Random Thoughts

Immortality by Milan Kundera My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise is great, where a writer witnesses a playful, sexual yet sweet physical gesture of a woman by the swimming pool. He weaves a story around her starting with the gesture. He slowly introduces other characters that are part of her life and compares her life in the 20th century with another one a century earlier. It is an interesting perspective on what immortality is. What do people remember you for? Is it the work that you do in your lifetime? Or, is it the perception that others have of you? Are you remembered only by your loved ones or are you revered or scorned by the entire world? These are questions that will definitely get you thinking. I liked how Kundera slips in new characters silently and slowly they grow over you and right when you want to know more, he moves on leaving you hanging until bringing it up randomly somewhere else in some other context. That does keep you e...

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book started out really well, keeping me hooked to the characters and the mystery which is Nao's story. But, it was a hard read that gradually became frustrating. The premise of the novel was very good with Nao's story and Ruth's interpretation running in parallel. But, I think it started to meander for a while in the middle with Ruth's end of the story becoming more boring by the minute. I guess the author thought that she was being clever in talking about philosophy, but there is definitely something to dislike when you are bowled over by your own cleverness so much that you get completely sidetracked and lose the bigger picture -the story- along the way. That is definitely what happened with Ruth. Despite this, it is to the author's credit that I could never get myself to give up on the novel completely and every few months I would read some more. I soldiered on this way many months whe...