Of Human Bondage ( W.Somerset Maugham )

In my twenties I read Painted Veil, Moon and Sixpence, Theatre, short stories and loved them all. A year ago I got Of Human Bondage, but quit reading on early chapters. It did not speak to me at all...

Something made me to return to this novel again and I made a second attempt. I downloaded a copy from Project Gutenberg and this time could not stop reading...

The novel IS a masterpiece. The story starts with Philip being orphaned in early childhood. Then a long and painful journey of growing and "finding yourself" unravels....

Extraordinary and brilliant narration, unforgettable story, deeply intellectual and emotional.

Hot,Flat and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman

...This choice was not mine originally. I decided to read this book because it was one of the books Obama took on his vacation.
I did not finish the book. Mr. Friedman is too wordy for me. I was reading the book and hoped he would cut the cr...p and get to the point sooner then he did. I did not learn anything new. I already knew everything he was talking about. So it was a waste of my time :-(

P.S. I wonder what would the President say about the book.

The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran

I went to Beirut, Lebanon, on a business trip and one of my colleagues, a Lebanese woman, told me that I had to read The Prophet if i wanted to learn about Lebanese culture. I borrowed the book from the library and read it. I liked the poetry and wisdom of short essays, and found a lot in common with the author's philosophy.

In Lebanon I traveled to one of the oldest cities - Byblos. There, in historical quarter, at a tiny bookstore I bought The Prophet...

The Reader, by Bernard Schlink

I read the book before I watched the movie. I thought that it would help me "see" things that are usually hard to narrate on the screen via acting. Things like inner monologues, streams of thoughts, etc.. Then I saw the movie. I liked acting, but felt puzzled by changes the director made in this movie. In other words, I saw interpretation that I could not explain.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

Last year I read a lot of books from the category Art Instructions and not so much anything else. A good portion of my time was also absorbed by the presidential elections in US. I never watched CNN so much in my entire life.
Shortly after New Year's Eve I made my resolutions list. One of the them was about what I would like to read this year.
My first pick was a novel by contemporary Japanese writer Murakami. Last time I read a book by the writers of this country were Cobo Abe and Kenzaburō Ōe, but it was so long time ago that I don't even remember what those novels were about.
I am still 'digesting' The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and trying to understand how I feel about it. I feel lost and find it difficult to describe the impression it made on me, but it was worth reading for sure.