Tag: Book review
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All the Lovers in the Night, by Mieko Kawakami
I’ve always had a weakness for misfits and loners in novels. Hence, no wonder, after a few pages of the book “All the Lovers in the Night” by Mieko Kawakami, I realized that I really liked the main character, Fuyoko Irie. She is a 34-year-old woman living alone in Tokyo, whose days are filled with…
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The Fruit Thief, by Peter Handke
From my old car trips across America, I remember that when I was driving, for example, across Utah or Montana, there was a period, shortly before sunset, when the landscape was becoming indescribably beautiful. In the golden light, the mountains and the road were bathed in the softness. I felt the uniqueness of that moment:…
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In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing, by Elena Ferrante
I noticed Elena Ferrante’s book In the Margins in a nearby bookstore at the same time when I was watching the HBO series My Brilliant Friend based on Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels. Beautiful cover, thin book, interesting author, supporting the local bookstore (the order of my motives is random), so soon I was walking down the…
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The Watchmakers: The Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust, by Harry Lenga and Scott Lenga
I have read several books, both novels, and memoirs on the same subject, however, this one takes a special place. The Watchmakers is a book written in first person, in the form of a diary, the result of hours of Scott Lenga talking to his father, Harry. Harry (Khil) describes his and his two brothers’…
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The Magician, by Colm Tóibín
I decided to read it when I learned that “The Magician” by Colm Tóibín was included in the New York Times Critics Top Books of 2021. In my youth, I was greatly influenced by “The Magic Mountain“ by Thomas Mann. Now I don’t even know why it happened, but at the time it was a…
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Dispatches from the Gilded Age, by Julia Reed
Dispatches from the Gilded Age by Julia Reed is a collection of 33 essays divided by subject into seven parts. It’s a good read, especially when you don’t have the energy for literature that requires concentration. The essay which made a lasting impression on me was the one on Helen Prejean, an eighty-two-year-old nun from Baton…
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The Last Days of Roger Federer, by Geoff Dyer
We, mortals, are fascinated by the events defined as “the last”. This fascination is reflected even in the titles of our films, paintings, and books such as The Last Supper, Last Tango in Paris, or The Last of the Mohicans. The newest book by Geoff Dyer The Last Days of Roger Federer is very much in the vein of our interest.…
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