Heya! I'm back again with two more books I've read. It's been a little while since I've actually finished reading these two books, but now I'm finally updating my digital book log!
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BOOK #4: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
This book is rather philosophical in nature, and follows the lives of four characters, Teresa, Tomas, Sabina, and Franz. The author chips into the narration once in a while, breaking the ... fourth wall, if I may say so. Those moments felt a lot like a lecturer pausing a video to explain a concept.
So far that I know, two of my friends have read this book and both commented that it was a book, where Identity was a strong theme. There were multiple themes going on in this book, and for me, the relationships between the people stuck out a lot more. Most of the quotes I highlighted (digitally, 'cause I read on a kindle) had to do with the interaction and dynamic between the characters, or they dealt with ideas/feelings directly (e.g. kitsch, life, love, being human, etc.)
I'll just choose a random quote to put in here: "She was experience the same old happiness and odd sadness as then. The sadness meant: we are at the last station. The happiness meant: we are together. The sadness was form, the happiness content. Happiness filled the space of sadness."
The language itself is uncomplicated, and the writing is rather poetic, slightly detached. At least that's how I feel about this on the first read-through.
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BOOK #5: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
This book tells the story of two women from different eras ,one from the early-mid 1900s, and the other from the present day, with each tale running in parallel. There was a nice dollop of magic in the story, which we slowly uncover as the plot unfolds. At the heart of this book is the love for reading, for books, and the memories associated with reading and books in general. Another theme this book covered was about women in general, and it brings up the point that women of the past were more invisible and lacked the societal approval to act on their own terms. It was nice to see the contrast between the earlier thread and the modern thread.
There were some witty lines that were enjoyable in here, like "People call me eccentric, but then I call them boring, so it's all relative."
Another nice line was "That was the amusing thing about collecting: You never knew what would hold value, nor to whom. Were we all preconditioned to love certain things? A moment in childhood, lost to memory but indelibly marked on our soul?"
Oh, and how one would know this story is set in Great Britain is best seen from this quote: "A good story always begins with tea".
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That brings me up-to-date with the books I've read thus far. Another book is on the way, very interesting and extremely well-researched and summarised read. However, as with all non-fiction books, I just take a lot longer to get through it. Let's see when I'm done reading that. Till then!
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