Recent content by pesahson

Re: Herta Muller - The King Bows and Kills Would it be suitable as a first book to read by Herta Muller? I haven't yet read anything and from your review this book sounds fantastic!

Eça de Queirós The Maias - Heteronym’s excellent blog finally pushed me to read Eça and I loved it. Émile Zola The Kill (La Curée) - I’ve read Germinal, La Bête humaine and The Kill so far and The Kill I liked the most. The penultimate chapter is masterful. Incredible writing. Luis...

José Saramago Baltasar and Blimunda ⭐⭐⭐⭐ My second attempt at reading it. Tried it a couple of years ago, I don't quite remember why it didn't work out but this time it clicked and I loved it. I had a hard time concentrating on reading most things recently, but the slightly longer sentences in...

Norman Lewis Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy ⭐⭐⭐++ Quite an enjoyable read. I've read Lewis' The Tomb in Seville: Crossing Spain on the Brink of Civil War which was average, but in Naples '44, the author meets interesting people, witnesses interesting things and thankfully...

George Orwell Homage to Catalonia ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A reportage from when Orwell fought with the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. There aren't many dramatic moments, his "fighting" mostly consisted of long hours of waiting and doing nothing, but it's still fascinating. He explains the politics of it...

Karel Čapek – born in 1890, died in 1938 of pneumonia, although some say that the true cause was the sadness after the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia. He wrote novels, plays, short stories, children and travel books. He is famous for coming up with the word „robot”, although he said it was his...

Re: Swedish Academy - The Peter Englund era No, no. Don't delete it. I don't think EllisIsland is being mean to you, I think they're just teasing you a bit. This post gave me a good laugh so don't worry. You're right. There's not much going on around here recently, so your thread is welcome...

Nikolai Gogol The Marriage Finished it today. It absolutely deserves ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. If you tell yourself sometimes to read more plays and/or Russian classics, or you want some fun, quick, intelligent read as an intermission, get The Marriage. You can thank me later.

Joris Luyendijk Hello Everybody also came out under the title People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Luyendijk worked as a foreign correspondent for Dutch media. He lived in Cairo and Jerusalem and covered middle eastern affairs. This book is partially a critique of modern media...

Well, of course we're going to have this thread. It was very hard for me to choose. I've read some great books this year and the list kept changing in the process of writing this post. But here it is: Natsume Soseki Kusamakura/The Three Cornered World Milan Kundera The Joke Alejo...

Mo Yan Frog ⭐⭐⭐⭐+ I haven't finished Big Breasts, Wide Hips but I wanted to give Mo Yan another chance and Frog was an excellent choice. The main protagonist is a midwife in provincial China, mostly during the time the one child politics was introduced. It ends with a play featuring characters...

Carol Tarvis, Elliot Aronson Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts ⭐⭐⭐++ Two psychologists deal with how cognitive dissonance influences our decisions, self justiciation, etc. A really good read if you’re into that stuff. Er Tai...

Thanks for that, Daniel. I like little articles and lists like that. I'm always fascinated with what writers are reading. My list looks like that: Junichiro Tanizaki The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi Yukio Mishima The Sailor Who ... Koba Abe The Woman in the Dunes Akira Yoshimura...

I'm glad you enjoyed it more then I did. I wasn't emotionally engaged enough. The storyline of the sister is hearbreaking and it moved me the most, but Eilis kind of left me cold. I've seen an interview with Toibin where he said that her emotionality was subdued on purpose and I guess that's...

Anthony Shadid Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War ⭐⭐⭐⭐+ Fantastic reportage from the Washington Post correspondent. Unfortunately Anthony Shadid died in Syria in 2012. Son of Lebanese migrants, fluent in Arabic, he starts his book in 2002, with Saddam’s amnesty when...