Don Quixote by Picasso.
“Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and the present. I know I shall never feel lonely or powerless again.” In her witty and charming TED Talk, Lisa Bu, the Content Distribution Manager at TED, speaks about how books have helped her throughout her life, beginning in China, where she was born and raised, and later when she moved to the US.
Tomorrow, 23 April, is World Book and Copyright Day. The day was announced by UNESCO first time back in 1995, and the reason why exactly this date was picked has its own little story. Originally the idea of a World Book Day sprang from the Spanish writer Vicente Clavel Andrés. He wanted to dedicate a day to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes - best known for “Don Quixote” - first on 7 October, Cervantes’ birth date, and then on 23 April, his day of death. However, as 23 April also happens to be the death day of other prominent writers such as William Shakespeare, this was, of course, the most obvious choice.
Here’s to you, a Handful of History - 5 exciting things on history I thought were worth sharing. Enjoy!
3 books.
I) “I Am A Girl From Africa” by Elizabeth Nyamayaro. I’ve been curious about this book for a while. Now it has finally been released, and I will dive into it straight away. “When severe drought hit her village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth, then eight, had no idea that this moment of utter devastation would come to define her life purpose. Unable to move from hunger, she encountered a United Nations aid worker who gave her a bowl of warm porridge and saved her life. This transformative moment inspired Elizabeth to become a humanitarian, and she vowed to dedicate her life to giving back to her community, her continent, and the world.”
II) “Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. Oldie but goodie. A few years back, I visited Bodleian Library in Oxford and saw an original handwritten working draft manuscript by Mary Shelley. Later, I finally got to read her famous book, and let me just say that there is so much more to it than ‘scary monster chasing through the night’ as the movies often present it. Here’s a Frankenstein summary (video). And a film about the author’s life too if you like: “Mary Shelley”.
III) “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. - a book that makes you stop and wonder...how would my life have turned out if I had made some other decisions along the way? “Between life and death, there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices. What if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one - following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist - she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life. And what makes it worth living in the first place.”
The 1960s - I. “Poor planning, terrible egos, incredible innocence” Everything went wrong at the Altamont Festival, California,1969.
The 1960s - II. Hey Jules - Don’t Be Afraid. Joanna Figiel over at Przekrój writes the fascinating - and rather entertaining - story behind The Beatles’ megahit from 1968 “Hey Jude”. “In the original version, there was no Jude. There was Julian, John Lennon’s son. “Hey Jules,” the song’s author hummed. “Hey Jules, don’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.” The perfect song to comfort a five-year-old who didn’t understand what was going on around him. The perfect song to comfort the child’s mother, Lennon’s wife Cynthia, who understood what was going on all too well and had no doubts about how it would end. And yet, Lennon wasn’t the author of these comforting lyrics; it was Paul McCartney.”
Spy thriller. “It’s 1984. US intelligence officers battling the Soviets know that KGB spies could be anywhere. Anywhere except the FBI. Because the Bureau has never been compromised -- until now.” These days I’m listening to the non-fiction podcast, “In the Gap”, in which we follow the life and mystery of Richard W. Miller - the first FBI agent that has ever been arrested for espionage against his own country. More than hundreds of agents are involved in revealing Miller’s wrongdoing, and questions are piling up: Was he on his own - or were more FBI agents involved? How long has it been going on? How many secrets has he revealed to the KGB?
The French photographer, Chloé Jafé, has made a series on Japanese Yakuza women, i.e. women who are part of the Japanese mafia. After years of trying, she finally succeeded in getting access to the mysterious Yakuza (under)world. “What particularly drove Jafé was the unknown story about the female counterparts of many known yakuza men. Often, underground and mafia women are depicted as slightly superficial, highly dependent on their spouse and gullible in their way of life. Yakuza women are exactly the opposite of these portrayals, and therefore Jafé believed it was about time to tell their stories to the world.”
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Majken xx
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New York City - 1911
At the beginning of the 1900s, a team of cameramen with the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern travelled worldwide to make pictures of well-known places. In 1911 they shot this film, showing the everyday life of NYC; street traffic, a lovely mix of horse-drawn carriages, automobiles and cablecars, and people (wearing hats!) going about their business.
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