Finished Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I’ve been reading Murakami in publishing order for a few years now and I was excited to get to this one, since it’s one of his most popular, but it just didn’t really do it for me. It was predictably well-written - I can count on Murakami for that at least. Of course it was also predictably undermined by his sort of pathetic obsession with getting in the pants of every woman ever, but I’ve learned to look past that, so it wasn’t really a problem. It’s just… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the whole thing felt sort of forced. It was good, but IMO not among his best.
Started and finished Replay by Ken Grimwood. It was odd and disjointed, but satisfying all in all. It’s about a man who dies of a massive heart attack, then awakens as himself at the age of 18, with his memories intact. It goes through his second life fairly quickly though, since that’s not really the point - it’s not just an “If I had it to do all over again” fantasy. Things get interesting when he comes back around to the moment of his death in his previous life, and he dies again, and reawakens younger again. Then the bulk of the story focuses on the nature and meaning and significance of this loop in which he’s found himself. All in all, I liked it, and would recommend it to anyone who finds the idea interesting.
Started The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. I read it once before, but that was 20 years ago or so. It was the first of his novels I read back then, and inspired me to read a lot more of them, but then it got to the point that his novels were pretty much centered on drinking and only sort of peripherally about anything else, and I lost interest. But I’ve wanted to go back and revisit at least this one and On Stranger Tides, and the time seemed right. And it is just as good as I’d remembered - strange and convoluted and a bit contrived, but compelling.
For me Murakami has been hit or miss, but the I only read three books of his. Norvegian Woods is great, Hardboiled Wonderland is good and very enjoyable, but the I read Killing Commendatore and just could not get into it.
I agree about being put off by the obsession on having sex with any and all women in the plot, for no reason. I don’t really get it either.
The sex thing - I think it’s just a psychological thing that he’s never gotten past. I’ve known people like him (and both male and female).
What almost certainly happened was that he developed psychologically right up until he was somewhere in his late teens or early 20s and he hit a period during which he was on top of his game sexually. He was still in that adolescent phase during which sex is an all-consuming interest, and he had the skills and appeal to generally succeed in his pursuit of it, and he gave himself up entirely to that. And then he never progressed past that stage - he’s been locked ever since into the thinking of a teenage lothario.
It’s unfortunate just because it’s sort of equal parts creepy and tedious, but that’s the way it goes. I find him generally worth reading anyway, since he’s an extremely talented writer, and has a particular talent for conveying emotional nuance.
And it’s not as if sex is his only obsessively repeated theme. Though the others generally don’t stand out quite so much, he’s at least as likely to have his protagonists drink whiskey and listen to music, or go for aimless walks, or clean house, or iron shirts.
So be it.
I’m not sure I agree with your psychological analysis, but it is compelling. The wiskey! Every time, there is wiskey! To me it seems more like a misconstruction of what is normal, to create a character that both cool and relatable.
Invisible planets by Ken Liu Song Dynasty Figures of Longing and Desire by Lara C.W. Blanchard
I’m reading The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Kinda struggling to get into it- not sure why since the plot is so interesting.
I adore the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series but the books are so dense and I have heard multiple people struggle to get through the beginning third of the first and second books. I might be biased (definitely biased) but the story arc is worth the slogging pace.
Thank you I’ll keep at it!
Sometimes I can get into the audiobook when the book book doesn’t click with me. I read the first few pages, and I think this would be one of those. It’s well written, there’s just a lot of details and some cultural context that I’m not too familiar with. That can happen with translated books. It’s part of the charm, I think, but it takes a little more effort to read. Plus it’s just a complex story.
Somehow the narration makes it easier for me to really get into it. As long as the narrator is good, and this guy is. His voice is a little stiff, but it kind of fits with the book. It’s growing on me.
Oh nice, might give that a shot- ty!
I struggled with it too, but I don’t think it’s just the translation (although some of the phrasing is awkward), for me there was a disconnect with the mindset / cultural assumptions at times.
Not enough to make it unreadable, but enough to break the flow at times. It’s rare for me to have to reread a paragraph for comprehension, but I had to a few times in this series.
I’m cheating, on multiple counts: I put aside the book in German that I have been reading to have something lighter to read. And instead of going through my local library, I bought it on Amazon.
But other than the personal background, I’m now reading “Babel” by R.F. Kuang. Just started a couple of days ago, but is all I expected and more. A steam-punk coming of age novel that confronts racism and colonialism, while talking about the subtleties of languages and the English language in particular. Absolutely great!
Babel sounds fantastic, I’m going to pick it up.
You should post a review in !printsf@literature.cafe when you finish. :)
I will! Can’t wait to share !
I don’t usually buy physical books anymore, since I realised that I’d get better value for my money if I only get books that don’t really work on a Kindle, like illustrated books. So recently, I bought The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Dr. Eleanor Janega and it’s pretty good! It’s basically an introduction to the Middle Ages and it does a pretty good job at providing a overview of about 1000 years of history. This book got me interested in the Middle Ages enough that I feel like reading all of the Dan Jones books I’ve had in my TBR for ages now.
Nevermind, I found out Dan Jones is kinda cringe
Still, being excited about a topic feels great! If you are interested, Indro Montalli wrote a ‘History of Italy’ and his books on the Middle Ages are supposed to be really good. I read a couple of them and I really enjoyed his style, both precise and charismatic.
Thanks for the recommendation! 😊
The complete shift in tone had cackling earlier
Why is he cringe though very curious 👀
I guess this is a small reason to not like him, but in 2021 he wrote an article where he compared the Extinction Rebellion to the English Peasants’ Revolt in a way that suggested both of them were apocalyptic and wanting the end of the world, like mobs riled up by apocalyptic preachers.
This guy is a historian but that article was so sus to me, like the only people who think that way about the Peasants’ Revolt are the ones who look back at history and think they would be the nobles enslaving end indebting people.
So yeah I was planning on reading his book on the Peasants’ Revolt but I guess I’ll pass on it and find one by a better historian
Ironically enough How To Read by Mortimer J. Adler. I try to reread this book every few years to remind me what (else) I should be doing while reading.
I’m (still) reading The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins and Barack Obama just showed up
I had to read that paragraph again, it surprised me that much! Apparently his stepfather was Indonesian so he lived in Jakarta for a bit in the early Suharto years
