Bernard Jan's Blog - Posts Tagged "love"

Eleanor i Park by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I thought I was not a big fan of romance novels, and maybe I am really not, but there is something about Eleanor & Park that makes me question that. I hate to be a spoiler, but I need to say I was almost ready to send a not-so-gentlemanly message to Rainbow Rowell, the author of this amazingly cool YA novel, for holding me in disbelief, expecting and hanging over the cliff for so long!

This heart-warming and heartbreaking story gives us memorable characters in painstakingly real situations, with sixteen-year-old Eleanor and Park in the lead. Eleanor, a red-haired social misfit in totally wrong clothes, and Park, the cutest Asian guy ever coming from a perfect family. They are so different and unlikely to function as a couple, as one, and yet they keep fighting and beating all odds, becoming a perfect match in all their imperfections! There is where lies the true charm of this novel!

I might not make much sense to you (blame it on the excitement which still lingers under my skin) but it will all make sense to you when you grab that book and start reading it. It's great stuff! Don't miss it!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com



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Bernard Jan

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have read many good books this year and even more in years before. But a book like Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman comes every five to ten years into your hands, if you are lucky to find it.

This book ravished my heart. It left me emotionally unstable. It's all I need to say. And then...








silence.

Not because it is appropriate, the silence, or because I don't have words in my fingers or little things, impressions and details in my mind I like, love and want to share with others, hoping someone appreciates them and approves of them worthy of the book I've read. The echoes of the summer still linger in my tissues, my bones, resounding with the thunder of the sea that spits its waves on the shores of one infatuated love when a teenage boy craves for a young man who willingly obliges.

They know they love on borrowed time and that the salty taste of summer won't last longer than the dried sweat on their skin. They know erotic moments of their feet touching in secrecy under the table won't have to be masked much longer by feigned ignorance in the presence of others. All these misunderstood and misinterpreted touches, expressions, actions and echoes of other's words will remain sealed between the walls of a bedroom as the countdown of the remaining days ticks away.

Yet, they embrace each other. With the force and the passion and the pleasure of a sunny moment in time, sufficient to create a new heaven and a new earth. In the blink of two hearts they are created when they call each other by their name; in the heat of a Roman night it will flutter away from existence as they enjoy each other and share a bed for the last time.

Elio and Oliver.

Transformed by a short romance which conceives their first glances with feigned indifference only to mature into a life-changing experience which will define them as a new person, as one, as they redefine one another. It is a new life, a new era, and everything else is measured and remembered as before and after Elio and Oliver time.

True happiness rarely comes without great sacrifices. Elio and Oliver know that while they gamble their love on the Italian Riviera with the high stake of spending their remaining lives with other people instead of being together. Rehearsing pain of departure and life of separation so it will hurt less later! is only effective until it threatens to disperse their love into tomorrow twenty years later devoid of romantic or any other memories.

With Call Me By Your Name André Aciman gave humankind a beautiful book of love that ought to be studied in schools. Yet who is competent enough to analyze the love that impregnates your veins with the boiling blood if they didn't scald their own insides with such tormenting heat first? Who is to judge the poetry and lyricism of painfully carved sentences which provoke us to admit that there is a perfection after all?

This brutally realistic love story is more convincing than some real-life true stories we may read, for it carries the weight of something magical, deep and personal, something buried, excavated and buried again under the layers of exquisite storytelling.

We all live on borrowed time and it would be such a shame to walk to the end of our lives without stopping for a few hours, or days, and dedicate them to this story. Even worse would it be not to learn something from it and fail to find someone willing, ready and glad to call us by their name. At least for one summer if not for the lifetime.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan



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Seduce her with a fist by Kristina Gallo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What is the right way to love? To follow your heart and face the music, whatever the tune it may be, or to follow someone else’s expectations and fall victim of the norms of society?

If you are a young woman and in the “right age” to find a husband, this decision is even harder to make. A young heart burning with flames of desire can easily cave under pressure and make a wrong choice. Instead of prince charming who will become her husband, intelligent girl Valentina chooses Petar, a local hooligan who manipulates his way into her heart. After he uses her and shares sex with her with no emotions and promises for any kind of future and love, Valentina must deal with harsh consequences of her naivety.

The story of Valentina and Petar is Kristina Gallo’s story of an unhappy love that happened in Croatia in 1999. When love hurts because love is denied despite the high price you are willing to pay for a glimpse of fake happiness.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com



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Bernard Jan

These are the days when we are full of love and show more kindness than anytime during the year.

These are the days when we want peace and happiness to everyone, when we are ready to give getting nothing in return.

But these are also the days when we take the most. When we deprive others of their happiness and peace, when out of ignorance or lack of care we sit at the family table and take their lives.

Opening our hearts—to everyone—is important. We are so capable of grand and beautiful things and, truth is, we can live and be happy without taking from our animal families.

Please think before you choose your meal and show them mercy. Join me in honoring life and fill this world with kindness and love for everyone. Don’t let any animal be killed for our celebrations and festivities, we are all entitled to freedom and happiness.

My love to you and your beloved ones and every single creature that swims, flies, crawls and walks the earth.

Best wishes and happy holy-and-every-day!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Bernard Jan

Offstage by Jonathan Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A kiss and drunken lips. Is it a close friendship between Daniel and Nathan or the birth of the first love?

Who speaks the truth when youthful lust gets the cold shoulder?

Love cannot be killed. If it cannot be reciprocated it must be endured.

In Offstage Jonathan Hill gets more sexual, more erotic, more sensual, more emotional, more unforgiving, more everything.

More a writer.

I needed a break after reading this story. And a few moments of solitude. Jonathan Hill can do that to you. There lies his brilliancy.

Read him!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com



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Bernard Jan

To all my friends, followers, readers, and reviewers. To all of you who got in touch with me in this year and to all of you who will read this.

I wish you all the best for the holidays and many days after. I wish you to spend them with the people you love and who give you their unconditional love; surrounded with warmth, happiness, kindness and with no worry on your mind. Whether you spend them with your family, friends or alone, let them be full of all good things that make this life worth living.

I don’t have big plans for the end of this year. I will work on my book, read books from my huge reading list, spend time at home with my parents and my online friends. I like to keep it quiet, cozy and relaxing, doing things I like best, because books are my addiction. This passion keeps burning inside me no matter what time of day or year. My other passion is spreading kindness and compassion to and for those in need, especially animals. Even in times of celebration and holidays I will keep thinking on them, wishing I can do more for them to ease their misery and suffering. There are days when being a vegan doesn’t seem enough, when I feel I can do and should do more like jump in the catastrophic fires that are devastating Australia and be a protective shield between devouring flames and animals and people losing their lives and homes there. And it’s not only Down Under. It’s like that all over our beautiful planet!

Do you sometimes feel the same? Do you feel bad, frustrated and angry seeing our planet going from bad to worse as it spins madly toward the cataclysm, and those in power to make a change do nothing or ignore it? They have the power, yes, but they are not the only ones. We have the power too, you and me. If we do something on our small personal level, things will move forward. And if others join us, we can do bigger, greater things. We can change the world, I firmly believe that.

So, why not start now, during these holidays? Why not end this year and begin a new year with small acts of kindness? It’s actually very simple. Having a plant-based Christmas dinner or New Year’s party can mean a lot to animals who suffer, and it won’t cost us anything. It will open our windows to the world of new flavors and smells, the best ones being kindness, compassion, and empathy. Those are the flavors I enjoy for 18 years already and they feel so good. The best things I’ve ever tasted! You’d give me a great joy if you tried them too and let me know how you liked them. One thing is certain: they get better with time because the more we taste them the more we heal our planet. It’s the best natural cure our Earth can get from us. And, to be honest, it needs it!

Thank you for spreading love and kindness, thank you for having a big and compassionate heart. Thanks for all good things you will do for others in the last moments of this year and for good things you will continue doing in 2020.

Hopefully, it brings us all many memorable and pleasant moments, happiness, good health, and great books.

Much love and my very best wishes!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan