20 Books of 2020 (Pt.28)

I have been fairly sick recently. For days I was unable to eat, drink or speak until finally, I began to get ever so slightly better. It's a slow recovery but it's getting there still. Throughout those days, I had been reading in order to keep my mind occupied. I was re-reading favourites of mine like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and newly found favourites like James Shapiro's "Shakespeare in a Divided America" (which continues to wow me even now!). When it comes to comfort reading and re-reading favourites, I have absolutely no problem with whatever it is you like to 'comfort read' as long as it is comfortable.

For example: very few people would consider "120 Days of Sodom" by Marquis de Sade a comfort read. Why? Well because it is intentionally uncomfortable to read.

However, if your comfort read is 90 pages or if your comfort read is 900 pages or more, there is nothing wrong with it as long as you can find comfort in the fact that in that moment of distress, it can make you feel a tiny bit better. And if "120 Days of Sodom" does that for you then who am I to judge?

Comfort reading is only one of the types of reading we do and yet, every single type of reading must be primarily for enjoyment. Comfort reading gives us joy by filling our distressing times with slithers of happiness until we can return to ourselves. So, I would like to thank my comfort reading for allowing me to return to you here, and now.

Let us continue with the list.

Here are numbers 541 through to 560.

541. Fateless by Imre Kertesz

This is a book based in the second world war in which we get one of those heart-breaking accounts of the death camps. It is a really emotionally book and in some parts, it can be quite disturbing and graphic. I have to say, the book is a masterpiece, but it also makes you see that the stuff that was going on was a lot worse than you thought it was initially.

542. The Road by Vasily Grossman

Vasily Grossman's short fiction is a great thing but the aspect of this book that I enjoyed the most is that every now and again it gave you a short introduction to what led Vasily Grossman to write this piece. It gave you some more insight into his life and even though we could never really know his actual political allegiances at the time of his death, it seeks to give the best answer it can.

543. Round the Bend by Nevil Shute

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to read a Nevil Shute novel written about cult worship then look no further because seriously, this book weirded me out. I never knew that a Nevil Shute book could get this dark and intense. It's very different to his usual requests and I'm still trying to decide whether I actually liked it or not.

544. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol

A few years' ago I read "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol and I really enjoyed the themes and concepts surrounding Gogol's Russia that he had included as social critique in there. However, I can't say I felt the same way about them when I read the shorter works. I think Gogol's writing works better on a larger scale however, "Diary of a Madman" was actually very satirical and wonderful to read.

545. 2666 by Roberto Balaño

I absolutely enjoyed this book to the full. It's about all these weird murders that happen in Santa Teresa, Mexico and it starts off with a seemingly disconnected incident of a group of European Critics travelling there to meet a German Writer. They don't find him. After a professor gets nightmares when he travels there from Barcelona with his daughter, the investigation gets underway into who could've done this. But it's clear that all the people in this book are connected in some way, shape or form. Even the prime suspect.

546. Dusklands by JM Coetzee

The protagonist of this text was absolutely neurotic. It was like he couldn't sit still for a second. But I did also think it was clever how the protagonist would mention the author by name and the two were included in the narrative as having this opposing action. It's very typical Coetzee, a brilliantly hyper-active novel with all the elaborate design of the mind of a sociopath.

547. Kasebier Takes Berlin by Gabriele Tergit

I thought this book was an absolute blast. It's about a newspaper that publishes articles on a fringe performer called Kasebier and after a while, Kasebier's career takes off and he becomes more and more famous. But in the background, Germany's Facist Political Parties are bubbling and World War 2 is ready to break through. The satire is heavy, it's dry and contagious like a bad cold. But it's a brilliant book that depicts German Literature as more than just emotional breakdowns.

548. The World of the Speechless by Julio Ramon Ribeyro

This book confused me, I normally love reading short stories as a part of lighter reading. They're short, they're not too much to think about and normally, they're very entertaining. This was entertaining yes, but they were very complex. One man, I believe, actually sees himself die as a spectator. It is a brilliantly constructed set of existential stories and more importantly, it is not like many things I've read in the past. It's one of those short story anthologies you don't forget but you also don't want to think about too much because it tears into your soul.

549. Rider on a White Horse by Theodor Storm

Another set of short stories now. These are more supernatural than the previous one and normally involve either a family 'ghost' or 'secret', some sort of troubled love which leaves indelible marks on the people in the situation or, as the title story suggests - it is physically about an actual ghost. This one was better than the previous one because it was far more atmospheric. I love a good heavy atmosphere, as you probably know by now.

550. Tongues of Fire by Sean Hewitt

I wasn't entirely a fan of this book. I liked the concept of it and the ideas interested me but modern poetry I feel is a bit lazy. I feel like it either takes too much from times before it, or it is overly post-modern. This book was clearly trying to be a sort of Romantic anthology and it didn't really grip me. It wasn't deep enough and it didn't explore the same philosophical realms in which you're better off reading Shelley, Keats and Byron. All in all, this anthology was nothing special. A bit generic really.

551. The Revenge of Love by Wyndham Lewis

This book was brilliant. It's set in the Spanish Civil War and the run-up to the Second World War. It tells the story of the jailed political prisoner, Percy Hardcaster and his life within the confines of his cell whilst the people he knows on the outside have their lives fall apart in front of them. From the failed artistry of Victor Stamp to the forbidden love of Jack Cruze, the unladylike complex of Margot, the snobbery of Gillian and the reluctant revolution of the Irish Sean and Ellen - this book presents an epic of tragic characters in a war nobody chose to be in.

552. The Late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello

This book is about the narrator, Mattia Pascal, who accidentally has himself declared dead. After this, he goes to start a new life only to realise that his new life is just as crappy as his old one. Along his journey, he seeks out his reality but can't shake the death of his parents and the fact his wife has remarried. The book is dark and humorous and absolutely perfect for your read of satire and the melancholic life.

553. Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe

Now, I wasn't sure about this book for a long time before I read it, but I was pretty glad I waited. Some of the concepts can be confusing as it is some sort of historical mystery. But the religious hypocrisy, the deception, the selfishness of certain characters and the rivalries reminded me of something straight out of an Umberto Eco novel. I enjoyed the book, but I was glad I waited as long as I did before I read it.

554. Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles

I wasn't sure from the blurb of the book whether this was going to be to my liking, but I was wrong because it totally was. I have to admit that party after party and arrest after arrest can get boring after a while (we get it, you're edgy). But the thing I liked the most was the sense of a struggling literary mind failing to get the words out because all their vices keep getting in the way. A darkly humorous and slightly disturbing novel, this book was well worth the read.

555. Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

This book was absolutely sublime. It tells the story of a recipe for Gingerbread that is passed down through generations of a family. Our scene focuses on Harriet Lee and her daughter, Perdita - receivers of this old recipe for gingerbread. But, as the story progresses, things threaten to tear their family apart and Perdita finds out things about herself she never knew before. With the help of characters like Hansel and Gretel, Perdita and Harriet must work to save face at whatever cost. It's a magical read with high intensity modern action as well as supernatural elements. I couldn't believe it was as good as it was.

556. The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works

This book confused me because it appeared on my Amazon Recommendations and I didn't know why because I haven't read anything like it before. This book read a lot like something along the lines of the Letters of Paul or something like the Acts from the Bible. It was all about wisdom literature, prayers and the way in which we know and don't know that God exists. It takes literature from ages before our own time and makes it almost relevant, makes it make sense and makes it appropriate for own our culture. One thing I would say though is that it is very important to read the notes on the text before you tackle the book, you'll understand it a lot more.

557. New Grub Street by George Gissing

I liked this book because it begins with a hanging scene and then, we move on to this neurotic main character who is completely unreliable. After this, we get the story, which I don't want to say too much about because it'll give it away. But the ending was the one thing that confused me because I don't really think I know what happened at the end. It was like reading something by Zola because the ending is both ironic and you're not really sure if you read it correctly. I think it's supposed to be a piece of dark humour, but it works.

558. Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane

If you're going to read this book, I would do so before you read a book like "Madame Bovary" by Gustav Flaubert because "Madame Bovary" is a better version of basically the same story. Apart from the dark humour that ensues in "Effi Briest", I found the book rather tiresome to read because of the dialect and the story is far from original. I feel like it would've been better if the book was written normally and with more atmosphere than what we were given. Some of the dialogue passages were far too long.

559. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

I'm not going to lie, this was hard starting because of the fact the beginning just is not really that interesting. When we get underway to chapters 9 and beyond, then the book really starts going. I feel like though the storyline and the concept were a bit predictable, it was still a good idea. However, the writing style sometimes felt jittery and didn't flow correctly. My favourite part though is when Hema delivers the twins when the surgeon, Thomas Stone, is clearly right there. It's this incredibly dramatic moment and probably the best written scene in the whole book.

560. Last Stories by William Trevor

A book packed with stories by one of the great writers of the century. William Trevor's writing is something of a national treasure and the simplicity he writes in is absolutely beautiful. I loved the story about the piano teacher because the emotion is definitely there, but there doesn't seem to be a need to use too many words for Trevor. His writing means that he can depict it amazingly through choosing the correct words for the sentences. The story about Giotto's Angels was also similar - the emotion was absolutely incredible. One of the most immersive short story anthologies ever.