The Magic Mountain (1924) by Thomas Mann & the Natures of Love & Death
“Death and love—no, I cannot make a poem of them, they don’t go together. Love stands opposed to death.”
Tag: A Time to Love in Tehran
Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien & the Book of Records
“The pianist could speak with both the quickstep of the city and the balladry of the countryside, he was a one-man Book of Songs and Book of History.”
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The Dream of Saint Ursula: A Mystery in the Virgin Islands (2014) by Kenneth Butcher & the Scarface of Marmosets
“The painting that had impressed them, entitled Say Hello to My Little Friend, was an acrylic rendering of a marmoset doing cocaine.”
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What They Teach You at Harvard Business School (2008) by Philip Delves Broughton & the Crimson Dilemma
“HBS smacks of an ivory tower, cut off from the world outside.”
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On Becoming a Novelist (1983) by John Gardner and the Art of Fiction
“On some subjects—for instance, writers’ workshops—one is tempted to pull punches or rest satisfied with oversimplified answers; but I’m assuming, as the primary reader of this book, an intensely serious beginning novelist who wants the strict truth (as I perceive it) for his life’s sake, so that he can plan his days of technique, theory, and attitude; and become as quickly and efficiently as possible a master of his craft” (p xxii).
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Death’s End: Remembrance of Earth’s Past #3 (2010) by Cixin Liu & the End of Humanity and the Universe
“It’s not even accurate to call it the past, for the events related in these pages didn’t occur in the past. The details that have been preserved are already abundant. Sealed in floating bottles, they will hopefully reach the new universe and endure there.”
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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (2013) by Haruki Murakami & The Imaginary Reality
“Maybe I am fated to always be alone, Tsukuru found himself thinking.”
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The Dark Forest: Remembrance of Earth’s Past #2 (2008/2015) by Cixin Liu & The Future of Humanity
“Suppose a vast number of civilizations are distributed throughout the universe, on the order of the number of detectable stars. Lots and lots of them. Those civilizations make up the body of a cosmic society. Cosmic sociology is the study of the nature of this super-society” (p 12).
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The Three-Body Problem (2006/2014) by Cixin Liu & the Remembrance of Earth’s Past
“She was intoxicated by her brilliant, crimson dream until a bullet pierced her chest.”
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Norwegian Wood (1987) by Haruki Murakami & the Songs of Seeking Love
“Well, to me, that’s what love is. Not that anyone can understand me, though.”
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Pumpkin Farmer (2015) by Michael Hughes & the Carnal Cravings of gods and Men
“She was a stone-faced statue when Horace shut the door and locked it. He walked down the hall, locked the door to the front of the chamber, went upstairs, and made himself some bacon and eggs for breakfast.”
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Amsterdam (1998) by Ian McEwan & the Booker Winner with Such Twisted Beauty
A superbly written piece of brutal heartlessness and blatant betrayals on all sides.
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This Moment is Your Life (2015) by CG FEWSTON & A Dramatic Reading
Here is a hauntingly good reading of “This Moment is Your Life.”
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A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN (a novel, 2015) by CG FEWSTON & the Road to Love
“Her stare often moved me into speechlessness, captivated me into forgetfulness, and I longed to know what she was thinking without her ever having to say a single word. But I knew such things were impossible for me.”
