Carry On !

titolo :  Carry On

autore : Rainbow Rowell

ed. : Macmillian, 2015 ; Piemme, 2017

540 pagine 

    

Simon Snow è il peggior prescelto di sempre. Questo è ciò che sostiene Baz, il suo compagno di stanza. Baz potrà anche essere un vampiro e un nemico, ma ha probabilmente ragione. Per la maggior parte del tempo infatti Simon non sa far funzionare la sua bacchetta, oppure non sa controllare il suo inestinguibile potere mandando tutto a fuoco. Il suo mentore lo evita, la sua ragazza lo ha lasciato, e un mostro con la sua faccia si aggira per Watford, la scuola di magia in cui frequentano l’ultimo anno. Allora perché Baz non riesce a fare a meno di stargli sempre intorno?

Recensione 

Per chiunque sia appassionato in generale al mondo incantato di Harry Potter : vi ho trovato molte corrispondenze, l’ispirazione è dichiarata, indubbia; ma tante sono le similarità quante sono le differenze. Mi ha divertito e al contempo affascinato l’importanza della lingua nell’uso della magia, tanto che in questa storia appaiono incantesimi buffissimi, a metà tra filastrocche, proverbi, comuni modi di dire e motti pubblicitari. I personaggi sono pieni di colore, e qui è possibile entrare nella testa di molti di loro, perché la Rowell conduce la narrazione attraverso una pluralità di punti di vista. I capitoli sono perciò segmenti molto brevi che rendono la lettura davvero rapida ma a volte anche un po’ frustrante. La struttura però non mi sorprende : appartiene alla Rowell sin da Eleanor & Park ed è tipica degli Young Adult. Inoltre qui si rendeva necessario condensare un “non scritto” di sette anni, che sarà familiare forse solo a chi ha letto Fangirl, e il p.o.v multiplo era l’unico modo per farci conoscere una valanga di personaggi e situazioni in sole 500 pagine. Non ho compreso fino in fondo il ruolo di Agatha, la sua importanza nella storia, se non alla fine, quando esce fuori il suo pensiero su Ebb : allora ho trovato la scelta di inserire anche il suo punto di vista davvero azzeccata. Lucy mi infastidisce e mi intenerisce insieme : è uno strumento nelle mani del lettore, ma la sua presenza si rivela importante solo fino ad un certo punto. Simon e Baz restano gli indiscussi protagonisti -anche se sorge spontaneo fare immediato riferimento a Harry e Draco, la Rowell sviluppandone carattere e storia ha saputo distaccarsi brillantemente dal modello. Non posso dire che mi siano rimasti nel cuore, ma ho letto fino a notte fonda perché volevo assolutamente sapere come sarebbe finita (o iniziata), tra loro. Il finale in un certo senso mi ha sorpreso, specie per quello che capita a Simon. Che dire di Penny ? E’ un comico misto di Ron, Hermione e Luna Lovegood nella stessa persona, amabile e decisiva. ** spoiler alert ** Per quanto riguarda gli antagonisti, è stato secondo me un colpo di genio far confluire la massima rappresentazione del bene e del male nei medesimi personaggi, anche se considero la figura dell’Arcimago un po’ scontata e prevedibile.

In poche parole, è una lettura leggera, non impegnativa ma nemmeno priva di interessanti riflessioni. Ancora una volta si tratta di abbattere muri e pregiudizi, unire le forze, svelare segreti, attraversare passaggi segreti, affrontare il dolore, la morte … ma in special modo Carry On considera la paura di agire, di essere, di amare e di amarsi.

Pubblicità

Halloween ? No, I think it’s already Christmas !

Today I woke up with the interphone ringing … I run down the stairs still in my pajamas and then I opened the door. A smile broke across my face. A big package for me ! I was expecting a package, yes, from Amazon.uk, but not until October, 27th ! So, it was a big surprise. I thanked the carrier with sparkling eyes and then I rushed back into the house, knowing perfectly what I would see but still … I opened the cardboard box with impatience, the heart pounding in my chest. Yes, all the three new books were there, in their magnificent covers. (And I paid less then £10 for each one!)

Well, I am still a bit disappointed because they’re here, in my shelves, but I could not pass my time with them, not so much. The everyday life is a bitch. Also, I have a stack of books that I AM READING already, and I have to finish them first. I am almost finished with The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro. A strange, interesting, slow reading, a little frustrating but also very profound in his thoughts. Like a river, with a calm but misty surface. I will talk about The Buried Giant very soon.

I am also listening to the audiobook of The Golem and the Jinny by Helen Wecker. I wish I had also the book or the ebook with me, but the Audible performance is great as usual, and I can’t wait to know how it will end. Too many point of views, and yet the story is so vivid, so detailed the setting, so incredible and realistic the characters, that I find myself in awe.

Other books in my reading list are :

•  Roverandom by JRR Tolkien
•  Trigger Warning : short fiction and disturbances by Neil Gaiman
• S. by J J Abrams and Doug Dorst ( if you are reading it, maybe you could take a look here )

I wish to have the strenght to give precedence to them, but I know that it will nearly impossible to resist to the call … See below, that is what’s expecting me since this morning :

my hardcovers copies of HP illustrated ed. by Jim Kay, Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

So, yes, finally I hug my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling, illustrated by Jim Kay. I love this book so much, I love Jim artworks and I can’t wait to reread Harry Potter, this time in english.

Say Hi to Career of Evil, the number 3 in the Cormoran Strike novels ! I have read the first pages from the official website of Robert Galbraith, and I was left horror-struck ! I fear for Robin, really !

Finally, Keep Calm and … Carry On ! Baz and Simon, their fights, possibly their love story. A lot of magic is in the air ….

With the autumn wind

There is a gentle breeze, mornings and evenings are getting colder. This period of the year, when you ought to say goodbye to the seaside, put away the swimsuit and spend the last breath of holiday in planning and organizing before returning to work or to study, while schools are starting and the days are shortening, is probably one of the most hated. After Christmas, if you are the Grinch. Personally, I love it. I watch intently the green leaves and I can almost sense them becoming gold and red and brune. I hear the silent song of the autumn wind, it’s coming for them, and for us, and I rejoice.

Because autumn is a promise of time for things I like to do. It’s time for watching the new episodes of tv series I follow,  it’s time for bread with Nutella and for hot tea, it’s time for snuggling under the covers and the light of a lamp, listening to the sound of rain and the rumble of the sky, with a new book on my lap.  Oh, for Merlin’s hat … A high pile of new books, ok !

Do you want to know which books I’m talking about ?

 

 

AFTER YOU by JoJo Moyes, the long awaited sequel of Me befor you !

expected pubblication : 29 set 2015  

 – How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living? Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.
Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .
For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

 

Jojo Moyes says: “I hadn’t planned to write a sequel to Me Before You. But working on the movie script, and reading the sheer volume of tweets and emails every day asking what Lou did with her life, meant that the characters never left me. It has been such a pleasure revisiting Lou and her family, and the Traynors, and confronting them with a whole new set of issues. As ever, they have made me laugh, and cry. I hope readers feel the same way at meeting them again.”

 

CARRY ON by Rainbow Rowell ! Have you ever heard of Simon Snow ?

 

 

THESE BOOKS AREN’T EVEN REAL, WHY YOU HAVE DONE THIS TO US, RAINBOW ? [for more info, go read FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell]

Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with Carry On, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl. 

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters. [from Goodreads]

 

CAREER OF EVIL by Robert Galbraith ,(aka JK Rowling) – Cormoran Strike third novel !! 

Expected publication :  2o oct 2015 [USA] ; 22 oct 2015 [UK]

 

 

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

 

 

HEARTLESS by Cornelia Funke – author of the Inkworld trilogy, now writing the Mirrorworld saga.

 

The third book of the Mirrorworld saga has been published first in Germany, this february, with the title THE GOLDEN YARN. The eng cover is not yet avalaible to see, or for better saying I can’t find it, but Cornelia answered a Goodreads Q&A in which she gave out the date of publication, it should came out in november.

If you are interested, you could read this review from BookFrog, which I found really useful. But watch for the spoilers !!! The Mirrorworld saga has an entire tumblr blog dedicated to it, and Cornelia Funke, the author, keeps in touch with her readers in many ways, through the official website, facebook, goodreads … if you have questions you can ask directly to her, she is very kind.

news from Cornelia Funke official website :  “Some of you may have heard it on Facebook already: I am currently revising RECKLESS, the first book of my MirrorWorld series, including everything I learned in the past few years about this world and especially my characters. The story won’t change much but I know Jacob, Will, Fox and Clara so much better by now that I felt I owe them these revisions. […] ” 

” I am as upset as my readers that Heartless or The Golden Yarn – as it iscalled in German – has not yet been published in English! As you all know it is out in Germany since February and is currently being translated into several other languages. The book has been translated into English, but my UK and US publishers asked me to make changes both to the beginning and the end of the story (both favorite passages of mine), which I don’t agree with. Both in the US and the UK the MirrorWorld series has been published from the beginning for a younger audience than I intended and I think this is still at the bottom of all this. I promise I will make sure the book will be available for my English language MirrorWorlders very soon. After all Jacob, Fox and I miss you behind the Mirrors! So… please keep your fingers crossed that we all travel very soon together again. The Baba Yaga is waiting:)”

“Sunday, 7 June, 2015

More news on Heartless

For all of you who are waiting for The Golden Yarn or Heartless, as it is so far called in English (not sure which title I prefer:)): I decided to publish an electronic version with my publishing company BreathingBooks in September. For the ones who love their books still on paper (I am one of them) I’ll try to also make a small but delicious print run available. Additionally I intend to record the book myself on audio. More info on my website as soon as we decided how to make all this available. All the very best from LA, Cornelia :)”

 

I can’t wait for these books to come out, I can’t wait to read them all ! Yay ! What books Autumn’s wind will bring to you ? 

 

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Note : I wrote this post directly in english because the new pubblications I am interested in, are all in this language. If you notice any mistake and/or if you wish for an italian translation, please let me know.