Book cover of The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Book description

STEP INTO THE CITY

When a young man's girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own.

When he finally makes it to the…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked The City and Its Uncertain Walls as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I have been a huge fan of Murakami's novels and essays since I first read Kafka on the Shore, one of my all-time favorite tales. And, while I've not read everything he's written, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, his most recent novel, is another one of his tales that has completely engrossed me. This one especially appealed, as I especially love stories about books and libraries.

This is the best fictional book I have ever read. Murakami takes magic realism to a whole new level, creating blurred distinctions between worlds and among various characters while weaving in the telepathic sharing of consciousness.

This is another book that deals with the question of truth, of our true selves. This enigmatic novel meanders from the real to an unreal world without ever explaining it, because the wall between those worlds resembles “our brain, divided into right and left”.

This is not the magic realism of Garcia Marquez. It demands a patient reader. It doesn’t have a lot of action, but it’s full of magic moments.

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Book cover of Memory's Eyes: A New York Oedipus Novel

Memory's Eyes: A New York Oedipus Novel by Cordelia Schmidt-Hellerau,

Memory's Eyes is a contemporary New York Oedipus novel. It is written for readers who enjoy playing with concepts and storylines, here namely the classical Oedipus myth, Sophocles' three Theban plays, the psychoanalytic concept of the Oedipus complex, and its pop-cultural adaptations in movies, cartoons, and jokes.

Tragic and funny,…

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