THERemembrance Day returns on January 27th. It’s an opportunity to go back to reading Lia Levi. The author suffered racial discrimination and persecution as a child, she founded and directed the Jewish monthly Shalom for years and in 2012 she was awarded the Pardès Prize for Jewish Literature.
We also recommend among the four books to read of the week at the beginning of 2024 Little Blue Thoughts by Bimba Landmann, a small illustrated compendium to keep with you, an easy travel companion to consult whenever you feel the need for a bit of inspiration and to give voice to your creative drive.
1/ Books to read. Everything I didn’t understand
Why read it
January 27th is Remembrance Day and In bookstores from HarperCollins on January 12th the box set containing the two paperback volumes by Lia Levi will be released: A little girl just told to other children and that’s it And Everything I didn’t understand.
25 years after the first publication of A little girl and that’s it (editions and/or, 1994), Lia Levi retraces her history at the time of the racial laws and gives it as a gift to today’s children.
Lia has just finished first grade when her mother tells her that in September she will no longer be able to return to class. Mussolini, who rules over everyone, no longer wants Jewish children in schools.
In reality he doesn’t want the Jews in Turin, where Lia lives with her family, nor in Milan or even in Rome. She doesn’t want them anywhere.
With suitcases always in hand, the whys in Lia’s head grow every day. Why did dad lose his job? What does it matter to Mussolini if some children go to school and others don’t? Why can’t nanny Maria stay with them anymore? Why can’t she just be a little girl, just a little girl?
In Everything I didn’t understand, in particular, Lia Levi returns with an authentic testimony, which starts from the reconstruction of Italy after the war and tells us about the joys and struggles of redesigning one’s own future and that of everyone.
Rome has just been liberated by American troops, Lia is thirteen years old and, together with her family, faces the attempt to return to a normal life.
But everything has to be rebuilt: the old house that no longer seems the same, the exams to recover, the boring lessons from the rabbi, the old friendships that fall apart and the new ones that are born in the neighborhood, the heart that beats for someone who we don’t know yet…
And, in the background, the noise of a country that is as restless and hungry as the teenage Lia who fights with courage and passion to reclaim the ideals of democracy and freedom.
Info. Lia Levi. HarperCollins, (Boys), b/w illustrations by Zosia Dzierzawska. 15 euros.
2/ Books to read. Little blue thoughts
Why read it
The brushes of Bimba Landmann dyed themselves blue to give voice and color to our wanderings of tightrope walkers balancing imagination and reality.
Thirty-two illustrations accompanied by reflections and aphorisms, collected in eight chapters, to trace a path of suggestions and thoughts in which everyone can find themselves: the dream, the ambitions, the need to put down roots and cut ties, the desire to feel light and free to fly.
Blue is the symbolic color of Bimba Landmann: evocative, intimate and calming, it is the color of the sky and the sea that reflects it; universally refers to the theme of dreams and that oneiric and introspective dimension much investigated in the artist’s production.
Blue pervades the tables of this book in all its shades, from the ethereal ones of the lightest thoughts, to the nocturnal ones of the most emotionally intense moments.
A transversal book which is also a warning to pick up a brush and express yourself, perfect for those who are going through a moment of difficulty but also as a starting point for artistic workshops or for contexts in which the potential of the creative act is explored, such as in mindfulness, psychotherapeutic or meditation courses.
Among the books to read aimed at an audience of children and adults
Little blue thoughts it is the first book aimed at an audience of children and adults that Bimba Landmann signs both as an author and as an illustrator.
The editorial project of Storiedichi Edizioni started from the many drawings and thoughts kept in a drawer by the author and gave it the shape of an emotional and emotional journey in which it is easy for each of us to reflect ourselves.
Scans of the original works and typographical choices of paper and pantone color have been carried out in a careful and rigorous way to keep the nature of the drawings intact and let the reader know the authentic essence of the illustrator’s artistic expression.
Bimba Landmann decided to become an artist and illustrator as a child, faced with the beauty of the gold and blue of the ancient illuminated manuscripts kept in the San Marco Museum in Florence. From that moment on she never stopped drawing, filling entire notebooks with images and stories.
Today, art is his profession: his books have been published in more than twenty languages and have won numerous international awards.
Storiedichi Edizioni is an independent publishing house founded in January 2023 in Mestre (Venice), specializing in books and illustrated books.
It is the evolution of storiedichi.com, the digital magazine, founded by journalist Silvia Zanardi, which since 2013 has been publishing stories of harmony between man, environment and professions.
Storiedichi Edizioni invites readers to value time, to observe nature and grasp the beauty of its silent mechanisms. Registered office: San Polo
Info. Bimba Landmann. Little Blue Stories. Request history. 18 euros.
3/ Books to read. Paolo Fox’s 2024 horoscope
Why read it
Love, work, physical fitness… Paolo Fox, the most famous and loved astrologer on TV, tells us what the new year will be like.
His horoscope is now an unmissable event for thousands of enthusiasts who have followed him for decades.
Sign by sign, month by month, all the predictions for 2024 with an indication of the luckiest days suggested by the stars.
And also the couple affinities, the easy and quick calculation of the ascendant and the “cusp” tables.
In the first months of 2024, it is still dominated by rigor and austerity; as already happened in 2023, Saturn will be in the sign of Pisces for the entire year, confirming a period of conservation, of returning to the values of the past. Many will feel the need to live more safely, with greater certainties, there will be, in general, the need to follow rules.
Gradually, paths such as marriage or cohabitation will be considered.
There will also be a great desire to establish sincere relationships, based on loyalty.
Jupiter in the sign
The lack of emotions is inevitable, if we interact only through a smartphone, an emoticon cannot fully represent and convey what we feel, virtual connections will never be able to replace human ones.
There’s something new on the horizon: the new transit of Jupiter which from the end of May, in an air sign, Gemini, could bring a liberation, a moment of reflectionthe need to move away from paths imposed by others.
In its deepest meaning, Gemini represents communication, direct contact with others, it will be easier to understand what we want and how to come out to improve the relationship with those around us. Jupiter strengthens creativity, increases the desire to have children.
There will be months of growth and training for the younger ones; even if fantasy will have to deal with reality, there will be an outlet for those who want to make their way in life.
The transit of Uranus in Taurus, which began in 2018, awakens passions and one’s environmental awareness.
The call to responsibility of the slow planets will combine with the creative capacity of Jupiter, with the energy that Mars will give with its passage, again in the sign of Gemini, in the month of August.
Walls and attitudes of intolerance will not be easily torn down, but we can hope that, after the summer, a long process of renewal will begin, the rules of the game will change and we will have to be good at adapting.
At least that’s what Paolo Fox swears.
Info. Paolo Fox. Horoscope 2024. Cairo. 16 euros.
4/ Simon & The Stars Horoscope 2024
Why read it
Every new year is an exciting journey and, for 2024, Simon & The Stars invites us to board a flying saucer that will launch us into the boundless expanses of the Solar System, to its farthest reaches.
We will find Jupiter, solidly in Taurus until May (and then in Gemini) and Mercury which will go into reverse three times, but the real protagonist will be Pluto – planet of great transformations – which after a very long stay in Capricorn, will move into Aquarius – the sign of progress and freedom – to remain there for the next twenty years.
Its transit could open a new era, as happened with the French and Copernican Revolutions, both inaugurated by Pluto in Aquarius.
A new Renaissance, full of epochal changes and extraordinary steps forward for humanity of which, between technological developments and the desire to explore space, we are perhaps already seeing the signs.
But even before that, the great revolutions of the new year take place within us, with a small/large act of rebellion and personal affirmation that, suddenly, we feel ready to carry out.
Reconstructing the past years, Simon illustrates it to us step by step, combining each with a film.
Lastly, the climate of revolution could not fail to also affect the 2024 Horoscope itself: for the first time in this volume, the monthly forecasts are replaced by calendars in which each day is associated with a symbol in three possible shades of color.
In this way, a glance will be enough to grasp the dominant theme of the day and a precious indication on how to make the most of it.
Info. Simon & The Stars. Horoscope 2024. Rizzoli. 14.90 euros.
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