Any journey ends with a meeting with yourself – new or old – because it is not age that changes us, but experience. Z lib offers you books about travel to the North Pole, Japan and a house at the end of the world.
Michael Cunningham “A Home at the End of the World”
This is a story told by several heroes. Jonathan has a good job and friends but feels more like a ghost than a person. Fragile Bobby was hurrying to grow up, but adult life was nothing like a fun party. Claire, scared by reality, wanted stability and shock at the same time, and perhaps that is why she fell in love with both – Jonathan and Bobby.
Their feelings are complex and contradictory, burdened by love that cannot be divided into two. They either move away from each other or come closer. They seek themselves in music, physical intimacy, drinking, drugs, arguments, and conversations with their parents. But in the end, they escape to a house on the edge of the world with a view of the mountains.
In the novel, the author raises the themes of feminism, separation, love, AIDS, and self-identification, but without impositions, pressure, and inappropriate romanticization.
Robert Peary “The North Pole”,
Robert Peary dreamed of the North Pole for 23 years. During the first polar expedition, dense ice avalanches blocked the passage to the Polar Sea. He tried to get closer to the pole for four years but in vain. So, he had no choice but to explore and mark hundreds of miles of the Greenland coastline on the map.
Going on a second expedition, Peary designed and built the ship “Roosevelt”, decently approaching the edge of the north. But the fierce winds threw him back, and he almost lost the team.
Only on the third attempt did the polar explorer realize his dream at age 53. Can this be called luck? Obviously not. During the first two trips, he explored the area, identified the team’s weaknesses, developed a detailed Peary system, and incredibly quickly covered a fairly large distance. There are still people who doubt the veracity of his story because, for example, Frederick Cook spent much more time on his journey.
David Mitchell “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet”
A young clerk, the Dutchman Jacob de Zoet, arrives on the island of Dejima. He has to work at the factory for five years to save enough money to marry his beloved, but he stays longer due to certain circumstances.
Dejima is closed to the world, it is difficult to get to it and even more difficult to escape. They don’t like foreigners here, especially those who try to be honest and shake up a complex and rigid system with their undisguised honesty. They are watched, betrayed, and humiliated. Jacob de Zoet learned about all this, not from legends. However, unexpectedly for himself, he found true friends and fell in love with a woman who knocked him off his feet with her sharp mind and straightforwardness.
Mitchell created a slow, detailed story with unconventional plot twists and characters that are fascinating to watch.
