The Disappointed Idealist

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the second book I read written by Haruki Murakami. I don't know if all his books are this way, but I have noticed some common points between the two I have read. They are both about bland people who go through life without actually living it. Both are cheated on and take it without blinking, setting themselves up for more because they love the person doing it. There is no moment in that book in which any of these characters wonder if there should be more to their life, nothing happening to show them that maybe they should try to get out of their environment and try to do something with their life. They just quietly sit and meditate on the nothingness their life is, without actually doing anything about it. Maybe Murakami's purpose is to have the reaction with the reader by showing the reader how routine life can just send you to bland nothingness and how meaningless life c...

First rant here:  I never understood the point of inaccurate historical movies Second rant will refer mostly to the  Wars of the Roses  and how historical vision of what happened has been overturned by historical fiction and the rich imagination of people obsessed with conspiracy theories. Official story is this: You have two families,  House of York  and  House of Lancaster . The House of Lancaster came to the throne by overthrowing  Richard II . In doing so, they opened a bit of a can of worms. Since Richard did not have children, the question was should his heirs be the descendants of an older branch via the female line (this line eventually led to the House of York) or a younger branch via the male line (House of Lancaster). When  Henry VI , Lancaster king, turned out to be a disastrous ruler, the question was back on the table. After years of conflict, the House of York won, Henry VI and his heir was killed and the whole war presumably ov...