Kazuo Ishiguro – 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature
The winner of 2017’s Nobel Prize in Literature was announced just two hours ago. This year Kazuo Ishiguro is taking home the prize. What a great choice by the academy, but we’ve all got our opinions, right? He’s no stranger to accolades, but this prize might be the most meaningful. Do you think he deserves […]
Announcing Fall Book Club
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino It is the first day of Fall and I am so excited to start a new book with you this season. Now remember I pick books I think you might enjoy AND that I haven’t read. That means there is always risk involved on my part. I meditate on the […]
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Study Guide
The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Study Guide offers a comprehensive look into the 1985 novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. The study guide includes the following: brief author biography, title breakdown and analysis, major plot points for each chapter, analysis of character development, a list […]
A Solar Eclipse and Homer’s Odyssey
“Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.” ~Victor Hugo In light (or dark) of the solar eclipse happening today, I wanted […]
Haruki Murakami & Magical Realism
Book Oblivion Academy’s newest course is here. I’m writing to let you know that the enrollment for Murakami & Magical Realism is officially open. In this fully online course, we unpack the genre of magical realism while exploring three of Haruki Murakami’s strangest novels: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, The Wind-Up Bird […]
Amor Towles on Parallax at the Metropol Hotel in A Gentleman in Moscow
Many of you are catching up to where we are in A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles for our summer book club. Last week we finished Book Two in the same spot we concluded Book One: we watch the Count’s feet essentially dangling over the edge of the Metropol Hotel. What brought him to this […]
Haruki Murakami and Raymond Carver: Literary Comrades
“Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time is short and the water is rising.” Raymond Carver Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is an American author from Washington state; he is a master of the short fiction genre. His subtle use […]
Amor Towles on Mastering Your Circumstances in A Gentleman in Moscow
The American novelist, Amor Towles, wrote A Gentleman in Moscow, a remarkable story that centers on the Count, an aristocrat confined to a luxurious hotel during the tumultuous political climate in Russia in 1922.
Miasma in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
Miasma in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History “To many men… the miasma of peace seems more suffocating than the bracing air of war.” ~George Steiner By Jessica S. Manuel A little while back, we began thinking about the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of life. Richard, our protagonist in Donna Tartt’s […]
In Search of Lost Time Reading Group
Have you always wanted to read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust? Myself and a handful of other ambitious, literary enthusiasts are setting out on what a friend termed, “A Reader’s Everest.” Over the next two and a half years, we are reading this seven volume, 4,215 page tome and using a reading […]
The Best Reviews of Men Without Women
The Best Reviews of Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami Did Haruki Murakami’s newest collection of short stories, Men Without Women, arrive on your doorstep this week? My Murakami community is pretty dedicated, so I’ve seen my Instagramfeed flooded with photos of the new book, friends have added it to their Currently Reading shelf on […]
The Fatal Flaw in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
The Fatal Flaw in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History Aristotle coined the term Hamartia which literally translates “to miss the mark” or “to err”. We’ve come to understand this term as the fatal flaw and find it in most tragedies, especially Greek tragedies. Basically, there is a reversal of fortunes that needs to take place in the plot. It’s […]
Giveaway! Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
Giveaway! Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami “The other thing that puzzled him was the fact that their lovemaking and her storytelling were so closely linked, making it hard to tell where one ended and the other began.” ~Haruki Murakami, Scheherezade By Jessica S. Manuel We are officially one month away from holding the English […]
Announcing Spring Book Club
Spring is in the air! Hopefully the sunshine will grace you with its presence and you’ll be able to sneak outside with our Spring Book Club pick – at least for a few pages. As you know, we pick books we think you’ll enjoy AND that we’ve never read. We’re not always sure what we’re in […]
How to Talk About the Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Winter Book Club is almost over! As you probably know, this online version of book club mirrors the in-person get together we have every season. Real friends in real life get together to talk about a book. It’s incredible and I look forward to this night for months. Earlier this season was our in-person book […]