Back to the bookshelf

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera

10 readers recommend it across 8 discussions

Reader recommendations

mttpgn
Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kundera uniquely combines fiction and philosophy, often switching back and forth from a world of suspended disbelief in the lives of his characters, and a world where his characters only serve as overt mythological illustrations of Nitzchean, Paramenidean, or other philosophical ideas. I name it the best book I read in 2022 because of the ways the author prompts his readers to hunt for meaning. It's a book that reminds one to ask philosophical questions of meaning amid the pleasures, the ambiguities, and the tumult of ordinary life.
manlio
* The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley. [0] So famous it became a bit of a cliche. I read it years ago and it didn't make any sense to me. But now that I've been studying Buddhism and practicing meditation for a while I picked it up again and I found it nothing short of brilliant, packed with interesting insights on philosophy, the arts, theology, the history of mysticism and the quest for the meaning of life. I know it sounds trite, but I simply wasn't ready for it the first time. * The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera. [1] I read this 10 years ago. It touched my heart back then and it did it again this time. It's one of the few works of fiction that changed, a little or a lot, the way I think about love, relationships, loneliness and happiness. I can't wait to re-read it a third time, in 10 years. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5128.The_Doors_of_Percep... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5128.The_Doors_of_Perception_Heaven_and_Hell) [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9717.The_Unbearable_Ligh... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9717.The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being)

Also recommended in this reply

swombat
Most books by Hermann Hesse, really... Narziss&Goldmund changed my perspective on life. If you have anything artistic in you, it's a must-read. Steppenwolf, Siddharta and the Glass Bead Game are other must-reads. Gabriel Garcia Marques, One hundred years of solitude. Practically all of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories. Mind-bending. Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. Michael Ende's Never Ending Story. Enjoy!