I am a returning reader. I had a long period of hiatus in my reading, and even though my love for books has always been big, I only now begin to become serious about reading. My appetite is huge and I hope to have enough time to devour all the books on my Wish list.
2020 started with some women's prose by Russian writer Maria Metlitskaya. Her books are always my choice, when I have no clear idea what to read. Her style is easy to absorb and it gives you the feeling of communication with a friend - some gossiping, some life stories. It has a bit of everything.
Then I decided to get familiar with another modern Russian writer - Ludmila Ulitskaya. First, I read a novella called "Sonechka". It begins and ends with Sonechka's great love for literature. And in between the author tells us Sonechka's story of love, marriage, adultery by her husband, a love triangle with a very strange twist.
The second work by Ludmila Ulitskaya, that I read, was the novel "Medea and her children". It is a family saga set in Crimea. I expected a warm story full of sun, fruits and laughter. What I received was a kaleidoscope of dark stories and destinies. It is not as long as family sagas normally are, and the characters seemed a bit sketched. I enjoyed it while reading it, but the aftertaste was slightly bitter. The main character is Medea, but also their family house, where different relatives come to spend their holidays. The house is not situated directly by the sea. It is actually away from the sea, and getting to it is a rocky road literally. As rocky as are the fates of the characters. There are love triangles, adulteries, sick children, madness, postmortem unpleasant surprises. Not a book, that I will return to.
After Medea and her children, I began reading Jane Eyre in English. While reading it, I discovered Russian Booktube and my reading life changed. I began getting recommendations from Booktubers. I finished Jane Eyre in January 2021, but I had read at least 5 other books in the process.
1. A Man Called Ove - by Fredrik Backman - a bitter-sweet, but heart-warming story about Ove. Ove is a grumpy old man, or so he looks at first sight. He has recently lost his wife, and then was forced to retire. He slowly gets familiar with the noisy international family, that comes to live next door, and we see his character through their communication, the grumpiness slowly melts away. There is a lot of sadness in this story, but it is presented with a good dose of great humor. And there is a cat involved.
2. While You Sleep - by Alberto Marini - I read this one in Russian, under the name Concierge. It was originally a screen-play, but when they started filming it, the director decided to transform it and change some parts, like for example, the movie is set in Barcelona instead of New York City. Then they decided to also create a book, so that all the details are kept.
This is the most vile and useless book I read. It is written well, with good descriptions and accessible language, but the story is beyond repulsive. It is about a man, who works as a concierge in a luxurious apartment building in NYC. He gets severe panic attacks daily and the only thing, that keeps him going, is seeing how the people around him suffer. If suffering is speared to them by fate, he is there to create it. He feels especially annoyed by a young woman, who is naturally positive, and hard to break. How far will he go to follow his sick ambitions?
And, don't forget, that, due to his job, he has easy access to people's apartment keys and, hence to their lives.
This book was not even an entertaining Halloween read, as I expected. It was a trash story about a trash person. I don't recommend it.
3. Viy - by Nikolai Gogol - more short story than novella, this small work of fiction is a real gem.
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It has been years since I last read Gogol, and to tell you the truth, it was not by my own will. It was in school, part of the program, and anything read then was read forcefully, under obligation. It is only now, that I start reading for my own pleasure, and I discover how many great books and authors I have missed due to prejudice.
Viy is part of a stories collection, called Mirgorod. It is a horror novella based on Slavic folklore. It has witches, monsters, and Viy - creature from hell with eyelids reaching the ground. Once his eyelids are lifted, his look is lethal.
A group of three students is on their way home for the summer vacation. Night finds them in the fields and they hope to find lodging and food in the near village. Unknowingly, they lodge in the lair of a witch, and this is when the horror begins for one of them.
There is even space for humor in this short horror story. The language is so authentic, rich and beautiful. Gogol was definitely a genius writer, who could show, not just tell.
I am determined to continue reading all his other works this 2021. I have so much to catch up on Russian literature and I will.
4. The Black Prince - by Iris Murdoch - It was my first Modernist novel to read. I cannot say I understood it, but I enjoyed it. It focuses on an episode in the life of Bradley Pearson, an ageing writer, when he becomes passionately attracted to his friend's daughter. His friend is Arnold Baffin - a prolific and financially successful writer. The competition and contrast between the two is very clearly shown. Bradley is still waiting for his real work of art to ripe in him, while Arnold is writing, is being published and is enjoying his success.
The book begins with forewords of some of the main characters, and ends with post-scripts by most of them. Everyone telling the story from their own angle. There is a crime involved too.
You can clearly see the connection with Shakespeare's Hamlet, because the play themes are openly and often discussed. I had to look a bit deeper to see the hidden and intertwined homosexual motifs. I took the story for what it was, but by the end of it, my questions were not answered. To me it remained with an open ending and I needed to read further for explanations.
This novel is not part of my comfort zone, but it was enchantingly luring. I will read more of Iris Murdoch, and will not be surprised if I reread The Black Prince to discover more details and clues.
5. Death Is A Lonely Business - by Ray Bradbury - This work was recommended by my favorite booktuber as a cozy Halloween read. I followed her advice and reached for my first acquaintance with Ray Bradbury. Death is a lonely business is mystery, dedicated to the big names in the detective genre like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Ross Macdonald. It was written as a noir detective. It was my first time to read anything of the kind. Set in Venice, California, it follows the series of murders, that a struggling writer (Ray Bradbury?) is trying to solve along with the assigned detective. The plot is common for every detective novel, but the setting is unique. Surrealistic surroundings, constant rain, a decaying city, that still functions somehow. A real piece of art.
All the characters are bright, colorful, remarkably unusual.
It is the first book of his "Hollywood trilogy".
It is written so aptly, that despite the constant rain, the cold, the destruction, you do feel cozy. The work of a real master.
6. 4:50 from Paddington - by Agatha Christie - Agatha Christie never fails to provide a cozy reading. I am old-school and her mysteries are my favorite type. I have read many Poirot novels in my younger years, but never a Miss Marple one. I decided to change that.
Mrs. Elspeth McGillicuddy takes the train after her Christmas shopping, and at some point of her journey, the train gets parallel with another one and she is sure she becomes a witness of a murder. She reports that to the police, but no one believes. She shares her story with her good friend Mrs. Marple and they start their own investigations. Mrs. Marple is almost not present in this novel. Instead we have Lucy Eyelesbarrow, whom Mrs. Marple hires to be her eyes and ears, and Lucy goes to the estate, where Mrs. Marple has calculated the body must have been hidden. We meet the family with all its secret, and slowly, gradually the investigation takes place, until we are taken to the climax of the story and the killer is reveled.
There is a good twist in this novel, but it has its naive moments too. Overall a good, relaxing read. I recommend it for an evening you want to spend well.
And this ends my list of books. I am still a very slow reader, but hopefully with time, my speed and habits will develop.
Note: This is the first and last post where I discuss books collectively. From now on I will discuss the books I read separately.
Thank you for the patience, if you've reached till here. Happy reading!