Library

THE FIFTH ELEMENT – Luc Besson / I have to do something, otherwise I’m going to die.

Achieving popular, if not critical, success. There are statues in her honour and an annual festival in May to celebrate it. In 1429 a woman liberated Orléans from a siege by the English, and the city has never forgotten this event. Its Musee des Beaux-Arts is a 2 minute walk from Hotel Groslot and the cathedral. Here you can observe …

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THE VISIT – Novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt, born in Konolfingen in January 1921, was a Swiss writer, dramatist and also painter. After a busy childhood, he studied philosophy and Germanic languages in Zurich and Bern. After the Second World War, he began writing short tales and plays. He was the protagonist of renewal of the German-language, German theater, dealing grotesquely with the problems of contemporary …

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VENUS IN FURS – Novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

He studied law, history and mathematics at the University of Graz, and after graduating he moved to Lemberg, where he became a professor. LEOPOLD VON SACHER-MASOCH was an Austrian writer and journalist, who gained renown for his romantic stories of Galician life. The term masochism is derived from his name. He was well known as a man of letters. In …

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ARTEMISIA – Novel by Anna Banti

She was born in Florence at the gates of the summer of 1895. She who reads her texts senses the search for taste, because in narrative intrigue she skillfully replaces a plot of motifs similar to musical sequences. Her great literary theme was that of woman’s solitude, seeking for a dignity in the world of men. That unique daughter of …

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I WAS CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE ON MY RESERVATION WHEN I WAS KID – Sherman Alexie

SHERMAN JOSEPH ALEXIE is one of the most award-winning writers in North America, but his studies have been characterized by home studying. This American novelist, short story writer, poet, and filmmaker was born in 1966 grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. His parents were alcoholics, but he described his life at the reservation school as challenging. Because of his …

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THE SCARLET LETTER – Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

John Hathorne (a judge involved in Salem’s witches trials) is one of his ancestors. NATHANIEL HATHORNE was born in 1804 in Salem (Massachusetts). In 1821 he entered the Bowdoin College, graduating four years later. Franklin Pierce (14th President of the United States) was among his fellow students. He published his first novel in 1828. After some transfers, he stopped in …

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A COMPLICATED KINDNESS – Romance, by Miriam Toews

She has degree in Literature and Cinema and a degree in Journalism. Miriam Toews was born in Steinbach (Manitoba, Canada) in 1964. She left Steinbach at eighteen, living in Montreal and London before settling in Winnipeg. She has a bachelor degree in Film Studies from the University of Manitoba, and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College, …

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KOKORO – Romance, by Natsume Sōseki

He is considered to be the greatest writer in modern Japan. NATSUME SOSEKI was born in Tokyo in 1867. He studied at the Imperial University of Tokyo and after graduating, he went to England, where he studied English literature. Despite his poverty, loneliness, and mental problems, he solidified his knowledge of English literature and returned to in 1903. His literary …

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SUMMER OF BETRAYAL – Romance, by Hong Ying

HONG YING is the wife of a banker and entrepreneur turned into a writer, a man who belongs to the fourth generation of a British family with colonial ties to the Far East. The two have been married since 2009 and live between London and the Marche (central Italian region). She is author of many novels translated into many languages …

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WATER – Romance, by Bapsi Sidhwa

Bapsi Sidhwa, is a Pakistani writer who writes in English. she was born in Karachi by Zoroastrian parents, growing up in Lahore. Pakistan is the place, where her first three novels are set and everyone has a strong sense of place and community identity. Her novels, translated into many languages, have received prestigious awards. She is married, has three children …

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