That interests meme of the last week's fad

[avrelia]

Interests meme

The rules:
Look at your LJ "interests" list. If you have less
than 50 interests, pick every fifth one. If you have between 50 and 75
interests, pick every seventh one. If you have over 75 interests, pick
every tenth one. If you have fewer than ten, pick all of 'em. List them
on your LJ, and tell everyone exactly what it is about these things
that interests you so much.

Bookstores – have a powerful spell on me. I cannot resist their lure
and go in, and look to books, and don't want ever leave. The real
culture shock for me were couches and fish tanks in Chapters. (they
all promptly disappeared after the merge with Indigo, alas) But I
like all kind of books stores – small and quaint, big and light, dusty
and glossy… they have books in them!

Ciurlionis – A Great Lithuanian Artist and composer, very famous (in
Lithuania and former USSR), and overall amazing. I did a whole post
about him here – with pictures.

Fantasy – fantasy novels as a genre, and fantasy as the way of
thinking. I think that fantasy is one of the most versatile genres and
allows to look at the world from the strangest points of view and play
with the various concepts that don't have places in other genres.

Jane Austen – a mysterious item. I am not quite sure what it is that
makes her so interesting – sense of humour? Wit? Heroes? Heroines? The
problems: time&place specific yet understandable everywhere, writing
style? Whatever it is, she is one of my interests.
Marina Tsvetaeva – my very favourite poet; the one that made me to
enjoy poetry (as opposed to just memorizing for the class); the one
that made me see poetry as a special medium where everything makes
certain sense and every element adds to the whole; the one who
encouraged me to consciously write poetry.

Pushkin – The Great Russian Poet, the poet that I love to read and
reread, the poet I hold long discussions in my mind – about
everything, the starting point, the inspiration, the essence of
Russianness: both himself (his great-grandfather was African) and in
the sense that his writings forms a significant part of the Russian
culture; also, he washes the dishes and takes the garbage out.

Umberto Eco – another mysterious item: I didn't even read that much of
him – some books, some essays. But what I did read made a strong
impression.

Comments

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

What's your favorite Tsvetaeva poem/collection? I've been meaning to start reading her seriously, I'm just not sure where to start.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I would say start from the poems 1913-1915 years – they are easier and a lot of them are well-known. My favourite period is 1918-1921, and second favorite is 1916-1917. The very early are just too flowery – and I was getting bored with the romantic adolescent angst (a good one!) even I was a teenager myself. After 1921 the poetry is very good, but more difficult to read, so not the best place to start. Also the progression is very interesting by itself. I, for some reason, has always perceived her poetry in colours and the periods I am talking about all have very distinct spectrums for me.