
- You just look!
Poor thing, you're freezing!
He worried about me.
As always.
Previously, at the slightest cold snap, he did everything possible to save my life.
I remember one cold January day he shielded me from all sides from the wind and wrapped me in several layers of burlap to reduce moisture loss.
And another time covered with mulch.
He installed infrared lamps in the garden to keep me warm at night, and more importantly, in the hour before dawn, the darkest and coldest time of the day.
That's when most of us fall into an eternal sleep, never to wake up - the homeless on the streets and we ...
... fig trees - they are fig trees.
I am Ficus carica, known as the edible common fig, although I can assure you I am nothing ordinary.”
© Azbuka-Atticus
Gyeongdeok Lee, "Korean Myths" (MYTH)
Professor of Cultural Anthropology Kyungdok Lee from South Korea offers his readers a fresh look at Korean myths that can help them understand the mentality of his compatriots.
In legends, the afterlife looks like a flower meadow, dragons rule the seas, and men often lose to women.
The book deals with six of the 12 myths known to all residents of South Korea.
“Myths reflect the worldview and ethos of society.
I hope that with the help of this book we will see what kind of world and what kind of life our society has so far desired, what people have dreamed of, and based on this, we can create a new life and new dreams,” says Kyungdeok Lee.
“The meaning of the images of flowers and the flower meadow is the main key to understanding Korean myths.
As soon as this key is inserted into the keyhole, the meaning of the flower competitions, which are found in the “Song Tale of the Heavenly Sovereign” of Jeju Island, in the “Song of the Creation of the World” of Hamgyongdo Province, in the “Song Tale of the Goddess of Fertility” (Senbulhalman-ponphuri) becomes clear , which refers to the patroness of childbearing Samsyn-Khalman, and many others.
The meaning of images of flowers and a flower meadow in the stories about Princess Pari, Chacheonbi and Oneul is clarified.
A flower meadow is a world that people who lived on this earth dreamed about.
Our ancestors dreamed of a beautiful, fertile world, like a field of flowers, and created it in their imagination.
Curiously, the flower meadow is located in the Western lands under the Western skies - in other words, in the afterlife.
As we can see from the myth of Princess Pari, the only way to get to the Western Lands is by dying.
However, there are flowers that symbolize life, and there is a clearing of flowers that have life-giving power.
An amazing play of imagination!
© MIF