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
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