The swan song of Mario Vargas Llosa (1936–2025), Le dedico mi silencio, is a love letter to Peruvian Creole music. “A vision of Creole music as the key to defeating prejudice and opening hearts and minds.”“Society would come together in such a way that no one was beneath consideration and all were treated as worthy …
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson is a mind-blowing, unputdownable Polynesian epic. While the book is about a specific group of people in the ancient Tongan Kingdom, exploring their beautiful culture and sometimes difficult practices, it is highly relatable to today’s world and to each individual. It is a vast book that has the universe and …
“… most of my life I have found myself standing alone, fighting for my corner. Thankfully I have had the resilience and determination to stand by my beliefs, and now I also have Lance as my wingman, supporting me, as he promised when we got married.”– Ruth Shaw, Three Wee Bookshops at the End of …
“Out there on the empty sea,Where only the moon appears,No sail has been seen to passIn four long and dreary years.” Imagine lighting the lamp for ships that never go past.Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson What is the point to light the lamp at the lighthouse faithfully every evening when no ship needed it? …
“Every Foreign Country a Homeland, Every Homeland a Foreign Country”, is my life motto. And this article by Gordon W. Lothrop shaped my perspective when I was younger. Every time I travel to new place, learning new things, reading new books, I am asking the question:“How do we treasure difference and yet find common values?” …
April 15, 2021. In the blog post “蒹葭 / Reed / Schilf” I compare four poems and songs with the similar idea, that is, “my beloved is across the water, so close yet unreachable.” Water as symbol for obstacle that can not be overcome. The poems I compared were: Chinese Folk Poem – 《诗经 . …
Out of the Hitler Time trilogy is semi-autobiographical novels by Judith Kerr. The first book When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is about 9 years old Anna and her family’s escape from Hitler in 1933. Her father was a fierce anti-Nazi writer, the Nazis burned his books and put a price on his head. All he …
I read Noel Streatfeild’s books in July and in August. I immensely enjoyed the four books I read and my summer 2023 is great because of Noel Streatfeild (1895-1986). Here are the four books I read. Ballet ShoesG.U.M (Great Uncle Matthew) adopted Pauline, Petrova and Posy into his family but he left them to Sylvia …
I seriously deviated from the reading plan that I set at the beginning of the year. The books I read outside my reading plan are imperative, because I have found inspirations about the most important things in life. Of course, I’ve read more than six books, but this 6 books are my pick of the …
If Harvey wakes up on Christmas morning and doesn’t see his Christmas present, he might be wondering why. I guess the good boy Harvey will of course understand that Father Christmas can be forgetful, the reindeers could be exhausted and not feeling well. And many reasonable reasons why the present is not in the stocking. …