Books (I Love) That Matter
How do you write about a book you first read 20 years ago, as you started to learn what independence meant, how it felt. As you sat on the pebbly beaches of Nice, wondering why your American jeans just would never cut it here, with a used UK paperback, one that you'd never see back home in the States. At this point, Murakami is the literary canon of the 1990s through today, he is the go-to example of magic realism not in Latin America. And yet none of that matters: this book taught me how characters can be normal, plots can be unsolved, and that recurring wells, cooking pasta, and talking cats can make any story, even one about the Machurian invasion, something magical that you'll never forget. A vivid exploration of identity, solitude, and surreal possibility.
- Who it’s for: Readers open to strange shit and layered, often unresolved storytelling.
- Why read it: For a real escape, physical and metaphorical, and one that lingers.
- Don't read this when: You want answers.
If I told you that a deep-dive into depression is one of the best books I've ever read, would you believe me? This book is not foThe Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression.
- Who it’s for: Those sufferring from mental health maladies who want to better understand depression, particularly through the lens of balance and awareness.
- Why read it: Simple, grounded, and disarming in its honesty.
- Don't read this when: You want clear answers to complicated mind matters, quick health fixes, and you believe that life is always, only progress.
What on earth is this book? An American protagonist who translates Polish professionally, working with a dozen writers from other cultures and languages. In this story, both the beauty of the world, multiculturalism, understanding people and places without knowing them and the worst of the world are on display. The translators are not only telling the latest work--a masterpiece?--of their undubitable author Irina Rey. They're also solving it.
- Who it’s for: Adventurous readers
- Why read it: To understand what stories can, and cannot, tell when translated
- Don't read this when: You want clarity.
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- Who it’s for: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
- Why read it: Aliquam eget sapien id mi luctus tincidunt.
- When not to read: Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis.
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- Who it’s for: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
- Why read it: Aliquam eget sapien id mi luctus tincidunt.
- When not to read: Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis.