Books

These are some of the books that I enjoyed reading, starting from the most recent read.

• Kafka on the Shore — The book shows the surrealistic style of Murakami. The narrative can be confusing, but you can feel that it’s okay to be confused in the book. The emotions of the characters are depicted in quite creative ways. There are two stories in the same book, each chapter changing to the other story. One is about a teen who runs away from the house, and the second one is about an old man who can talk to cats.

• On Violence — Distinguishes between violence and power. Power comes from people acting together, has collective support. Violence is a tool, a physical force and not something that is creative. It can destroy power but it cannot create it. If an institution relies too much on violence, it’s very likely that its power is in fact getting weaker. Power needs legitimacy.

• The Left Hand of Darkness — A planet where gender doesn’t really exists. The main character Ai, goes to this planet to understand the place and to connect it with other civilisations. Tries to deal with a few countries within the planet, but things get real very quickly. There’s a character originally from this planet, Estraven. No spoilers, but he’s an amazing character. The depiction of the icy, cold world is very memorable.

• Nanjung ilgi — The war diary of admiral Yi Sun-sin between the years 1592 and 1598. It explains who he’s met up with during the day, orders he has executed, his worries about the state of the country as well as his feelings towards his mother and other close people. The diary is naturally monotone, but it’s interesting to see the thoughts and personal side of someone who has never lost a single ship in any of his battles, often vastly outnumbered.