Inspired Pen Web: Books

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Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 3)

Books We Read.

Continuation of Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 1 and Part 2).

Dear bibliophile friends,

Letting go of books from my library continues; an emotional challenge, but there comes a time to find out which treasured books need to stay.

August 28, 2026

Maya Angelou's Even the Stars Look Lonesome is a 145-page 1996 collection of personal, reflective essays written in a conversational, warm tone. Angelou is an acclaimed American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. It serves as a spiritual continutation of her earlier bestselling essay collection, I Wouldn't Take Anything for My Journey Now.

Angelou explores a wide and heartfelt range of themes and subjects from both big and small moments in life: Solitude and Silence: In the title essay and final piece, she reflects on why being alone is not lonely, noting that silence allows us to listen to and describe ourselves; Aging and Grace: Reflections on growing older and rejecting society's misconceptions about aging; Identity & Black Women: A celebration of Black women ("precious jewels all") and the artistic and historical truth of the African American experience; Fame & Relationships: Profiles and anecdotes, including a touching tribute to her friend and protégé Oprah Winfrey, thoughts on marriage breakdown, and the trials of public visibility; Sensuality, Rage, and Art: Honest meditations on human passion, coping with violence and anger, and how art lifts the human spirit.

August 21, 2026

Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate (1986) is a novel written entirely in verse, using Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin in stanza form. It's Seth's first novel before the epic A Suitable Boy. The setting is 1980s San Francisco's young professionals, a circle of affluent, well-read yuppies, centred on John Brown, a lonely computer engineer. John's former girl friend Janet places an ad in the newspaper for him, which is answered by Liz Dorati, a trial lawyer. John and Liz begin a relationship and move toward a de facto marriage, while other friends, including Phil and Ed, navigate complex romantic political shifts. Ideological clashes and jealousy lead to John and Liz's separation. John seeks comfort with Janet, but sadly, Janet and friends to die in a tragic car crash. John is left to stand godfather to Liz and Phil's newborn son. I find it personally nostalgic as the story captures the 1980s Silicon Valley and San Francisco's yuppie culture right before the tech boom and dot-com. The story blends a cool sentimentality with a social satirical observations of corporate life and environmental anxieties. Seth brilliantly keeps the novel's musical rhythm across nearly 600 stanzas, a massive technical and stylish achievement.

July 25, 2026

Points of View by W. Somerset Maugham. The essays collected in this book were the last to be published by Somerset Maugham. They range from an appreciation of Goethe's novels, an encounter with a holy man, an evaluation of the plain prose of Dr. Tillotson, analysis of the short story, the form at which Maugham himself excelled, and criticism of three journalists. Eclectic and illuminating. I was first introduced to this author through his masterpiece, Of Human Bondage, and The Razor's Edge. Since then I've included him in my list of all-time favourite English authors. I couldn't agree more with what Sir Harold Nicolson said about W. Somerset Maugham: "How stimulating are the reflections of this gifted man. His judgements are both modest and authoritative; and his style as always simple and unpretentious...The lessons that underlie these studies of varied personalities are of importance to all men of letters".

June 21, 2026

The Reef by Edith Wharton is her 1912 novel. It is a psychological drama about hidden past entanglements, social conventions, and the emotional fallout of a brief impulsive affair among four Americans in France. American diplomat Geooorge Darrow travels to France to propose to widowed Anna Leath, but when she delays his arrival, Darrow has a short-lived liaison in Paris with Sophy Viner, a bright and poor young woman. Months later, Darrow visits Anna and discovers that Sophy has been hired as a governess for Anna's daughter, and has just become engaged to Owen, Anna's stepson. As past secrets and social snobbery come to light, Sophy breaks off her engagement with Owen and leaves, while the ensuing moral paralysis destroy Darrow and Anna's prospects of future together. Wharton's language is perceptive, but at times the narrative dragged that I just tuned out. A deep cut for me, unlike the heartbreaking Ethan Frome.

June 7, 2026

Psalm at Journey's End by Norwegian author Erik Fosnes Hansen. This is a fictional story about Titanic but from the perspective of the diverse crew on board, that is, instead of focusing on the historical musicians, Hansen invents a motley, multinational ensemble of seven characters of musicians coming from England, France, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Russia, and elsewhere. It’s more about the life stories of the musicians and how they came together, but not a retelling of the lives of the actual musicians. The characters are all fictional.

The story takes place over the five days of the luxury liner's crossing from Southampton to the collision with the iceberg. It is divided into parts, each part focusing on one musician, showing us how they became a musician and why they came to work on the Titanic. There are a lot of common themes running through the stories. The musician’s life paths are full of uncertainty, music in their life is more of a way finder that helped them navigate their life journey rather than a job. Many details about how actual musicians work is impressively accurate. As the ship strikes the iceberg and sinks on April 15, 1912, the musicians play their final psalm on deck. Their death becomes a metaphor for the end of an era and the destruction of old European civilization. Hansen's Psalm at Journey's End is a classical tale of experience and coming of age, of friendship and love, and of growth and demise.

July 25, 2025

The Bridges at Madison County by Robert James Waller is a deeply moving and beautiful love story. It is a compelling novel which is short enough to read in a single sitting. It is haunting and powerful. The story is a brief affair between two unlikely characters - Francesca, a 45 year-old farmer's wife from Iowa, and Robert, a 52 year-old photographer from Washington. Together they ignite an incredibly deep and spiritual passion which only grows over the following years of separation.Their story is based on letters and journals only discovered after Francesca and Robert had both passed away. Francesca's children believe that the story of their mother and Robert was worth the telling. It reads like poetry and the power of love touches me that I'm tempted to let it stay a bit longer in my bookshelf.

May 13, 2025

The Feel of Steel by Helen Garner is not a traditional novel with a single plot, but a collection of non-fiction essays, sketches, and personal reflections that weave together to form an intimate memoir. Instead of a linear storyline, the book follows Garner's personal life and observations across several recurring topics: (1) life after divorce: many pieces reflect her life following the end of her third marriage in the mid-1990s, capturing the disorientation of living in Sydney temporarily before returning to Melbourne; (2) fencing: the title piece refers to the old French fencing phrase le sentiment de fer ("True Feel of Steel"), describing her return to fencing lessons with her childhood and adult teacher, Leslie Fadgyas; (3) family and aging: tender and humorous pieces explore becoming a grandmother, watching her daughter in the schoolyard (My Child in the World), and supporting a family member through Alzheimer's disease; (4) eclectic observations: the collection ranges widely. I appreciate her intimate personal focus.

March 24, 2025

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer. This is the first novel by my favourite storyteller Jeffrey Archer. At the hands of an experienced embezzler, Harvey Metcalfe, four wealthy men from very different backgrounds find themselves penniless overnight. The professor, the earl, the doctor, and the art dealer join forces to recover their swindled fortunes. But, being inherently honest, they are determined to recover only the exact amount they lost - not a penny more, not a penny less. An imaginative and clever story with twists and humour, and a touch of romance.

March 12, 2025

Ten Little Niggers (modern standard title: And Then There Were None, with all historical racial slurs and references removed from the text and nursery rhyme) by Agatha Christie. I never get tired rewatching and rereading Agatha Christie's books and DVD adapted from her book. Ten Little Niggers was made into a successful movie called And Then There were None. Perhaps it's because I've read it moons ago, rereading it still kept me on the edge of my seat to the very last page. This story is different from my all-time favourite crime writer's writings because there is no detective - the reader is the detective. which makes it different, still exciting, even without my favourite Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

Ten people are invited to holiday on a luxurious and remote island, Nigger Island. On the first night, the terror starts as an eerie voice accuses them all individually of a murder in their pasts. Bizarre events start to take place. One by one they meet their deaths in a series of unfortunate accidents.

14 February 2025

The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach. This book is an autobiographical love story about the author's real-life quest to find his soulmate and his relationship with actress and writer Leslie Parrish.

It is a moving and tortuous journey of learning to love, and breaking down his barriers of self-protection. Haunted by his vision of a soulmate, he embarks on a spiritual and personal journey to find his soulmate, an ideal partner who shares his deepest longings and sense of direction. Along the way, he deals with past relationships, financial ruin,and emotional turmoils as he fights his fear of losing hiss independence. After his long and active search, he meets Leslie Parrish, a beautiful and brilliant woman who challenges and frees him that led to a transformative partnership. The book explores the idea that life's events and challenges are self-imposed for spiritual growth, and that true intimacy goes far beyond simple togetherness. Thus, he begins his deep and fascinating journey of discovery. A beautiful story.

Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 2)

Books We Read.

A continuation of Bibliophilia and Readings Part 1.

Dear bibliophile friends, any interesting books you're reading? From my lists below, continued from Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 1), can you identify books you have read, books in your shelves, books you're currently reading, books you want to read, books you're letting go, or...?

My letting go of books continues; rereading old ones to find out which need to stay.

August 2, 2024

The Shell Seekers is a 1987 family saga by Rosamunde Pilcher. It follows Penelope Keeling, an independent woman in her 60s living in her English cottage who looks back on her life, family history, and the choices that shaped her. The story moves between London, the rugged Cornish coast, and the Cotswolds. Recovering from a heart attack, she reflects on her bohemian childhood in London and Cornwall, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the one love of her life. A central conflict revolves around a valuable painting titled "The Shell Seekers" created by Penelope's late eccentric artist father, Lawrence Stern. Penelope deals with her three adult children who hold different view on what should happen to her assets and the priceless painting. Two of her children (Noel and Nancy) wants to sell the artwork, while Olivia the middle daughter remains grounded. Penelope is forced to decide how her family will move forward.

Flashback of Penelope's past life: her bohemian childhood in London and Cornwall, her unhappy wartime marriage to naval officer Ambrose Keeling, and her true, a tragic love affair with Richard Lomax, an officer who died during World War II. Penelope navigates her family's demands, and grows close to her gardener, Danus, and Antonia, a teenage daughter of an older man who has a significant romantic relation with Olivia. After she passes away from final heart attack, her will reveals that she distributed her estate to support Antonia and Danus, rather than to the children. The story captures deep themes of ageing, family estrangement, reconciliation, and memories. I find it heartwarming and nostalgic, then and now, rereading it after almost 30 years.

Trivia. Pilcher's novel The Shell Seekers has been adapted into two screen versions: the 1989 TV Movie starring Angela Lansbury as Penelope Keeling, and the 2006 TV Mini-Series with Vanessa Redgrave as Penelope Keeling.

July 10, 2024

Doris Lessing's 1996 novel Love, Again, is the story of Sarah Durham, a 65-year-old widowed theatre manager in London, who falls into a painful, consuming state of romantic passion. She is involved with a theatrical project, a play based on the life of Julie Vairon, a late-19th-century French-Martinican artist and composer who died by suicide in 1912. On the production, she finds herself overwhelmed by turbulent and sexual longing and first falls for Bill, an androgynous American actor, and later, becomes involved with Henry, a married director. The creative and emotional turmoil of the project touches everyone. After the theatrical production ends, Sarah moves past the destructive whirlwind of romantic longing. She does not find a fairy-tale romance, instead, steps in her later years with a clear, unsentimental understanding of human love and herself. The story explores female desires, aging, unrequited love, and how childhood patterns shape adult relationships. It is thought provoking, yes, however, I feel a lack of warmth in the exploration of aging, and unsettled with a seemingly cold dissection of romantic failure.

June 29, 2024

The Snow Queen was published by Michael Cunningham in 2014, succeeding his famous Pulitzer Prize--winning The Hours. It is a character-driven novel set in New York City beginning in November 2004. Loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name, the story explores mortality, love, art, and search for transcendence. The story revolves around four characters: Barrett Meeks: A gay man in his late 30s who has just endured another painful romantic breakup; Tyler Meeks: Barrett's older brother, a struggling, blocked musician; Beth: Tyler's fiancée, who is facing a terminal cancer; and Liz, Barrett’s older, free-spirited boss and family friend.

The novel opens with Barrett Meeks walking through Central Park after a breakup and looks up to see a mysterious, pale aqua, godlike light hovering in the sky. He is not religious, but the event leaves a deep, and a quiet sense of spiritual awakening in him. In Brooklyn, Barrett moves into the spare room of the cramped Bushwick apartment shared by Tyler and Beth. Tyler is under immense pressure to write a wedding song for Beth before her health fades, but he suffers from severe creative paralysis. As Beth's illness progresses, the characters deal with their fears in different ways. Tyler turns to drugs, convincing himself that mind-altering substances will unlock his creative genius. Barrett, haunted by his Central Park vision, quietly begins exploring Christianity and spiritual meaning. Beth eventually dies. Barrett, Tyler, and Liz meet to scatter her ashes. Barrett and Tyler move out, to different apartments. Spanning several years, the novel tracks the delicate, messy ways the four characters support each other as they confront aging, unfulfilled ambitions, grief over their past, and the harsh fragility of ordinary life. I find it quite sluggish compared to Cunningham's earlier work, I relate to its delicate prose and quiet meditation on midlife, mortality, and love.

May 13 2024

Angel is a 1994 novel by British author Anita Mason. The story is loosely based on the life of Third Reich heroine Hanna Reitsch (1912–1979), a famous female Nazi test pilot caught up in evil, visceral realistic novel. It starts with blonde, blue-eyed Frederika "Freddy" Kurtz, her childhood as she defies her physician father's disapproval to become a pioneering glider and chief test pilot for Hitler's air force. Because of her exceptional abilities, she becomes something of a celebrity in a male-dominated military world, she interacts with top Nazi figures (including Hitler and Himmler) and initially views the regime through the lens of idealistic national regeneration. Freddy thinks she is a man, shuns romance till she realises she prefers her own sex, and has no emotions whatsoever. She tests a piloted version of the V-1 rocket and consorts with top Nazi officials, including a general who commits suicide after his tendered resignation is refused. When a plane she is testing almost crashes, the novel tells nothing of what she feels.

Frederika's perspectives is repelled by the Nazis' brutality when she visits the Russian front and witnesses civilian women stripped naked and gassed to death in an SS van. Realizing she is complicit in evil, she transitions to working as an ambulance driver. Her live-in lesbian love affair with a divorced neighbour ends when the woman, whose communist father was killed in a Nazi prison camp,walks out, fearful of endangering her. As the novel closes, Freddy, whisked away to Hitler's bunker, watches the chaotic days inside the Fuhrer's bunker, Hitler and Eva Braun, during their final, madness-filled days, as she narrowly escapes. The novel is clinical and lacks personal feel for characters. It's stoic. It's impassive. I find it lacking in little details to visualise my reading sensory experience. It's probably meant to be.

1 May 2024

Yesterday I decided to take a rest from my painting brushes to read Hayley Mills' book, Forever Young A Memoir. What a lovely memoir of a

Fourteen-year-old Judith Dunbar is left behind at a British boarding school (Saint Ursula's) when her mother and baby sister move abroad to join her father in Ceylon. At school, Judith befriends the spirited and wealthy Loveday Carey-Lewis and is invited to Nancherrow, the family's grand estate on the Cornish coast. Nancherrow becomes her emotional sanctuary and surrogate home. She grows attached to the estate, and also becomes infatuated with Loveday's brother Edward, forming a deep bond with the family.

As the threat of World War II looms over Europe, the carefree life at Nancherrow is upended. Judith matures into an independent woman and contributes to the war effort—serving as a WREN (Women's Royal Naval Service) and facing the harsh realities of service, losses, and separation across distant fronts brought on by the conflict. The family and estate endure the severe pressures of wartime rationing, the grief of losing loved ones, and the changing social landscape of Britain. The shadow of World War II breaks up the idyllic lifestyle.

The core themes of the story include: tracking Judith's transformation from a lonely, displaced schoolgirl into a resilient, independent woman; exploring the idea that "home" is defined less by a permanent physical location and more by deep emotional ties, stability, and loved ones; and the rich, detailed descriptions of the Cornish landscape, sea, and architecture act as a constant anchor through the turbulence of war.

By the end of the war in 1945, Judith has navigated profound personal trials, romance, and grief. The story concludes with her finding her true sense of identity, resilience, and belonging—returning emotionally and physically to the enduring landscape of Cornwall.

Pilcher's Coming Home is a massive in scope and size, spanning nearly 1,000 pages, functioning as a slow-paced, old-fashioned reading experience, a sprawling coming-of-age and wartime chronicle following a lonely 14-year-old at boarding school through World War II. heroine's. It's mainly for the lengthy size of the novel that I prefer The Shell Seekers, which has a standard, digestible length, a more intimate comfort read. is massive in scope and size, spanning nearly 1,000 pages. It functions as a slow-paced, old-fashioned reading experience that patiently follows its heroine through a decade of turmoil. I appreciate the rich emotional depth, rich narrative of the beautiful Cornwall landscape, and the sweeping coming-of-age story.

The book was adapted into a popular Coming Home TV serial in 1998 starring Keira Knightly, Peter O'Toole, and Joanna Lumley.

31 March 2024

Happy Easter to all my book lover friends! Mea culpa if I haven't any readings to share as I have been busy with my other love: watercolour painting. Soon my friends, soon. As I regularly cull books, it's but natural I re-visit those ones to let go. Last week, eight went, mainly writing books I no longer need. The book I was reading when my watercolour brush pens interrupted me was Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books, edited by Leah Price. Very interesting. Some of them reminded me of me. Why? Simply because personal libraries of some writers mentioned spotlight the same books I've kept through the years. The editor (or interviewer) muses on the history and future of the bookshelf, asking what books can tell us about their owners. Each writer provides a list of top ten favourite titles, offering unique personal histories along with suggestions for every bibliophile. Definitely, Unpacking will remain in my shelf.

16 February 2024

Apollo's Summer Look by British author Kathleen Conlon. Published by Collins, in London (1968). It is summer in a seaside town. Rose and Sally, down from their second academic year are on a working vacation. Also newly emancipated from the apron strings of their families, both friends are anxious for exciting experiences. Unlike 21 year-old Sally who falls in and out of love as regularly as she changes her hair-style, one-year younger Rose deliberately embarks on an affair, confident that by October she'll be able to return to university emotionally intact. The atmosphere is set when 40-ish Philip arrives from London. Philip, whose marriage is in the doldrums, is not averse to a little light amorous delight with so willing a young partner. When summer ends, Sally escapes emotional entanglements, but both Rose and Philip have realised that passion revolves where "no strings attached" is broken as it was made. The story reminds me of the movie, Interlude, starring Oskar Werner and Barbara Ferris (older sister of Pam Ferris). It is an old story told many times, but the author puts a pleasant spin.

Interesting Reading:

11 Bookish Words for Book Lovers. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed February 16, 2024

Agatha Christie Books for Young Readers

Literature / Mystery/Crime: Agatha Christie

Are you an Agatha Christie fan like us? Then this post is for you. Christie fans from around the world were asked which book they would recommend to young readers hoping to immerse themselves into the world of Agatha Christie for the first time. These ten thrilling mysteries came out on top and some fans have been asked to explore what it is about these stories that make them so appealing.

Read on... Reading List recommended for young readers (great for adults too!)

1. The Murder of Roger Akroyd

2. The ABC Murders

3. The Body in the Library

4. The Mysterious Affair at Styles

5. Cat Among the Pigeons

6. Murder on the Orient Express

7. And Then There were None

8. The Secret Adversary

9. Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

10. Death on the Nile

Widely acknowledged to be the best-selling author in the world after Shakespeare, Dame Agatha Christie's crime & mystery books are so popular simply because they have compelling detectives & related major characters, and colourful suspects. Her novels are one of the first murder mysteries ever written.

Resource:

Recommended for Young Readers. The Home of Agatha Christie. 21 April 2023. Accessed April 24, 2023.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Literature / Novel

Publisher: Vintage/Penguin Random House

Kafka on the Shore is a 2002 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel. Its 2005 English translation was among "The 10 Best Books of 2005" selected by The New York Times and received the World Fantasy Award for 2006. It is a surreal, magical realism novel told through two alternating plots, parallel storylines that eventually intersect.

The novel features a magical realism, a dreamlike occurrence occurrences, bizarre, including fish raining from the sky, talking cats, manifest avatars of figures, and a hidden forest that traps unaged World War II soldiers. Both Kafka and Satoru try to break free from pre-ordained destinies and psychological trauma. The story deals heavily with memory and identity, with how the subconscious, past grief, and unresolved family histories shape a person's present life.

Plot 1: Kafka Tamura. 15-year-old Kafka Tamura is a smart, independent boy who runs away from his home in Tokyo to Takamatsu on his birthday to escape a dark Oedipal prophecy predicted by his sculptor father, Koichi Tamura: that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother and sister. He is accompanied by an inner voice named "Crow". He meets a friendly young woman named Sakura along the way (whom he fears might be his long-lost sister). He finds refuge in a private library managed by the graceful but mysterious and melancholy Miss Saeki (whom he suspects could be his mother) and befriends Oshima, a knowledgeable an intelligent, transgender, gay clerk. Kafka experiences a mysterious, bloody blackout on the night his father is murdered back in Tokyo. To keep him safe from police suspicion, Oshima hides him in an isolated mountain cabin. Kafka ventures into a deep forest near the cabin, where he enters a timeless, otherworldly valley and meets a younger spectral version of Miss Saeki.

Plot 2: Satoru Nakata. Satoru Nakata is a gentle, illiterate, elderly man in Tokyo who was left mentally disabled after a mysterious WWII-era mass unconsciousness event in his childhood. But he has the uncanny ability to talk to cats and track down missing pets. His search for a lost cat pulls him onto a strange road trip across Japan. He tracks down a surreal, malevolent figure named Johnnie Walker (who is symbolically connected to Kafka's father) and kills him to save cats. He hitches a ride to Takamatsu with a friendly, easygoing long-haul truck driver named Hoshino, who acts as his companion and protector. Nakata is drawn straight to the Komura Memorial Library where he meets the librarian Miss Saeki guided by a sense of preordained fate. When they meet face-to-face in her office, they greet each other as if they have known one another for a long time, recognising that both of them possess light, diminished shadows. Nakata and Hoshino locate an "entrance stone" that opens a gateway between worlds. Miss Saeki confesses to opening the mystical entrance stone years earlier out of grief for her deceased lover. She hands Nakata a written memoir and record of her life, asking him to burn the documents to unburden herself of her past. After burning Miss Saeki’s accumulated memories to help her find peace, Nakata passes away peacefully in his sleep. Hoshino closes the other-world entrance.

The Kafka and Nakata Connection. The two characters never physically meet or cross paths in person. The novel alternates chapter-by-chapter between Kafka's journey in Takamatsu and Nakata's journey across Japan. Even though they are never in the same room or aware of each other face-to-face, their fates are deeply intertwined, something of a metaphysical link. It seems that Nakata functions as an unconscious proxy of Kafka, fulfilling key events of the prophecy on a spiritual level. At different times, both characters interact with Miss Saeki at the Komura Memorial Library. Miss Saeki dies after finding closure for her long-lost past, leaving Kafka a painting titled Kafka on the Shore. Kafka reconciles with his inner trauma, gains emotional maturity, and makes the journey back to Tokyo ready to live with resilience.

The title Kafka on the Shore weaves together several core elements, names, and motifs from the novel:

The Protagonist’s Chosen Name: Kafka, the 15-year-old runaway protagonist adopts the name Kafka (from Czech, meaning "crow") to shed his past identity, mirroring his internal journey and his alter ego, "The Boy Named Crow".
The Song and the Painting: In the story, "Kafka on the Shore" is the title of a mysterious, melancholic song written and sung in her youth by Miss Saeki, as well as an oil painting of a young man looking out over a seashore. Both act as central, dreamlike leitmotifs that pull the characters across dimensions of memory and time.
Homage to Czech writer Franz Kafka: The title is a deliberate nod to the existential, nightmarish, and surreal tone of writer Franz Kafka, whose dream-logic and sense of alienation heavily influence the book's bizarre events. (my favourie Czech author.)
The Metaphor of the "Shore": Murakami has described the shore as the boundary line between two worlds— the conscious and the unconscious minds, or reality and the netherworld.

The book is a surreal work of magical realism that blends dream logic and classical mythology. It is not my typical book I'd buy for my satisfaction, but somehow, I like it and appreciate learning about the modern Japanese life into an open-ended puzzle. It is fantasy, a bewildering achievement brilliantly conceived by Murakami. Kafka on the Shore introduces me to this ingenious Japanese author.

Photo Credit:

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Tel.

Of Human Bondage by W.S. Maugham

"It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it;" ~ Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham was an English novelist, playwright and short story writer famous for his novel, Of Human Bondage. The book is said to be based on his own life. It was made into a movie and became equally popular at the time starring Leslie Howard (Gone with the Wind fame) and Bette Davis.

The book provokes. As demonstrated in his writings, faithful love has no place. And then again, it can be attributed to the writer's tormented emotional life, from his unhappy childhood and perhaps even unhappier adult existence. Maugham often wrote satire and humour, but he told his stories well that endeared him to his readers.

The book Mozart: A Cultural Biography, written by Robert W Gutman, is a well-researched and carefully studied, fascinating portrait of the musical genius that is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably the greatest composer of all-time who lived during the Enlightenment Era of 18th-century Europe.

Mozart is an extraordinary portrait of a man and his times, a brilliant distillation of musical thought. Gutman takes us to the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his devoted father Leopold taking us to the cultural, social, political and religious life of Europe with brilliant philosophers and literary minds such as Voltaire, Goethe, Rousseau, among many others.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Literature / Novella

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novella The Old Man and the Sea is about Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who undergoes an epic, three-day struggle to catch a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. It is a story about human endurance, dignity in defeat, and the deep, respectful bond between man and the natural world. Hemingway was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative, demonstrated in this novella, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."

The Plot

Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman goes 84 days without catching a single fish. on the 85th day, he rows far out into the Gulf Stream and hooks a massive, 18-foot fish. For three days and two nights, Santiago fights the powerful fish, suffering physical pain, bleeding hands, and exhaustion while developing a profound respect for the marlin, which he calls "his brother".

Manolin is the devoted young apprentice and close companion of Santiago, who he taught to fish when the boy was just five years old. He is Santiago's only true human friend in the Cuban fishing village. After Santiago goes 84 days without catching a fish, Manolin’s parents force the boy to switch to a different, luckier fishing boat. Despite working on another boat, Manolin continues to look after Santiago by bringing him food, coffee, bait, and helping carry his gear. Manolin deeply admires Santiago's skill and character, unlike the other fishermen who mock or pity the old man's bad luck. At the end of the story, after Santiago survives his exhausting ordeal with the marlin, Manolin vows to go fishing with him again.

After harpooning the marlin and strapping it to his skiff, relentless sharks attack the blood-scented carcass on the way back to the shore. Santiago fights the sharks off until no meat is left. He returns to his village with only a giant white skeleton. Despite his loss of the fish, he safely falls asleep in his hut. His devoted young apprentice, Manolin, promises to fish with him again.

Key Themes and Deeper Meanings

Grace Under Pressure - Hemingway explores how an aging person faces decline and hardship with a quiet and stubborn pride rather than self-pity.
"Man can be destroyed but not defeated" - This means that physical loss or failure does not matter if we maintain our honour, courage, and effort. Santiago loses the physical prize to the sharks, yet his spirit remains unbroken.
Man Versus Nature - Instead of viewing the ocean or the marlin as an enemy to conquer, Santiago sees himself as part of nature. The struggle is mutual, noble, and balanced.

Symbolism and Allegory

The marlin represents a worthy adversary and the peak challenges of life.
The sharks represent the destructive forces that strip away human triumphs.
Manolin represents youth, loyalty, love, and the passing of the torch from one generation to the next.

While Hemingway famously claimed the story was meant to be taken literally, readers and critics have long noted rich parallels, such as Santiago carrying his mast up the hill like a cross referencing the crucifixion.

Image:

The Old Man and the Sea. Trade Paperback, Simon & Schuster Books.

Resources

Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)

The Old Man and the Sea. en.wikipedia.org/

The Old Man and the Sea. www.britannica.com

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)

Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 1)

Books We Read.

Link to 'Bibliophilia and Readings' Part 2

***My entries continue in 'Bibliophilia and Readings' Part 2

8 February 2024

Postmark Paris: A Little Album of Memories by Leslie Jonath. Unputdownable, charming little book I finished reading in a day. It stays in my bookshelf and I believe it is the first version published by Chronicle Books (1995), as I must have gotten it sometime 1996. I love the book not only because of the wonderful reminiscences and exquisite images, but because I've been an avid stamp collector in my youthful years, plus I got a lovely surprise seeing a Mozart stamp image, the third to the last illustration in her book.

Postmark Paris is a story of a ten-year-old girl's stay in France interwoven with the stamps she collected there. It creates a lyrical memoir of engaging discoveries of a curious child in the beautiful city of lights and gaiety. When the young author moved to Paris for a year, one of the first places her father takes her is to the stamp market. Her adventures are magically captured in the dainty reproduced images of the postage stamps she collects. Even for an adult, the book is a delight. Between the charming memoir and wonderful stamps and illustrations, this little book will capture any child's imagination. Truly, a book not only for the young but also for the young-at-heart, I highly recommend it as a gift book.

5 February 2024

Joyce Carol Oates' I'll Take You There, a novel about a young woman's "coming of age" and quest for human connection that happened at a fictional university during the turbulent years of the early 60s - antiwar protests, Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement, the "give peace a chance" mantra, etc. The narrator calls herself "Anellia". The novel consists of three parts: (part one) in which Anellia, originating from a poor, migrant and blue collar family from upstate New York, describes her experiences as an outsider in an upper class sisterhood in Syracuse, New York; (part two) her experiences of a lover with a different ethnic (Afro-American) background; and (part three) finally her coming to terms with her family background. The brief plot and characters can be found at wiki. Honestly? I sense that the author is writing through deeply personal material in this book... she's holding important clues to the autobiographical impulses that appear partially to shape her fiction.

23 January 2024

A book I thought I'd let go but again, decided not to. I'm currently revisiting Bernard Mac Laverty's Grace Notes, shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize. I like it then. I like it now. With impressive artistry and astonishing intimacy, Irish writer Mac Laverty brings us into the life of Catherine McKenna - estranged daughter, vexed lover, new mother and a woman composer making her mark in a male-dominated world. It is a story of resilience. Of sacrifice. Of fierce love. Of grace. Catherine McKenna is forced to face the baggage she's carried since childhood in an overly oppressive religious environment as she returns to bury a difficult father in her hometown Northern Ireland. She forges peace with her mother and confronts the ghosts of her constricting past. In Glasgow she gives birth to a child and receives a music career-making commission. Through it all, she strives to maintain her kind of art. It is truly a book that the Virginia Woolf of A Room of One's Own would instantly understand. If you love classical music like I do, grab a copy of this book. You might just be carried away by its melodic sounds, and find love in its purest form.

18 January 2024

I've just finished re-reading The World is Round by Australian writer Louise Mack. Having culled about a dozen books today for donation (my ongoing 'Letting Go' project), I thought this will be my last addition for the day. I found a review to my liking, changed my mind; the book stays in my shelf for now. Reviewer: WHISPERINGGUMS (January 5, 2017). Accessed Jan 18, 2024, 6pm. whisperinggum's copy is the same as mine.

16 January 2024

Here's a Japanese novel I dawned upon my bookshelf. I must have read it moons ago, but it's good to revisit. The Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi, translated by Mildred Tahara. The book looks at the problems of caring for the elderly in a verge of senility surrounding a modern industrial society. It tells the story of the Tachibanas, and ordinary family living in a Tokyo suburb, who after the sudden death of the husband's mother, are faced with the care of his aged father, Shigezo. The task of looking after the old man falls mainly on Akiko, his daughter-in-law, herself a working woman. With quiet desperation, she tries to support his struggle for independent survival, and by the same token, she puts up with her family's everyday life as an ordinary housewife's responses to unbearable pressures. The author "creates a story that has the poignancy and emotional force of subjective personal experience while retaining a universal meaning. (About the author: Ariyoshi Sawako, (20 January 1931 – 30 August 1984) was a Japanese writer, known for such works as The Doctor's Wife and The River Ki. She was known for her advocacy of social issues, such as the elderly in Japanese society, and environmental issues. Several of her novels describe the relationships between mothers and their daughters. She also had a fascination with traditional Japanese arts, such as kabuki and bunraku. She also described racial discrimination in the United States, something she experienced firsthand during her time at Sarah Lawrence, and the depopulation of remote Japanese islands during the 1970s economic boom.)

I've loved books all my life but lately, I mainly want to read a book that can refresh me like a bubble-bath after reading it. The clock's ticking fast and there are lots of wonderful books I'd love to read, five of them are beside me now... / Tel. 10 May 2021.

11 November 2023.

As some friends would know, I've been culling books from my 'ruthless' down-sizing. The exercise is sometimes painful especially letting go treasured books. And then again, we've got to face the moment with openness and acceptance of the inevitable 'time to let go'.

Here's one book I've decided to reread, and might not even let go. I've always loved reading historical fiction books. It's The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland. Artemisia Gentileschi was an artist during the Baroque era. It's a story of suffering, love and the triumph of talent. From her extraordinary creation of original paintings, patronage by the Medici and Galileo's friendship, this brilliant woman lived as she wanted, but paid a high price.

October 28, 2022

4 September 2021.

Olive Kitteridge / Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout. Recommended by a writer friend, Chris Eirschele.

Olive Again [Hardcover]: Olive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply lovable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her. Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son and his family to accept him, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.

1 September 2021.

Oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few... but the days grow short when you reach September. Hello September!

I have few books waiting to be read. With lock down that started last week of June 2021 still going on due to COVID-19, I've slowed down on reading. Rather, I've been busy with other priorities; mainly, another interest, one that has gone through the cracks for a long, long time.

10 May 2021.

My latest read: Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee. Published by Vintage Books. A Division of Random House, Inc. NY. 1999.

Subscribing to Virginia Woolf's own belief in the fluidity and elusiveness of identity, author Hermione Lee comes at her subject from a multitude of perspectives, producing a richly layered portrait of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, the woman that leaves all of her complexities and contradictions intact.

Quoted:

"One of the most impressive biographies of the decade: moving, eloquent, powerful as both literary and social history."- Financial Times

"A biography wholly worthy of the brilliant woman it chronicles... It rediscovers Virginia Woolf afresh." - The Philadelphia Inquirer

27 January 2021.

I happily picked up some of my ordered books from my local bookstore yesterday. I'm so looking forward - too much reading to do. This is most likely my last entry for sometime...

19 January 2021.

Latest books in my pipeline I'm interested in looking into:

How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton

Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past by Patrick Alexander. (Am about to start reading it; got the book recently. My no. #1 priority book to-read.)
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald (local bookstore still looking into it)
The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis (Rowan Coleman)
What Stars are Made of by Donovan Moore. The life of Cecilia Payne-Gopppishkin. (already ordered; may take a while).
Clementine by Sonia Purcel. (I'm surprise that before this work by Sonia Purcell, the only other biography of Winston Churchill's wife (influential in her own way despite playing it more traditional but a significant role as a woman's advocate) was written by Mary Churchill Soames, one of Churchill's daughters.)

And then I have several eBooks waiting in the pipeline mainly written by wonderful creative writer friends, including Jo Allen (Jennifer Young), Liz Ringrose, Janet Cameron, Chris Eirschele, Natasha Sheldon, Val Tobin, John Erwin, Carol Rzadkiewicz, and Maria Blanco, to name some. They're my active friends at Facebook.

This could be my last entry here. Lots of books waiting in the pipeline. I might be "quadruple-booking", that is, reading one main book, whilst three more started...

29 December 2020.

More books to explore. With physical distancing due to Covid-19, there's time to follow-up where these books will lead me... actually, I have few more to add to this list, later...

The Greater Journey by David McCullough tells the enthralling, inspiring story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, and others who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, hungry to learn and to excel in their work.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a multi-layered tale about a ten-year-old boy named Daniel Sempere, who picks up a copy of a book by an author who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Daniel and his father live above a bookstore, and their lives revolve around the love of books.
March by Geraldine Brooks. It's the story of the absent father from Louisa May Alcott′s Little Women - and conjures a world of brutality, stubborn courage and transcendent love. An idealistic abolitionist, March has gone as chaplain to serve the Union cause. But the war tests his faith not only in the Union - which is also capable of barbarism and racism - but in himself. Brooks novel is a love story set in a time of catastrophe. As March recovers from a near-fatal illness, he must reassemble and reconnect with his family, who have no idea of what he has endured. He explores the passions between a man and a woman, the tenderness of parent and child, and the life-changing power of an ardently held belief.
The Woman from Saint Germain by J.R. Lonie. Two strangers go on the run to outwit the Nazis in 1941: She is a celebrated writer stranded in Paris after her French lover is killed fighting the German invasion. He is an enigmatic foreigner with a dangerous secret, fleeing Nazi-controlled Austria. Only the war could bring them together.

19 December 2020.

List of books I've noted in my iPhone worth looking into, and some I've already read:

The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga: Book 1) by Mary Stewart ... the last enchantment, the wicked day, the prince and the pilgrim - covering Arthurian legend.
Madame Chrysanthème is a novel by Pierre Loti, autobiographical journal of a naval officer who was temporarily married to a Japanese woman while he was stationed in Nagasaki, Japan.
The Woman on the Stairs by Bernard Schlink. It's not an examination of emotional inheritance as is Homecoming, nor intergenerational guilt like The Reader. Rather, it is the story of one individual's struggle to feel the losses and trauma he has experienced in his life.
The Daughter of Victory Lights by Kerri Turner. An enthralling story of one woman’s determined grab for freedom after WW2 from a talented new Australian voice. This romance and historical novel is 'Part Cabaret, Part Burlesque...' Kerri Turner's second novel following her impressive debut novel The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers. (I met and chatted with Kerri at Dymocks bookseller, Chatswood)
The Light Behind the Window by Lucinda Riley, is a breathtaking and intense story of love, war and, above all, forgiveness.
Tchaikovsky: The Early Years 1840-1874 by David Brown.
What on Earth Have I Done?: Stories, Observations, and Affirmations by Robert Fulghum. Somehow, I turn to his books when I need some uplifting, a smile or a chuckle. What on Earth Have I Done? is an armchair tour of everyday life as seen by Robert Fulghum, a man who has two feet planted firmly on the earth, one eye on the heavens and, at times, a tongue planted firmly in his cheek. The answer is neve easy... Fulghum writes to his fellow travelers, with a sometimes light heart, about the deep and vexing mysteries of being alive.

25 November 2020.

Added in my list of books I want to read: The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke. A bewitching novel about love, second chances and the power of music.

16 October 2020.

What I would want to read: Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus, translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. (Resource: Goodreads)

The book comprises of six stories, written at the height of Camus' artistic powers, all depicting people at their decisive, revelatory moments in their lives. The six works featured in this volume are:

"The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
"The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
"The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
"The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
"Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
"The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")

11 September 2020.

An interesting link I found today, choc a block with organised information of great books and literary works in chronological order works best books. The website creator/author (BeckChris) collected over 25 lists of the best books and best literature of all time and combined them into one meta-list, sourced listed. Make Lists, Not War: The meta-lists website. Accessed 14 Nov 2020.

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