Silence, by Shusaku Endo (trans. William Johnston): According to the translator’s introduction, Shusaku Endo has often been called the Japanese Graham Greene, and more specifically, Silence is considered Endo’s response to The Power and the Glory, another book that was on Charmian’s list of recommendations. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to reading The [...]
Endgame and Act Without Words, by Samuel Beckett: I went to see the Cutting Ball Theater production of Endgame in San Francisco with Steve, who later lent me his copy of the play since I hadn’t read it prior to the performance. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I read the [...]
Not sure if this interpretation of Camus is correct. Sartre, in any case, would not have approved.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
But when I realized this, that I’d be liberated if I knew that I had to die in the next few weeks, I suddenly understood what [...]
For the record, I still think Camus’ solution to the absurd is a cop-out.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
So if any of you were waiting breathlessly to see how Camus would affirm life when one lives in the condition of the absurd, expect to be disappointed. Basically, he [...]
Well, I suppose I can provide an explanation of phenomenonology now, albeit not a concise one. There has been some progress in my education in the past five years.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
Camus has now discussed how the phenomenologists end up escaping the absurd in a [...]
It still makes me wince to realize how patronizing I sounded at almost-seventeen. I wonder if I would understand Camus better now if I were to read the essay again.
[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (trans. Justin O'Brien)]
I am still in the middle of The Myth of Sisyphus, by [...]
The perennial question: will I ever catch up on the year-long backlog? Who knows? But in the meanwhile, I’m attempting to prevent the backlog from increasing by updating with the books I’ve read in August.
The Lions of Al-Rassan, by Guy Gavriel Kay: About two years ago, Sai compiled a beautiful, haunting fan [...]
I’ve been dragging my feet on posting here for nearly a year now because I haven’t had the time to face down the immense backlog of books, and I have this irrational compulsion to review books in chronological order. Sometimes I think my life would be a lot simpler if I weren’t so neurotic. [...]
The following books were read from January to March 2006.
Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding: I’ve seen Bridget Jones referenced obliquely so many times—in magazine articles, in the Very Secret Diaries, in passing conversations—that reading the actual book was somewhat of an anticlimax. I suppose it also didn’t help that I had watched the movie [...]
The following books were read in December 2005.
Cut to the Quick, by Kate Ross: The first of the Julian Kestrel mysteries featuring a Regency dandy as the detective. When you hear such a premise, the sort of protagonist brought to mind is a flippant, well-dressed wit whose trivial façade hides a sharp intellect. In a [...]