Book reviews

BORING BOOK

THE "BORING BOOK" IS A LABYRINTH OF MODERN AND ANCIENT

Dosadna knjiga, Svaštara - The Boring Book - Dereta, Belgrade, 2019, 2020; 311 p.

This is Jasmina Mihajlović's most intimate book in which she turns in an intriguing way towards humor, delicate horror and amusing essayistic writing. The title, primarily, represents a step back from the world (people), with a mild irony in the author's question: ... for, who will (even) read a Boring Book? The book is composed of small narrative worlds, from a social and sociological paradox to an intimate lyrical narration, with everything in just the right measure for one to feel the power of virtue and the weight of everyday life, as put by the well-known aesthetics scholar: Everything is perfect in the micro and the macro world. Only in our world everything is wrong. By this book the author presents herself in those most delicate, finest landscapes of short prose in which she permits the reader to pause, rest, take a breath and finally peek into his own Miscellany – the subtitle and genre of the book, and a summary of the author's approach to her previous works: travelogues, love stories, reflections on the phenomenon of the modern world and its interweaving with the ancient...

Jasmina Mihajlovic turned to humor, subtle horror, fun essay writing in "Bored Book". Her "Quarrel" as the subtitle-genre of the book reads, is a summary of everything the author has dealt with in her previous books: travelogues, love stories, tracking the phenomena of the modern world and intertwining with the ancient.

And that is how the book ends, with a section entitled Private. Apart from openness towards the world, offered by the second part of the book, but also openness towards herself, Jasmina Mihajlović has managed to achieve the elementary goal of every writer: for the book to have an address. Exciting, intriguing, at times painful, sharp and deeply experienced, this warm book has only one address which it offers to its readers, which is: Ours. Every address is ours.

Read more here:

On the Shores of the Khazar Sea

The Love Story of Two Writers

1. On the Shores of the Khazar Sea - Amazon.com, Kindle Store, March 10, 2014.
2. Na obali Hazarskog mora (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea) - Laguna, Belgrade,18. март, 2014.
3. Xəзəр дəнизинин сахиллəриндə (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea) – Centar za prevodilaštvo pri Vladi Republike Azerbejdžan, Baku, 2015.
4. Xəзəр дəнизинин сахиллəриндə (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea, digital edition) – Centar za prevodilaštvo pri Vladi Republike Azerbejdžan , Baku,
5. ხაზართა ზღვის ნაპირებზე (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea) - Intelekti, Tbilisi, 2015.
6. На берегах Хазарского моря (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea) - Центрполиграф, Moskva, 2017.
7. Љубавни роман у две приче (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea) (爱情故事的两个版), 2018.
8. На березі Хозарського моря (On the Shores of the Khazar Sea), Харкiв, Фолиiо, 2020.

1. On the Shores of the Khazar Sea - Amazon.com, Kindle Store, March 10, 2014.
2. Na obali Hazarskog mora - Laguna, 18. mart, 2014.
3. Xəzər dənizinin sahillərində (Na obali Hazarskog mora) – Centar za prevodilaštvo pri Vladi Republike Azerbejdžan , Baku, 2015.
4. Xəzər dənizinin sahillərində (Na obali Hazarskog mora, digitalno izdanje) – Centar za prevodilaštvo pri Vladi Republike Azerbejdžan , Baku, 2015.
5. ხაზართა ზღვის ნაპირებზე (Na obali Hazarskog mora) - Intelekti, Tbilisi, 2015.
6. Na beregah Hazarskogo morя (Na obali Hazarskog mora) - Centrpoligraf, Moskva, 2017.
7. Ljubavni roman u dve priče (original: Na obali Hazarskog mora)(爱情故事的两个版), 2018.
8. Na berezі Hozarsьkogo morя (Na obali Hazarskog mora),Harkiv, Foliio, 2020.

In March, 2014, Jasmina Mihajlović published a new book ‘’On the Shores of the Khazar Sea’’. Amazon.com was the first to publish this book translated by Dragana Rajkov, and then Laguna published the book in Serbian, Jasmina’s mother tongue.

Readers have before them a very unusual autobiographical love story. Wrapped in a travelogue through exotic Azerbaijan and a series of private-public memories, it tells of the love of two writers whom death could not part.

Smooth, at times scathing, often melancholy, Jasmina Mihajlovic’s book On the Shores of the Khazar Sea is the testimony to the great love of two Serbian authors.

In this novel the reader will also get a glimpse of Eurosong in Eurasia, find out why in Azerbaijan the Caspian sea is called in the Khazar sea, follow wondrous events to the ends of two continents, but will also have the opportunity to learn about the turbulent, unconventional life of two artists, in Serbia and outside it.

“The Khazar Sea is unlike any other sea or ocean; it resembles a sea of dreams, even more so a sea woven from the Other Reality, but mostly what it in fact is – A SEA OF LOVE. In such (both virtual and actual) temporal and spatial coordinates we encounter the coauthoring couple, who are also the main protagonists, of this book: here Jasmina Mihajlović and Milorad Pavić find their eternal home, for here Love is eternally embodied in Word..."

Dr. Sava Damjanov

Read Ana Atanaskovic's review here

Notes on the author

Jasmina Mihajlović is the author of travelogues, essays, novels. Her novel The Paris Kiss was translated into Russian (published by Azbooka) and English, where it can be found on Amazon as an e-book. She is the editor of the selected and collected works of Milorad Pavić. Since Pavić’s death she has been the testamentary heir of his copyrights and the curator of the "Bequest of Milorad Pavić”, founded by the City Assembly of Belgrade.

As a novelist Jasmina Mihajlović nurtures the eclectic genre of travel-epistolary prose with traces of anthropological essay and private memoir, which unfolds with the suspense of a thriller, horror and great love story.

On the Shores of the Khazar Sea . The Love Story of Two Writers is her new book after a literary pause, as after her husband's death she was busy with the posthumous publishing of his works throughout the world and managed to publish over 60 editions from 2010-2013 in America, Russia, China, Korea, Indonesia, France, Greece, Georgia, Mongolia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Azerbaijan, Mexico, the Czech Republic. The most difficult task was to publish Pavić’s books in Serbia , in his native language.

Media on ''On the Shores of the Khazar Sea''

Videos:

Emisija za Beograd TV Sky+ 2.4.2014.
Srbija ON Line TV K:CN1 13.2.2013.
Emisija “Nešto novo” 4.5.2014.
Emisija “Portret plus TV Sky+” 19.5.2014; 21:46 - 28:38
Emisija “Ni crno ni belo” TV K:CN1 13.5.2014.

Newspapers:

Nedeljnik: Tajni život Milorada Pavića
Laguna: Intervju - Jasmina Mihajlović: Pavić je svuda više živ nego u Srbiji
Laguna: Intervju - Jasmina Mihajlović: Orem književnu njivu za dvoje

TRAVEL COLLECTION

1. Putna kolekcija – Beograd, Alnari, 2008.
2. The Travel Collection - Amazon.com, Kindle Store, 2014.

The Travel Collection consists of a number of exciting travel stories that take place in Russia, Vojvodina, Greece, Egypt, Tunis and Kotor. If you would like to find out about the Tolstoy family, the earthquake in Santorini, the secrets of the walls of Kotor, and of the Egyptian pyramids, take a walk through this book. New surprises await you from the author of the Paris Kiss.

THE PARIS KISS

1. Pariski poljubac. Roman - The Paris Kiss, A novel – Novi Sad, Ljubitelji knjige, 2007(2). 225 p.
2. Парижский поцелуй  – Sankt Petersburg, Azbuka, 2007.
3. Pariski poljubac – Beograd, Zavod za udžbenike, 2010.
4. The Paris Kiss - Amazon.com, Kindle Store, 2011.
5. Pariski poljubac (巴黎之吻), Shanghai, Džeđing, 2018.

The Paris Kiss is a specific adventure-travelogue novel. It takes place during four days in Paris. It the same time it’s an amusing metaphysical-philosophical-esoteric novel that can be read as a survival guide for the newest era that we’ve stepped into. It’s a book on how to overcome stress, how to buy a pair of boots in Paris, what the future will be like, what will happen to Christianity and other religions, which cafes in Paris are good, how Belgrade is seen from Paris and how Paris from Belgrade.

Beside the fact that the events take place within a four day span, the Paris Kiss tells of the moment all of us, all of mankind, are in. The junction of the new era and the newest era. Or the crossroads where the analogue era turns into the digital. That’s why it also tells a tale of love, solitude, fear, global climatic changes, nature as the greatest luxury, Paris as a city concealing the entrance to the netherworld, male-female relations and the new era of the female divine. The Paris Kiss seeks and finds the new Messiah the third millennium is longing for.

This detective-alchemist novel with elements of science fiction and the deciphering of urban city codes attempts, through the past, to perceive the future. Among other things, it tells of Mona Lisa’s code, mega-stores, large fashion brands, immortality, and whether speed hastens life or cancels it out. In any case, this is a triple-layer novel of significant volume that much has fit into, including the excitement of the readers to see the end of the initiation search disguised as the purchase of three pairs of boots.

The Paris Kiss is and ultra-light novel with bulky subjects.

The translation of this novel came out of print in Russia in time for the Moscow Book Fair, at the end of November 2007.

The unconventional appearance of the book is the work of Novi Sad designer Jovan Trkulja, whose work has in America been pronounced “The Best Design from Europe”.

PARIS KISS PUBLISHED IN ELECTRONIC EDITION OF AMAZON.COM – KINDLE 

A novel Paris kiss by Jasmina Mihajlović, was released in October 2011 as an electronic book in the Amazon.com Kindle series. The book was translated into English by Dragana Rajkov. This is the second translation of the same novel. The Russian version of Paris kiss was published in St. Petersburg in 2007. The book is published by Азбукa and translated by Larisa Savelyeva.

LOVE WITH A DICTIONARY OF THE UNKNOWN

1.  Love with a Dictionary of the Unknown – Novi Sad, Ljubitelji knjige, 2006, 154 p.

“Love with a Dictionary of the Unknown” by Jasmina Mihajlović is not just a book of essays on love.
It’s also a collection of recipes for a higher quality, more fulfilled and happier love life, a manual on the right to emotions; a step-by-step guide to overcoming fear of love; a glossary of terms forming the foundation of love; a do-it-yourself for losing guilt trips; an encyclopedia of various kinds of love…
In short, “Love with a Dictionary of the Unknown” is a small female bible of new sensitivity.
In it Jasmina Mihajlović speaks – openly, from the female point of view – of things usually not spoken of in public, let alone written about. She has found the right words to tell what is usually most gladly kept silent.”

Prof. Dr Neda Todorović

LOVE WITHOUT SECRETS

Ljubav bez tajni - Love without Secrets, Belgrade, Dereta, 2005, 140 p.

A refreshing, sobering and positive view upon the world.

In the book Love without Secrets (Dereta, 2005) you will find public, private and secret truths on the densest of human emotions – love. These guru essays will leave nobody indifferent. They are an uncompromising view on the past, the present and the future of all kinds of love in a person’s life. The observations of Jasmina Mihajlović must be trusted for they are no cheap, fast food spilling of reheated general wisdoms but rather material on the amorous reality and tomorrow of us and the world.

The condensed ease of depth in these texts inspires us to love, first and foremost, ourselves!

The book „Love without Secrets“, according to the reports of the specialized magizine „Bestseller“, was on the 9th place of the annual non-fiction best seller list for the year 2006 after 14 weeks on the list of most read books.

TRAVEL ALBUM

1. Putni album (Travel Album)– Beograd, Dereta, 2004, 2005, 2006; 162 p.
2. Dete sunčeve barke - (original: Putni album) (太阳船上的孩子) Šangaj, Džeđing, 2018.

Travel Album (Dereta, 2004, 2005, 2006) is both a book of stories and a novel in tales, as well as an anthropological essay, a private narrative and a travelogue… It is read as an exciting thriller. It has drama, tenseness, disturbing disclosures, an intimate yet not trivial unveiling of a marriage of two authors, Milorad Pavić and Jasmina Mihajlović. Travel Album is somewhat like a love travelogue with many layers that can be drunk as a glass of spring water, but also a glass of expensive champagne.

Travel Album belongs to an eclectic genre for the new age in which female aestheticism, sensibility, honesty and moral righteousness have the main say.

Travel Album received the award „Dereta’s Book of the Year“ for 2004. The NIN magazine included it among the ten best books of prose in the same year. It has for nine continuous months been among the top ten on the bestseller list of Dereta’s bookstore.

LOVE STORY IN TWO TALES

6. Ljubavni roman u dve priče (sa Miloradom Pavićem) – Beograd, Čigoja, 2004.
7. Ljubezenski roman v dveh zgodbah – /prevela Nives Vidić/ Nova Gorica, „Ma-no“, 2006.)

Read this exciting literary game! How a wife, an author, ordered from her husband, an author, a tale in which she is to be the heroine.

PRIVATE COLLECTION

1. Privatna kolekcija Privatna kolekcija - Private Collection (stories), Belgrade, Dereta, 2000, 257 p.

Jasmina Mihajlović’s book Private Collection (Dereta, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005), contains her „Autobiography in Scents“ and six stories: „The Unholy Place“, „Three Tables“, „Breakfast at Cituras“, „Paris is Deodorant for the Soul“, „Russia in Winword“, „Summer in France“. This is a series of exciting travel tales that, apart from unusually experienced places and regions in Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Greece and France, depict the author’s life with her husband, author Milorad Pavić.

Her stories, along with a detective twist, elements of horror and fantasy, abound in lucid, modern, urban female observations on various phenomena of the final decade of the 20^th century. In the Private Collection the reader will find a diary-style, epistolary, autobiographical and travel prose. This book by J. Mihajlović does in fact contain the author’s private collection: of unusual places in time and space, strange events, furniture, families, houses…

Jasmina Mihajlović’s book Private Collection (Dereta, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005), contains her „Autobiography in Scents“ and six stories: „The Unholy Place“, „Three Tables“, „Breakfast at Cituras“, „Paris is Deodorant for the Soul“, „Russia in Winword“, „Summer in France“. This is a series of exciting travel tales that, apart from unusually experienced places and regions in Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Greece and France, depict the author’s life with her husband, author Milorad Pavić.

Her stories, along with a detective twist, elements of horror and fantasy, abound in lucid, modern, urban female observations on various phenomena of the final decade of the 20^th century. In the Private Collection the reader will find a diary-style, epistolary, autobiographical and travel prose. This book by J. Mihajlović does in fact contain the author’s private collection: of unusual places in time and space, strange events, furniture, families, houses…

CONTRIBUTION TO A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MILORAD PAVIĆ

Prilog za bibliografiju Milorada Pavića / Contribution to a Bibliography of Milorad Pavić, Beograd, Prosveta, 1991, pp. 231-305. Separately and as part of the book „An Anchoret in New York“ in Collected Works, Beograd, Prosveta, 1990. (Contents: List of all books by M. Pavić fiction, translations of fiction, scholarly and theoretical works; chronological bibliography of works of fiction published in papers, magazines – 1964 -1990; chronologically classified literature on M. Pavić – 1952 -1990).

Bio-bibliografija Milorada Pavića / Milorad Pavić’s Biography and Bibliography, Separately and as part of the book „An Anchoret in New York“ in Collected Works, Beograd, Draganić, 1996, pp. 165-418. (Contents: Milorad Pavić’s biography; list of all books by M. Pavić; Milorad Pavić’s bibliography: original versions in Serbian; translations; chronologically classified literature on M. Pavić – 1952 -1995).

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DVE KOTORSKE PRIČE

1. Dve kotorske priče , Dereta,1998, 2005.
2. Dve kotorske priče (sa M. Pavićem) - Amazon.com, Kindle Store, 2014.
3. Dve kotorske priče, e-book, Jasmina Mihajlović i Milorad Pavić, 2015, DOO Media Art Content

Grad Kotor, mistični centar Boke Kotorske i mediteranske kulture, središnji je stožer knjige Jasmine Mihajlović i Milorada Pavića. Dve priče koje počinju na različitim stranama knjige stiču se u jednoj tački, koja čitaocu ne nudi razrešenje u konačnosti i pozitivizmu zemaljskih dana, tačka njihovog susreta je prag književnog beskraja u koji čitaoc uplovljava na početku, iako ga odmah nije svestan. Jasmina i Milorad Pavić svojim rukopisom ne ograničavaju i sužavaju mistični kosmos Kotora, oni ga upravo temom i ključevima lavirinta svojih priča čine beskrajnim.

A TALE OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY

1. Priča o duši i telu. Slojevi i značenja u prozi Milorada Pavića / A Tale of the Soul and the Body. Layers and Meanings in the Prose of Milorad Pavić – Belgrade, Prosveta, 1992, 191 p.