You only need to finish the first page of Three Apples Fell from the Sky  to understand that Narine Abgaryan opens a discussion with Gabriel García Márquez. This is a gentle yet confident dialogue where Narine gives her perspective on lives impacted by global tragedies and personal failures. She takes Macondo, moves it to the Armenian landscape, fills it with typical Armenians with their own mentality, customs, stubborn characters, and unbendable beliefs, and puts them throug

Als vrijwilliger voor de Embassy of the Free Mind hou ik regelmatig toezicht in de leeskamer en help ik met verschillende acitiviteiten. Tijdens de zomermaanden had ik wat meer tijd en mocht ik van Jozef Ritman, de directeur van de Embassy, de boeken in de Jungkamer op orde zetten. Dit was leuk om te doen omdat ik een liefhebber ben van Jung en er in de collectie van de Jungbibliotheek natuurlijk veel interessante boeken zitten.  Het is mij ook gelukt om de gegevens van alle

Interview with Thomas Lundberg about his work with Soma Labs and his musical education. How did you get involved with Soma? After seeing a post about Lyra 8 on Synthtopia.com in 2016, I sent an email to the address at the bottom, to someone named Vlad about improving the English language information for Lyra 8 and Soma in general. I was an editor at the time and had lots of experience in this field. He probably thought ‘who is this guy’ but he allowed me to submit my proposal

Mary and I have very different ways of approaching a book. While she pays attention to characters, plot developments and story lines, I try to filter out the author’s philosophy and belief system. The rest is mostly filler to me, a way of dressing up and presenting the author’s ideas in a more palatable way than a dry essay would be. For this reason Aldous Huxley’s After Many a Summer  is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s not because of its silly story - about achieving

Maju, a loving and caring nanny living in Rio de Janeiro, wakes up one day and decides to break free from an insane world built on inequality and injustice. Her place in society is decided long before she has a chance to choose anything for herself: by birth, by poverty, and by the absence of what most people take for granted - education, friendships, community, family. Maju understands that no one sees a person behind the white uniform of a maid. That uniform erases personal

If you’re a parent in your 30s or 40s, chances you read one or two books on child development, emotional intelligence, or whatever new concept Instagram-certified psychologists are currently selling. And sure, who doesn’t want to be a great mother or father? But aren’t we asking a bit too much of ourselves? Or, more precisely, isn’t this time and society expecting far too much from parents? Do we really have to bend our entire lives to fit the routine of a two-year-old? Do we

We know, we know. Who comes to Amsterdam to walk from one bookshop to another when you could be hopping from coffeeshop to coffeeshop? Please. Ridiculous. But hey, stranger things have happened. Maybe the Red Light District is mysteriously closed, every coffeeshop has tragically run out of supplies, and suddenly you’re standing there… sober… wondering what to do with your life. Relax. We’ve got you covered. First things first: yes, there are big UK and US book chains in Amste

Buchi Emecheta "The Joys of Motherhood". Go to school. Get high grades. Go to university. Find a good job. Start a company. Find a partner. Have kids. Take out a mortgage. Don’t forget to save for your retirement. Sleep well. Eat well. Exercise. Meditate. Maintain friendships. Nurture a hobby. After doing all this, can you still imagine yourself dying alone on the side of the road? That is exactly what happens to Nnu Ego She did everything right. She followed all Ibo traditio

Nicolas Padamsee "England is mine". David is a shy, timid, painfully unoutspoken teenager trying to figure out his life. Most of the time, he simply disappears into the music of his favourite artist, Karl Williams, because real life offers little competition. He lives between two worlds: his very middle-class, emotionally correct mother’s house, and his very working-class, proudly trashy father’s home, where keeping dirty dishes in the bedroom for days is not a problem but a

Shalom Auslander "Mother for dinner". Seventh did his best to run away from his family - its traditions, narratives, and even personal connections. However, when Mudd, Seventh’s mother, dies, the time comes for all the siblings to gather one last time. Mudd, cruel and unbendable as ever, demands one final wish before anyone can receive their inheritance. According to the ancient tradition of the Cannibals, they have to Eat her . Literally. Mudd, the gatekeeper of all Cannibal

So, you’ve somehow found yourself in Antwerp. You’re not entirely sure why or how. Maybe you planned it six months ago, color-coded Google Maps and all. Maybe you woke up, grabbed a random train, and poof, Antwerp happened to you. Either way, if you’re a true book lover, your legs will develop a mind of their own and march you straight toward the city’s cutest, quirkiest, “oh-my-god-I-need-to-take-a-picture-of-this” bookshops. To get you ready here’s a giggle-worthy guide to

Suzumi Suzuki "Gifted". Gifted claims to be a story about a mother–daughter relationship at an intense crossroads in their lives. The mother is dying; the daughter, who works in Tokyo’s entertainment district, quits her job to spend time with her. That framing sets the bar very high. One would reasonably expect tense conversations, long-buried arguments, revelations about shared past. At the very least, the novel could offer insight into Tokyo’s underbelly or into how elderl