My Top 12 Favorite Novels

I want to list my top 12 favorite novels (country and year in parentheses). So here we go...

1. The Master and Margarita by Mihail Bulgakov (Russia, 1940)
2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (United States, 1983)
3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia, 1880)
4. The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (France, 1874)
5. Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1952)
6. Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson (Finland, 1957)
7. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (Russia, 1842)
8. Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi (Finland, 1870)
9. Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (China, 1990)
10. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Japan, 2002)
11. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Italy, 1883)
12. The Egyptian by Mika Waltari (Finland, 1945)

Besides these, I have many other favorite books and writers (please check out my profile), but I think this is my top 12 novels list right now. :)

 

The Flower Kings - the best prog band of our time

My favorite band The Flower Kings has made a new album after five long years of silence. And wow, what kind of album! Banks of Eden (2012) is an impressive return to the top of their genre.

The Flower Kings is a Swedish progressive rock band, formed in 1994. Band has made in total 12 studio albums. If you like an old prog bands like Genesis and Yes, you would probably love The Flower Kings. Their music is melodious, positive and truly many-sided, there are impulses from classical music, folk, jazz fusion, heavy metal, and so on.

There are so much tones and dimensions in their beautiful and colourful musical athmosphere. Musicians are real virtuosos. The Flower Kings is a perfect stuff to my taste, real 'peace and love music'! It always comfort and refresh me, even if the lyrics are often so serious. Anyway, I believe in the healing effect of the music.

If you are more interested, please check out the official band site:
http://www.flowerkings.se/

From my YouTube channel you can find two music videos from The Flower Kings, Train to Nowhere and Cosmic Circus. I edited those videos in 2009.

Something about the Orthodox Church

The picture above is taken in the Orthodox Church in the city of Lappeenranta (Finland), named The Church of the Protection of the Mother of God. I visited that church for many years ago when I lived in the East Finland near the border of Russia. I lighted one tiny candle and I prayed... That was long ago, and my prayer never came true. Anyway, in these days I'm praying again, a personal prayer.

Regarding prayer generally speaking, please check out the video below. It's an old, heavenly beautiful Russian Orthodox Christian prayer or song called Jesus Prayer. One sentence be repeated again and again. In English language it goes: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner." That's all. Very simple and short. But this is very powerful prayer, like a Christian mantra. Powerful how? If you feel you have lost your peace of mind, or your mind is troubled, or if you need forgiveness, in these cases this prayer (song) gives you a peace of mind, it calms down your restless heart and bring you mercy. 

Have a blessed weekend to everyone.