Titles After Titles...

Novels, short stories, essays, jokes, little paragraphs.... Every reader will enjoy them... I know I love to read either it's a novel, a textbook, or a short story, an article, a magazine, I will read it if I'm interested.

Sadly, oddly enough, I ain't one to read many American writers. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of amazing writers, but I can't seem to enter their world. The writing is rather different from an Australian, British or German writer. Now, I'm still in love with novels, I can't stay away from them, no matter what will be in my way. But we also have an American writer who came to me via a friend of mine after they let me borrow a book.

Obviously, I can't buy every book I'd like to, I would need an entire room just to store them, show them off like a little library... But for now, I make lists, and buy a few! I wanted to share the latest 10 books with one review...

I. Me and You by Niccolò Ammaniti, an Italian author. "It's a beautiful book, a perfect tale. Painful and moving. Surprising, even for a writer of such a pure and inimitable talent, a sort of island without archipelago in the panorama of Italian fiction."- L'Unità (Italy). Ammaniti was born in Rome where he still lives. One of his novels was listed for The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. 

II. The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz. "A mash-up of Margaret Atwood and Roald Dahl" - Lady Magazine (UK). Lichtarowicz was born in Cheshire and studied English literature at Durham University. When she isn't writing, she makes television documentaries. 

III. 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough. "Mean Girls for the Instagram age." - The Times. Pinborough was born in the United Kingdom, she is an award-winning YA and adult thriller, fantasy and cross-genre novelist and screenwriter.

IV. The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe. " Gripping"- Somerset Life. She is the daughter of a London publisher and has been surrounded by books all her life. Her early published work included ten romantic novels, several short stories for magazines and radio. 

V. The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley, an Irish writer. "Full of family secrets, exotic flowers, tragedy, and redemption... A sweeping, poignant saga that will enthrall fans of  The House at Riverton, Rebecca and Downtown Abbey."- Shelf Awareness. 

VI. Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher, an amazing British author. "A gorgeous, gloriously romantic read with buckets of charm." - Jill Mansell. An incredible woman who I come to inspire a lot through her writing, her vlogs, and her husband, Tom Fletcher. 

VII. The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. "One of Edna O'Brien's best and most ambitious novels yet. The Little Red Chairs is personal and political; charming and grotesque; a novel of manners and a novel of monsters."- Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio. Edna was born and raised in the west of Ireland but has lived in London for many years. 

VIII. The Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut. "Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement." - The Boston Globe. Vonnegut is a master of contemporary American literature. He has quite a dark humor and unbelievable imagination which makes me love his writing. 

IX. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. "A free-wheeling vehicle... An unforgettable ride!"- The New York Time. 

X. The Sirens of Titans by Kurt Vonnegut. " His best book... He dares not only to ask the ultimate question about the meaning of life but to answer it."-  Esquire.

I have to go through them all, but I'm still waiting for a few other novels that are suppose to be arriving soon enough... Can't wait to be able to read them!  
Books are a way of escaping life, real life, to go on adventures, make you travel to insane places while being in bed under warm covers and a cup of tea on your bedside. So when I receive a book, I just imagine myself going into another world, another place. 

"I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."- J.K.Rowling

PS: Sorry about last Friday's post, I couldn't get one online, I had to go to work and do other things right when I woke up. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it before leaving to work. 

~Bella

The bloody question that never get answered!

WARNING: I won't say real names because I don't think it's necessary... I don't want you to continue reading if you don't want to know about narcissism! It's only my experience, what I saw and had to endure. I don't need you to lecture me about not having a psychology degree, I don't think I need one to know exactly what I saw. I did on the other side took classes, and read many textbooks, learned from experiences as well as others. Please, don't think you are living under the same roof as a person who may seem like a narcissist, just because you act a bit like one doesn't make you one! It's like you can be distracted, compulsive and not have a disorder.

Narcissism is a personality disorder which may impact those surrounding the affected person as much as themselves just like anxiety may does. Quite difficult to notice at first, but as the disorder progresses, the symptoms and associates traits/ behaviors become more pronounced. A personality disorder is simply a pattern of thoughts or behaviors that are significantly different from those expected in a specific culture or society. Just because you may have a set of pattern doesn't mean you have a disorder!

I have lived under the same roof of a narcissistic person, and to be honest, it wasn't a piece of pie, a joyful moment. Narcissists do not do well under overwhelming emotions, or feelings, when someone tells them their issues, the words come through, but the lack of concern about their emotion isn't present. Out of these emotions, anger and fear come along, fright the narcissistic person, who will find a way to transfer or assign blame to someone or something if these emotions rush in. Somehow, if the person breaks something, they will try and blame the person who gave them the object, not taking responsibility for their action. 
There are times when we have an angry reaction, throw plates onto the wall, or punching a chair, after all, if there is some type of stress in your life, it is understandable to be angry. Now, if it becomes a normal behavior, then you may consider it a sign of "something is wrong". 
I personally had to deal with grandiosity! This is overlooked by many of us; it could seem like it's bragging, but it's more than this! 
Grandiosity is being unrealistic! It's when an individual has a very inflated view of him or herself that they then portray to the outside world. They become louder than everyone else around only to show they are, the bigger person in the room. Tendencies of dressing well, showing off to the world in case someone important comes along... Feeling superior to others, even his wife or her husband becomes real. No matter what, they will say or do, nothing is good enough for the person who suffers from narcissism. The person uses his contacts for his own deal, nothing more, nothing less. 
Humans take advantage of people in general, but somehow we also manage to give something back, in return, but narcissistic people won't do anything for anyone, yet, they will continue to take advantage, use everyone, freely. The word, "sorry" doesn't go through, it never comes up, the responsibility of their actions are denied, and apologies are forgotten! Never will they apologize.

When you live under the same roof as a person who shows a narcissist side, you begin to see everything wrong with the person, nothing goes right. It's almost as you feel insecure around them, unaware of what the person may do next. Since, most of them are unpredictable when it comes to their emotions, and how manipulative they can be if something doesn't go their way, this may result in you being afraid, frightened. Again, seeing and accepting the traits that they are showing can be complex, not always easy to recognize the behaviors. After all, narcissists are generous with their advice, time, and often even their money. If they do give you their time, advice, it's not for you, it's for themselves! It's to show how intelligent they are to you, show how good they can manage situations, time, money. They know you are going to listen to them, confident enough in their own skin to think they are unpredictable. 
Don't think they can't love or form a bond, they can indeed do, just differently from us, they form bonds based on utility. They won't call you, check up on how you are doing, they only need to converse with you to get something... Narcissism isn't an easy disorder, it may be hard to recognize mostly because each trait that make up a narcissistic person could be given to everyone else. We all feel anger, fear, use people for our own good, like to be right, feel confident enough that we feel superior to others... But if this type of behavior is becoming "normal", you may consider it narcissism. 

Living with a person who only think about themselves, only listen what they want, understand what they want, and making everyone feel horrible for mistake they did. Some questions may help you recognize if you are one or they are...

1. Do you consider yourself smarter than most, if not, all of the people around you? If so, do you also tend to change the path of conversations to the things you know, think and have?

2. DO you consider yourself above reproach? Many times, a narcissist will think - the rules don't apply to me. They are in place to keep other people in line, but I can break a rule here and there, because I understand how rules work and should be applied. 

3. Do you get angry when someone offers your constructive criticism, or do you sometimes mistake other people's words as direct criticism of your personally? 

4. Do you apologize? Many narcissists refuse to ever apologize, even when they are entirely at fault. For example, if you unknowingly hurt someone's feelings, do you offer words of apology?

5. Do you blame your emotions on others? A narcissist is often unable to cope with or accept his or her own emotions. Do you attribute your anger to the actions of others? Do you rely on others to supply your happiness, leaving them open to blame should something go wrong?

6. Do you feel that your life and well being is more important than anyone else's? A narcissist will have very little genuine interest in other people. 

Now, if you are concerned about narcissism after considering your answers to these questions, then there is probably only a 50% chance that you, personally, are a narcissist. Don't get overwhelmed by it all though... If you are concerned that you are offending others with the behaviors mentioned above, you are taking the time to consider the impact of your actions and reactions to others. 

"When a narcissist can no longer control you, they will instead try to control how others see you."

~Bella