Currently Reading Update #1

10th April Update!

One of my 2020 resolutions was to read more widely and consistently (which hasn’t been working too well so far), but there’s been an attempt. Hopefully I pick up the pace soon and commit to what I’ve started. Going to hold myself accountable and make sure I finish and review these books when I’m done, so here are the ones I’m currently reading:

CivilWarLand In Bad Decline by George Saunders

CivilWarLand In Bad Decline is a collection of short stories and novellas by George Saunders. I’m only about quarter through the book itself but what stands out is that each of the stories feel a little surreal but at the same time, very grounded in it’s characters. There’s quite a bit of underlying dark humour that ties in nicely with some of the themes surrounding morality and violence, and I’m enjoying it so far.

Currently: page 80 of 163

War and War by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

I’ve been trying to read more translated works, and this is one of the books I own that has been translated from Hungarian to English by George Szirtes. I’ve barely started this book but what had me interested was how personal the story seemed – it’s about a suicidal clerk determined to type up the pages of an old manuscript so the rest of the world can read it. When I did start to read, the other thing that grabbed my attention was how the book was structured, as in, the fact that each chapter had only a handful of sentences, and each sentence could span from a couple lines to a couple of pages. Krasznahorkai makes liberal use of every other form of punctuation except the full stop, which (even though makes it difficult to read sometimes) was something I really hadn’t seen before.

Currently: page 29 of 279

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I’m a fan of Pratchett and Gaiman’s other books, so naturally, I picked up this one to see what they could come up with and so far, it’s just fun. Similar in some ways to Saunders’ CivilWarLand In Bad Decline in the sense that Good Omens is wacky, other-worldly, and pushes boundaries. There’s also a show on BBC that’s probably worth checking out later on (but first, I have to read the book.)

Currently: page 42 of 391

The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller

This is another book that’s been translated (from German to English by Michael Hoffmann), and has also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. Muller, in one of the editions of this book, wrote at the start, “in memory of my Romanian friends who were killed under the Ceauşescu regime“, and this novel reflects on the oppression, the threat of violence and lack of safety, as well as the trauma and social ostracisation of people who flee in hopes of a better life. Even within the first few pages it becomes very clear what kind of society Muller’s main character – who is unnamed – lives in, and how bleak daily life is under the regime. Although it is quite depressing , I think there’s a lot you can take away from Muller’s novel.

Currently: page 29 of 242

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

This is a book that explores the effects of positive psychology on everyday life and work performance. One of the key takeaways so far is that success doesn’t make you happy but happiness fuels success. Within the book Achor highlights 7 principles that can be used to capitalise on the Happiness advantage. Within the first few pages you can tell that Achor knows what he is talking about and just jumps straight to the point. This makes the book an easy yet informative read.

Currently: page 128 of 210

(These are the versions I have)

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