I am a huge fan of Murakami. He is currently my favorite contemporary author. I greatly enjoyed After Dark, it is unfortunate that it is so short, but it is fitting for this novella. It details the surreal goings on in the hours between midnight and dawn, focusing in two perspectives on two sisters, Eri and Mari Asai. We follow Mari as she encounters many odd chacters who are up at these hours, and slowly reveals the reason for her sleeplessness. The line of the story that follows Eri is in classic Murakami surreal style, making references to the observers actions and throwing in a bit of the supernatural. As in many Murakami stories it feels like it could turn at any moment into a horror story but never crosses that line, leaving the reader instead with many unanswered questions (often in this story brought to the readers attention and posed directly in the narrative, as if to say I know I left you hanging, but you are just going to have to figure it out for yourself.)

Certainly not my favorite of Murakami’s works, but a quick read that will hold one over until his next (hopefully longer) book.

Vonnegut poses and interesting reason for the meaning of life for humanity in one of his early sci-fi novels. Humorous, strange, dark and at times haunting, a very fun (and quick) read.

Huxely’s classic dystopian novel about a future where everyone is genetically and socially engineered from birth to fit a certain role in society. A very good read, although some technological notions felt dated (as opposed to, for example, in 1984). However, the themes and topics of the book are still relevant today, especially as our knowledege in the biological fields is improving so rapidly.

Stephenson’s concluding three books in the Baroque cycle. The final volume finishes the long story arc that has been developed in the series and continues to be quirky and fun historical fiction (often heavy on the fiction). The final volume largely deals with money in early 1700’s England, and goes into more detail on the Newton / Liebniz rivalry.

If you liked the other two then you will continue to enjoy this volume. And if you didn’t and you’ve read this far, then you might as well finish.

I loved this book. Not only is it (well researched) historical fiction which I enjoy because it allows the reader to learn a lot about a period of time in a very enjoyable way, but I also like the theme of the nature of reality prevalent in the novel. Eco presents Baudolino as a story within a story as told by the character Baudolino, which get more fantastic and outlandish as it goes.

Eco’s food descriptions also made me very hungry :)

Highly recommended.

George Eliot’s classic Victorian novel. Definitely an enjoyable read, if a bit long. Following several couples’ relationships, Middlemarch has much to say about relationships both romantic and social, money, and social class.

The Confusion is the second volume in the Baroque Cycle consisting of two books: Bonanza and The Juncto. These two books are interwoven in the novel so that the timeline between them stays consistent.

I really don’t have much to say about this book that differs from my review of Quicksilver. Stephenson continues expanding on two main story lines and their corresponding characters, and at times the effects from one novel are seen in the other. The scope is now widened (mostly in Bonanza) to include the Middle East, India, Japan and Mexico / Central America. I do not want to go into too many details of the plot as the stories are long and convoluted and may spoil events in Quicksilver. The end of the novels set up well for the final volume of the series.

Again I greatly enjoyed the books and recommend them.

Quicksilver is a volume consisting of the first three Baroque Cycle books, Quicksilver, King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque.

The series is based in the mid 1600’s to early 1700’s and is based predominantly in Europe. It is a fictional work although it features many historical figures as characters and follows historical events.

I am greatly enjoying this latest series of books by Stephenson as they provide a rich complexity provided not only by a fascinating story over a backdrop largely based on actual events and the political, religious, and scientific intrigues and machinations of the characters, but by Stephenson’s abilities to play on words and situations that bring you out another layer of abstraction above the story.

Stephenson paints with a wide brush in this series, covering in detail everything from the early experiments of the Royal Society to the operations of Amsterdam’s economy and trade, to adventures in Vienna. (This makes for some hefty volumes, each of the three being 800-900 pages long). It is clear that Stephenson has done his research on the time period, although much is clearly fiction in the name of telling a good story. It has certainly piqued my interest in an era that I did not know much about, and has presented it in a way that has often sent me to Wikipedia to learn more about the actual historical figures and events (and also renewed a desire to learn various European languages). Highly recommended.