Last year I found this book completely by accident. My wonderful husband (knowing how much I love books) took me to rummage through books one could get for free. And there it was, amidst all the other ones with its covers a bit faded, as if from a prolonged use… I cannot say what drew my attention to it but when I picked it up, I knew almost instantly I wanted to keep it… And read it, of course, even though according to the description on the back cover, it was the fourth part of a saga… And then my love affair has begun…
It’s a wonderfully written story of timeless love between Jamie and Claire…I cannot tell you what it really means as one should discover it for oneself but I can tell you this- it is one of the most amazing books I have read in my life! And I read many… Perhaps because it’s not simply a romance novel, as one would expect (and tell you the truth I don’t like those)… This is so much more… It’s a historical novel, a fantasy novel and a suspense novel all in one… And above it all, there’s the romance that transcends time and space…
I read the whole saga and I found myself not willing to part with the characters… It felt almost as if I had to say good bye to close friends and I wasn’t ready to do so… So I picked up the first part and started to read the story all over again… Odd, you’d say…and I’d agree, as I’ve never done that before…Books have always been important to me and the characters sometimes lingered with me even after I had finished reading, if it was a particularly interesting story… But this is different…From the very first page, I became intimately acquainted with the characters who, in turn, became a part of me, like so many of my good friends…And while reading, I found myself rooting for them, crying with them and going through a range of emotions, just like one does with friends and family…And reading it the second time is only making the bond stronger, if at all possible… But these are just fictional characters-you’d say… Yes, they are. For the woman that wrote those books is an incredible story-teller, who managed to bring them to life. At least for me…
The books I’m talking about are Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series… It’s six books in the saga and I wish there were more… Because I know when I finish them this time I will have to say good bye, even though I won’t be ready then…Just like you’re never ready to part with your own friends even when you know this is part of life… However, you never forget your friends and you carry them with you always, no matter how far away they may be…
So if you enjoy good books, pick up a copy of the “Outlander” and embark on an incredible journey and then find out for yourself what it means to be acquainted with Jamie and Claire Fraser…
It is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen… Not what you’d expect to hear referring to a movie about a battle… If you haven’t seen it yet, you probably have heard about it… Or at least you know that the 300 it tells about are the handful of Spartans that wouldn’t give up their freedom to become the slaves to Persians… Knowing this, one would expect a lot of blood and battle in the movie… And battle it is, but it’s nothing like the epic movies ever made… It’s almost as if you were watching a dream and maybe a painting at times… The actors are beautifully shown with clear lines as if they were etched. The colors are amazing and absolutely different from anything that you have seen before in a movie… And the battle scenes (Ah, the battle scenes)… These are done in such fashion as to show the Spartans in their best, their fantastic bodies and the incredible techniques of their fighting…There’s no describing it… You have to simply see it for yourself… And hopefully be able to appreciate the art in the making of the movie… Because art it definitely is…