Sunday, November 04, 2007

What books should we read?

"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us...We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us" Franz Kafka

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is stunning, but not surprising knowing Kafka :)

DCS_CHI said...

If you are in search of an axe, read "A Fine Balance", by Rohinton Mistry. It will stir every emotion that lies in your soul. Another book that awakens the imagination is "Blindness", by Jose Saramago. These are both incredibly sharp and will cut straight to your heart. I studied German Lit at university and can appreciate where Kafka is coming from. Good quote.