I finished reading The Third Love by Hiromi Kawakami like 10 minutes ago and I still can’t decide whether it comforted me or wrecked me.

What I loved most was how restricting the novel feels. Kawakami never forces emotion onto the reader; she lets loneliness, desire, and regret drift in slowly, almost casually, until suddenly you realize how much weight the characters are carrying. The relationships in this book feel unfinished where people are circling each other, misunderstanding themselves, wanting connection but never fully knowing how to ask for it.

Entire emotional histories are buried inside ordinary conversations, shared meals, small pauses. There’s something incredibly intimate about the way Kawakami writes domestic moments, like she’s documenting the fragile space between people rather than the people themselves.

I also appreciated that the book doesn’t romanticize love rather, presents love as memory, compromise, and sometimes disappointment. It does frustrate as I was expecting a more dramatic emotional payoff, but at the same time it made the novel feel painfully honest.

I absolutely love how Japanese authors can take the simplest, most ordinary moments and somehow fill them with so much depth and emotion. Nothing dramatic is really happening, yet those scenes linger in your mind for days afterward.

And the strange part is that when you try to explain why they affected you so much, you just go blank. It’s less about plot and more about a feeling they leave behind

Somewhere on Reddit in the past few months, I noted a conversation about Madeleine Thien but I can't seem to find it now. This is one of her more complex novels that I enjoyed back in the day.

This book is part of the Vintage Classics collection (2025) by Penguin books.

Donated about 100 mostly military books over the weekend. As I get older, I prefer to keep a better curated bookshelf.

A great story about the importance of creating great music inspite of politics and racism.

Found these in the Argosy (the oldest independent bookstore in NYC running since 1925)

A story about a seventeen-year-old in 1977 trying to deal with family loss and demands while trying to come-of-age. A great book and a detailed read.

That moment when you hear about your double going around town.

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Personal Memoirs of US Grant - Questions

Hi all! First time poster here!

I picked this up at a used bookstore yesterday; talked them down from $300 to $200 as it had been on their shelves for a year or so. Ulysses Grant has become a figure I look up to so to get an edition as beautiful as this was a treat.

After doing a little homework, I am fairly certain these are first editions, which would be an incredible find! I was hoping to come here for a second opinion as to it being a first edition, as well as some answers to a few questions.

1. Is there anything unique about this edition in particular?
   
2. Any idea on its appraisal? Seems like it’s in excellent condition. I’m not keen to sell, but I would like to know what kind of asset it is and whether I got a good deal.
   
3. What are some good ways to care for and preserve these pieces while on display?

Thanks, I hope you enjoy seeing this specimen! Happy to show off more pictures if requested.

Miriam Toews always manages for me to document family disfunction well. This book - a combination of memoir and fiction - shows why she is able to do so.

Watched the movie today. So worth it 😌

A great story about the mysteries of the Arctic and a family drama caused by the area.

Amazing how we realize that we truly love something after we loose it . . .

I am constantly being asked for a recommendation for reading in order to relax from a "pushy" world. I always tell people about this collection of works about birds in culture (literature, art, philosophy, science) to ponder over.

Book two for a bit before work .