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[Humdinger]

I've started reading again somewhat recently, these are the books I've finished so far:

The Plague (Albert Camus): It's amazing how a novel from almost eighty years ago can capture so many of the same fears, behaviours and paranoias which occurred decades later in the Covid pandemic. Camus' plague might be fictional but his grasp of human behaviour is astonishingly on-point and he paints an incredibly vivid picture of how the city changes throughout the various stages of the plague, and how the myriad characters react to it for both altruism and cynical self-advancement. The optimistic end-note is a bit out of place, as the book feels more like a chronicle than a judgement until that point (as the narrator says) but the book is a remarkable testament to how well-observed writing can stay relevant for decades and how human nature remains the same even as technology and time advances at pace.

If I remember right, the plague in The Plague is a metaphor for the meaninglessness of life or what Camus called the absurd. The characters represent different ways of dealing with that. You can read it as a story about a pandemic, but you can also read it at a philosophical level. Nearly all of Camus' works reflect his preoccupation, in one way or another, with the theme of the absurd.

Thanks for the thoughts about The Talented Mr. Ripley. I was thinking of picking that one up eventually, just for entertainment.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

This book was short but fantastic. Really enjoyed finding out what the crew discovers while exploring Rama

Wind and Truth Preview Chapters

I'm all up to date and now I'm anxiously awaiting for the actual release which is coming this December 6

The Orc King by R A Salvatore (The Transitions Trilogy Book 1)

I'm currently reading through this book and it is fantastic. I'm a huge fan of The Legend of Drizzt Series and have to read the rest of the other Forgotten Realms books that are not Legend of Drizzt. I'll be able to finish this before Wind and Truth comes out. So far the story is really good with the same cast I love that I have been following since highshcool twenty years ago

 

[Cfh123]

Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe. Beautifully written.

The conceit is Gene Wolfe is translating a memoir written far in the future. Archaic or latin words are used to describe things in the future that do not exist now. Thus the reader is left to image what he is describing. The words chosen are evocative so one gets a sense of what the thing is.

I read this book a long time ago, and I believe one or maybe the rest of the books comprising the Book of the New Sun.

 

[calistan]

I'm currently reading Butter, by Asako Yuzuki. It's about a food blogger accused of killing a bunch of wealthy older men she seduces on dating sites, and the non-foodie female journalist who gains her trust by learning to appreciate her recipes. It focuses on the role of women in Japanese society, and there are detailed descriptions of meals that remind me of the album reviews in American Psycho.

Made me realise I hardly ever read anything by modern female novelists. There's so often a feminist theme (women's issues, the patriarchy, etc - it's really heavy in this one) that I don't fully appreciate or it makes me feel like I'm intruding somehow. I wonder if male writers are equally alienating to a female audience, even if it's unwittingly so.