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On the Path or On the Highway to Immortality? Immortality by Milan Kundera

A woman…a gesture…are what got it all started. they inspired Kundera to write this master piece. This is a book of themes, across different periods of time, including life and afterlife. It tries to catch the essence of humans, the part that endures across time, the part that remains a legacy, the part which grants […]

Klara and the Sun – A Juxtaposition of Humans with Artificial Friends Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

I finished this book some months ago. At that time, I was amused at how such a book that can be easily read by children, can hide so many references and messages behind its simplicity. As always, I kept notes while reading, but it took me a while to get back to them, and be […]

Sputnik Sweetheart – A Book About Self-Discovery and Loneliness SPUTNIK Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

“A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world in this side with the world on the other side.”  Linking two sides, while allowing them to keep their essence: this is the major theme of Sputnik, another beautiful book by Murakami. Out of […]

1Q84…Probably Not Such a Fictive World After All…(wondering about 2Q20) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

It is Murakami’s style to make the unreal become real. The fictional world becomes reality, and the reality goes away, or hides, somewhere in parallel, incognito.

A master blend of realism and (futuristic?) fiction Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the second novel that I have read from Ishiguro, and I must confess that I liked it even more than “The Remains of the Day”. “Never Let Me Go” is a beautiful, classy and yet, a sad blend of realism and fiction, which raises ethical dilemmas and questions on what it means to […]

A Rare Realism Piece in Murakami’s Work Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Out of all Murakami’s novels and even short stories that I have read, this one stands out. It has a realist style, without any weird dystopian elements, such as fish “raining” from the sky. Instead, it portrays human nature as it is, with its complexities, feelings, thoughts and relative strength. I read somewhere today that […]

Time to Transform Our Mindset From Linear to Complex Thinking – An Economic Application Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth

This book provides food for thought regarding the criteria we assess today’s economy and not only. Our linear way of thinking, limited metrics of social and environmental phenomenon, or the so-called ‘externalities’ in neoclassical economics are definitely not driving us towards sustainable development. Even though Raworth in her book does not provide precise answers or […]

A Story of the Living, the Dead and Those in Between Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

‘Kafka on the Shore’ is full of metaphors about life, memories, our consciousness, our super ego. Where does morality begin: in our thoughts, dreams? Is it from this stage that our responsibility starts? What about memories? It feels like they give us substance, warm us up, give us the chance to project a future. Would […]

A Love Journey of Resilience and Imagination All the light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer

Reading in Corona times….one of the positive things that has been granted to me these days, while staying at home, has been time: time to continue with projects I had started and never finished, time to read. As I finished reading “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doer,  the feelings of melancholy, romanticism, […]

Polemics of Identity Politics Identity by Francis Fukuyama

Reading about identity politics in these uncertain times is highly controversial and discombobulating at first. On one hand, many of the older identity conflicts have frozen, in order to focus energies fighting the pandemics. On the other hand though, political speeches of worldwide leaders, indicate that national rivalries are still boiling within. Thus, I think […]