Prater Violet

Christopher Isherwood famous mostly for his great Berlin trilogy wrote much more than those three novels of course yet I had hardly ever heard of any of them before. Prater Violet sees the literary Isherwood - the author is the character is not the author? - working on a film set in England under an Austrian director having fled the restrictions imposed upon him in his native country. His story is essentially a portrayal of the clash between a culturally aware and demanding director schlepping in his tow his script-writing underling and the commercially-focused producer. It is a short, enjoyable read, showing Isherwood's forte, human observations and transports a slightly melancholic understanding of humanity that I personally find quite beautiful.

Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair btw, in case you didn't know, I found out only just now) seems to me one of those authors who is virtually synonymous with his best-selling novel, 1984 in this case. It has been a long time since I read that dystopian vision of his future (and our past I guess), but I had also admired Animal Farm when I read it as an adolescent. Additionally, Down and Out in Paris and London seemed to be a good precursor to my move to Paris, so...I picked it up on my dad's shelf.

Orwell describes his life as a menial worker in France and as a tramp in England (in the areas surrounding London). It does not seem to be quite certain, whether he inadvertently tumbled into such a dire financial state that he was forced to lead that kind of life, or whether he exposed himself voluntarily to it in order to obtain a glimpse to a world which would otherwise be closed for him. In either case, the novel (is it even a novel?) is written very prosaic, Orwell is not one to impress with convoluted phrases, thoughts or ideas, yet this seems to fit his subject matter more anyway. The book is a very good read, what is problematic is that it's a very journalistic work, one which doesn't necessarily contain a lot of lessons or information on today's world. It offers a snapshot of poverty in Paris and London in the 1920s. Nothing more but then of course nothing less.

The Cricket on the Hearth

Apparently I am stuck in the 19th century right now, after Theodor Fontane I just finished The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens (as a side note: The edition that I have in my possession dates from 1901 and is accompanied by a list of vocabulary as it is intended for German students. I seriously wonder where I got it from, feel like it was handed down to me by grandma via my mom though. In any case, I'd be fascinating to know who bought it and when and what the book must have already seen.). I am not certain I ever read any Dickens, I remotely remember an attempt during my early teens when I read anything that I could get my hands on without necessarily understanding a lot. Anyway, I started out with this short booklet, only about a 120 pages that I finished in a few mere hours.

Dickens made a really good impression on me with this novella. I find fascinating how, in a story filled with characters that are too good to be true and in a descriptive manner that is so tacky it would hurt my brain coming from most other authors, he succeeds to explore realistic topics and difficulties faced by the poor, inept and crippled (blind actually in this case) of his day and age. Problems that furthermore still surface and hold relevance today. There is a sort of universal value to his characters and problem sets. The young girl that is pressed into marrying an older man for the financial security he provides. The white lies people (a father to his daughter in this case) tell each other, which may hurt more than the truth even before they (inevitably maybe) unfold. How companion- and friendship holds more value than financial or professional success (as corny as it sounds, how can anyone seriously argue otherwise?).

If I wasn't committed to reading in French as much as possible and if I didn't already own a collection of English and German books to intervene inbetween and afterwards, I would most definitely read some more Dickens rather soon. As it is, I will put him on my ever-enlarging list of authors and books.

Lord Jim

I very much enjoyed reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness so when I saw Lord Jim lying around in some bookstore, I picked it up. Of course it took me about a year to actually read it, but I finally did. Again I really enjoyed it too. Conrad tells the story of a young man who fails miserably at the first test of strength in his life, and then spends his remaining years fleeing from civilization and into heroics in order to salvage what dignity he is left with.

While some of the imagery in regard to honor for example is very old-fashioned, and the portrayal of non-white people is simply distasteful, the general moral dilemma is a powerful one and Conrad does a very good job at detailing it.

Read it.

Richard III.

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Sounds familiar? That's actually from Shakespeare's Richard III. I knew it was from Shakespeare of course, but I hadn't read the play in which it was featured. This king-centered play is in some ways very similar to Macbeth. Again you have a famous warrrior who conspires to kill the king and crown himself. There are two main differences here, Richard does not only murder the king but also his sons (the king's), his wife (Richard's), and about 5 or 6 other nobles, additionaly he is not just a famous warrior but actually related to the king and his family. Not that family strife is anything all that new in Shakespeare but this one definitely is extreme by any standard.

I enjoyed the play and would recommend it to anyone, Shakespeare is just too good to pass up in the end, but I disliked two impacts, that I felt were missing (again, especially in comparison to Macbeth which I immensely enjoyed). One, there was no comical relief whatsoever in the play. I always thought that Shakespeare pepped up his tragedies' cruelty by some impromptu comedy like the porter in Macbeth. More importantly, Richard has no kind of moral argument with himself. He wants the crown and he takes it and does whatever he needs to do to secure it. There is no real reasoning for this, no self-doubt, he seems like an amoral human being. I found that a serious flaw in Richard III., as it kept the main character more at a level of a stock character - the true villain - than anything else.

Thud!

I actually finished four books before I ever touched this one and I've already reviewed them as well, but I wrote those entries on my laptop and I have no internet connection on that one right now, so they will be up here Wednesday only when I get back to Paris.

With prices as low as they are here and an exchange rate as favourable as the current Euro-Dollar one, I've bought myself three books over the last week, one of those was Thud! by Terry Pratchett. Apart from Karl May Terry Pratchett (Tony Hillerman would be close behind I think) is the author by whom I have the most books. This does not necessarily reflect his exact position on my favorite authors list though. Basically, he is a good, fun, quick read, that I enjoy every time but that one does not really have to reread or cherish for a long time. His books could be called a more sarcastic Harry Potter with social critique. Pratchett recounts the adventures on a world called Discworld, which is populated by dwarfs, vampires, trolls and other fantastic creatures. Yet, what differentiates him from other authors of this genre is that his writing is dominated by a very dry - British I guess - sarcastic humor. He portrays human beings (and other not so human beings) with all their lusts and desires out in the open and not hidden behind a curtain of civilization. His descriptions ridicule wars, racism and virtually every other deplorable human activity.

Thud! tells of a possible troll and dwarf battle breaking out because of the anniversary of another troll and dwarf battle hundreds of years ago. Our hero - Sam Vimes, commander of the guard - is trying his best to prevent this from happening. Let this be enough about the actual story, I can definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to spend an entertaining 4-5 hour read (depending on your reading speed obviously, I am relatively fast I think).

Brave New World

There was a piece in today's New York Times that dealt with interrogation methods employed by the CIA. Shocking, that's all I can say. I cannot believe any person in his right state of mind can stand there and defend these techniques. A democracy just don't work that way.

I also re-read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a book I can endorse whole-heartedly. I do have to admit that I liked it better the last time I had read it though - when I was 16 maybe - why I am not quite sure. What I know I disliked this time around - which might have completely escaped my notice last time - was the presentation of free-spirited sex as something degenerative. This complete moral condemnation of a non-monogamous society contained a little too much of certain conservative strains for me.

Lost Highway

Leon Payne: Lost Highway

London, well, what can one say. A massive city, crazily impressive. It seems a little like an amazing mixture of New York, Paris and Berlin (the three coolest cities I know). It is as big and full (and racially diverse, which is always a plus with me) as New York. It is as pretty (in parts) and historical as Paris. And it actually has parks that are as big and nice (and prettier, because so much better kept) as Berlin.

Especially the historical part impressed me. The graves in Westminster simply left me awe-struck. So many people I actually know are buried there, usually in a place like this there is like one relevant person. In Westminster we are talking Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor, Mary Queen of Scots, Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas (not that I know anything about him, but hey Robert Zimmermann took up his name, so he basically has to be cool too) and, my personal favorite, Oliver Cromwell. Really the only bad thing that can be said about London (apart from the prices that is) is that they still live under a monarchy there. Such folly, if not stupidity.

Definitly recommend a trip for anyone who hasn't been there and the one we did (2 1-2 days) is completely ludicrous. You need at least like a week.

On m way back to Berlin this morning (meaning on the bus to the airport at 4am) I met this Polish girl, who was sitting next to me. We got to talking and she told me that she had been studying in London for three years now, that made me wonder why her English was so crappy. She seemed to be incapable of expressing herself with a coherent sentence (meaning correct grammar and the such) and finally it struck me like a bolt of lighning on a clear day (hmm, this whole prose thing doesn't relly seem to work for me) she was not actually talking bad English, she was speaking Jamaican all the time.

Turns out she studies Carribean Studies, hangs out with Jamaicans all the time and spend a year at the university in Kingston. Too fucking weird, here I was sitting the whole time wondering why her English was so sucky when in reality she was simply speaking in an amazing manner I might add a different dialect. Kind of a pointless story I know, but I was so dumb-struck when I realized I was sitting next to a Polish girl talking patois, that was just too much for me.