Zlibrary books

The story follows Guthmann, a notary who is caught up in a web of bureaucracy, greed, and intrigue over an inheritance. The plot centers on a wealthy man’s death, leaving behind a fortune and an ambiguous will. Various characters—including lawyers, family members, and schemers—maneuver to claim the inheritance, often exploiting the legal system and each other. Balzac uses the story to satirize the French legal and financial institutions of his time, highlighting human folly, ambition, and the absurdity of obsession with money. The tale combines suspense with social critique, showing how personal gain can corrupt morality. @zibrary x dfin.uz

The Odyssey The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic that tells the story of the hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the Trojan War. The story takes place after the events of The Iliad, which focuses on the final period of the Trojan War itself and the battles between Greek and Trojan warriors. After the war ends, Odysseus spends ten years trying to return to his kingdom of Ithaca. During this journey he faces many dangers and adventures, including encounters with the Cyclops Polyphemus, the enchantress Circe, and the dangerous sea creatures Scylla and Charybdis. While Odysseus struggles to return home, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus wait for him in Ithaca. Many men try to marry Penelope and take Odysseus’s throne, believing he is dead. At the end of the story, Odysseus finally returns home, defeats the suitors, reunites with his family, and restores order to his kingdom. Main theme: perseverance, loyalty, intelligence, and the desire to return home.

Why so much grief for me? No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate. And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you - it’s born with us the day that we are born Iliad

The Iliad is a gripping epic about rage, honor, and the brutal cost of glory during the Trojan War. At its heart is Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, whose explosive anger after being dishonored pushes him to withdraw from battle—changing the fate of armies. As heroes clash, gods interfere, and pride fuels bloodshed, the poem builds toward a tragic showdown that reminds us: even the strongest heroes are fragile, and glory often comes at a heartbreaking price. Short, intense, and timeless—The Iliad isn’t just about war. It’s about human emotion under pressure: pride, love, loss, and the search for meaning in a violent world. ⚔️📜

Albert Camus asks one main question: If life has no clear meaning, why should we keep living? He calls this problem the absurd—the clash between our need for meaning and a silent, indifferent world. Camus rejects suicide as an answer. Ending life, he says, avoids the problem instead of facing it. He also rejects false hope, like believing in a higher meaning without proof. Instead, Camus says we should accept the absurd and live fully anyway—with awareness, honesty, and rebellion against meaninglessness. He uses the myth of Sisyphus, a man forced to push a rock up a hill forever. Even though the task is endless, Sisyphus is free because he understands his fate and chooses to continue. Camus ends by saying: we must imagine Sisyphus happy—because meaning is not given by the world, but created by our decision to keep going. @zibrary

Charles Bukowski: If you’ve started, then go all the way, otherwise don’t get involved. You may lose friends, wives, loved ones, your job, and maybe even your mind. You might go hungry for three or four days, you might freeze on benches, you might end up in prison, you might be mocked, there might be ridicule and loneliness. Loneliness is a gift, everyone around is a test of endurance, a trial of your determination. And you will do it despite rejection and slim chances, and it will be the best thing you can imagine. If you’ve started, then go all the way, it’s an incomparable feeling, you will be alone with the gods, and the nights will be lit with fire. Life will turn into perfect laughter. This is the only worthy battle. #thoughts @zibrary

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is a political treatise written in the early 16th century that offers advice to rulers on how to gain, maintain, and consolidate power. Machiavelli emphasizes practicality over morality, arguing that a successful ruler must sometimes act immorally for the good of the state. He discusses different types of principalities, the use of military force, the importance of appearing virtuous, and the need for adaptability in changing circumstances. Ultimately, The Prince presents a realistic—sometimes ruthless—view of politics, focusing on power, strategy, and survival rather than idealism. @zibrary

Under the weight of pressure, something quiet begins to happen inside a person. Without noticing, they start to divide — one part stepping forward into the noise of the world, the other retreating into silence. Carl Jung called this outer part the persona — the face we learn to wear so we can keep going, so no one sees the tremor beneath. Meanwhile, the inner self, the true voice of the soul, drifts further inward, hidden behind duties, fears, and expectations. It is not a deliberate act, this separation, but a slow defense — a way the mind protects what is most fragile. Yet, the farther these two selves drift from each other, the more the heart begins to ache for reunion — for a life where what is shown and what is felt finally breathe the same air again. ©️Carl Jung @zibrary