I decided to read—and eventually buy— The Great Gatsby after Haruki Murakami recommended it in his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running . Murakami wrote: “The Great Gatsby is a truly extraordinary novel. I never tire of its story, no matter how many times I read it. It is a work of literature that enriches you each time you open it. Every rereading reveals something new, something fresh.” At first, the story felt painfully slow. I even put the book down for almost two weeks—despite its slim length of just over a hundred pages. Jazz Age America, seen through Nick Carraway’s eyes, appeared hollow to me: a world filled with etiquette, polite conversations, and quiet arrogance. Everything shifted the moment Nick met Jay Gatsby. Something clicked. From that point on, I could no longer stop turning the pages. Gatsby stood apart from the people of East Egg and West Egg—mysterious, hopeful, and perhaps the only character who possessed a sincere emotional core in...
George Orwell's Animal Farm is an immensely powerful political allegory, originally crafted as a satirical reflection of Stalinism, but it continues to resonate deeply with today's political landscape. Through the lens of a seemingly simple tale about a group of farm animals rebelling against their human oppressor, Orwell weaves a timeless narrative about the corrupting influence of power, and how idealistic revolutions can devolve into oppressive regimes. At its core, Animal Farm mirrors the events of the Russian Revolution, but what makes it timeless is the broader, more universal themes that Orwell masterfully explores. The pigs, who assume control after the rebellion, gradually adopt the same authoritarian practices they initially sought to overthrow. The famous line "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" encapsulates the betrayal of ideals that often occurs when power is centralized in the hands of a few. This theme isn't...