imrehg's reviews
441 reviews

[a:Edward Upward|10251|Edward Upward|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s writing has such a flow. I really enjoyed this collection of stories and would like to find out much more about his writing.

This collection is a very interesting look into the mood of an era, the life of Britain between the two World Wars. The changes in society, the struggles with internal and external conflicts. Since the writing is so subjective, the line between reality and one's internal world is blurred, just like the way real experiences are. This is expressed most in the longest story of the collection, the Journey to the Border.

I cannot say I understood all the message from a distance of almost a century, but surely I'll re-read this later.

This book makes me speechless in a way. Its first person narrative is so well thought out, so well done, that it feels completely real. All the little things that each of us cares about in our lives but might be irrelevant to others, or maybe not even make any sense. All the things that we gradually come to know as we grow up, the different experiences people go through to become who they are at any given point in time - also make me think what are _my_ most important memories that would make sense of me one day? And also makes me think of who do I treat so badly without realizing, who do I distance myself from even if I knew them they were be very much like me?

Somehow in it's atmosphere, it's attitude towards what love and caring is, in its outlook on life this book reminded me of [b:Norwegian Wood|11297|Norwegian Wood|Haruki Murakami|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280183593s/11297.jpg|2956680]. And the same way after I finished that, now I just have to take a long walk, somewhere sunny, by myself...

I was quite a bit into this book when I realized that I must have read it once before. I'm sure I did. But it was still just as powerful, a "real Vonnegut", even if I noticed later, how long time ago he wrote this compared to all his other books I read before.

I love the way how the "point" of the book is never really where all the other books put it, but more like it is the revelations about all the little things along the way in the story. When they start to make sense, when I come back to them and what was barely significant earlier, will tell a profound story about humanity. And that is it: a story of humanity, and as such there's no real end, just things you have to sort out by yourself. Hi ho.

As a teenager I had a fair share of books of "teenager detective stories", and I love them. Reading this one (quite a time after I've no teenager no more) brought me back to those books and it was an interesting read. Good to be reminded how does it feel when there are much fewer limits of your curiosity, when you want to discover more, things should really be done "right" instead of the way they "supposed to".

This would be a great book for any teenagers to get into, and that was the aim of the writer, no doubt. Too bad that it is the exact reason why the book feels a bit forced, feels exactly as it is: "a book written by a grown up talking to a kid". I really would like to hear the feedback of some of the "target audience" what was on the mark and what felt maybe out of touch with how do they really think?

As a foreigner living in Taiwan and fascinated by Asia in general, this was a great read. I loved the anecdotes, the insights and that now I can maybe make a better sense of what is going on around me, how did the country get to where it is now...

From the stories I preferred the ones taking place in the earlier ages (maybe the ones in the first half of the book), not sure is it because they are more "historical" and less "news-like" as we are almost still living those stories? Also, so many countries are described, a tremendous undertaking but also leaving me wanting to hear more about different places. Introducing a country's changes through just one or two companies is enough to get me hooked but does not fill me up. Of course it is almost infinite topic - now I wonder where can I know more?

It's not a very new book (can feel that on the writing style too), but it is very well tested. Sometimes it feels quite like a pep-talk and some examples are just "too perfect", but I also cannot escape the feeling that most those I've seen or experienced in my own life. He is very realistic in that people need to adapt these methods to their own life, not merely follow blindly. The most valuable parts that I got out of it are the insight into the reasons of procrastination, importance of shifting into positive, actionable thinking and the Unschedule which has almost instant effect. It is one self-help book that I think has the right effect.

How can this not be the real story, told by the one who experienced it? It's like a very-very long catch-up with a friend who I met after not seeing for many years. So happy and so very sad in the same time, though that's probably part of the message. On second though, probably everything is part of the message with these bhikkhus, everything is part of the dharma. The whole book is one flow, and when it finished, I just look back at my life-book, feeling that the two have nothing in common and are the same. Now if you excuse me, I go to check out the mountains in the neirbourhood, have an urge to go hiking...

[a:Kurt Vonnegut|2778055|Kurt Vonnegut|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1233193902p2/2778055.jpg] is one of the most insightful author I have ever read. So many of his books have big influence on how I'm thinking now.

This book connects to one of his core themes: the terrifying and disgusting thing that World War II was. As opposed to [b:Slaughterhouse-Five|4981|Slaughterhouse-Five|Kurt Vonnegut|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1227252234s/4981.jpg|1683562], that examines the same thing but mixes in quite a bit of sci-fi, Mother Night is as simple and down to earth as possible. Some people describe it as an "absurd" treatment of the story, but I'm sure if we'd know what happened in real life during those times, those stories were a 100x more absurd. We are just not used to see deep down into things, not the way we can do through Vonnegut's eyes here. I think this is a very important work and we need this to see the world and the people the way they really are, we need to open our eyes, no matter of the consequences.

From the preface (paraphrasing): "We are what we pretend to be, so be very careful what do you pretend."

So many life lessons in such a small pack. Really interesting, outrageous and captivating. I love going to restaurants and now I at least have a little comprehension (just a bit) of what's going on behind the scenes. Now sitting at a chef counter at a restaurant, the whole thing I see is not a blur but has meaning.

I feel there are a lot of things to think about, how am I doing things in my own profession. Loads of things said about kitchens are really universal.

And now, I'm hungry...