There was a line in "The Catcher in the Rye" by Holden, he said that, when he really enjoys the book, he wishes that he'd call up the author afterward and talk to them.

And this is the case here with me too now, I wish! I wish I could just call and strike up a conversation with Nietzsche, or at least exchange a few thoughts, I'd have 100 questions rolling up (but that's not possible unfortunately) Words cannot express how much I'm enjoying this book tbh.

Buckle up, this is going to be long. One of the influential books that I've read. Nietzsche choose Zarathustra (the first ever person to introduce the concept of moral dualisim (good and evil) to our world) to narrate because he wanted to reframe this view, he clearly and in a poetic way argues that there's no good and bad and his version of Zarathustra is there to correct it. He emphasizes the concept of Ubermensch (Above/Over man), I understood it in terms of consciousness and higher level of understanding the world, one striking thing he mentions here is that humans should search for meaning and create it on their own, they shouldn't follow something else, in a reaction to crisis in Western Civilization (fall of belief in religion). It starts with a 30 year old Zarathustra who lives in a cave mountain and finally goes out to teach humanity, I must be honest there were a lot of parts that I didn't quite comprehend, but I came to understand most of it, I should definitely read it in original German. Another major concept he introduces Three Metamorphosis - Camel (bearing all the burdens) - Lion (destroying old values) - A Child (creating new values) this is the core message here imk.

©waitbutwhy

Another obligatory book that we were supposed to read (from Uni), not my own choice. What Maugham wanted to show here is the superficial and dark sides of the performants in the theatre as far as I know, main protagonist is Julia, I didn't like this character too much to be honest, at the beginning she's very naïve, affectionate and a loyal lover to Michael when they first met during performance. As they get older, they have a child Roger, then there's war, Michael participates in it for about 4-5 years, and as he comes back Julia sees him as more manly, reserved and grown spiritually and for that superficial reason she stops loving him, she thinks he lost the spirit of his youth, and from this point onward we see the true face of Julia, a manipulative, deceptive and infidel, to fulfill her needs she starts having affairs with various different men, and then a young man called Tom, to validate herself that she is still young (or pretending to be) sort of hiding it from her husband and others. She gets questioned by her son Roger at the end, and he speaks to her that she is not her authentic self, the world is a stage for her she plays the role of a good actress to get what she wants from everyone, deceptive, manipulative, selfish and etc. I get it that Maugham didn't show her as a good character, but instead wanted to show the inside world of people who are in theatre.

Alright, this has been a big book in terms of teaching morality (what's right and wrong), redemption, unresolved past guilts, it has it all, and this book messes you up on its own way, it's one of those stories that stays with you, not because it's all about sunshine and good things/vibes, but because it's brutally honest about how messed up some people can be, and how hard it is to truly make things right after you screwed up the things, it's in the past, the train has already passed. Author says that characters are made up and fictional but deep down we all know how much truth lies beneath it, it's about Amir a kid who grows up in Afghanistan, and his best friend, Hassan, who's also his servant, they're very close but there's this imbalance because of their social classes... Amir is a Pashtun, the dominant and priviliged group, and Hassan is a Hazara who are looked down upon. This big difference is always there throughout the novel, always lurking in the background, even when they're flying kites and having fun. The big thing, turning point in plot happens in kite-flying tournament. Amir wins, which is a huge deal for him, but to really win, he needs Hassan to run and get the last kite that fell, being a loyal friend he goes after it, but he runs into these awful bullies, led by this "nazi" kid named Assef, he assaults Hassan and Amir witnesses it all, but he's too scared to do anything and just runs away like a coward, and that moment of cowardice haunts Amir for the rest of his life. He feels so guilty that he can't even stand to be around Hassan anymore...and he even frame things up to make Hassan, to show him as a thief in the house, Hassan and his father will leave. It's a terrible thing to do, which is driven by Amir's inability to face his own guilt... Years later, Amir gets a chance to maybe make all the things right. He goes back to his birthplace from States, which is now a war-torn, dangerous place, to rescue Hasan's son, Sohrab. The ending isn't perfectly happy, orphanage, Sohrab's cutting his wrist, and then silence... the main takeaway is here how choices we make, mostly the bad ones, can shape our lives for more years to come. That's it.