Nonfiction
Philosophical Papers Vol. 1+2 by Richard Rorty
I found
some of these works to be excellent, but most to be beyond my scope. As such
his writings on politics were of greater interest than some of his other
commentaries – but even those weren’t without merit. A previous familiarity
with Heidegger, Foucault, and Wittgenstein was why I was interested in the
volumes, but my lack of knowledge of Davidson, Quine, Kuehn, and Derrida left
me cold for large swaths.
A Brief History of Time by
Stephen Hawking
The
2017 edition published the year before Hawking’s death, updated from the
mid-90s edition, provides a wonderful, concise, clear explanation of
cosmological physics up to an including the LIGO detection of gravitational
waves. An excellent primer on where physics stands today.
What is Civilization? by
David Wengrow
An odd
little work – the main section shows, through archaeology, how closely related
Mesopotamia and Egypt really were. It is bookended by a premise and a very
short second sections that tries, vaguely, to connect the ideas as a refutation
to Huntington’s “clash of civilizations”.
Qur’an
translated by
Abdullah Yusuf Ali
After
reading the Bible and the foundational texts of Hinduism and Buddhism, the lack
of the Qur’an was beginning to be a bit conspicuous. An interesting text, both
in format and, to an extent, content; benefited by Ali’s copious commentaries
and explanations.
The
Cheese and the Worms by
Carlo Ginzburg
A
history which I’d long been familiar with, but had not read for myself. The
peasant miller Menocchio’s ideas and worldview are truly fascinating in an era
(late 1500s) when such thoughts were apparently uncommon – his inquisitors are
astounded. But as Ginzburg deftly teases out, their origins in oral peasant
culture and now-obscure works of the time were there all along, bubbling
beneath the Church’s imposed dichotomous culture of orthodox and heretic.
In Pursuit
of the Unknown by
Ian Stewart
In this
2012 work Stewart explains 17 equations that changed the world. He ramps up
quickly – chapter three is calculus – and sometimes covers concepts too hastily
for a math dummy like me. Indeed, as he goes on, he expects ever greater
familiarity, and doesn’t bother to explain much at all. It can be a little
frustrating, but not too significantly – really an extra ten pages probably
would’ve solved the problem.
Because
Internet by
Gretchen McCullough
The
basic premise is simple: the internet has changed language. There are a lot of
interesting examples and concepts put in, and it’s well-researched. A long-ish
chapter on memes was interesting – but felt a little out of place. All in all,
a good read if you look at it sooner rather than later, and it becomes a
historical snapshot.
Stop
Me if You’ve Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes by Jim Holt
An
interesting little read – essentially an essay – on how jokebooks came about,
and some theories on why we laugh. Not a bad use of time, but will almost
certainly leave one wanting more. Notably, I thought while reading, it seems unlikely
that Asia produced no humor throughout history…
East
is a Big Bird by
Thomas Gladwin
For
those not already familiar with Micronesian sailing techniques… The
first couple of chapters are standard, interesting, anthropology of life on
Puluwat – an island in Micronesia. The next two, making up the bulk of the text,
are a relatively exhaustive account of canoes and sailing methods – admittedly
impressive dead-reckoning done by the stars. The final chapter, however, was a
real curveball: comparing abstract and concrete systems of thinking, linking
them to educational heuristics, and seeing how all of this navigating inverts
middle class American stereotypes of the public education system and
intelligence.
Fiction
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
A short
saga from my on-going quest to read all 80 of the (Penguin) Little Black
Classics (LBCs). Honestly, one of the most interesting sagas besides the Burnt
Njal – which this work references.
Come close by Sappho
Yet
another Penguin LBC, this time a collection of Sappho’s poetry – which I was
previously unfamiliar with. Pleasant little verses.
Woman much missed by Thomas Hardy
An LBC
that contains a complete poetry collection: Poems of 1912-1913 by Hardy. A
collection of touching verses on the subject of his wife, recently passed.
The Power and the Glory by
Graham Greene
My
first Greene novel. An interesting account of Catholicism, well-told and very
well-paced.
Madame Bovary by
Gustave Flaubert
I
previously had only read “A Simple Heart” which was good, but hadn’t shown me
what to expect from this excellent work of poetic realism. One of the best 19th
century novels I’ve encountered.
Three Novels: Malloy, Malone Dies,
The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
Three
narrative monologues which become increasingly combative towards the reader.
Admittedly, by the time you get to the third section, you’re in a realm of
fiction you’ve likely never encountered before – and perhaps never again will.
Is that worth a struggle that makes Joyce seem fairly easy, and a nihilistic
lack of crescendo and awe? Personally, no.
Scoop by
Evelyn Waugh
I’ve
been wondering what to think about this work. If Dave Chapelle hadn’t created
the black, blind, white supremacist sketch, would it still be funny? Or if
Spike Lee hadn’t directed BlackkKlansman? Or Richard Pryor written much of
Blazing Saddles? Waugh is (very) white – so the humor of an otherwise
well-written comic novel can be troubling when he deals with race. Key example
that I wrestled with: There’s a civil war in an African nation, between
communists on one side and fascists on the other – who insist they are pure Aryans, “we’re just swarthy”.
If Chris Rock writes it, it’s hilarious. But I truly don’t know if it’s okay
when Waugh does it, and I’m sort of leaning towards, no.
Returning
Home: Tao-Chi's Album of Landscapes and Flowers by Shi Tao (Tao-Chi)
A very
short album of reflective, somewhat melancholic poems, coupled with paintings
by the author.
The
Alexandria Quartet by
Lawrence Durrell
This
tetralogy is okay, but not great. This first volume, ‘Justine’, tells of a
passionate love-affair, an affair which is cast into significant doubt by the
second volume, ‘Balthazar’. ‘Justine’ has an interesting and novel literary
device worth mentioning – the protagonist comes across a novel already written
about the woman he desires, and compares his affair with her to the other
author’s. ‘Balthazar’ tells of the same time period, but from a friend’s
perspective, who had better information than our original narrator. The third
volume shifts entirely, and was probably my favorite. ‘Mountolive’ abandons the
simple love story and adds yet another layer of complexity to the time period,
this time with a new, omniscient, narrator. It was actually a pity in the final
installment, ‘Clea’ to have to return to the original narrator – and distinct
from the other novels, move forward in time. Indeed, ‘Clea’ seemed to me the
weakest of the set.
The
Conservationist by
Nadine Gordimer
Banned
in South Africa for its anti-Apartheid themes, Gordimer places us in the mind
of a conservative, bigoted, embodiment of white male privilege. The journey is
not pleasant, but then, of course, it’s not supposed to be. The quality of
writing, though, makes her Nobel Prize award understandable.
“Sully
Prudhomme” from The Library of the World’s Best Literature by Sully Prudhomme
Prudhomme
doesn’t have any definitive English translations of his collections on the
market – not even old pieces you can try to dig up from his time. His poems can
be found in the authorized Nobel Library, but also in this work, from 1917
(found on Bartleby, online), or amateur translation scattered online. The poems
in this collection are sentimental, romantic, and fairly forgettable. Solely of
interest to Nobel Laureate collectors.
Jean
Christophe by
Romain Rolland
This
massive novel might have been a world classic – it blends together the naturalistic
style and the psychological style which were the dominant forms of the late 19th
century. Such a synthesis would have been noteworthy, except, that the
work was finished in 1912, and such a combination was quickly relegated to a
minor footnote in literary development, as Modernism exploded upon the scene.
Further, the work is weighed down by the difficulties of those years – a
primitive 1800s nationalism, antisemitism, long-winded passages about “the will”, etc. For
two years of dedicated study I went through this story, and can’t really recommend
it. It has rightly been forgotten in an apt and ironical fashion: Jean
Christophe is, as happens, the story of a composer whose music, initially
praised, ends up being surpassed and forgotten.
The
Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
There
are a few novelties in this work. But the characters I found very disagreeable, and
the premise extraordinarily dull. If you liked Swift’s “Tale of a Tub” and
“Gargantua and Pantagruel” (all of it), then you’d likely enjoy this work.
Childhood’s
End by Arthur
C. Clarke
This
was my first experience with Clarke, and, excepting some almost bizarre
holdovers from the 1950s, the work was very good. It was an enjoyable premise,
well-executed. A nice piece of sci-fi to cleanse the palette, but also to
generate significant rumination.
Tobacco
Road by Erskine
Caldwell
Probably
the bleakest, most broken set of characters to inhabit the American canon. A
short, brutal, tale of wretches who go so far into degradation as to pass by tragedy.
R.U.R.
by Karel Capek
An
interesting little sci fi play, certainly worth an hour of most readers' time.
Beyond just the origin of the term ‘robot’, the work serves as an interesting
cautionary tale of capitalism.
Midnight’s
Children by Salman
Rushdie
Some
years ago I read ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ which I found pleasant but
forgettable. Not so this work, which is, I think rightfully, a masterful
blending of modernism and magical realism, and quite possibly an essential
literary text of the 20th century.
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
A
critical Modernist text, from 1890, the work relays the thoughts of a
Raskolnikov-type, but one whom you can actually relate to and enjoy his
thoughts – as he faces the rack and ruin of starvation.
August:
Osage County by
Tracy Letts
A sort
of ‘Long Days Journey’ meets ‘Who’s Afraid’, set in Oklahoma in 2007. Darkly
comic, ultimately, of course, tragic, and not a bad option for something to
read.
Lais
of Marie de France
Intriguing
little stories of courtly love, composed in the mid-1100s. A thoroughly
pleasant collection, whose main story, Eliduc, I’d been familiarized with in
high school.
Dead
Souls by Nikolai
Gogol
I am
fond of Gogol’s two short stories, “The Overcoat” and especially “The Nose”.
The first volume is a very good work. The fragments of the second, unpolished,
incomplete, and adding little of value, I think can and should be avoided – to
only consider the work by the first, completed segment.
Youth
and Typhoon by
Joseph Conrad
Two
unremarkable short novellas about life at sea that came with my copy of Heart
of Darkness, but which I'd never gotten around to reading. One or two passages of good language, offset by more than
typically racist depictions (especially Typhoon).
A
Room with a View by
E.M. Forster
An
enjoyable little novel of young bourgeois romance told with comic irony, when
such a tone had not yet staled. Not as powerful as ‘A Passage to India’ which I
read a few years ago, but certainly not off-putting, leaving me open to more
Forster in the future.
I
Hate and I Love by
Catullus
Returning
to the Penguin Little Black Classics I finally encountered the verse of
Catullus, and his continual love / scorn for Lesbia. A fine small collection of
poems.
A
Death in the Family
by James Agee
Parts
are incredibly poetic, and moving, but the motifs are now so commonplace that I
found the overall work difficult to stay interested in.
Goblin
Market by
Christina Rossetti
Another
Penguin LBC, again of a poet I did not previously know. Rossetti’s poems are
mostly forgettable, but there are a few choice selections.
Speaking
of Siva
An LBC
of four Indian poets: Basavanna, Akka Mahadevi, and Allama Prabhu from the
1100s, as well as an earlier author, Devara Dasimayya. All the poems are
ontological and theological, regarding Shiva.
The
Night is Darkening Round Me by
Emily Bronte
A final
LBC for the year, a selection of poems comprised melancholic eternities. If
you’re into that sort of thing. Personally, it continued to confirm my distaste for Bronte.
Graphic
Novels
Superman:
Red Son by Mark
Millar et al.
What if
Superman landed in Ukraine instead of Kansas? While not as sophisticated as Gaiman’s ‘Miracleman:
The Golden Years’, ‘Red Son’ is still very entertaining. Glad I finally read it.
Saga vol. 9 by
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
At this
point the writing is still good, the character development is still good, but
the plot is beginning to feel a bit formulaic and repetitive.
Top
5
Midnight’s
Children
A Brief
History of Time (2017 edition)
Madame
Bovary
Childhood’s
End
The
Cheese and the Worms
Honorable
Mentions
Dead
Souls
Hunger
In
Pursuit of the Unknown
August:
Osage County
The
Power and the Glory
