Bloggery

Thursday 22nd Sep 2011

Harvey Packham

A Little Light Reading - Harvey's books so far

My 2011 reading goals were probably a little ambitious.  I resolved to read some Spinoza, “Middlemarch”, “Huckleberry Finn”, “Human all too Human”, “The Analects”, some Graham Greene and the Bible. Books on my resolution list are almost guaranteed not to be read however.

I also try every year to read one each of Dickens, Dostoevsky, Dumas, Shakespeare, and a different translation of "The Master and Margarita", as well as 2 pages of Proust per day.  I usually do better on these. Then I thought I'd allow myself another 30 odd freestyle books to make it up to 50 for the year. Progress to date on set texts: abysmal.  I find I can't stand Confucius and have all but given up, am 20 pages into "The Man Within" (Greene's first published novel), have been dipping into (and enjoying) "Human all too Human" and I read "Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by Dostoevsky (surprisingly reminiscent of HG Wells!) and reread "Crime & Punishment".

Freestyle reading has been more fruitful, and includes

" Young Romantics" by Daisy Hay (an interesting ensemble biography of the circle that formed around Leigh Hunt and Shelley)

"China and the Credit Crisis" by Giles Chance (interesting and accessible take on the causes of the Crunch)

"A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" by Eric Newby (loved it - self-deprecating, witty, interesting insights into the culture, brilliant descriptions of people and landscapes) 

"Rogue Male" by Geoffrey Household (page turner a la 39 steps, great read)

"The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiel Hammett (my first Hammet, and I loved it.  A kind of high speed, slightly rougher Raymond Chandler)

"Dragon in the Land of Snows" (about China and Tibet since the invasion of 1951 - interesting and balanced, but dense)

"The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde (another classic)

"Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett (I love his writing)

"Death and the Penguin" by Andrey Kurkov (quirky, engaging, and very amusing post-Soviet Ukranian satire)

"The Hobbit " by JRR Tolkein (I had a sudden craving to reread it)

"Life in the Crystal Palace" by Alan Harrington (brilliant alaysis of US corporate life in the 1950s, referred to by Erich Fromm in his introduction to Orwell's 1984)

"A Cultural History of Russia" by Orlando Figes (fascinating. I rushed out to buy the hard copy when it came out in 2002 and only just got round to reading someone else's copy now.)

"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin (the original totalitarian dystopia, model for 1984 and Brave New World)

"Urne Burial" by Thomas Browne (beautifully written 17th century discourse on funerary customs, life and death - part of Penguin's Great Ideas series)

"Black Snow" by Mikhail Bulgakov (Semi-autobiographical, magical realist account of Bulgakov's experiences with Stanislavsky (of The Method acting fame) and the Moscow Art Theatre by the author of Master and Margarita)

"Noble House" by James Clavell (enormous page turning sequel to Tai Pan by the Shogun author)

"Oracle Bones" by Peter Hessler (very well written and acutely observed account of contemporary life in China and its interaction with the recent and distant past)

"Zadig" by Voltaire (interesting, short proto-Candide story)

"The Master of Go" by Yasunari Kawabata (brilliant account of a mammoth world championship game of Go / observation of Japanese society and mores on the cusp of change in the 1940s)

"For all the Tea in China" by Sarah Rose (breathless, poorly written, and irritating history of Britain's attempts to steal tea plants from China in the 19th century)

"Between the Woods and the Water" by Patrick Leigh Fermor (part II of one of the greatest travel books ever - walking across Europe in the 1930s)

"Emma" by Jane Austen (my first Austen. I think I'll add her to my "one per year" list)

"The Wine-dark Sea" by Leonardo Sciascia (funny, satirical, sharp short stories set largely in mid 20th century Sicily)

"Against the World, Against Life" by Michel Houellebecq (part biography part lit crit of HP Lovecraft, the crazy early 20th century American horror story writer)

"The Silmarillion" by JRR Tolkein (just watched the Lord of the Rings films and couldn't resist rereading Tolkein's brilliant story of the founding of Middle Earth right up to the beginning of the LotR story)

"Mani" by Patrick Leigh Fermor (His second travel book and the one that made his reputation, about the very remote Southern tip of Greece.  His writing is sumptuous.)

"The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh (short and very practical book on Buddhist meditation techniques)

"Beyond the Sky and the Earth" by Jamie Zeppa (well written and thoughtful book about a young Canadian's 3 years teaching in Bhutan - culture shock, expanding of horizons, beautiful descriptions of people, culture and landscapes)

"A L'Ombre des Jeunes Filles en Fleurs" by Proust (the second volume of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu - so long as you don't expect a plot it is a fantastically rewarding and incredibly beautifully written meditation on and observation of life)

"Epitaph for a Spy" by Eric Ambler (I just discovered Ambler's dark 1930s spy novels last year.  This one is spy novel meets English country house mystery) 

"The Little Town where Time Stood Still" by Bohumil Hrabal (one of my favourite authors; a magical realist but a really unique style, almost poetry)

"The Use and Abuse of History" by Marc Ferro (very interesting analysis of how and what history is taught - and not taught - around the world)

"The Gospel according to Jesus Christ" by Jose Saramago (initially interesting but ultimately rather disappointing and facile retelling of Jesus's life)

You'll find my reviews scattered throughout the site, and let me know if you agree with any of my thoughts, or if there’s anything glaringly obvious I’m missing out on! Now I guess I should crack on with my set texts!