Bohemia by Mikhail Bulgakov -- Review

The story "Bohemia" by the famous Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov is written in the style of a diary. There is no traditional structure in the story such as introduction, climax, conclusion. The story is like a sketch of the everyday life of a person.

The events refer to the year 1921 after the Russian revolution. The narrator described the mess in the society at that time. He wrote a revolutionary play about local life in Vladikavkaz. The author presents it with humor and irony. Even without a logical ending, the story might be interesting for readers as a chronicle of life as seen by an eyewitness of that time.

This is a link to the text of the story:

https://www.shortstoryproject.com/story/bohemia/

Mateo Falcone by Prosper Merimee -- Review

The novel "Mateo Falcon" is written by a famous French writer of the 19th century, Prosper Merimee. The plot might be shocking. The story is about eternal spiritual values. Following the spiritual values, the main characters began to do horrible things.

This story is also described as depicting the Corsican style of life and attitudes of people towards each other. The ending of the story is intriguing with an unexpected conclusion. Readers might have very different opinions about the moral of the story. 

Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/mfalcone.html

Discussion about basic in Persian

This photo was published on the site www.italki.com in the note which is open for discussions.

The title and the text in English:

About Photo

Where do you think this photo was taken? 

Thanks for replying in Persian or for correcting this text.

The title and the text in Persian:

درباره عکس

به نظر شما این عکس کجا گرفته شده است؟

 من ممنون از پاسخ به زبان فارسی یا برای تصحیح این متن.

There was a comment from the user of italki - Cedi:

درباره ی یک عکس

به نظر شما این عکس کجا گرفته شده است؟

ممنون می شوم  اگر به  زبان فارسی پاسخ دهید یا  این متن را تصحیح کنید   .

There was a question about this correction: why we need to add ی یک in the first line?

The answer was:

If we want to talk about someone or something, we use the word درباره ی 

Here are some examples to help you understand better:

دارم درباره ی دوستم صحبت می کنم

این کتاب درباره ی تاریخ ایران است

فردا درباره ی این موضوع صحبت خواهیم کرد

Anatoly:
1. Is it necessary to use the space between letter ی and the text درباره ?
2.  Does the word یک is used as an article “an” in English?

Cedi:

Yes, there should always be a space between the letter ی and the word درباره.  

یک is identical to a/an in English. However, it's used more in formal contexts. In colloquial Persian, we say یه instead of یک

The explanation from Dee:

1. We don’t use pronouns at the beginning of the sentence.
2. These two words create conditional sentence اگر به

Initially, it was written in the past tense. These two words mean “if to”

Shells by Cynthia Rylant -- Review

The short story "Shells" by Cynthia Rylant is about two people - a young boy and a middle-aged woman who can't overcome their feelings of loneliness. Something needs to happen to break the barriers between them. The way for mutual understanding of the main characters lies in the plotline. The title symbolizes this idea, the shell is possible to leave, it was literally visible in the story.

Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://www.smore.com/app/attachments/download/5a7881cf4cf38f4192d0d011

The Facts of Life by William Somerset Maugham -- Review

The short story "The Facts of Life" by William Somerset Maugham tells the story about a young man who participates in a sport tournament in Monte-Carlo. He gets three pieces of advice from his father: not to gamble, not to lend money, not to have a deal with women. He didn’t follow any of the advice his father gave him and readers could see the consequences.

As in other of Maugham's stories, the plot is intriguing, the conclusions about the moral of the story would be different for readers according to their attitude toward the actions and behavior of the main characters.

Here is the link to the story:

http://indbooks.in/mirror1/?p=284320

Valentine By Tessa Hadley -- Review

"Valentine" by Tessa Hadley is a story initially published in the magazine "The New Yorker" and it was included in the collection "The O Henry Prize Stories 2014".

The story is about adolescent love. The author showed the strength of love and disappointment. The main character, a fifteen year-old girl, is naive. She’s discovering new feelings, something she doesn't know.

The love of Stella and her coeval Valentine was described from the perspective of Stella. She recollected the memories of her past. She was a maximalist in her judgements and actions. 

For the majority of the story the reader followed the twists and turns of their young love. Only in the end, after Stella compared her fate with her past ordinary life, she started to understand what happened. The final scene was almost as surprising to the reader as it was to Stella.

Here is a link to the story:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/08/valentine-8