Rereading Albert Camus' The Stranger

After reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, I wanted to spend some time this month rereading some of my favorite novels. I managed to stay on track with Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore . I took a little detour with Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman. I'm now back on schedule with my rereading  of Albert Camus' The Stranger.

I can't recall when I read The Stranger the first time - probably back in the 1980s. I began making note in my PC in 2011 of the books I read and I have it on record that I read the book in 2014 and 2020. Now, I've read the book once again. (December - 2024) Assuming that I'd managed to read it twice between 1980 and 2011, it's fair to say I've read The Stranger about five times - each time the Stuart Gilbert translation. There are other English translations, although I haven't been able to download copies.

Needless to say the book is one of my favorites.

In his 1956 analysis of the novel, Carl Viggiani wrote:

On the surface, L'Étranger gives the appearance of being an extremely simple though carefully planned and written book. In reality, it is a dense and rich creation, full of undiscovered meanings and formal qualities. It would take a book at least the length of the novel to make a complete analysis of meaning and form and the correspondences of meaning and form, in L'Étranger.

I'll be staying with Camus. I'm now reading The Plague which I last read in 2020 during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman

In his book, Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End , professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Bart D. Ehrman puts foward the notion that the New Testament book of Revelation (aka The Book of the Apocalypse) has been misunderstood and misinterpreted in modern times. This misinterpretation has been going on, basically since the early 19th Century. Ehrman describes the book's writer, known as John of Patmos, as a misguided Christian who did not understand the teachings of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Gospels.

Not only is the book of Revelation not a prophesy of future events as maintained by many Evangelicals, (and certainly no "rapture") but the vengeful nature of the events - not to mention the glorification of materialism and violent retribution - is in no way Christ-like. Ehrman examines how the Christ of Revelation differs from the Christ of the Gospels. A God of love and mercy versus a God who is cruel and unmerciful.

Ehrman's arguments are compelling. After reading this book, I cannot believe that the Book of Revelation belongs in the Biblical canon.

Rereading Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

I began December by reading Haruki Murakami's latest novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls. This novel is a retelling of a short story of the same name (which is no longer in print) and a novel from 1985, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World which I read in October of this year. The two novels share several similarities and in some ways I thought of  my reading "The City" as almost like reading the earlier novel a second time.

This idea led me to consider rereading novels I had actually read before. With that in mind, I reread Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Riding that same train of thought led me to once again read Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

With Murakami being Murakami, in each these three novels, a library plays a significant part, as does Ludwig van Beethoven. Add the Oedipal aspects, the old, disabled man with the uncanny ability to talk to cats, and the feeling of moving in and out of alternate realities and we're in for quite a ride.

In a blog post from November, 2021, I said of Kafka on the Shore:
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.

I can say that upon my second reading of the novel, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the work. Reading the wikipedia article on the novel was also a help in my (partial?) understanding.

I'm certain that I will follow Murakami's advice and read the novel again, although I suspect that will not be in the near future.

Rereading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

I first read Fyodor Dostoevsky's highly acclaimed novel, Crime and Punishment in 1979. I found the story of the protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov's murder of an elderly pawnbroker and her handicapped sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna, absolutely shocking. Over the years, I've reread the novel several times - first, in the middle 1980s, and again in 2012 and then in 2021. All of these readings and re readings were of the Constance Garnett 1914 translation.

I recently wanted read it once again - this time, a translation by Michael R. Katz.

I mentioned in my blog post after the 2021 rereading that I had forgotten a number of sections which seemed almost new to me. This time, I would not be surprised, although sections were not exactly fresh in my mind.

The novel was originally published in installments in 1866 and first translated into English by Frederick Whishaw in 1885. From a review of the 1885 translation:

"Dostoieffsky [sic] is one of the most remarkable of modern writers, and his book, ‘Crime and Punishment’ is one of the most moving of modern novels. It is the story of a murder and of the punishment which dogs the murderer; and its effect is unique in fiction. It is realism, but such realism as M. Zola and his followers do not dream of. The reader knows the personages—strange grotesque, terrible personages they are—more intimately than if he had been years with them in the flesh. He is constrained to live their lives, to suffer their tortures, to scheme and resist with them, exult with them, weep and laugh and despair with them; he breathes the very breath of their nostrils, and with the madness that comes upon them he is afflicted even as they. This sounds extravagant praise, no doubt; but only to those who have not read the volume. To those who have, we are sure that it will appear rather under the mark than otherwise."

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

I first became aware of the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami in early 2021 when I had come upon reviews of two of his novels, Kafka on the Shore, and Norwegian Wood. I was later able to download mobi files for the two and read the books in November and December of that year.

This year, I managed to read six more of his novels - or eight if you count 1Q84 as three books as was originally done when released in Japanese in 2009 and 2010.

The remaining five include - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After Dark, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and now The City and Its Uncertain Walls.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls was published in Japanese in 2023 with the English translation released on November 19, 2024.The novel shares its title with an earlier short story of the same name, which was published in the September 1980 issue of a Japanese monthly literary magazine, Bungakukai. Unfortunately, Murakami has not permitted this short story to be reprinted but Murakami expanded that short story into his 1985 novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Like most of Murakami's novels, this latest one has a surreal quality. I'm not inclined to give spoilers, but like in the earlier novel, the character in The City..... spends a good deal of time in a library. This recurring library reminded me of Kafka on the Shore where a library also plays a prominent role. In my earlier blog post on Kafka on the Shore, I wrote that in an interview posted on his English-language website, Murakami says that the secret to understanding that novel lies in reading it several times. I've decided to do just that. First, I plan on rereading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (in a more modern translation than the one I've read so many times before).

I've also learned that a new translation of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World will be released sometime this month. That will probably wind up in the queue.

Reading List for November, 2024

 

The list of books read in November is, unfortunately rather sparse, particularly when compared to the number of books on October's list.

The first on the list is one written by South Korean writer, Han Kang. Han has four books translated into English (I've read them all) and sorry to say, Greek Lessons is far from my favorite. A bit too poetic for my tastes. The book received dazzling reviews but frankly, I could not take a liking to it.

Death Among the Undead by Masahiro Imamura can be described as a Japanese, Sherlock Holmes styled locked room mystery, with zombies. A little over the top, but mildly entertaining.

Third on the list is The War on Warriors by Donald Trump's pick for United States secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. This book was recommended by Commentary magazine's editor, John Podhoretz. The book goes a long way in describing the changes Hegseth might make to the armed services, but it isn't at all clear that he'll pass Senate confirmation.

My favorite for the month is Percival Everett's James: A Novel. As described in wikipedia,  

James is loosely based on Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some of the early scenes of Everett's novel closely follow Huckleberry Finn, but as the two separate and Jim goes off on his own picaresque "adventures", the tone turns more serious as it explores issues of rape, murder, beatings, and racism. 

Of the four books read this month, James receives my highest praise.

The list:
Greek Lessons     by Han Kang
Death Among the Undead     by Masahiro Imamura
The War on Warriors     by Pete Hegseth
James: A Novel       by Percival Everett

The October, 2024 Reading List

 

The time has come again to post a list of books that I've read this past month. With ten books, October leads the year in total number of books read per month.

Two of these books were recommended by the folks at the Commentary Magazine daily podcast; one of those being written by a podcast regular, Christine Rosen - The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. The second book - Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy.

In her book, Rosen discusses the cultural and emotional difficulties stemming from our addiction to modern technology.

Israel Alone focuses on the isolation of Israel and the tragedy of October 7, 2023 starting with Lévy’s eyewitness account the day after the attack by Hamas terrorists.

Two of the books on the list were written by one of my favorite modern writers - Haruki Murakami. The 1985 novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and the 2004 novel, After Dark.

I wrote about three of the books making the list in a previous blog post - Arthur Koestler's Trilogy .

The three remaining books making the list were written by this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Han Kang. 

A review of her first novel, The Vegetarian can be found by following this link. Four of Han's novels have been translated into English; three made my October reading list. In addition to The Vegetarian, I managed to finish The White Book, described as "an exploration of personal grief through the prism of the color white", and Human Acts , a story one boy's death during the Gwangju Uprising of 18 May 1980 in South Korea.

The list:

The Extinction of Experience    Christine Rosen

Israel Alone           Bernard-Henri Lévy

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World    Haruki Murakami

After Dark                  Haruki Murakami

The Gladiators           Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon       Arthur Koestler

Arrival and Departure  Arthur Koestler

The Vegetarian             Han Kang

The White Book            Han Kang

Human Acts                  Han Kang               

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

When I first read that Han Kang had become the first South Korean writer and the first female Asian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature I decided to look into her work. As of this writing, four of her books have been translated into English - the book receiving the most "buzz" is her 2007 novel, The Vegetarian. Wikipedia describes the book as being "set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life". That description wasn't enough to encourage me to read the book, but in spite of that ho-hum description Han's winning the Noble Prize led me to download the ebook and place it in the queue.

I'm glad I did. The book is much more than the wikipedia description would have one believe. There are elements dealing with abuse, sexual infidelity and mental illness. Han takes the story to places I did not expect it to go. The Vegetarian has received much deserved international critical acclaim and a number of prestigious awards. After reading this novel, I'll certainly add more of Han's work into the queue.

However, not everyone in Korea is pleased with Han and The Vegetarian. The Confederation of National Parents' Associations in Korea has called for the removal of The Vegetarian from school libraries, arguing that it is harmful to minors. The group says that the extreme and violent content - as well as the sexual content - makes the novel inappropriate for elementary, middle or high school students. I would add that the portions of the novel dealing with mental illness make the book a difficult read for children in that age group.

As much as I believe that this book is well deserving of praise, I don't believe it is a book for younger audiences. I don't feel comfortable with book bans, in general, but there are some books which elementary, middle or high school students shouldn't be encouraged to read.The Vegetarian is one such book.

Arthur Koestler's Trilogy

 

In the early 1980s, I came upon a copy of Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon in my public library and until recently, I believed that, in spite of the fact that I couldn't remember story details, I had read the novel. I wanted to "reread" the book recently and discovered that the book is part of a trilogy on, as Koestler wrote in a postscript to the third novel, "the conflict between morality and expediency".

If I was to "reread" Darkness at Noon, I wanted to read the the other novels in the trilogy as well. The first novel in the series is The Gladiators which portrays the effects of the Spartacus revolt of 73 BC in the Roman Republic. The novel was certainly interesting, but I would not classify it as a "must-read". If I were to grade it on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the book, perhaps a 6.5 at best. One odd problem with the book is the mentioning of the Romans eating "corn". At first, I thought Koestler's translator was using the word, as it is sometimes used in British English, as a generic term for cereal grain. However, at one point, the word was translated as "maize" which is strictly "Indian corn". Maize was not available to the Romans before the Columbian exchange in the late 15th Century. I put that error on the translator.

It didn't take long into my reading of Darkness at Noon to admit that I did not read the book in the 1980s as I had imagined. Unlike the first book in the trilogy, I would classify this book as a classic and a "must-read". The novel is set between 1938 and 1940, after the Stalinist Great Purge and Moscow show trials. I would put this novel along side Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Albert Camus' The Stranger.

The third novel in Arthur Koestler's trilogy is Arrival and Departure. This was Koestler's first novel written originally in English. According to wikipedia, Arrival and Departure "is often considered to be the weakest of the three. " I wouldn't agree. While not exactly reaching the level of Darkness at Noon , I believe it is better than The Gladiators. The time line and theme of the third book in the trilogy is much closer to the second than is the story of the Spartacus revolt.

If one has the time and inclination, then read the entire trilogy. If you don't have the time, read Darkness at Noon. As I said, that one is a "must-read".

The September, 2024 Reading List

 

Today is the last day of the month, so the list of books read this month is called for. September is a relatively short month, but I still managed seven books - that's about average for me.

You might say the September list was inspired by Japanese writer, Akimitsu Takagi. Four of the seven listed were written by Takagi; two of the seven were mystery novels by other writers, but were books mentioned by Takagi in one of his novels. Only one book, The Lady of the Barge & Other stories by W.W. Jacobs, is in no way related to Takagi.

I've written blog posts on four of the books on the list - The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi, The Three Coffins (AKA The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr, The Noh Mask Murder and The Informer, both written by Akimitsu Takagi.

I wanted to read S.S.Van Dine's The Greene Murder Case because it was mentioned favorably in The Noh Mask Murder. This, in spite of my having read another in Van Dine's Philo Vance series and not being impressed. The Greene Murder Case turned out to be better than I had expected.

Takagi's The Informer was top notch. Like all of Takagi's work, I highly recommend it.

The outlier in this month's list is W. W. Jacobs' The Lady of the Barge & Other stories. This book is a collection of short stories by the English writer. The most famous story in the collection is The Monkey's Paw, which was adapted into film in 1915, 1923, 1933, 1948, 2008 and 2013. My interest in reading the collection came from Commentary Magazine's John Podhoretz mentioning The Monkey's Paw on the magazine's podcast, in reference to the idea that wishing for something you shouldn't wish for can lead to tragic consequences.

Some of Jacobs' stories are humorous, while others are meant to be "horror" stories. The horror stories aren't really frightening by today's standards, but the book is, by and large, entertaining.

So now, the list:

The Tattoo Murder Case   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Hollow Man (The 3 Coffins)  by John Dickson Carr
The Noh Mask Murder   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Informer    by Akimitsu Takagi
Honeymoon to Nowhere   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Greene Murder Case   by S.S. Van Dine
The Lady of the Barge & Other stories   by W. W. Jacobs

The Informer by Akimitsu Takagi

As I've mentioned in earlier blog posts, the late Japanese crime fiction writer, Akimitsu Takagi has four novels translated into English. Two of these four feature State Prosecutor Saburo Kirishima and are part of a seven part series. The Informer is the second in this series.

In The Informer, a former Tokyo stock exchange worker, Shigeo Segawa, is fired because of illegal trades. Segawa accepts a job from an old friend and discovers that this new firm is actually an agency for industrial espionage.

Early on, I was beginning to think that The Informer was strictly a story about industrial espionage and not a murder mystery. It takes a while before a murder takes place in the novel.

The story turns out to be more complicated than I originally suspected. The circumstantial evidence builds against Shigeo Segawa, so naturally I assumed that Segawa would not be the killer, although figuring out who the actual killer might be wasn't so easy.

Upon finishing The Informer, I'll move on to the third book in the Prosecutor Saburo Kirishima series, Honeymoon to Nowhere. 

It doesn't appear that there will be additional translations of Takagi's work and at 72, I'm too old to learn enough Japanese to read the entire series. That's unfortunate.

The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi

In my blog post on The Tattoo Murder Case by Takagi Akimitsu , I mentioned that "I found this novel surrounding the tattoo subculture in Japan one of the best mysteries I've read this year." I've read two mysteries novels since making that statement, and while I still believe it remains "one of the best", Akimitsu Takagi's second novel, The Noh Mask Murder is even better.

Like The Tattoo Murder Case and John Dickson Carr's The Three Coffins, The Noh Mask Murder is a "locked room mystery" and like Carr's book, the story has three coffins. When it comes to "locked room mysteries", Takagi learned his lesson well.

I thought I had the story figured out. I was certain I knew the identity of the killer, only to be fooled and fooled yet again.

Four of Akimitsu Takagi's mystery novels have been translated into English. I'm about to start The Informer and then on to Honeymoon to Nowhere. It's unfortunate for me that there aren't more of his books in English. 

As an aside, one of the characters in the book is considered the "Japanese Philo Vance".  The Greene Murder Case is mentioned - there's even a chapter in The Noh Mask Murder with that title. I may get around to reading the S. S. Van Dine novel, although not until I've finished with Takagi.

The Three Coffins (AKA The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, one of the main characters in Akimitsu Takagi's mystery novel, The Tattoo Murder Case, Kenzo Matsushita is himself a big fan of mystery novels. It's mentioned that Kenzo is reading The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr. Naturally, I searched the web for information on Carr's book.

The Three Coffins was published under that title in the U.S. in 1935. The book was published that same year in the U.K. as The Hollow Man and has received high praise from many critics, particularly for the often-reprinted "locked room lecture" given by investigator Gideon Fell in chapter 17. In 1981, a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers selected the novel as "the best locked room mystery of all time".

Upon reading such praise, I decided to read The Three Coffins before going on to Akimitsu Takagi's other novels that are available in English.

I have mixed thoughts on the book. Frankly, I feel the story drags in the early stages and it isn't until the chapter 17 "locked room lecture" that the book picks up. The ending, where the locked room mystery of The Three Coffins is explained is top notch but, unfortunately, one must read a good deal of sub-par writing to get to the end. 

The book was placed at No 40 on the Crime Writers' Association's list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and No 96 on the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. 

Honestly, I don't see it.

The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi

When Akimitsu Takagi published his first novel, The Tattoo Murder Case, the practice of tattooing was illegal in Japan. Although a part of Japanese subculture, the art had been illegal since the Edo Period in the 1860s. Takagi was fascinated by the full body Japanese tattoo and as one would expect from the title, the people who create tattoos, as well as those who have them , play a central role in the mystery.

I don't have tattoos myself, and I'm not likely to ever get one. However, I found this novel surrounding the tattoo subculture in Japan one of the best mysteries I've read this year. The story deals with the deaths of three siblings - the children of a famous tattoo artist - who had received tattoos from their father, depicting an accursed legend from Japanese mythology.

I also learned from the novel that, although tattooing was illegal during the Edo period, tattooing foreigners was allowed. As a matter of fact, two famous cousins, the future Tzar Nicolas II of Russia and the future King George V of England both had dragons tattooed onto their forearms during their time stationed in Japan while in the Russian and British navies.

One of the main characters of the novel, Kenzo Matsushita is himself a big fan of mystery novels. It's mentioned in the book that Kenzo was reading The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr. That book, also known as The Hollow Man in the U.K., is considered on of the greatest "locked room" mystery novels of all time. Akimitsu Takagi had four of his novels translated into English, and it was my original intention to read the four back to back. However, I've decided to read The Three Coffins before continuing on with Akimitsu Takagi's second novel, The Noh Mask Murder.

VW #44 Revisited

 

While riding my bicycle this morning, I turned down the road going to Brgy. Cadawinonan on a whim. Not far down the road, I spied this yellow VW.
I've come across this VW before. In March, 2018 it was featured on another of my blogs-[Yellow Beetle With a Rack On Top ]

The Reading List for August 2024

 

In spite of being driven off course by a couple of books I couldn't finish, I still managed to read eight books this month. I had attempted to read books 3 & 4 in Octavia Butler's Patternists series but I found the two books unreadable. I wouldn't attempt book #5.

I've written blog posts on six of the eight I did read

 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
A Question of Belief  by Donna Leon
The Silkworm  by Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)
Rogue Male  by Geoffrey Household
Patternmaster  by Octavia Butler.

Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler made the list - but no blog post

To get back on track, I finished the month with another by Donna Leon - Drawing Conclusions. Leon is my "go to" when I really need a good book.

Octavia Butler's Patternist Series

 

When originally published in the late 1970s/early '80s, Octavia Butler's Patternest series consisted of five volumes:
1) Patternmaster (1976)
2) Mind of My Mind (1977)
3) Survivor (1978)
4) Wild Seed (1980)
and - 5) Clay's Ark (1984)

Having read the first two, I was faced with a dilemma. Butler would go on to disavow Survivor - calling it her worst novel and referring to it as "my Star Trek novel". She would not permit reprints of the novel. It is not available in any omnibus collection of the series.

Although out of print, Survivor is found in ebook format - Everything lives on in the Internet. My dilemma was, should I follow Butler's wishes and skip over book 3, or should I read Survivor in the order it was originally intended in 1978?

I began reading the book.

I immediately realized my decision was a mistake. The book most definitely does not belong. I could not get beyond the 25% mark.

I'm setting it aside and will continue on with Wild Seed.

Pattermaster by Olivia E. Butler

I first discovered Octavia Butler in 2022 when I read two of her remarkable stand -alone novels, a time travel novel, Kindred and her final novel, a so-called sci-fi vampire novel, Fledgling. I had written at the time that I had downloaded everything published by Butler and would read the collection "in the not too distant future". That was two years ago, and well things tend to get away from one. I've only just now finished Butler's first book, Patternmaster. Not only was this Butler's first novel, it was also the first in her Patternist series.

This first book depicts a distant future where the human race has been sharply divided into the dominant Patternists, their enemies the "diseased" and animalistic Clayarks, and the enslaved human mutes.

The Patternists, bred for intelligence and psychic abilities, are networked telepaths. They are ruled by the most powerful telepath, known as the Patternmaster. Although the first book to be published, Patternmaster is the last in the series' internal chronology. It is an amazing "debut novel" though, of course not flawless, by any means.

Never the less, I'm looking forward to completing the series.

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

Earlier this month, I wrote a blog post on a book I had just finished reading - The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. I wrote at the time that the book had shown potential, but unfortunately I didn't think the writer was quite up to the challenge.Reading other reviews of the book, I see that my opinion of the book is in the minority.

One thing did catch my notice. One of the men who had been brought into the future and been given a book to read, which, it was mentioned, he read several times - Rogue Male. I had never heard of such a book prior to this and I wasn't completely certain it was a real book. I did a search of the Internet and learned it was indeed real.

Rogue Male was written by British writer Geoffrey Household and published in 1939. In the book, an unnamed British big game hunter travels to an unnamed European country to assassinate an unnamed dictator. The would be assassin is captured by the dictator's secret police and beaten within an inch of his life. The secret police decide that, rather than provoke a war with Britain, they would throw the body over a cliff in order to have it appear that the sportsman died in an accident. Miraculously, he survives and manages to return to England.

The sportsman learns that agents of the foreign government have tracked him to England. He cannot involve the British government, which can't condone the assassination of a foreign leader.

He kills one of the foreign agents in self defense and soon discovers that not only is he being hunted by the foreign agents, he's being hunted by the police as well.

Of course, I don't provide spoilers, but this book is a top notch thriller. I highly recommend Rogue Male.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)

I've managed to finish reading the 2nd novel in J.K.Rowling's (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) Cormoran Strike series The Silkworm. There were times when I wasn't at all certain I would finish this book - to say nothing of finishing all seven books in the series.

I understand that in this day and time, writers of crime/mystery novels feel the need to write in a more graphic manner. However, the amount of violence and bizarre sexual activities in The Silkworm was a bit much for me. That's not to say that the sex and violence was gratuitous....it was a necessary element to the story, but these were elements I thought were a bit over the top. It remains to be seen if I'll return to the series.

A Question of Belief by Donna Leon

As I write this post,Donna Leon has published 33 books in her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. I've just finished reading #19 in the series - A Question of Belief. Leon published the first novel in the series, Death at La Fenice in 1992 at the age of 50. Leon will turn 82 in September (2024) and by publishing #33 - A Refiner's Fire earlier this year, Leon is maintaining a pace that many younger writers would envy.

Like many of her novels, A Question of Belief contains within it more than one story line. One of the two main stories in this book revolves around a charlatan who takes advantage of susceptible individuals with claims of knowledge of astrology, palm reading and other bits of occult "wisdom". The other story deals with the murder of a court clerk. Wikipedia describes the book this way:

Brunetti learns of a curious pattern at the courthouse: cases involving a certain judge and usher are repeatedly postponed in a way that benefits a certain lawyer. What's more, the usher is leasing an apartment from the lawyer at an extremely low rent — until he is murdered.

I'm not inclined to give spoilers; like in a good many of Leon's novels, this novel ends with us knowing the outcome, but that outcome isn't resolved in a matter normally found in traditional crime fiction. It leaves one with the feeling that justice isn't necessarily served well in the Italian legal system.

The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

 

Although Seishi Yokomizo had written more that 75 mystery novels and was famous in his native Japan for creating the fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi, he is not as well known in the English speaking world. Only six of his mystery novels have been translated into English: The Honjin Murders,The Inugami Curse,The Village of Eight Graves, Death on Gokumon Island,The Devil's Flute Murders and the one I've just finished reading, The Little Sparrow Murders.

The mystery in The Little Sparrow Murders revolves around a Japanese folk tune - a children's tune - a Temari song - wherein the Little Sparrows are three young girls, murdered in line with the words of the song.

Like all the novels by Yokomizo, this one, written in 1957, is a top notch mystery. I was kept guessing until the very end.

Sadly, Seishi Yokomizo's novels aren't translated into English fast enough to suit me....a new one comes out about once a year. I haven't read when the next one is due to be released, but I suspect it will be in 2025.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I'm a huge fan of books dealing with time travel. Over the past few years I've written more than two dozen blog posts covering the subject with the actual number of time travel books read totaling more than that.

It was only natural that upon learning of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley I'd download the book and put it into the queue.

I've mixed thoughts on the novel. Overall, the book has great potential, but I'm sorry to say that Ms. Bradley doesn't live up to the challenge.

Sadly, the book seems uneven. At certain points, the book hits home only to turn unexpectedly bland.

To make things worse, the book suffers from a bit of "wokeness". The folks from the past tend to be very often "politically incorrect" which doesn't sit well with the folks in the present. With the writer being a millennial, the wokeness isn't surprising.

In an online interview, the author describes the novel as a time travel/romance. I didn't particularly care for the romance.

The book isn't a total flop, but I don't really recommend it.

The Reading List for July, 2024

 

July has come to an end so a list of e books read this month is in order.

First on the list is The Case For God by Karen Armstrong. Like all of Ms. Armstrong's books, this one is well researched. The book covers the history of religion - particularly the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, although she does explore the Eastern, non Abrahamic religions to some degree.

It was by reading Ms. Armstrong's book that I was led to read The Mind's Road to God  by Saint Bonaventure. For the most part, Saint Bonaventure's book went over my head.

I've already reviewed The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling) in an earlier blog post. I failed to mention in that review that the protagonist has pretty good taste in music; he listens to Tom Waits and a group called Elbow.

In his translation of Gustav Meyrink's The Golem, Mike Mitchell writes that although Meyrink and Franz Kafka were contemporaries, "In it [The Golem] we have the Castle which is not Kafka's Castle, The Trial which is not Kafka's Trial and a Prague which is not Kafka's Prague". I would add that Meyrink comes across to me as a blend of Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe.

After J.D Vance was chosen as Trump's Vice Presidential running mate, I decided to read Vance's book and watch the movie based on the book. Vance has taken some heat recently, but reading the book has convinced me that Trump made the proper choice in picking J.D. Vance.

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin become the first human to journey into outer space. He became famous, world wide. He was so famous, in fact, that even a nine year old boy living in Atlanta Georgia knew his name. In Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, Jamie Doran & Piers Bizony write not only Gagarin's biography, but they explore the Soviet space program during the 1950s and '60s - it's successes and failures. Originally written in the 1990s, this edition was updated in 2010. I was particularly interested in the controversy surrounding Gagarin's death.

Now, the complete list:

The Case for God             by Karen Armstrong
The Cuckoo's Calling      by Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)
The Mind's Road to God   by Saint Bonaventure
The Golem      by Gustav Meyrink
Hillbilly Elegy    by J. D. Vance
Starman     by Jamie Doran & Piers Bizony

Bicycle Ride in Sibulan

It's coming up on the anniversary of my downloading an app onto my phone in order to monitor my bicycle rides. There is an option where I can video the ride. I've uploaded those videos from time to time on to Facebook. I don't usually upload the videos to Youtube, but I thought I would do so today. 

When prompted by Youtube to answer questions about the content, I said it was OK for kids. I thought that meant there was no sex or violence or adult specific content. It turns out it isn't kid safe after all because the app I used included an ad in the video.

 I changed the settings and now I'm good to go.

New Bicycle Tires

I've been getting a punctured tube on the rear tire of my bicycle almost every day for about a week. I finally decided to break down and replace both tires - front and rear.

 It really was past time. Checking an old blog post, it seems I last replaced the tires around the last week of March, 2022. That's a bit over 2 years ago. As near as I can calculate, I've ridden over 5,000 miles on those tires.

Yes, I'd say it's time for new tires.

 

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)

 

I was 45 years old in 1997 when J. K. Rowling first published her fantasy novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published a year later as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.). Being 45, it was not the sort of book I'd be reading. Now, 27 years later, I can say I've never read any books in the Harry Potter series. I've seen 5 or 10 minutes of one of the films - I can't recall which one - and can say I was justified in not reading any of those children's books. I am not the intended audience.

So, not being a J.K.Rowling fan, it's shouldn't be surprising that I've only recently learned of her series of crime fiction novels (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) Cormoran Strike. Being a big fan of that genre, I downloaded the entire series and set the ebooks aside to be read at a later date.

I've become aware of the controversy surrounding Rowling and her support of women viz a viz the trans issue. After reading of her challenge to Scotland's new hate crime law , "Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls", I decided to show my support for Rowling by reading book one in the Cormoran Strike series - The Cuckoo's Calling.

Naturally, I have to compare this series to a favorite of mine - Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series. After reading this first novel, I have to say that I'm impressed. An excellent work; it stands up to Leon's crime novels. However, I do have one negative comment. I'm not a fan of crime detectives being given strange, unrealistic names. I don't care for the name, Cormoron Strike. Other writers of crime novels have been guilty of the same offense but those writers usually gave the detective either a common Christian name or a not quite so bizarre surname. I'll be reading more in the series and will do my best to overlook my dislike of the main character's name.

The Reading List for June 2024

 

June has come to an end and the time has arrived for another monthly reading list. The list for June will be relatively short - only four books.

I've already written blog posts for two of the books - The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope and High Rising by Angela Thirkell.

Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True is interesting, but anyone who watches science programs and reads the occasional science article is familiar with most of what he has to offer.

Book four is #18 in Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series - About Face. A favorite theme for Leon is the illegal transport of toxic waste thru Italy. Of course, there's always a murder or two involved.

I won't finish the book I'm currently reading in time to make this list. It will be the first on July's list. The Case for God  by Karen Armstrong.

So, here's this month's list:

The Last Chronicle of Barset      by Anthony Trollope
Why Evolution is True                 by Jerry A Coyne
High Rising                                   by Angela Thirkell
About Face                                    by Donna Leon

High Rising by Angela Thirkell

 

I was recently browsing a Canadian website which offers ebooks that are in the Canadian public domain, fadedpage.com and came across an author of whom I was unfamiliar - Angela Thirkell. I discovered that Thirkell had written 27 novels based on the fictional county of Barsetshire created by Anthony Trollope (although 4 of the 27 are unavailable for download). I've recently finished reading Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles and was curious to see what Thirkell had added.

High Rising (1933) is listed as book one in Thirkell's Barsetshire series, although, frankly I don't understand why. I read in a Goodreads review that the two villages in the novel (High Rising and Low Rising) are located in Barsetshire but I found no mention of Barsetshire in the book. I certainly don't recall either High Rising or Low Rising being mentioned in any of Trollope's books and no descendants of the families from Trollope's work are in High Rising.

Never the less, I did enjoy the novel. Thirkell was a good writer and the book is mildly amusing and I'm looking forward to reading more from Thirkell's series in the months to come.

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope

 

As the title of the novel proclaims, Anthony Trollope's sixth novel in the series is, in fact,The Last Chronicle of Barset. While ostensibly telling the story of Rev. Josiah Crawley and his being accused of stealing a cheque for £ 20, there are several stories interwoven into the plot. Trollope wanted to end the series by tidying things up. He begins the final chapter -
"It now only remains for me to gather together a few loose strings,and tie them together in a knot, so that my work may not become untwisted."

I don't normally give spoilers, but in the case of this final novel, I'll make an exception. Those folks just beginning the first novel, The Warden will have forgotten my spoilers by the time they get to the sixth novel. It's unlikely that anyone reading this post now has read the first five and will be disappointed in knowing how it all ends.

Like most novels from that time period, the six novels were originally published in serial installments. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, in the beginning of Agatha Christie's Appointment with Death, she writes that Hercule Poirot overhears a bit of conversation which reminds him of a story he once heard concerning Anthony Trollope. According to this story, Trollope was crossing the Atlantic at the time, and overheard two passengers discussing the last published installment of one of his novels. "Very good", one man said, "but he ought to kill off that tiresome old woman". Trollope was said to have told the men,"Gentlemen, I am much obliged to you! I will go and kill her immediately!"

At the time I wrote that post I suspected the "tiresome old woman" might have been the wife of Bishop Proudie. As it turns out, Trollope does kill off the Bishop's wife.

In my review of Book Five, The Small House at Allington, I wrote that -
"In his autobiography, Trollope is amazed by the number of letters he'd received from readers of the installments of The Small House at Allington who loved Lily Dale (who he considered a prig) and wished that Trollope would have Lily and John Eames marry. Trollope did not unite the two. Several of the characters from The Small House at Allington return in The Last Chronicle of Barset. Judging by Trollope's comments, I would be very surprised to see the couple marry in the final book."

Like Trollope, I too found Lily Dale a prig and hoped that she and Eames would never marry. I was beginning to worry in the final novel that Trollope would have the two wed, but I'm happy to say that Trollope had Lily Dale remain forever an "old maid".

Rev. Josiah Crawley is exonerated and all ends happily.

In the 1930s, fifty years after Trollope's death, English/Australian novelist Angela Thirkell began a series of 23 novels taking up the story of Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles. The first of her "sequels" is High Rising published in 1933. I'll put Thirkell's novel in the queue, although I have no idea how many of those I'll read.

The May, 2024 Reading List

 

The list of books read in May isn't long. Six isn't spectacular, but it is more than one a week - so there's that.

Three books on the list were reviewed in earlier blog posts : The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - and The Steppenwolf  by Hermann Hesse, so there's no need to write more on those three here.

In the Courts of Three Popes by Mary Ann Glendon tells of the writer's experiences in Rome during the pontificates of Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. Unfortunately, the book deals more with her than with the three Popes. It's not exactly what I thought I was getting into when I started reading the book.

Edith Tiempo was a Filipino poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic in the English language. She graduated from Silliman University in Dumaguete (the city I call home now) and would go on to attend Universities in the U.S.. She would eventually return to Dumaguete to teach at her alma mater. Although she wrote six novels in English, I was only able to locate one as an ebook - Blade of Fern. The story tells of a mining operation is the fictional village of Nibucal, Mindanao.

One of Tiempo's short stories was required reading in my son's final year of high school. I suppose I might be able to find more of her books at the local public library.

The Provincials - A Personal History of Jews in the South by Eli N. Evans was originally published in 1971. Although I'm not Jewish, I can relate to much of the book, having grown up in the American south during the time period of which the book was written. Again, although Evans wrote a number of books, this one is the only one I could find in ebook format.

This list for May, 2024:
The Son of Tarzan    by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle  by Haruki Murakami
In the Courts of Three Popes   by Mary Ann Glendon
The Steppenwolf      by Hermann Hesse
Blade of Fern   by Edith Tiempo
The Provincials   by Eli N. Evans

The Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

 

I was a teen during the late 1960s, and like many of my generation my first awareness of the name Steppenwolf came by way of the Canadian-American rock band that burst upon the scene in 1968. After awhile, we learned that the band had taken their name from a novel written by "some German guy". Some of us would eventually get around to reading the novel.

As best as I can recall, I was 19 or 20 when I first read Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf and then only after I had been introduced to his earlier novel, Siddhartha. Being 19 or 20, I couldn't really understand the story of a fifty year old man going thru a spiritual crisis. Of course, I recognized Hesse's talent, but frankly, the novel was not written with 20 year olds in mind.

I would go on to reread Steppenwolf in 2014. Although I had made note of having reread the book at that time, I failed to write a review. I've just finished reading the novel for the third time and I won't let a review slip by this time.

This time around, I read a relatively recent translation of the book by Kurt Beals. Beals notes that he preferred to follow the original German title Der Steppenwolf. Beals goes with The Steppenwolf. I agree with Beals.

Now I'm 72 and I can better appreciate Harry Haller's struggle. The character was 50 at the time of the story and I suppose 70 is the new 50. A fifty year old man in 1927 was much older than a fifty year old man today. Of course, my life doesn't exactly parallel the life of the main character in the novel, but there are similarities. I can relate to having difficulties sleeping at night as my mind replays my earlier life choices. While The Steppenwolf may not be for mad men only, it is not for the young either.

Hesse once said that Der Steppenwolf was widely misunderstood. I'd like to think that I am at a point where I can better understand and appreciate this brilliant novel.

Fun At The Vulcanizing Shops

 

In March of 2021, less than a month from my 69th birthday, I purchased a mountain bike. It wasn't my intention to do my biking off road, but knowing the condition of the roads in this area, a mountain bike seemed a safer option than a road bike. Prior to buying this bicycle, it had been 40 years since I last road one. It would take time to build up my endurance, but I would eventually get up to seven days a week, averaging sometimes 15 miles a day. I would often get in 100 miles a week.

A few months ago, I decided to cut back to five days a week. This would mean - weather permitting - Monday thru Friday. If, for whatever reason, I lost a weekday, I'd make it up on Saturday or Sunday. This past Saturday I was not scheduled to ride, but as I was up early (as usual) I wanted to do an inspection of my bicycle. There it was - a flat front tire. Depending on what causes the flat, sometimes a tire will flatten while I'm on the road and that requires an immediate detour to a vulcanizing shop, of which there are, thankfully, many. Sometimes, the object that causes the flat will be so minor as to be unnoticeable until the next day when I go outside to go on my ride. That was the case this past Saturday.

I was planning to meet a few fellow Americans that morning, so I removed the front wheel, put it in the back of the car to be taken to a vulcanizing shop after breakfast.

As it turned out, the man at the shop said the tube was damaged due to the spokes rubbing the tube. There is a lining, of sorts, around the rim which is supposed to prevent that. Obviously, this one needed to be replaced. This lining wouldn't be something a vulcanizing shop would have, so I decided to wait until a bicycle shop in Dumaguete opened up Monday where I could buy a new tube and liner for the rim.

The bicycle shop doesn't open until 9:00 AM, so I wouldn't be able to get a ride in on Monday. Today, I went outside at 6:00 o'clock to go for my Tuesday ride and all looked OK. Unfortunately, I hadn't gone more than a mile when I got another flat. I was able to flag down a pedicab to take me and my bicycle home. At home, I removed the front wheel - I'm getting good at that. There was a rather nasty looking pointy thing sticking in the tire. I took the tire to yet another vulcanizing shop for repair. Hopefully, I'll be good to go Wednesday morning.

A word of note - the photos of the pedicab and the offending object are from today's adventure. The other two are from earlier flats.

 

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

 

I first learned of Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami about three years ago when I read an interesting review of his novel, Kafka on the Shore. I've gone on since then to read four more of his novels, although two of those - 1Q84 and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - were originally published as trilogies, so I suppose you could say I've read nine in total.

In 1Q84 a particularly nasty character named Ushikawa plays a crucial role. After finishing that book, I learned that Ushikawa had appeared in the earlier The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle so I made it a point to read it as soon as I could fit it in.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, reading Murakami brings to my mind the works of Franz Kafka and Mikhail Bulgakov with perhaps a bit of Dostoevsky thrown in for good measure. In my review of Kafka on the Shore I described Murakami's writing as "surreal and hallucinatory". The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle certainly fits that bill. I might even add that this novel reads like a Salvador Dalí painting - dreamlike.

While reading this novel, I was reminded of a novel I read back in the days when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth - The Steppenwolf  by Hermann Hesse. I'm placing that one in the queue to be re-read very soon.

The Son of Tarzan

 

I recently came across a meme on social media which featured characters from the MGM film series of the 1930s and 1940s, Tarzan. This series, starring Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane and Johnny Sheffield as Boy, was a hit with me when the movies were shown on TV in the 1950s. Feeling nostalgic, I tracked down the six MGM films and the six RKO movies with Weissmuller on the ok.ru website.

I had read the first three of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels a few years ago - one in 2011, one in 2012 and # 3 in 2016. Looking for a change in pace from my reading material, I decided to read # 4 in Burroughs' Tarzan books, The Son of Tarzan.

Anyone even vaguely familiar with the Tarzan franchise knows that the books are very different from the films. Never the less, I could not have expected anything like The Son of Tarzan. At the beginning of the novel, we find Lord John Clayton II (AKA Tarzan), his wife Jane née Porter and their son Jack living in England. Due to a series of events, which I won't go into, Jack makes his way to Africa accompanied by an ape named Akut. One thing leads to another, whereupon Jack takes the name Korak and becomes another Tarzan, so to speak. He is unable to return to England. He is lost to Tarzan and Jane.

The story is interesting enough, in that pre-World War I adventure story sort of way. Lots of characters (human and non human) - lots of adventures - twists and turns.

I was a bit taken aback by the amount of killing done by Korak - which it turns out is ape language for "Killer". A hero today couldn't get away with the killing done by the young man.

As I say, the book is interesting and I imagine I will go on to read more in Burroughs' Tarzan series. Just not any time soon.

The April 2024 Reading List

 The latest list:

Spiral (Ring 2)  by Koji Suzuki
Replay  by Ken Grimwood
Loop (Ring 3)  by Koji Suzuki
Past Master  by R. A. Lafferty
Utopia  by Thomas More
The Double  by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Small House at Allington  by Anthony Trollope