The irony of this review relies on the fact that I got pickpocketed by a 10 year old-ish boy at 10 a.m. while going to my internship and carrying this book around for some commuting reading time.

Oliver Twist is a classic story told and retold through theatre, movies and music. Written by Dickens and initially published as a monthly installment, the book became so popular that several theater adaptations were performed before it ever finished being published. Later on, multiple movie versions of the story came to life, not to mention the celebrated Broadway musical. 

Despite the huge popularity of Dickens' second novel, I had never watched any movies, gone to any theater presentations or ever picked up the book. So, one day, probably years ago now, I crossed paths with this used copy of the classic at a thrift shop and decided to purchase it for the exorbitant amount of 5 dollars. Bargain. Still, it remained rotting on my TBR shelf until I was packing for my European adventure last January and decided this read was well overdue. 

Oliver Twist, as I am certain you already know, tells the story of little Oliver, an orphan boy living quite the miserable life. When, eventually, Oliver decides to escape his apprenticeship and runs away to London, he is unknowingly recruited by a professional group of pickpocketers lead by the awful Fagin. Soon enough, the poor boy is thrown in various dreadful and dangerous situations, which eventually leads to his background being questioned. 

Dickens explores quite a numerous amount of important subjects in this book, such as how your surroundings influence who you become, the idea of mercy and redemption, social class and poverty. The representation of London's 1830's society is extremely realistic and detailed, truly taking you to that scenery. And his trip into portraying greed and skepticism and the narrator's use of irony are absolutely flawless, making this a highly interesting story.

Personally, however, this was a bit of a tiresome read. Although I am a fluent English speaker, it is still not my first language, making this book pretty difficult to get through. I'd only recommend this book to advanced english readers. Additionally, at parts, I found Dickens writing overly descriptive and slow, which meant it took me a while to get into it. Although I started reading this book in January, I abandoned it and only picked it up again in August/September.

Also, as a book of his time would predictably do, Dickens fails in the racism and feminism aspects. Consistently calling Fagin "the Jew" in order to demonstrate his horribleness, clearly associating judaism and criminality. Further on, the few women portrayed in Oliver Twist have very flat personalities and fit perfectly into woman's stereotypical parts in society and family, always depending on the men in their lives to move along with everything (with the exception, maybe, of Mrs. Bumble).

All in all, I enjoyed the read and recommend everyone give it a try too. The subjects explored are really interesting and the irony of the narrator adds to the enjoyment. Rooting for Oliver comes as the most natural of emotions and you soon find out that every moment is tied together, somehow.

Following Marie Kondo's ideal order of decluttering, I started with all of my clothing. Since my room is quite small for all of my crap to be laying around for days (as I knew I was not going to be able to finish in a day), I abused of my sister's now empty old bedroom and deposited every single item of clothing I own everywhere. 

Now, I do have a regular clean out every 6 months in which I separate items I no longer enjoy and give them away. However, I never did something as intense as this. The KonMari method tells you to go through each individual item, patiently, alone and, preferably, in silence, questioning if such item brings you joy. This idea scared me. I'm not sure what brings me joy. It's a very abstract concept and there were various moments in which I thought "this is incredibly stupid". So I defaulted to a second question when the first wasn't effective, one much more tangeable: would I purchase this again if I saw it at a store. This one worked. Every single time. 

Slowly but steadily I went through every dress, every sock, every shoe and purse and separated the ones that I was getting rid of from the ones that were staying. This took me about a couple of weeks. It was exhausting.

Since I was only doing my own room, I went ahead and laid every other random item I own on the floor and then went down KonMari's categories in order. Paper was the most tedious and also the one that took the longest. Once again, I ended up with a couple of big boxes of college papers and notebooks which I decided to only go through once I graduate, next year. Other than that, I managed to compilate all of my papers into one divider folder. I felt the magic.

Something that also took me a long long time, was going through jewelry. I had much more than I remembered and used basically 10% of what I owned. Which is just ridiculous. That's mostly all gone.

Helpful tip I learned in this step: any boxes you own, put it to the side. At the end of your discarding process, when you are ready to put things away and give every item a proper home, having all of the boxes set apart will help you identify which one is more suitable for what objects.

Last step was all of my medication, shower items, bathroom items, makeup and etc. This one is, I guess out of the proper KonMari order, but I just felt it easier this way. 

Going through all of the stored medication and products, make sure to take a look at the expiration dates. This simple, but highly relevant, detail got me rid of basically half of my products. 

Although the "does this give me joy" technique was helpful on the above categories, here you have to be a bit more objective. Cotton balls might not bring you happiness, but they sure are necessary. So is your toothbrush and toothpaste. You see what I mean right?

The KonMari question only really worked when related to vanity products, such as makeup, nail polish and beauty creams. I am that person that will use something until it's finished no matter if I enjoy it or not, just so I don't "waste it". This was the moment when all of such products were discarded. Life is too short to use products you don't enjoy, when others could be enjoying them much more. 

Can you see what her stylist is doing yet? Allowing her to wear timeless, feminine pieces, perfectly fitted to still accentuate her curves and tiny figure without overdoing it. The white dress is mostly covered up in the front, but once she turns around, there's a beautiful low cut which gives the look a bit more of a surprise effect and takes away the matronly look. This second black dress, on the other hand, is a bit more casual and kinda looks like something her Hollywood Transylvania character Mavis would wear, but the tights and the all black attire adds to the chic and classic she's been constantly going for.

Hoping dearly that she keeps this style and continues to amaze me with the beauty of simple, classic looks. Revival promises to be what I have been hoping for in every aspect, especially with her being freer to present herself as however she desires, and I cannot wait! I know I have stuck around for a reason!

I was extremely wary on reading this book. I had heard wonders on Hemingway's writing and specifically on this book. However, I had also heard worrying things about Hemingway himself, his history, his personality, his vices. Those worried me. 

It was a matter of seconds to solve this issue, though. Hemingway's writing is indeed fantastic. It's raw, direct, transparent. Somehow, this man does not need many words to lead you to where he is. The moment's feelings wrap you. There is a joy and a tangible melancholy. 

A Moveable Feast is a book of moments. It's not possible to quite categorize it as a novel. It's not even possible to call it an autobiography. Feels more like a sit down with the author, drinking whiskies while he recollects his early days in Paris.

I was mostly enchanted by this book. I couldn't put it down, but also didn't want it to end. It was an easy, fast, immersing read and I loved every second of it.

I now have it as a life mission to read all of Hemingway's writings. Despite having heard that this isn't a good representation of the rest of his work (subject-wise), his style was enough to keep me interested for quite some time.