Michael Kim
I really want to eat a baobab for some reason - other than that a really warm story layered with metaphors and also quite a cool wake up call about how it's sometimes better to think like a child, and how a child's frame of mind and what they draw emotions towards shouldn't be discounted as less significant than adult problems
Bought this book in the strand gallery in London after hearing that it was a pioneer in proposing new ideas about how to interpret art - I came away feeling confused, maybe I was not ready or did not read in enough depth the ideas here, while sprinkled with gems of insight here and there I thought overall it offered me insufficient food for thought, and it was written in quite an academic diction which made it hard to get through for a beginner in art non fiction
4 stars - found Lencioni's writing to be full of simple but compelling literary techniques, such as clearly telegraphed foreshadowing. Very much new to the genre of self-help books written through fictional stories, and really enjoyed it! Found it much more digestible and memorable in this story format, and useful summary at the end. Interesting and not immediately apparent takeaways such as meetings being the perfect time for constructive arguments, and the importance of not taking such vital arguments ‘offline' or postponing them.
3.9
INITIAL THOUGHTS:
Interesting read and commentary on home, travelling, family, and letters. Very strong start and thought provoking scenes throughout, felt a stronger ending that was better woven into the plot would've pushed it to a 4. Definitely recommended read regardless. Glad to be trying more translated works from Korean authors.
First review in a while, but enjoyed the warmth of the characters and the unique narrative style so much that I thought I would finally do one. Liesel, her friends and family and the tragedy of her story is written in a beautiful manner and nicely woven into the historical setting of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany in a truly unique manner. 6/5 :)
“In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment”. These were the last words in the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle which illustrate the magical realism that the entire story evokes.
For me, Murakami's legendary story symbolises one of the most important quests in real life - the confrontation and evolution of the self. The protagonist, Toru, is thrown into a series of events starting with a missing cat that devolves into an utterly surreal, bizarre, unpredictable set of experiences. From Toru's journey I believe that he comes to realise the sheer meaninglessness of life, embodying the fatalistic and post modernist ideas of Murakami's writing.
Toru starts to question everything he has ever believed in, the nature of life, whether humans can truly understand one another, the pointless pursuits and values that people often hold. While Murakami, as usual, leaves us with an endless number of unanswered questions, I find no lack of closure in the book's ending. My personal opinion is that Toru is truly able to confront himself and his enemies and from this gathers an unspoken epiphany - that the supposed meaninglessness of life and inevitability of pain and suffering provides us a profound purpose in itself. Accepting this meaninglessness gives us complete freedom from our obsessions of values and items in daily life that bring us no real joy or fulfillment.
To quote Toru himself: “The light shines into the act of life for only the briefest moment – perhaps only a matter of seconds. Once it is gone and one has failed to grasp its offered revelation, there is no second chance. One may have to live the rest of one's life in hopeless depths of loneliness and remorse. In that twilight world, one can no longer look forward to anything. All that such a person holds in his hands is the withered corpse of what should have been.”
Overall, the Wind-up bird chronicle has become one of my favourite books of all time. Murakami's writing was astoundingly expressive, being both intensely gruesome and beautiful at times. Each line seems like a carefully constructed metaphor that Murakami challenges you to decipher - this quality is what appeals to me on such a deep scale. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the genre of low fantasy and magical realism.
Drive presents an amazing review of the evidence, stories and applications about what truly motivates us. He discusses the outdated carrot and stick system for motivation and makes a compelling argument for intrinsic motivation. For some this may be old news, but his delivery and choice wording leaves the reader with invaluable lessons at the forefront of their mind regardless. A recommended read for anyone trying to understand what motivation is and how to get more of it for themselves or their close ones and colleagues.
Ishiguro's Never Let me Go is an intensely touching story that poses so many interesting questions to the reader. A closely related book to his recent ‘Klara in the sun' Ishiguro explores what it truly means to be human, and what defines the undefinable human soul. Ishiguro is a master of drip feeding the reader with information so that they are always engaged in the book and does an excellent job guiding them through this immensely complex subject matter. The interactions and love shared between Kathy, Tommy and Ruth is truly an expert representation of human relationships and their complexity. I loved this book and it left me feeling deeply sad and deeply happy at times. Would definitely recommend as an entry to Ishiguro.
Ishiguro paints an amazing, emotional story about Klara and brings to mind so many interesting concepts in his book. Does augmenting the human mind or replicating it with artificial intelligence somehow take away from its inherent value? Is the concept of oneself truly unique, and distinct from all other people or entities? Ishiguro reminds us that it may not be what is within us that gives us our undefinable uniqueness but the effect and love we hold in others.
Interesting read, Gladwell makes it clear to us something we may not want to admit, pure hard work or even pure talent does not guarantee our success. We must work hard and we must upskill ourselves, but importantly we must also identify where good opportunities lie. Gladwells message might appear to some as a statement that only those blessed with good opportunities can be outliers in success, but I see it differently. It may be wishful thinking but I hope there is some outlier position in each of our lives we can identify and exploit to truly achieve greatness :)
Got to 70% and gave up :( if you're reading this, don't be discourage at giving it a go. It was my first Korean book in translation and so I wasn't sure what to expect. The writing is poetic and beautiful at times but overall the subject matter was just a little too depressing for me personally and the unfamiliar narration style made it hard to get drawn into the narrative. However happy that I gave it a good shot