THE NOSE BY NIKOLAI GOGOL
 
‘Have your NOSE in the air,’
‘Right under your NOSE,’
‘Stick your NOSE into something,’
’Follow your NOSE’
Having read this story, I am reminded of all these idioms.
This short story is hilarious. It is a satire with magical realism.
The protagonist Collegiate assessor (major) Kovalev wakes up to find his nose missing. He goes looking for his nose. He tries to place an ad in the newspaper, but he is denied, then he goes to the police requesting them to look for it but is denied again.
As though by magic he gets it back one day. What transpires between all this is simply amusing.
I feel ‘the nose’ here symbolises his nature. Major Kovalyov was a haughty guy, so when the nose went missing, he felt ashamed. He took pride in his appearance, so again he could not have shown off without a nose. There is also an instance where he grumbles that he cannot smell anything without a nose.
This short story was mentioned in A gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles). I read it out of inquisitiveness.
Do read it if you want to have a good laugh!

The Judgement is a short story portraying the relationship between the protagonist and his father. The protagonist Georg Bendemann runs a business, which is doing well. He is seen writing a letter to his friend. A friend who is in Russia, with whom he is not in touch regularly. Georg is engaged and is not sure whether he wants to inform his friend, but his fiancé insists on it.
He goes and informs his father about it, who is still mourning his wife’s death. The father is a very overpowering figure. He is quite upset and insults the son. The son is very loving and empathetic.
I read somewhere that Kafka and his father had a similar relationship and probably that made him write such a story.
Relationships are always tough, and it is beautifully portrayed in The Judgement as well Metamorphosis. It is very difficult if parents do not understand their children well and only have certain expectations of them.
The ending of metamorphosis, as well as the Judgement, is heart-breaking.
It is an easy read, a must-read, it's KAFKA!!!

Crime and Punishment, according to me is a tough read. To absorb every thought every feeling, every event and link them, is quite a mental drain. The whole story is about the psychological impact of murder on the murderer. The murderer is not a criminal by nature but commits a crime.
First and foremost the names are tough to remember and everybody is also called by their shorter names. For example the protagonist is RODION ROMANOVICH RASKOLNIKOV, affectionately called RODIA. So in the book he is called Raskolnikov or Rodia. I used to confuse his name with his friend's name which also is similar, RAZUMIKHIN.
Once this is sorted out, next was understanding of the psychology of every character. Why they did whatever they did?
I felt Raskolnikov was suffering from some mental illness. He was an ex student of law , had no money even to eat , forget about paying his rent. A hungry mind is only delusional and he burns his mind overthinking. He kills the pawn broker and her sister and lives all through with a guilt , he is mentally tormented and feels daunted, day and night by the crime he has committed.
The Character I admired the most was Sophia, who had a drunkard for a father,  and a step mom. Sophia sells herself to take care of her family. I found Sophia a stronger person than Raskolnikov.
I also liked his friend  Razumikhin. He was also poor and an ex student like Raskolnikov but has a more positive attitude towards life and helps Raskolnikov a lot.
Svidrigailov is another crazy guy who seduces many ladies, mentally torments many people due to which they kill themselves. He kills his rich wife.
The whole book has many moral and ethical discussions, dissecting good and bad.
I kept thinking that if it is so difficult to grasp, it must have been so difficult to conceptualise and write this whole book. It is no doubt a classic because Dostoevsky had an insight of people's feelings and thought process. It was as though he could see through people's mind. That's why writers and readers analyse this book till date.
This book is really intense  and cannot be taken lightly. I might have to reread it to comprehend it further more.

Freud regarded Dostoevsky as one of the greatest literary psychologists in history, second only to Shakespeare (as quoted in the book)

As always Margaret Atwood is too good! How can one weave such a story!
Handmaids tale was about the handmaids. The testaments is more about the aunts and the role of aunts in Gilead. The story is narrated by three people -Aunt Lydia, Agnes and Daisy.
If one has read Handmaids Tale, Testaments is a must read.

Then she was gone’ is a domestic fiction as well as a psychological thriller. It is written beautifully and is an easy read. It shows the bond between a mother and her children and evocatively depicts the helplessness of a mother whose daughter goes missing. The story is not boring but was a bit predictable. Parts of the story were not palatable.

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS, SOSUKE NATSUKAWA
Reading is a lonely activity. We read a book, maybe twice. There are very few who visit the book every year or regularly. Then some like to accumulate books. The Japanese word for a person who owns a lot of unread books is TSUNDOKU. Do you reread books? Do you like to display the books that you have read? Do you throw away books after you have read them?
The cat who saved books is a very sweet, easy read portraying the essence of valuing books, reading books, and discussing and sharing them.
The story revolves around a high school boy named Rintaro Natsuki. He loves to read. He has just lost his grandfather. They own a small, preloved bookshop. The shop is well known for the fact that any obscure book would be available at this shop. His grandpa made it a point to have all the best books.
It’s a very interesting read and a fast-moving novella. The best part about books by Japanese authors is that they have cats. In the case of this book, it has a talking cat, Tiger. According to Japanese folklore, cats symbolise good luck, fortune and supposedly have protective powers. Rintaro and the cat go through four labyrinths to save books.
The book teaches everybody about the way people think about books, layman’s perspective, publishers’ perspective, and a reader’s perspective.
In my view, in this age of eCommerce, is it correct to ask everybody to switch over to eBooks? Based on data produced by UNESCO, every year approx. 2.2 million books are published. 15 billion trees are felled every year, to make books and textbooks.