This took a little longer than I expected to get out, I was otherwise occupied with some work and just never got around to it till yesterday.
I read 4 books in April, 1 fiction, 1 collection of essays, 1 prison diary, and 1 non-fiction philosophy.
For last months update, please go here
Broke my streak of reading in themes this time out, also, been able to read more of late.
As a set of books read in a month, all of these were excellent, would easily recommend any of them to interested readers.
The books I read were:
The Illicit Happiness of Other People - Manu Joseph
One of those books that just kept getting recommended to me when I asked for fiction recommendations.
I wasn’t sure where the story was going with Chacko and family halfway through the book, but, when I reached the end, I had to sit and search through the pages for the little clues that the author had left behind. A wonderful feeling that, almost felt like a magic trick.
After reading the book, in a sense, I can see some of the people who recommended this to me in it and vice versa, clearly has a lasting impact on readers.
It’s hard to write good fiction about things that have happened, this author is clearly a master of this craft, hope to read more from him soon.
Imprisonment as Creative Art - A Critical Study of Prison Writings
Disclaimer: I know the author of one of the essays in the book, which is how I found the book
As mentioned in the disclaimer, I found the book as a result of knowing the author of one of the essays in the book.
I’ve actually not read too much prison writing in the past, the ones I’ve read have been mostly fictional and as a result of reading these essays I identified a huge blind spot in terms of a ‘genre’ of writing.
I found some of the essays (all of which are about the works of other authors) very informative, writing critical essays is clearly an art, one that I don’t possess, I’ve found that I’m more of a fan than a critic when it comes to books.
Loved these essays in particular:
Holocaust - The Nightmares of the Innocent Prisoners in Elie Wiesel’s ‘Night’
Veil Unveiled - Anticipating Feminism in Emily Bronte’s ‘The Prisoner’ - A Dhwani Perspective
Vattikota Alwaru Swamy’s ‘Inside the Prison’: Stories of the Subaltern
Prison Diary - Jayaprakash Narayan
One of the effects of reading the collection of essays was that I finally read Prison Diary by Jayaprakash Narayan.
This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while purely because of the myth behind JP himself.
For the unfamiliar, JP was a freedom fighter who fought against the British and then later stood tall during the heights of the emergency, no doubt a true believer in freedom even if I find myself on the other side when it comes to certain aspects of his vision for the country.
A reasonably detailed account of his and India’s time in prison during the emergency.
I still find some people looking fondly back at such times and no doubt their experiences might have positive, but, the fact remains that it was the most serious attack on personal and societal freedom Independent India has ever experienced and this diary, while anecdotal, should be read by anyone who has doubts on this.
The Rebel - Albert Camus
I went into this book with a completely different meaning of what/who a ‘Rebel’ is.
Having read one Camus book in the past, I was prepared for the meta nature of the writing, Camus writes hard topics with lucidity which makes it hard to reconcile to self whether you’ve actually understood it or not.
He spends a lot of time analysing and critiquing different school of thought, including the one he propounds - Absurdism.
Any book that leaves you with a good number of book recommendations is a good book in my view, this definitely falls in that category.
The book also offers, for me, one of the better oppositions to Nihilism, and at the same time offering his view of Rebellion that builds rather than breaks down the world around oneself.
An interesting take, I probably should have read ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ before this, maybe I’ll do that now.
Currently Reading
Cancer Ward - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Silas Marner - George Eliot
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Thank you for reading
Sainath