A strange mix of loneliness, connection, and love come together in All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami. Fuyuko is a reclusive proofreader at a publishing house. She has virtually no social life. One day, Fuyuko comes into contact with Hijiri, who persuades her to go freelance. Fuyuko more or less befriends Hijiri… Read more: All the Lovers in the Night: On Isolation and Connection

Douglas Coupland predicted that the crafted object might become the emerging “technology” of modern art. Analog experiences are where art is enjoyed. In Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb explores technology and art from the perspective of fragility. Technology is designed to replace older, inferior technology. Technology is at its best when it is invisible. I am… Read more: Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the artisanal and techno-dissatisfaction

Four Thousand Week – Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman, is a book about what Burkeman calls “the paradox of limitation.” All of this illustrates what might be termed the paradox of limitation, which runs through everything that follows: the more you try to manage your time with the goal of achieving a feeling… Read more: Beyond Time Management: Oliver Burkeman’s ‘Four Thousand Weeks’

I somehow thought Looking for Alaska was set somewhere in the state of Alaska. So it isn’t. Miles is a shy, slouchy boy who seems to know what he can and what he wants. Of his own accord, he goes to a boarding school. He befriends Chip, Takumi, and the peculiar girl Alaska, who are… Read more: Looking for Alaska – not that Alaska – by John Green

I am reading Sayaka Murata‘s collection of stories, Life Ceremony. The stories describe futuristic societies you can’t imagine could ever become reality. Furniture and clothing are made from the remains of deceased people. Artificial insemination is the norm. Raising children is paid out to specialized organizations. A girl keeps a man as a pet. After… Read more: Life Ceremony, today’s absurdity and staying sane

This is the new edition of Shin Noguchi’s book In Color In Japan, which appeared first in 2020. I saw this first edition from my friend Bouwe just after I had received my copy of the new edition. I did not compare the selection of the pictures with those in the new edition. The print… Read more: In Color In Japan by Shin Noguchi

On the plane from Miami to home, I watched the movie adaptation of this book. I probably watched half of it because of the self-prescribed high-melatonin-dose-induced half-sleep.Regardless, I dare safely state that the book is much more enjoyable. Aza, a girl with an obsessive awareness and fear of bacteria in her body, goes through her… Read more: Turtles All The Way Down – John Green

J.A. Baker is a unique character in English literary and ornithological history. Baker wrote two books. The first is a classic called The Peregrine—a book you have never read before. Baker visited a 50-square-mile piece of Essex for years on his bicycle. He meticulously described the movements of the birds, especially the peregrines in the… Read more: J.A. Baker – The Peregrine, a brilliant, poetic, dark, exceptional book