Laureate

While I was thumbing through Milky Way (銀河), the last chapter of Stepfather, Vivian and I had a chat about famous authors that had never won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

"Em... I'm sure if the Swedish Academy changes their regulation and the award could be given to a person who died in the past century, Franz Kafka would be the laureate next year," I said, "After all, if Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus were on the list, there is no reason why their more original and imaginative predecessor should not get this well-deserved recognition!"

"Quite right," my wife nodded, "Well, I just note that Milan Kundera is not on the list either."

"Really!? That's most disappointing," I pursed my lips, "It's nothing personal, but, isn't The Jokes a cut higher than any of the work of Mo Yan (莫言)? By the way, you just remind me: There is a book that I've long to read but do not even have the time to buy - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (笑忘書)."

PS. The other three that I put on my wish list are the Ages of Eric Hobsbawn.