Looking back for a moment

       LOOKING BACK is something I don't like to do as I consider that we should look every time forward, let the past, because it can't be changed, but corrected with our acts in the future.  Despite this, i will look now back, because today is the last day of August, and the month what follows will be a tranzit-month for me, which scares me a little bit.
      Almost nobody likes the turns which change our lives, because it's more comfortable to live as we are used to, but changes are inevitable...and changes are parts of our lives' evolution. We need changes, even though at the beginning they seem to affect us. In the last months I was terrified of how will go on my life beginning with October, as everything will change, but I realized that fear is useless, because there is everytime solution and things are happening with purpose. In that moment when we have enough courage to face the truth about what will follow, it won't seem so terrifying.

      Sometimes it's good to look back and analyze how we felt about problems which are resolved now, to can realize that all the anxiety we felt for this was useless and it just caused bad moments and tense reactions.  The problems are comming uninvited, they are part of our lives, a very active part, so we cannot hide from them, it's a mistake to do that. Solutions can be found for everything if we search them, or we create them. It needs just determination and motivation to go out and do great things. If not we will have to watch as others are doing great things and finally we will become frustrated, envious and bitter.
      If changes of life would be welcomed and treated positively we would make our life much easier and adapting ourselves quickly to the new conditions is the best we can do. Sooner or later the purpose of the change will make itself understandable, but until that it is necessary a good doze of optimism, patience, willingness to act and desire to have a better life.

A captivating novel - The Aviary Gate

      I read this novel two years ago, after I discovered it in the small town-library from Beaconsfield. It catches my eyes and as I saw in the short presentation from the cover of the book that it is based on Oriental historical events, I took it immediately. It was a very good decision, because even after two years I consider it a great book, and I recommend it. One of my friends mentioned that she is reading it and it is a wonderful lecture, so I decided to write down some ideas, because it would be a waste to lose them.
      The novel is structured in two stories, on different temporal, spacial levels and of different cultural backgrounds. It gives an insight to the exotic and mysterious world of the sultan's harem in Istanbul from the year 1599, but also in the dilemmas of the modern life in England. Both stories are built around two female characters, who lived in different epochs, different cultures, one represents the woman of the past and the other is the example of the contemporary woman,  and had totally different fates, but the narrative brings their lives very close at a certain moment.
      Reading this novel is like a constant travel in time. The temporal contrast is very well accentuated by the two women, Celia and Elisabeth. Curiously, their characters are not realized with the same intensity. We will discover a well-built and tragic character in Celia, but Elisabet's characterization is fade, indirect, the reader has to discover independent her personality. Celia's story dominates the narrative, Elisabet's is quite sketchy, spiced with romance.The differences won't stop here. Istanbul, the city has an important role in the lives of these women. For Celia it means slavery and she will find her tragic end there, but for Elisabeth it is a place for escape, for discovery and romance.
      After a shocking beginning, the book captivates the attention providing interesting details from the Oriental world and culture. We get a vivid picture of the seclusion of the harem, giving the impression of realism. The reader enters to a forbidden place, where almost nobody had access. It is a mysterious place webbed with intrigues, gossip, drama, hopelessness and betray.
      'The Aviary Gate is an impressing, captivating novel, which offers an exquisite travel in time, space and culture.