December's Reading List

For several years, I've been posting a list of the books I'd read that particular year. The annual book list would be posted either on the final day of the year in which the books were read, or on January first of the year following.

This year, I began posting a monthly list. Today being the final day of 2021, I will post the list for December. Tomorrow, I will do the list for the entire year.

As I mentioned in my post on The Tin Drum , it had been my original intention to read Günter Grass' Danzig Trilogy before years end. With the coming of typhoon Odette early in December, it looked as if I wouldn't be able to do that. Without electricity, it was impossible to keep my Kindle's battery charged, so I was obliged to read two printed books until the power was restored.

When the electricity returned, I wasn't certain I could finish reading Grass' Dog Years in time to make this list. It's a long novel, and not an easy read but I did manage to finish it today.

Within a day or two, I will do a post on the Danzig Trilogy .

So, for what it's worth, here is a list of the books I read in December, 2021.

I Am a Cat                      Natsume Soseki
Republican Rescue         Chris Christie
Norwegian Wood            Haruki Murakami
There Is a God               Antony Flew / Roy Abraham Varghese
His Monkey Wife           John Collier
Buddha                          Karen Armstrong
The Bhagavad Gita       Translated E. Easwaran
The Tin Drum                Günter Grass
Cat and Mouse              Günter Grass
Dog Years                      Günter Grass

On Reading "The Tin Drum".

In his novel, The Tin Drum , Günter Grass notes that attending funerals often reminds one of other funerals attended in the past. I suppose a similar principle might hold up when thinking about, or writing about books one has encountered.

In an earlier post, I wrote of how I came to read His Monkey Wife . While window shopping in a bookstore frequented by a friend and myself, I came upon a collection of short stories by John Collier. The selling point for me were the words on the book's cover - "By the author of His Monkey Wife ". Although I had never heard of Collier or his earlier book, these words intrigued me enough to purchase and read the short story collection. A similar thing happened in the same bookstore around the same time, regarding Grass' novel Cat and Mouse . Again, I was unfamiliar with Grass or his earlier novel, but the words, "By the author of The Tin Drum " was enough to convince me to read Cat and Mouse .

Back in the day (when we didn't even use the phrase "back in the day") it was difficult to get ones hands on every book one might want to read and I had been unable to find a copy of The Tin Drum . It was the blog post on His Monkey Wife that led me to search for The Tin Drum online. It was then that I learned that those two novels by Günter Grass are considered books one and two of his Danzig Trilogy - the third being Dog Years . I downloaded the three books with the intention of reading the three before year's end. I began reading the first book in the trilogy on December 12; certainly enough time left in the year to read all three.

Typhoon Odette had other ideas.

While we were lucky that in our area the typhoon caused few serious problems, we were without electricity for several days and when my Kindle's battery went down, I wasn't able to recharge it until the power returned. During those days, I was forced to read the 20th Century way......books printed on paper - Buddha by Karen Armstrong and The Bhagavad Gita translated by Eknath Easwaran.

The Tin Drum is not an easy read by any means, as a number of reviewers at goodreads.com have pointed out. The protagonist, Oskar Matzerath writes his memoirs while confined in a German mental institution and is viewed by most readers as an unreliable narrator. It is difficult to understand how much of Oskar's account is "real" and how much is delusional. In the end, I had to wonder if Oskar Matzerath was indeed a dwarf (or midget) or if this idea was part of his mental illness.

The novel is bizarre and disturbing, although it finally pulls together (more or less) at the end.That said, I'd like the novel much more if it were shorter.

I'm reading Cat and Mouse now. It's considerably shorter than The Tin Drum so I should be finished soon, though perhaps not soon enough to read Dog Years before the year is out.

His Monkey Wife

It was the mid-1970s.

Sorry, I can't narrow it down any more than that. It was, after all, nearly fifty years ago and my memory isn't what it once was.

My friend Dave and I would frequently be found at a book store located in a shopping center in our small north Georgia town. This store is where I bought such classics as Camus' The Stranger , Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Hermann Hesse' Siddhartha and Steppenwolf . They weren't all high-brow novels; I may have bought a few Conan the Barbarian paperbacks there as well.

It was during one of those many visits that I came upon a very unusual book. It was a short story collection by an author whose name would escape me for a good many years. I now know the name - John Collier. On the cover, Collier was named as the author of His Monkey Wife . Although I was completely unfamiliar with His Monkey Wife , there was something about the title that intrigued me. I purchased the book of short stories. The stories were bizarre and unusual and I enjoyed every one.

Unfortunately, I was never able to locate a copy of His Monkey Wife until recently when I came upon a few of Collier's books online.

To say His Monkey Wife is a strange book would be an under statement. Quite a number of reviewers at goodreads.com gave this book a thumbs down, perhaps having expected this book to be another Bedtime for Bonzo. It is certainly not that.

My best bet is that Collier intended this book to be a satire on literature of the Victorian era. Picture one of the Brontë sisters (or Dickens) writing a serious novel of a young girl who is scorned by polite society, either because of race, class, or perhaps even a physical impairment, trying to marry a man of upper middle class England. Then, turn the story on it's head by making the poor young girl a chimpanzee and write it in all seriousness.

There is tragedy and there is humor in the novel, although I would not call the comedy "knee slapping". Google Books describes the novel as "A comic masterpiece about a classic love triangle: a man, a woman, and a chimpanzee." I wouldn't go as far as to call this book a "comic masterpiece"; that would be going a bit too far, but I'm happy to have finally read this book after so many years.

There is A God - Antony Flew

In his book, Is Atheism Dead? , Eric Metaxas frequently references Antony Flew and his book, There is a God. The two had come to much the same conclusion regarding the existence of God, although Flew was less inclined to accept Christianity. Both men had followed the evidence, but Flew did not believe that there was evidence of Christ's divinity.

Flew had been known as a strong advocate of atheism. He shocked his fellow atheists in 2004 when he changed his position regarding the existence of an Intelligent Creator of the universe.

In their books, Metaxas and Flew present compelling evidence for a Creator......a source of creative intelligence, if you will, but the evidence could just as easily lead one to Judaism, Islam or Christianity, not to mention a Creator who has not given humanity any sort of divine revelation. (The book is even available at a website called http://islamicblessings.com). In spite of his not embracing Christianity, he did include an appendix written by theologian and Anglican bishop N.T. Wright which Flew said was the best evidence he had seen regarding the divinity of Jesus.

Norwegian Wood - A Novel

Haruki Murakami's 1987 novel, Norwegian Wood could be described as a "coming of age " novel, or as the German's say, a Bildungsroman. The events in the novel take place in 1969 when Murakami, like his protagonist,Toru Watanabe was 19 years old. Murakami is a few years older than I am - I was 17 in 1969 - and although he grew up in Japan and I grew up in the United States, I can relate to many of the events in the novel. Music played a role in both our lives, and there was a cultural upheaval in both countries at that time. In the novel, many of Watanabe's friends commit suicide. Thankfully, I didn't share that experience.

Naturally, as young men fast approaching adulthood, we took advantage of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Unfortunately, like in his later novel, Kafka on the Shore Murakami goes into far too much detail writing about the sexual activities of the characters. In many ways, Murakami writes as well as the great writers of the 20th century - Hesse, Mann, Joyce - to name a few, but to me, his spending so much time on the sexual aspects detracts from his writing.

After finishing the novel, I watched the documentary series, The Beatles: Get Back which also takes place in 1969. After three days reading the novel and nearly seven hours watching the documentary, I was ready to leave 1969 forever.

Republican Rescue

My original plan, when I first thought of reading, and then writing a blog post on Chris Christie's new book, Republican Rescue , was to entitle the eventual post, I'm Reading Chris Christie's New Book...... So You Don't Have To ,but that plan changed once I began reading the book.

I hadn't actually been aware of Christie's book until I came upon an article about how abysmally awful the sales of the book were. At the time I read the article, Republican Rescue had failed to sell even 3,000 copies. It was those low sales numbers which actually led me to want to read the book.Obviously, if sales were that bad, Christie had pissed off a lot of people. I wanted to find out why.

I wouldn't say that I had ever been a fan of the former New Jersey governor, but I didn't really have any particular dislike for him. When he was running for President, he didn't seem to be someone I'd vote for in the Republican primary, but had he managed to become the Republican candidate for POTUS, I'd certainly pick him over any Democrat.

I'm sure many of the folks angry with Christie are Democrats who would be upset at any Republican.....especially one who might have been in Trump's camp at one time. I was also sure that maybe of the Republicans staying away from his books are those who see him as a turncoat against Trump. I've got my own problems with Trump now, so I wanted to see how Christie saw this need to rescue the Republican party.

Let's go back to the presidential campaign of 2016.

As readers of one of my other blogs may remember from 2016, I often compared the idea of voting for either Trump or Hillary Clinton to the question as to whether one wanted mustard or mayo on their shit sandwich. However, after Donald Trump had won the election, I thought I'd give Trump the benefit of the doubt, and see what he'd do as POTUS.

For the most part, I was happy with most of the things Trump had managed to accomplish, although I wasn't really thrilled with his personality. At the beginning of 2020, like a lot of folks, I was sure Trump was headed for re-election. I feel safe in saying that it was COVID that killed Trump's return to the White House.

One of the reasons I wanted to read Chris Christies new book was to see how he viewed the last days of Trump's presidency. It turns out that Christie and I are in agreement on that. As Trump refused to accept defeat, I became more disillusioned with the President. With Trump's reaction (or rather non-reaction) to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021, I knew I was finished with Trump. Christie appears to be finished with him as well.

The full title to Christie's book includes "Saving the Party from Truth Deniers, Conspiracy Theorists, and the Dangerous Policies of Joe Biden". It's Christie's hope, and mine as well, that the Republicans can escape from the really bizarre elements trying to make their way inside the big tent. He does a good job of explaining who these crazies are. Let's all hope the Party is successful.

The November Reading List

When I first looked at the final reading list for the month of November, I thought that,compared with previous months, the list this month seemed a bit sparse. After looking over the lists posted for the past 10 months, it turns out that the nine books I read this month is actually fairly close to my monthly average. There were some months, while I was reading strictly Agatha Christie mystery novels, when the totals were rather high, but this was due to the her novels being relatively speedy reading.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had a bit of difficulty with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and had to abandon it. I had managed to get into the habit of finishing every book I start, regardless of how much I dislike the book, but couldn't continue with Solzhenitsyn's book. It really was a drudge.

A few months back, I discovered a website which allowed me to download books that were more current than my usual fare from Project Gutenberg. Having finished To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876  by Bret Baier and Catherine Whitney, I downloaded a book written by another Fox News associate, Jesse Watters - How I Saved the World . I like seeing Watters on TV, but I wasn't really expecting much from his book. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a nice read.

From the list, one will find two by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. The second - Beyond Order was a more difficult read for me than his earlier book.

The next three books on my list were recommended by Dr. Peterson.

I learned of Eric Metaxas from a Babylon Bee video. I found his Is Atheism Dead? uneven. His science seemed, to this non-scientist, logical but his claim that archeology proves that Christianity is true wasn't convincing.

I came upon Mustafa Akyol in a Youtube video with Dr. Peterson. His The Islamic Jesus does a great job at explaining the Muslim view of Jesus.

Of course, anyone who follows this blog knows my last post covered Kafka on the Shore.

So, now, here is the list of books I read in November 2021.

How I Saved the World   Jesse Watters
12 Rules for Life    Jordan B. Peterson
Orphan X   Gregg Hurwitz
The Rape Of Nanking   Iris Chang
Lord of the Flies   William Golding
Beyond Order   Jordan B. Peterson
Is Atheism Dead?   Eric Metaxas
The Islamic Jesus   Mustafa Akyol
Kafka on the Shore   Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore

A few days ago, I made an unsuccessful attempt at reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago . This three volume memoir is highly recommended by Dr. Jordan Peterson, but unfortunately, I scarcely made it thru a quarter of the first volume. I recognize the importance of the work, but after so many tales of arrests and imprisonment during Stalin's reign in the Soviet Union, it becomes a bit tedious.

Putting away The Gulag Archipelago for another day, I began reading a novel I've been wanting to read for quite awhile - Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Naturally, one would expect a novel with Kafka's name in the title to be more than a little unusual and that's certainly the case with Kafka on the Shore , although I would not use the word "Kafkaesque" in describing this book. If anything, I'd be more inclined to compare this work to Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita . Murakami's novel is more surreal and hallucinatory than anything Kafka may have written, with the possible exception of The Metamorphosis.

The story takes several bizarre twists and turns. In an interview posted on his English-language website, Murakami says that the secret to understanding the novel lies in reading it several times. That may well be the case.

The novel can, at times verge on the pornographic. The references to the music of Beethoven and Franz Schubert seems to me to be an attempt to draw one away from the novel's potent sexuality. I suppose the graphic descriptions of sex can be considered a very important element of the novel, but it all became too much after a bit.

Like in The Master and Margarita , cats play an integral part of the story. Murakami mentions the works of Natsume Sōseki who, it can be assumed, was an influence on Murakami's writing. It was my original intention to read Murakami's Norwegian Wood next, but I've decided to read Natsume Sōseki's I Am a Cat first. That book is more in keeping with the direction I seem to be led.

The Seven Faces of Joe Biden

 

In order to help lift Joe Biden's horrible poll numbers, the White House has approached the folks at Disney to use Biden in a remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

It's obvious that Joe can play all seven dwarfs in the new film, as can be seen in these photos.

Bashful

Doc

Dopey

Grumpy

Happy

Sleepy

Sneezy

A Fistful of Yojimbo

Yesterday afternoon, I saw a Clint Eastwood meme showing photos of how he looked at different ages. This meme brought to my mind one of Eastwood's earliest films from 1964 - A Fistful of Dollars . It's been maybe two years since I watched the film online and I thought I'd watch it again.

I located a copy at Daily Motion; I enjoyed watching it again, even though there are quite a few ad breaks.

During one of those commercial breaks, I opened the wikipedia page for the film where I learned that the film was an unofficial remake of the Akira Kurosawa film, Yojimbo . After a quick search, I located a copy of that film at archive.org. The film is widely regarded as one of the best films by Kurosawa and one of the greatest films ever made.

There is a link to it above, and I highly recommend it. I'd also suggest that anyone who hasn't watched the Eastwood film recently to watch it again before viewing the Japanese film. Of course, there are slight differences - due to the fact that one takes place in Japan during the 1860s, while the other is set in a small town on the Mexico–United States border. None the less, Sergio Leone kept much of the original story (after a fashion).

Like A Fistful of Dollars , Yojimbo spawned 2 sequels - Sanjuro and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo . These two films are also located on the archive.org website. I'll be watching both soon.

I think it should be safe to say that the rest of the Yojimbo trilogy won't resemble the last two films in the Dollar trilogy.

Orphan X

In a recent post [A Few Thoughts on "12 Rules For Life". ] I wrote that in his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Dr. Jordan Peterson mentions a number of books which he believes might help explain some of his ideas. One such book was written by a friend and former student of his at Harvard, Gregg Hurwitz - Orphan X. In that thriller, Hurwitz has one of his characters post every day, in a conspicuous place around her condo, one of Dr. Peterson's "rules". As I mentioned in the earlier post, I downloaded a few of the books Dr. Peterson puts in his book, and uploaded the e-books to my Kindle. I've just finished reading Orphan X.

The book is, well, action packed to say the least. The main character freelances as an assassin. Hurwitz gives very detailed descriptions of every fight scene, every killing and the weapons used. Orphan X isn't my cup of vodka, as far as books are concerned. It would, however be an entertaining movie, provided the right actors were cast.

Every character in the book is "broken" - most rather badly. Of course, that's to be expected from a writer who studied psychology at Harvard. The character Evan Smoak (AKA Orphan X ) is especially broken. He seems to personify the philosophy of Raskolnikov (from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment ) but without Raskolnikov 's feelings of guilt and remorse. Orphan X seems to be his own judge as to who should live and who should die.

Orphan X is the first in a six-book series. I don't think I'll be reading the other five.

A Few Thoughts on "12 Rules For Life".

I can't recall exactly when I became aware of Dr. Jordan Peterson, though I'm reasonably sure it was via one of his Youtube videos. I was immediately impressed with his anti-Leftist views and his stance against the "politically correct" culture and identity politics that is taking over Western society.

I would later come to appreciate his Biblical lectures and his talks on ethics, psychology and personal responsibility. His thoughts on Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism and evolution were a big draw as well. From his Youtube lectures, I went on to listen to his podcasts, available on his website and on Spotify.

I had been wanting to read his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos for a long time, but due to problems with my Amazon account, I was only recently able to download a copy.

I'm fast approaching 70, but I'm still a work in progress. I've learned quite a bit from his "12 rules" and if I had a time machine, I would take a copy of this remarkable book back to an earlier me. I'd be much better off today (provided, of course that I could convince the earlier me to read it).

Like myself, Dr. Peterson has a love for the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and he references three of Dostoevsky's novels in this book - Crime and Punishment ,The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from Underground . In addition to Dostoevsky, Dr. Peterson mentions a number of novels to help explain his ideas - Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang, Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago . I've read the above mentioned novels by Dostoevsky, although the three could do for a re-read in 2022. I read Lord of the Flies as a teenager and it's due for a re-read as well. It's going into the queue, as are the books by Chang, Hurwitz and Solzhenitsyn.

The October Reading List

As I write this, it is still October 30 and a bit early to be posting a monthly book list. I've started writing the post any way; the only thing that might change between now and then is that I may or may not finish the book I'm reading now. Of course, this can all be edited before posting

When I last posted here I was reading a book by Arab Israeli author Sayed Kashua - Second Person Singular. That novel uses Tolstoy's novella, The Kreutzer Sonata as a major plot device and frankly, I was more impressed by Kashua's novel than Tolstoy's novella.

During the first week of October, I was finally able to finish reading all of Agatha Christies mystery novels. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went from there to read Anthony Burgess' The Enderby Quartet which I was able to read because I had discovered a website which had books still under copyright available for free download......like a virtual public library. It was this website that enabled me to download a number of books by Arthur C. Clarke in addition to the above mentioned novel by Sayed Kashua.

Thanks to that website, I've been able to download quite a few relatively recent books. One of those newly published books was To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 by Bret Baier and Catherine Whitney. This book on U.S. Grant brought me back to Project Gutenberg to download Grant's two volume memoir. There was a break between Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the memoirs, due to my being unable to transfer Vol. 2 to my Kindle from my P.C. while my P.C. was in the shop.

Postern of Fate                    Agatha Christie
Curtain - Poirot's last case  Agatha Christie
Sleeping Murder                Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot And The Greenshore Folly
Inside Mr Enderby            Anthony Burgess
Enderby Outside               Anthony Burgess
The Clockwork Testament  Anthony Burgess
Enderbys Dark Lady           Anthony Burgess
Childhood's End                 Arthur C. Clarke
Rendezvous With Rama     Arthur C Clarke
2001: A Space Odyssey     Arthur C. Clarke
2010: Odyssey Two           Arthur C. Clarke
The Kreutzer Sonata          Leo Tolstoy
Second Person Singular     Sayed Kashua
To Rescue the Republic     Bret Baier
Personal Memoirs Vol. 1    U.S.Grant
Dubliners                           James Joyce
Personal Memoirs Vol. 2    U.S.Grant

The Kreutzer Sonata

It's not usual for a writer to mention, within a novel, a book that a particular character is reading or has read. The names of other writers often make their way into novels. I've discovered quite a few writers, coming upon their names in a novel I'm reading. Elizabeth von Arnim, Mikhail Bulgakov and Mayne Reid are three examples.

At one point in 2010: Odyssey Two , Dr. Heywood Floyd attempts, unsuccessfully, to read The Kreutzer Sonata in the original Russian. I was a bit confused by that. I was familiar with Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9, known as The Kreutzer Sonata, but I was unaware of any book by that name - and certainly not a Russian novel.

With a little web search, I learned that Clarke was referring to a novella by Tolstoy named after Beethoven's sonata. According to the wikipedia article on the novella,"The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character, Pozdnyshev, relates the events leading up to his killing of his wife: in his analysis, the root causes for the deed were the 'animal excesses' and 'swinish connection' governing the relation between the sexes".

The work was banned by the Russian censors and in 1890, the United States Post Office Department attempted to prohibited the mailing of newspapers containing serialized installments of the translated novella. Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert."

Of course, with recommendations like that, I had to download a copy from Project Gutenberg.

I'm certainly no expert on Tolstoy - I've read Anna Karenina twice and attempted to read War and Peace more than that. I was not familiar with his somewhat bizarre take on Christianity. With The Kreutzer Sonata and the other four stories in the ebook I downloaded, Tolstoy goes full blast, bombarding the reader with his strange philosophy.

Reading the wikipedia article on Tolstoy's novella, I learned of a book by Arab Israeli author Sayed Kashua, Second Person Singular , which uses Tolstoy's novella as a major plot device. I'd never heard of Kashua prior to this, but now I'm currently reading Second Person Singular and I'm very impressed with his writing. His other books will (somehow) find their way to the queue.

2001

Two days ago, having re-read Arthur C.Clarke's Childhood's End and Rendezvous With Rama, I was thinking of which direction my reading would take - either continue on with Clarke, or return to Anthony Burgess with The Malayan Trilogy . I decided to stay with Clarke and read 2001: A Space Odyssey .

I was 16 when the film came out in 1968. I went to see it at the Wink theater in Dalton GA. I must say that at that first viewing, a good deal of the movie went over my head. Although, over the years I have watched the movie again, this is the first time I've read the novel. Having finally read the book, I have to say I prefer it to the film.

That being said, there are areas where Clarke "goofed" in his portrayal of 2001.

1) The novel was written between the years 1964 and 1968. It was obvious to any thinking person that mankind would land on the Moon before too many more years. It was understandable that Clarke would imagine Lunar colonies by 2001. We all know that didn't happen.
2) As an aside, Clarke mentions that by that time all the world's major religions would accept birth control. We're well past 2001 and the Catholic Church still hasn't given birth control the OK.
3) When traveling from the space station to the Moon, Dr. Heywood Floyd goes by shuttle, but there was no shuttle available to take him from Earth to the space station.
4) In Clarke's 2001, the Soviet Union was still around. In the real world, the U.S.S.R. never made it that long.
5) In Clarke's 2001, extraterrestrial vehicle activities (EVA) were carried out with vehicles named after females, because they were unpredictable.
6) There are "office girls" in Clarke's future world.

Even with those "goofs", I still enjoyed the novel. I've gone on to Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two . Frankly, I'm not enjoying it quite as much. I will probably exit Clarke for awhile when I've finished with this one.

Childhood Zen

Last week, while reading The Enderby Quartet , I thought that when I had finished those four books, I'd go on to Anthony Burgess' first published work, The Malayan Trilogy. However, when I neared the end of the final book in the quartet ( Endeby's Dark Lady, or No End to Enderby ) I decided to take a slight detour. The final book in the series began to take on elements of science fiction, which put in my mind a desire to read a bit of real sci-fi.

I picked two sci-fi novels by Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End and Rendezvous With Rama . I had read these two before, but after nearly 50 years, it was time for a re-read.

When I was first introduced to Childhood's End by word of mouth, I had misheard the title. I was very interested in Eastern Religions at the time and understood the title to be Childhood Zen. That seems to be all I could remember about the book. I remembered that the plot centered around humanity's first encounter with an alien race, but that was all I could recall. Everything in the novel was new to me. It was as if I was reading it for the first time. This made me wonder if my "memory" of having read the book 50 years ago might really have been a false memory.

Childhood's End was published in 1953. Most of the events in the story take place in the 21st Century, fairly close to the present day. Setting aside to encounter with the aliens, it's interesting how Clarke saw our time from 1953. At one point, one of the characters uses a camera with film. Of course, Clarke could not have foreseen digital cameras. Another interesting point is Clarke's discussion of the word "nigger". He predicted that in the 21 Century, that word would have lost all it's destructiveness.... it would be looked upon as just another neutral word. No one would be upset hearing it. We know that isn't the case in today's world. We must all refer to it as the "N-word". Writers who used the word in earlier times are threatened with "cancellation".

Rendezvous With Rama was slightly more familiar to me. Of course, most was forgotten, but certain bits were still in my memory.

Now that I've finished those two ebooks, I'm trying to decide whether I'll go back to Burgess with the The Malayan Trilogy or stick with Clarke for a few more (like 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example). That decision can wait for a bit.

The Enderby Quartet

On October 5, I finally finished reading the last of Agatha Christie's mystery novels. I can't say I've read everything Christie wrote: the list does contain a few of her short story collections in addition to the novels, though there are a few more short stories I'm not going to read at this time. It's taken me since May 29th to read the 73 ebooks I've read.

Also, I haven't read any of the novels Christie published under the nom de plume Mary Westmacott.

Even while reading the Christie novels, my mind was on which direction I would go when I finished with Agatha Christie. In April of this year, my reading consisted of dystopian novels. One book which, naturally enough, made the list was A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I thought I'd look into whatever other books I could find by Burgess, and read something written by him when I'd finished with Christie.

One group of novels written by Burgess which has received high praise is the, so-called Enderby Quartet, a set of four comic novels: Inside Mr Enderby, - Enderby Outside, -The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End, and Enderby's Dark Lady, or No End to Enderby. I found a website that allowed me to download several of Burgess' works and began reading the quartet.

As I write this, I've finished the first three novels in the series and have started # 4.

After reading the first two, it struck me odd that those books should be considered two, rather than one novel. I later came to find out that Burgess had originally planned these two to actually be just one novel. However, while working on what was to become Inside Enderby Burgess was told by a number of doctors that he would not be expected to live much longer. Burgess published the 1st "half" of the novel, not expecting to finish the 2nd "half". As it turned out, the doctors were wrong and Burgess lived for several more years.

Burgess' writing style with the quartet reminds me of William S. Burroughs, although I'd consider Burgess to be the superior writer.

In the first novel, the character Enderby uses an expression which I found confusing. When upset, Enderby would often say "for cough". It wasn't until after I had begun reading the 2nd novel that I realized that this was Burgess' response to censorship of the time. "For cough" was actually "fuck off" in much the same way Norman Mailer used "fuggin" in The Naked and the Dead. Apparently, literary censorhip had lightened up by the time of the 2nd novel. Although Enderby would continued to say "for cough", other characters in Enderby Outside say "fuck off" and "motherfucker".

In the third novel of the series, The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End Burgess seemed to predict the future that we're living in today.....politically correct pronouns and further censorship of words.

In the introduction of the final novel, Enderby's Dark Lady, or No End to Enderby Burgess explains that, although he had killed off Enderby in the 3rd novel, fans of the series convinced him to bring Enderby back to life. I haven't gotten far enough into the last book to see just how Burgess managed to do that.

The New Saddle - A Quick Review

 

In yesterday's blog post I told of purchasing a new bicycle saddle online and swapping out the saddle that had come with my bike. The old saddle was less than comfortable and I had read a number of good things about the Vertu Spyder saddle and wanted to give it a try.

I had already had my morning ride when the saddle arrived yesterday. I promised to put on the new saddle for my ride today and subsequently review the saddle.

A few of my friends who had seen the photos of the saddle were skeptical. There's no padding on the saddle and most found the idea that it could be comfortable counterintuitive.

I went out early this morning for 8.6 km (5.3 miles) run.

The saddle is definitely more comfortable than my previous saddle. I can't put a number on how much better it feels, or an explanation why it should feel better. I suppose the shape and contours of the Spyder saddle have something to do with it.

In all fairness, it's difficult to assess the saddle until I've ridden on it for at least a week. I can say that after this one ride, I am pleased with the saddle.

New Bicycle Saddle

No matter how positive an action or activity might be, there is always lurking nearby, a negative. In the case of cycling the positives are many - cycling increases stamina, strength and aerobic fitness. Cycling can improve both physical and mental health, and can reduce the chances of experiencing many health problems.

On the negative side, the most common problem I hear about is the discomfort one can experience in the seat. Your own seat....the butt, your bottom, however you wish to put it.

Judging from the ads I come across on social media platforms, the problem is pretty wide spread (if you'll pardon the expression).

I've come across ads for more comfortable bike saddles, bicycle shock absorbers and padded shorts and padded underwear.

 

The idea of purchasing padded underwear is tempting, but unfortunately most of the bicycle clothing available for delivery in this area is for smaller persons than yours truly. I haven't had a 33 inch waist in quite a long time and I'm unlikely to drop down to that any time soon.

So, for me the obvious choice is a new saddle. One of the more popular saddles advertised is the Vertu Spyder saddle. Several companies advertising on Facebook have that particular saddle for sale.

 

Of the companies selling the Vertu Spyder saddle online, I picked the one with the best price. COD, 899 PHP. The saddle arrived this afternoon - about a week after I ordered it, which isn't bad for Philippines during the pandemic.

I removed my old saddle and had the new one on in minutes. I've already ridden today, so I'll get my first test ride with the new saddle tomorrow morning. I'll be reviewing the ride soon afterwards.

 

Dog Food Run - Alternate Route

I've written before about making the occasional bicycle ride to Sibulan to purchase dry dog food. Of course, it isn't something I do every day, but once or twice a week is a regular routine.

As I wrote in an earlier blog post, taking the most direct route to the Gentle Paws Pet Store is 2.8 kilometers (one way) for a total ride of 5.6 kilometers. This is slightly less than my usual minimum of 7 kilometers morning run. So, this morning, I decided to take the 2.8K ride to the pet store, but take an alternate route on the return.

This alternate return route takes me past Simms Store and then on thru Tubtubon. This route is 4.4 kilometers, making the total morning ride today 7.2 kilometers. That's certainly more in line with my goal. Add to this the additional 2 kilos in my backpack and this a nice challenge.

The September Reading List

I'm posting the September reading list a bit late. No excuses. I suppose I could blame my tardiness on The Squid Game , but I could have managed to fit this post in with a little effort.

At any rate, the number of books read in September was below my normal average. I'm getting near the end of Agatha Christie novels and I'm just a wee bit burned out. When I've finished reading the novel I'm currently reading ( Postern of Fate ) I will have read the last novel she wrote - although I have three more to read which were written earlier but published afterward.....one not being published until 2014.

There are still a number of short story collections which I haven't read, though those may be put off until much later. There are also a number of works written by Christie under the nom de plume Mary Westmacott. I've only managed to find one of the Mary Westmacott novels available as a free e-book. That will probably be put off until later as well.

Here is the list of the 10 books I read in the month of September.

The Clocks
A Caribbean Mystery
At Bertram's Hotel
Third Girl
Endless Night
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Hallowe'en Party
Passenger to Frankfurt
Nemesis
Elephants Can Remember

South Korea: Ban Sale of Dog Meat - Legalize Human Abortions

I recently read in the Korean Times that a nationwide ban on the sale of dog meat was gaining momentum, which I took to be a positive step for their country. Although I have no logical or moral reason against the eating of dog meat, I'm like many Westerners who are emotionally squeamish regarding the practice. I feel like my telling someone they can't eat dog meat however, is similar to someone telling me I can't eat beef or pork.

Still, if the Koreans choose to ban the selling of dog meat for food, then I am all for it.

It bothers me, on the other hand to learn that South Korea's Constitutional Court recently ruled the 66-year abortion ban must be lifted. The people of that country are too 'humane' to eat a certain type of animal, but their version of the Supreme Court is fine with the killing of unborn babies.

Former South Koren Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl said "As a dog owner, I am of course opposed to the consumption of dogs." He later called it "a matter of personal choice." Sounds just like American politicians discussing abortion.

Six Barangay Halls

This morning I wanted to indulge in four of my hobbies - bicycling, photography, blogging and posting to Google Maps. With that goal in mind, I decided to ride to six of the barangay halls located within cycling distance from my house. While there, I'd snap a photo.

For those reading this who aren't familiar with some of the ways of Philippines, each city and municipal area is made up of "neighborhood areas" called barangay. For the most part, the barangay will have a barangay hall / health center, although I have been in some barangay so small that a barangay hall is nowhere to be found.
The six barangay hall I rode past today are - 1) Magatas 2) Camanjac 3) Motong 4) Pulantubig 5) Boloc-boloc and 6) Tubtubon. According to Google Maps the distance traveled was 10.5 kilometers.
Magatas
This is my home barangay. Our house is less than 200 meters from the barangay hall and it's impossible to travel from our house without passing the hall. The old brgy. hall has been torn down and a new one is being built. There is a temporary health center just across the road from the hall.

Camanjac
Turning south at the Magatas Brgy. hall, my first destination is Camanjac. It's a 2.1 km ride with a slight upgrade. Of the six Brgy. halls I will visit this morning, three are actually located in Dumaguete - Camanjac, Motong and Pulantubig.

Motong
Heading east at Camanjac, I rode the 2.7 km to Motong. There are two different routes I can take. To me, turning right at Boni Catarata to Motong Rd. seems the most direct route, but according to Google Maps, turning later at Larena Dr. to Motong Rd. is 200 meters shorter. This seems counter intuitive to me so I went the (so called) longer route via Boni Catarata.

Pulantubig
This Brgy. hall is located about 1 kilometer from the hall in Motong.
The name Pulantubig translates to "red water". According to one source, there is a large red rock within the barangay, with water running over it; the rock making the water turn red. Where exactly this is located is unknown to me.

Boloc-boloc
Arriving at this barangay hall, I'm back in Sibulan. A distance of 2.2 km from Pulantubig.

Tubtubon
From Boloc-boloc, the ride is 1 km to the Tubtubon Brgy. hall. After Magatas Brgy. hall, this is the Brgy. hall I most frequently pass while bike riding. From here, I'll ride 1.6 km to my house in Magatas.The ride this morning was quite enjoyable. I can see making this a regular run. 

Bread Run

 

I'm sure the situation is different in Manila or Cebu, but finding good quality sliced bread isn't always easy in our neck of the woods. Of course, finding good whole wheat bread is even more difficult than locating sliced white bread. Our family is partial to whole wheat, and we've found the Gardenia brand to be just what we want. It's reasonably easy to locate the bread in Dumaguete, but here in Sibulan, the only store that sells the Gardenia Whole Wheat is Mercury Drug.

Fortunately, the Mercury Drug is within bike riding distance for me. I'd ridden to the drug store in the past to purchase my blood pressure meds. and to the Gentle Paws pet shop next to the drug store for the occasional dog food run.

 

I decided to head that way this morning for a loaf. The most direct route is 2.8 kilometers (one way). I wanted to do a bit more riding this morning, so I planned to travel back thru Tubtubon - that route is 4.4 kilometers.

 

The whole trip would be 7.2 K - more in line with my usual morning run.

Unfortunately, Mercury Drug had no whole wheat bread in stock this morning. Not to waste the trip, I bought a loaf of the Gardenia sliced white bread; good, but not my first choice.

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie

 

It's been ages since I thought about Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, or anybody else associated with Fleetwood Mac. The only reason they've come to mind today is because of a lede on Drudge Report where it was reported that Buckingham had compared Nicks and his other former band members to the Republicans and Donald Trump. That was just the sort of click bait that would get my attention.

It was in the linked to article from RollingStone that I learned that Buckingham had released an album with Christine McVie in 2017. Of course, I opened Spotify to search for the recording.

The album contains 10 songs, but from listening to it one would think you were listening to 10 slightly different versions of the same song. Fleetwood Mac's music could be repetitive but this album takes repetition to stellar levels. It isn't that the songs are , horrible it's just that there is nothing new with this music. Boring is worse than horrible.