The complexity of The Thirty Years War is perhaps only surpassed by the task of its telling. The only comparison I know of is Thucydides Peloponnesian War, the best history I have ever read. There are a few differences of note. C V Wedgewood wrote her history three-hundred years after the event, the source material was not in her native language, and she was twenty-eight years old when she published her masterpiece.

I appreciate the insight into the mind of another that stream-of-consciousness allows, in that sense this book is a success. The narrator encapsulates 2019 in America very well in the book for a certain portion of our population. Our narrator skims the surface of fears, anxieties, and unresolved issues in her life, her family, her state of Ohio, and in America itself.

Yet I‘m at the end of this long novel I‘m left expecting something more.

The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas is an extraordinary example of what the written word can be. Lyrical, poetic, crude, violent, intoxicating, salacious, thoughtful, explorative, exploitative. Manifold.

It‘s a novel of family, history, geology, lists of various sorts, human social triangles, conspiracy, and destiny.

Unfamiliar words abound, it‘s rather hefty, descriptions of women tend to be well shy of PC but then a strange thing happens…

Reconstruction. I‘ve known what it was since grade school but hardly knew any details. Du Bois traces the history in the southern states of the postwar years. The successes and stumbles and the unimaginable cruelty. The economic fights of laborers both black and white, the questions of land ownership, education, and the right to vote and hold office.

The writing is wonderful, the scenery relaxing, and the philosophical musings capture a moment in time. The Magic Mountain is a rich text well worth the time spent. One of my top ten novels of all time.

First trip to the library sale room since Covid began. Couldn‘t pass up a clean first edition Murakami even though I already have it in paperback, The Kindly Ones was just added to my wishlist over the weekend, G.J. Meyer wrote an excellent history of WWI so I was real excited when I heard about The Borgias (a pet fascination of mine) and it‘s about time I picked up some Zola.

Oskar Matzerath is one of the most singular characters in literature, and his unreliability as a narrator leaves one questioning everything that happens. This time around i found his ancestry and childhood fascinating in and of themselves, but the time period (1924-postwar Germany) puts another level of meaning on top of this entertaining read. Those with a knowledge of German folklore will get another layer beyond that.

What can America learn from the German efforts at Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung? Neiman argues that that long German word for “working-off-the-past” is essential if we are to move foreword in a healthy way. I found my most of criticisms to be a matter of nuance and she has her biases to watch out for politically, as do we all. This book provides good first steps toward healing. An important book about the holocaust, race, and memory culture.

My favorite non-fiction of 2023. Robert K. Massie cements his place as my favorite biographer. The Face of Battle is an absolute classic. The History of Ukraine is complex and turbulent but their identity as an independent nation should not in any way be construed as up for debate. Orwell can write about anything and I‘ll read it. Gulag. Everyone should have some Anne Applebaum reading in their life.

My favorite books of 2023. A Brief History of Seven Killings was my favorite briefly but I read Solenoid over Christmas and was blown away. Infinite Jest influenced the books I want to read going forward. My reading of ten Dostoevsky novels was an amazing experience. I discovered another favorite author in Mario Vargas Llosa and I found out that contrary to what my fourteen-year-old self once thought, Shakespeare is the man.

The power that perceives the course of time
is not the power that captures all the mind;
the former has no force — the latter binds.

Purgatorio Canto IV (1-12)

"It is because you try to penetrate from far into these shadows that you have formed such faulty images.
When you have reached that place, you shall see clearly
how much the distance has deceived your sense”

Mixed in with the visceral depictions of the residents of hell there are bits of healthy advice. It took a bit to get adjusted to Dante but as we head further into hell I‘m drawn in more and more. Finishing Inferno tonight

Solenoid is so many things that an effort to describe it becomes merely a list of adjectives that distract from the fact that above all else this is an absolutely beautiful novel.

Cartarescu‘s writing (translated by Sean Cotter) is vivid and flowing, I would gladly read him describing a walk to the mailbox.

This has to be one of my favorite novels of the year. I‘ve read Heart of Darkness a few times so I knew I needed to read it slow. Conrad rewards the patient reader with beautiful descriptions of characters and life in underworld London. A dark satire that isn‘t as hopeless as it may seem. The introduction (best read after finishing the novel) sums up “the novel‘s irony consists of an amused, sad and compassionate derision.” But it is compassion.

Bookoutlet gets me every time. Looking forward to another deep dive into WWII next year. And it‘s always good to have a few fantasy and sci-fi novels on standby. I‘ve generally (after some weeding) had good luck with Booker books so we‘ll see how The Luminaries and The War of the Poor go.

Just some light reading on a Wednesday 😂 First time I‘ve read Shakespeare‘s tragedies in 25 years, the fear of reading out loud in class gone I can relax and enjoy it. Toynbee‘s study may miss the mark from time to time but the scholarly writing has taken me in. Infinite Jest. Oh Infinite Jest. I‘ve avoided you for years. Yet I am determined to finish and understand you. 39 pages in and haven‘t given up yet!

Whew! The mail arrived just in time! Now I officially have three years worth of TBR on my shelves again 😂

Robert K. Massie always brings out the human side in his biographies. That personal touch makes all the difference because it makes historical figures feel like people who lived lives rather than statues who did great or terrible or mediocre things.

The word love is in the title so surely it‘s a love story right? That misconception ended quickly. It felt like what reading Wuthering Heights felt like but from a different angle.

To describe the relations in the novel the word toxic comes to mind. It‘s about the toxicity that disguises itself as love. Maybe the toxic lover truly thinks what they have is love but that type of love is love for the sake of self not love given to another.

I find great satisfaction in reading great works of literature and history for many reasons. Understanding of how we got to where we are in the world, in literature, in thought, are few of them. There are an infinite amount of pieces in the puzzle we call life and each new connection opens the possibility for more. Between life and reading gradually a picture forms which can essentially be called a “world view”.

The H-bomb is more handicap than help to the policy of
"containment." To the extent that it reduces the likelihood
of all-out war, it increases the possibilities of "limited war"
pursued by indirect and widespread local aggression.

Ever wanted to live with a box on your head? In Kobo Abe‘s novel you will learn how select and construct your box, providing a practical arrangement for moving around in while still leaving room for plenty of accessories.This is probably the best novel I‘ve ever read about how to become a box man.The book also provides insight as to whether you have the mental makeup for a true box man, because let‘s face it, nobody wants to become a fake box man.

March was quite a month of reading. I think the Vargas Llosa wins as my favorite of the month but The Somme and To The Lighthouse were also terrific. Olive Grove in Ends is a very strong debut novel and The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is very timely. I think it‘s the type of novel (weighty historical fiction) one should read to get a small picture of what another country is like. The Black Jacobins is a stellar history of the Haitian Revolution.

Currently Reading… unfortunately I‘m not a fan of Don Quixote at all. I‘ll begrudgingly finish it. The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is a very timely historical fiction novel about Ukraine. It‘s in the heavy category of historical fiction but well worth it.

To the Lighthouse is the quietest novel I have ever read. I don‘t entirely know what that means but I know it to be true. It is a novel of observation. Characters rarely speak to each other and when they do we hear of it through the eyes of a third party. Oftentimes it is simply communication without words, words somehow feeling inadequate. It‘s a novel you‘ll want to flip open to a random page and savor each and every word.

February: some amazing novels this month. A Brief History of Seven Killings is in contention for my favorite novel of all time. Began my mission to read most of Dostoevsky as well.

January reads: I have to pick Madame Bovary with Vilette a close second. Perdido Street Station and The Red Line were good for what they were trying to do. Portrait of the Artist, If on a Winter‘s Night and Snow Crash didn‘t hit the mark for me.

The structure of Vita Nostra is fairly simple. A young girl begins her training at an academy. She knows as much as we do, meaning not a lot. Teachers are cruel, but maybe with reason. Fellow students are antagonistic, but sometimes not. Not unique mode of storytelling but what stands out is the way our world has been distorted in this imagining. It‘s not my favorite type of story but it was dark and mysterious so it gets 4🤘🏼 out of 5

This reads like literature so I‘ll just come out and say it... R. Scott Baker‘s prose is quite excellent. There‘s very enjoyable moments of introspection, history, and intrigue, characters are always trying and work out the political machinations of their opponents. It‘s a political novel, in that politics of the holy war, history and magic are always on the agenda. This could be seen as rather dense reading, I would consider it enjoyably thinky.

A thoroughly enjoyable book. It‘s satire that works. You never lose the connection to real life while exploring absurdities galore. There‘s characters to root for and against. In many bizarre ways wa Thiong‘o explores the experience of African countries in dealing with post-colonialism. If you‘re ready for a chunky read that is both fun and poignant then these is the book to pick up.

Advertising, pop culture, hallucinogenic drugs, and satire about the modern world. If that sounds good to you then you might enjoy the book. However, if the first three are rather unappealing and you feel satire is very difficult to do well then you may feel like I do about this book. I found a few of the ads pretty funny but honestly there‘s not a lot that appealed to me about the book. I saw glimpses of promise but that‘s all.

Although written about 60 years ago The Bell Jar remains a very insightful book about depression and despair. The self judgement that we all do is different for everyone and that‘s likely one reason why suicide comes as such a shock so often. You can clearly see the author‘s inner demons put on the page. Thankfully the medical field has changed significantly and society has moderated some of our views over the years, but more work is still needed.

A father‘s hopes and dreams for his children is that they never ever become simple fishermen. He wants something more from them. He wants them to be juggernauts. It‘s a quite hilarious scene in some ways. But sometimes things don‘t go as a parent plans. Sometimes things go very tragically awry. I find myself thinking about the curse and whether or not I‘m supposed to be thinking about it to the extent that I am.

It‘s hard to put my finger on why I enjoyed this novel. It‘s very slow moving and there‘s not too much action, but I think that might be where it succeeds most. Thorough descriptions and flashbacks are plentiful in this novel set in the failed state of Somalia. Progress in Mogadishu is tenuous, when things are moving forward towards some goal or other one always suspects that incredible violence is right around the corner.

Wow! What a strange twisted ride. The first hundred pages or so were decent, loaded with enough literary references gave me hope but at that point it felt like the story could go one of two ways. Thankfully we descend into some truly bizarre madness. Awad does a great job of immersing the reader in the novel.

A short impactful read about the expendability of colonial soldiers. A wonderful paragraph on p47 talks about when madness in a soldier is encouraged vs when it‘s taboo. The author repeats certain phrases to great effect, it bought the madness of it all to the forefront. Some of the content makes you realize just how young these soldiers are when we send them off to the front. One day a child, the next they begin their descent into madness

This book was significantly lighter than I was looking for, not a fault of the book necessarily but it didn‘t really do a lot for me. Everything felt rather flat, maybe a translation issue or maybe it just wasn‘t trying to be what I want it to be. On the surface the story seems decent but when reading it I just didn‘t care all that much. At the time I read them I preferred Conn Iggulden‘s conqueror series about this historical time period.

A very enjoyable murder investigation, not mystery because we know what happened up front. Seen from the eyes of the killer and accomplice we are also following the investigative side of things. Having read a good amount of murder mysteries in the past I felt like this was a good chance of pace and I would gladly pick up another in the Detective Galileo series.

I feel like a certain level of faith is needed to appreciate this book, maybe not needed but it would give it more impact I think. Coming at it without faith the decision is simple and while one can put oneself into the mind of the narrator it is easier if you also share faith. That being said I think it is a good but just not a great fit for me.

I should have just stuck with the first novel. It was great. Hilarious. The style was just so much fun. After 800 pages I‘m less enthusiastic. If I read this in the future I will make sure it‘s only The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Ultimate will not be read again.

I was intrigued by the idea of the novel, nobody falls asleep except a few and they have the same dream. We start with day 18, a zombie like scenario... ok not the start I wanted. Then day 1, ok pretty good. It went straight downhill after that. The novel heads in several directions I didn‘t have an interest in and never really explored what I wanted explored. There‘s no mystery, no tension. I did enjoy the gritty writing style but that‘s it.

A Memory of Empire has top notch political intrigue, neural implants, fantastic world building and a world consuming empire at the center of it all. This was a hard one to put down. It feels both smart and easily digestible. While it doesn‘t reach the stratospheric heights of The Light Brigade it is a fantastic book all the same and I‘ll soon be getting my hands on the next one by Arkady Martine

This is a rather strange book. The underground railroad is imagined as a literal thing and each state has its own specific traits relating to the “peculiar institution”. With those inventions in place, the book puts the reader into the world of slavery and all its evils.

As a damning picture of slavery I think this book does very well, but I didn‘t get a very good picture of the settings or the characters. Overall I was rather underwhelmed.

After reading the beautiful descriptions Chekhov writes I would love to read a book out in the steppe. I‘m generally not a fan of short stories at all but this collection hit the spot, providing just enough humor to make up for the lack of connection I feel because of the length. If you‘re a fan of classic Russian literature Chekhov is one you surely won‘t want to miss.

This is my third time though this one, while the original review still stands this time I read it with a view of a culture about to be radically altered.
Original: A story of a less than sympathetic man who struggles and fails, of the Igbo people and the arrival of the white man and christianity, and a story of gender roles and expectations. While many other books discuss all these topics, this one does it very clearly, concisely and powerfully.

No surprise here. What I‘ve said in reviews of the first 3 books can be copied and pasted here as well. Top notch history and an absolute must read once you‘ve been grounded in the Peloponnesian War by reading Thucydides and another general history or two. I don‘t even know where to go with the Peloponnesian war from here, reread and the rereread Thucydides I suppose.

This little book packs quite a punch.

“I studied his face, that face that looked just like mine and I could not help but think that my life has been pointless after all, that I had lived this life in vain”.

It‘s the story of a man on the margins of society in post war Japan. Very thought provoking and one is left with the thought that as a society we need to do better. Looking forward to discussing this one.

Written in the second person, set in post colonial, post war Zimbabwe you find the female narrator facing incredible challenges. It can be a bit challenging to read but not overwhelming. The main character isn‘t likable in the traditional sense, unless you read the first two books you have to read between the lines to see why the character is as she is. I found myself compelled throughout and learning about a culture very different from my own.

I felt a particular closeness when reading this book. A closeness in a literal sense. As if I was transported into the lives of the characters for a few hours. I was particularly drawn to Etsuko‘s recounting of the past, both the Mariko and Ogata storylines. Ogata‘s for the clash between past and present, and Mariko‘s for its unsettling nature.

I could say more but instead I‘ll just say, It‘s a beautiful start to a Nobel Prize winning career.

I found this to be both memorable and fun. But fun in a “Wow! That‘s messed up” sort of way. Kundera weaves together the lives of eight characters over the course of five days in a very approachable manner while also dropping us some philosophical tidbits along the way.