Bucharest Gaudeamus Book Fare 2018

This year was my fourth participation at the Gaudeamus Book Fare. And, although I have had previous experience with it, I can barely now say that I entirely felt it’s energy. I was usually walking by the stands, studying the books and checking what’s new. This time I actively participated in it, talked to editors, met authors and assited at book launches. And it felt so good, so right!

This time I had also met my team, Literatură pe Tocuri (Literature on Heals) and i had the joy to find how wonderful they really are. They made me feel like I really matter, like I am really part of the team, that I am one of them. And to me, that mattered, a lot.

I went to this event just with the thought to meet the team and just see the news, maybe buy something, one or two books. But as what you think is never what you get, I got home with thirteen books. Not in the least what I was prepared for. 

I participated at the launching of “Don’t cry, just fly” written by Georgiana Vâju, author of “Single bedded, square two” (will be back soon with the review). The launching was hosted by Quantum publishers and presented by the author herself and Roxana Neagu. 

When not assisting a booklaunch, I visited the stands of various publishing houses that surprised my with some beautiful books that I am anxious to read. All of them are so appealing, but there are some that are making me feel so eager to discover. 

I will start with the “Egiptian book of dead” . I have heard about it since long time ago, references about it, stories, but now I can finally, after all these years, read something about it. I have always been passionate about ancient history, the way people lived, what they believed in etc. I always tell that, if I could travel through time, I wouldn’t go to the future, but to the past. Romans, Egyptians, Spartans, Dacians and any other culture you can imagine from that time. It intrigues me how a society can be so primitive yet so advanced. I mean Romans were still fighting with their swords, but had a war technique that made them one of the greatest empires ever existed, they created one that lasted for hundreds of years. But as nothing lasts forever, the empire broke. Now look at the egyptians. They didn’t even had such a simple thing as a bycicle, yet they sometimes had medical techniques that are more advanced than the medicine today. They built piramids that are still lasting since thousands of years ago. And this is what I am expecting to read in this book. To catch a glimpse into that life.  On the same tone, there is “Astrology and religion of the greaks and the romans” and “The spartans”, all got from Herald Publishing House. 

From the same, I got “The shaman woman” and “The shamanism, journey between two worlds” , with which I will find more about comunicating with the world of spirits. I am not interested to do that myself, but to see how can it be the life of people who can do this. I always felt them as some great people with great abilities that I could never posses or have the courage to use. I don’t know if it is just me but I always had the impression that the american indians are the ones to practice shamanism, although it seems that it has origins into the mongolian-turkish cultures as well as into the sirian one, these being the ones who are practicing it, at least according to wikipedia. 

Another book that caught my attention is called “The touch” from All Publishing House which has the purpose of introducing us into the world of the kinestetic sense, to make us understand how we interact with the outer world through touch. It is a sense that we barely notice, but which has such a great impact over our lives. And like anything important for us, we only miss it when we don’t have it any more. 

Beside the above, I got into the possesion of “A gentleman in Moscow” , “The imortalists” , “Esseys from the capital of the world” , “The last photograph” ,”Essey about prejudice” and, of course, it couldn’t be missing “Children in the fog“

And last, but not least, “The conspiracy of women” , a satirical novel written by, no more and no less, than a man. I already started reading it, and will be back soon with a review on Literatură pe Tocuri.

Anyway, in the end, I would like to say how wonderful this experience was for me. It was the people, the events, the atmosphere, the laughter or the picture on the stairs with the team, but it was a wonderful day that I cannot wait to live again. I cannot thank enough to you, my team, and to you, the readers, for who you are and for what you mean to me. You are wonderful, guys and I am glad you are part of my life. 

© picnicontheshelf, November 20, 2018