5 Great Books I Read in January, 2021

If you do not know me by now, I love to read and I read every day - almost all the time and if I could, I would read all the time. It's my favourite hobby and it is one of the things that keeps me sane. I have read a lot of interesting books in January 2021 and I wanted to share with you some of these and what they are. Why? Well, as I have said, maybe you can tell me a book you like and I will read it, or maybe you can pick up something from here and go and read it for yourself. It is something that I love about these social platforms.

When I began this year, obviously I did not plan on reading certain books. I just wanted to cram in as much really good reading as possible. I tend to go with my gut so if I see a summary I like, I will buy the book. That is more or less how it works. I do not opt for particular genres, though I do enjoy self-destructive literature and literature that deals with the implications of morality on the modern man. But mostly, I just read anything that catches my eye.

Throughout January, 2021, I have read things that have either been sitting on my TBR pile forever, or things that I have picked out pretty spontaneously. So this is going to be a pretty interesting list for me to make. They are in no particular order.

5 Great Books I Read in January, 2021

Sunday's Children by Ingmar Bergman

There is no doubt that Ingmar Bergman is an incredible director with one of his greatest achievements being the enigmatic, dark and slightly comical "Seventh Seal" (1957). "Sunday's Children" is one of the instalments to his autobiography and honestly, the way he talks about inspiration and achievement, artistic interest and disinterest. There is clearly a great amount of autobiography in his films, but through the way in which the characters speak. Drawing parallels between "The Seventh Seal" and "Sunday's Children" is an activity that I would like to repeat in the near future.

The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron

Last year I read a book called "A Lessons Before Dying" by Ernest J. Gaines and I never thought I would ever find a book as heartbreaking as that ever again and well, I was wrong because I found one even more heartbreaking on a similar topic - "The Confessions of Nat Turner" by William Styron. It's about a preacher in the 1830s who is locked in prison and on death row, he states a confession in this book of moments that take place throughout his life and honestly, it is a brilliantly written feat of prison fiction.

Selected Poetry and Prose by Edward Thomas

I had been looking for a long time to read some poetry and prose that I could really just sit an overwhelm myself over. Chapters entitled things like "Rain" and "Melancholy" are amongst the ones that peaked my interest. Between the natural world and the emotional human, these two things are blended together to create one of the most beautiful anthologies I have ever read. Written brilliantly and with long, intense descriptions - I felt like I could really sink my teeth into this book. Even though it was very short, I seemed to be gone for absolutely ages.

Culture and Society by Raymond Williams

When I was in sixth form at about the age of seventeen, I read Matthew Arnold's "Culture and Anarchy" for reasons today that I still cannot understand. I recently picked up this book by Raymond Williams and now, everything makes much more sense. Split up between the romantic arts, the modern arts, the poets, the painters and even the literary critics - Williams examines the cultural, economic and emotional requirements for the arts. But he also explores the accessibility of them, the requirement to keep them in the open and how they have come to define a society and/or a cultural sector of society. I found it so well-written, so easy to understand and above all, it was interesting to contemplate these ideas sitting alone in my room at night. It was perfect for the day, time and place.

A Posthumous Confession by Marcellus Emants

When I read books, as you know I enjoy some aspects of self-destruction literature and through my findings of random works I have never heard of - I have come across one. A book about a man who has committed murder, goes back to tell the story of his life without confession and falls apart very quickly. This is someone who exclaims that they are 'not normal' but at times can seem almost egotistical, oppressive, patriarchal and even maniacal. When his parents die and he moves country, it seems like everything is finally going well, that is until it is not going well again. It ends up not going well at all and he takes it out on his wife and child.