Yeah I’m going to call it a “reading log” from now on …

The Emperor of All Maladies

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer 5 / 5 stars. “Emperor” manages to condense centuries of cancer research with a gripping, and surprisingly human, undertone. This by itself is no mean feat. But rather than “dumbing” things down, it chooses to present the history in frank detail, and attempts (rather bravely and successfully) to intuit the ideas behind every major breakthrough and letdown in the past 200 years. And that is its greatest achievement, one that will surely secure “Emperor” a place in the canon of popular science literature.

Seventy-eight thousand women endured invasions on their physical dignity as they fought for themselves – and for the lives and fates of women in the future. More than a thousand suffered an unnecesary surgery; more than a hundred and fifty had a near-lethal complication … This trial was launched with hope but ended in harm. - Comments on the US November 1993 randomized oavrian cancer screening trials

Pray to God, but row away from the rocks. - Native American proverb

What is time? Time is a head of cabbage. - A Zen master

Book Lovers

Book Lovers 2 / 5 stars. Utterly forgettable – book lovers should steer clear. The main characters do NOTHING for the other’s arc. All “growth” these two city folk experienced could have happened with some therapy sessions. The world is barely believable – everyone except for the couple seems to exist only to further the plot. For all the tension that the book tries to build, the stakes never really seem to exist. And the dialog is so full of bad punchlines that the whole thing feels like a poorly written sit-com.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm 5 / 5 stars. So effectively have Orwell’s writings pervaded pop culture and modern discourse that I could sense the doom that awaited Animal Farm from the first few pages. And yet, I felt devastated putting this down, without realizing why. In part because of how prophetically true this story rings today. In part because I felt so much for the animals even though their feelings were never expressed. I think this is why Animal Farm is so effective. In 100 pages, Orwell tells a story about oppression, totalitarianism, and suffering, without passing any judgements and conveying any emotions, leaving you to feel it all by yourself.

Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka

Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka 3 / 5 stars. Like a magic trick, Kafka is able to project tremendous depth in absurdity, commenting on isolation, marginalization, identity crises, fear, and class divides. Even in my favorites (“The Judgement”, “Metamorphosis”, “A Report to an Academy”, “Penal Colony”) the writing was verbose, pedantic, borderline asinine. At the same time it was some of the most relatable, vulnerable and honest writing I have read. You can feel the man pen all his insecurities and fears down on paper. Some of the other stories I thought were too “Kafak-esque” – maybe for another time.

No one promised me that if I became like them the bars of my cage would be taken away. Such promises for apparently impossible contingencies are not given. But if one achieves the impossible, the promises appear later retrospectively precisely where one had looked in vain for them before. - A Report to an Academy