Art and Literature

Mczoum is one of the many people I met through the blog and facebook page. Soon enough, he became one of my dearest friends. I look up to him a lot as a person, as a reader and as an artist. Aside from being an attorney in law, he is a well read person who is very knowledgeable in German philosophy, History, French and Russian Classic Litterature, as well as Spanish and Arabic Poetry. Artistically, he is passionate about painting, lomography and iphone art. In fact, Mczoum has exhibited his photography work in many galleries around the world including Paris, New York, LA, Milano and Poland. I just love his work but apparently I am not the only one for he has been awarded several times. In case you are interested, you can check his gallery at the following link:

http://www.iphoneart.com/users/1433/biography

In May, Mczoum pointed out that book pictures posted so far on the blog did not reflect an investment of the bloggers. He was right. So far we hadn't taken book pictures ourselves or added our favorite quotes from the books. His remark lead therefore to the creation of a new page "Photos" where personally shot pictures of books will be added along with some of the favorite quotes from the corresponding book. Anyone can post here, so if you have some book pics and favorite quotes do not hesitate to send them to bookloverbookclub@gmail.com.  

Below you will find a sample of Mczoum's book pictures and favorite quotes that he kindly provided. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

 “The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.”

“She would have liked not to be alive, or to be always asleep.” 

“Do you know that it is in your company that I have had my finest thoughts?” 

"When I desire you, a part of me is gone."

 

"You can suffer nostalgia in the presence of the beloved if you glimpse a future where the beloved is no more” 

 "Until I was fourteen, I divided humanity into three categories: women, little girls and buffoons."

 “Because we don't have much time together, I will give you as much love in a year as I could give you in a lifetime.”

In the Mood for Quotes

Every now and then one finds an incredible quote that is just breathtaking. The ones that cross my mind today are all except the last written in French. If you're a Frenchie like me then this is the right post for you, if not don't despair, I'll be posting new quotes, well, only every now and then ...

Tout enfant, j'ai senti dans mon cœur deux sentiments contradictoires : l'horreur de la vie et l'extase de la vie.

Baudelaire - Mon coeur mis à nu

On ne sait rien de soi. On croit s'habituer a être soi, c'est le contraire. Plus les années passent et moins on comprend qui est cette personne au nom de laquelle on dit et fait les choses.

Amélie Nothomb - les catilinaires

Je suis de ceux qui aiment et non de ceux qui haissent.

Antigone - Jean Anouilh

Si tu ne deviens pas hypocrite, lui disait-il, peut être tu seras un homme.

Stendhal - La chartreuse de Parme

Change of self is loss of self, according to the traditional Greek attitude. Categorized as madness, it is held to be an unquestionable evil. Sokrates does not agree: I must say this story is not true, the story that a nonlover should be gratified in preference to a lover on the grounds that the latter is mad while the former is sane. Now, if it were a simple fact that madness is evil, the story would be fine. But the fact is, the greatest of good things come to us through madness when it is conferred as a gift of the gods.

Anne Carson - Eros the bittersweet