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Hello fellow readers! How have you all been doing? I know things are not good in the world now. There's a pandemic and almost everyone in the world is staying at home to prevent the spread. I've been working from home since the last week of March. It's even busier than when I work at the office. I didn't read as much as I wanted to but I finally read Ready Player One which was on my TBR for at least two years. Anyway, here's the list of the books that I read in March.
Books read in March
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The Three Electroknights - Stanislaw Lem (★★★) |
The Three Electroknights is a Penguin modern mini which collects four science fiction short stories. The stories included are the Three Electroknights, the White Death, King Globares and the Sages, and the Tale of King Gnuff. These stories are taken from Lem's short story collection Mortal Engines. The stories are set as if it's in the medieval with the monarch and society system from the era but the twist is the characters are robots or machinery of some kind. The stories are unique and full of irony which actually convey such important messages. However, since they're (to put it in a simple word) stories about robots with complex society system, each story feels so dense. The message or main point of these stories are mostly simple but the built up to it is complicated. I think each story is so busy in establishing the setting in the beginning that as a reader, I already feel exhausted when I finally came to the core of the story itself. Not to mention, Lem often uses uncommon scientific terms to describe the setting which sometimes just goes over my head. Some of the terms are dodecahedron, hyperboloid, molybdenum, etc. It's exhausting just trying to figure out if a word is an actual scientific term or a made up word. Yet, the stories bring up issues about morality and the way we perceive things that got me thinking. Overall, it's an amusing little collection. I'm not sure if I'll read more of Lem's works because I didn't enjoy his writing that much which I explained earlier. Still, the ones I've read are okay. I think this book is a good way to introduce the works of Lem if you haven't read any of his books.
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Lance - Vladimir Nabokov (★★★) |
Nabokov is famously known for his work Lolita which I haven't finished reading. I tried reading Lolita but gave up after a couple of pages. It's a shame though, because I'm genuinely interested in Lolita and I still want to finish it. So I thought to ease myself into his writing style, I picked up this mini short stories collection of his. This Penguin Mini includes three of Nabokov's short stories, The Aurelian, Signs and Symbols, and Lance. My experience reading these short stories in general is like reading dark jokes and I was waiting for the punchline. The set up required me to pay much attention that I was immersed in it until boom! the punchline came and I was so confused. I was like 'Huh?! What did I just read? What was that?' These stories are just weird and dark when you realize it. The first two stories are quite interesting to read. However the last one, Lance, went over my head. Too many mumbojumbos from science fiction (I think?) but the punchline surprised me that I was willing to reread it again. But I still don't get it in the end so there's that. However if you're interested in Nabokov's work but hesitant to start with Lolita, maybe you can try reading this mini collection.
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Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (★★★★) |
I think most readers already familiar with Ready Player One. In fact I'm the one who's late. I guess I'm waiting for the buzz to calm down so I won't have high expectation and be disappointed. It's such a fun book to read. It's full of geekiness fun. This book feels like an homage to video games and the 80s. Sure there are things that still bothered me in this book but overall it's such an enjoyable read. I've written a full review of this book if you want to know more about my thoughts on this book.
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The Fall of Icarus - Ovid (★★★) |
This Penguin Little Black Classic is taken from Books VIII and IX of Mary Innes's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. At first I thought this book will only contains Icarus's fall. I already know the general outline of what happened to Icarus but never really read about it. So I thought maybe there's something more in it. There isn't. Although this 56 pages book is titled The Fall of Icarus, surprisingly he only appears briefly in the beginning along with the tale of Minos (which famously known because of Minotaur). Then the story goes on to the Calydonian Hunt then to the Achelous who is a river God. It's like a new set of characters after new set characters coming at me. Because I'm not that familiar with Greek mythology, only the popular ones, it was overwhelming. At one point the names are just a blur to me. I don't really care who's who. The transition between the tales is so smooth that I don't realize it changes story and set of characters. I only managed to take it all in after I finished reading the book. Overall, maybe it's not a good introduction to someone who's not familiar with Greek myths. Still, if you're okay with a lot of characters with difficult names to pronounce or remember then you'll be fine.
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Art: Vintage Minis - Simon Schama (★★★★) |
This book is a part of Vintage Minis collection. This one revolves around Art and it's taken from The Power of Art by Simon Schama. Honestly, I never heard of Simon Schama before but I'm excited in the topic of art I ended up picking this book. Art consists of two essays. The first one is titled What is Art for? This essay examines the many purposes of art and how it can affect people. An art could be a decorative piece or it can invoke emotions to the people who observe it. It can start a conversation and convey messages from its creator. It's okay to not 'get' the deep message within an art piece and we can enjoy art for its beauty or uniqueness. It's a compelling essay which points out why it's important to have art around us.
While the second one focuses more on a particular artist/ painter Caravaggio. It looks into Caravaggio's controversial life and how it affects his style of painting which fascinates me. Because of this essay, I become more aware of Caravaggio's painting style and more observant towards his painting. For example, I could recognize how a painting could be Caravaggio's because he used this specific lightning or shadowing technique. I don't know the term but that's what I understand. His paintings also mostly dramatic and evoke some fear and they're shocking. At least that's the feeling that I get when I was observing his paintings.
All in all, if you're enthusiastic about art I recommend you to read this book. After reading this book, I'm even more interested in reading The Power of Art.
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Review Posts in March
March Favorites
Book
Ready Player One
TV shows
I actually already know about this show years before but never really interested in watching it. Staying at home a lot apparently makes me get bored so I was looking for laughter through sitcom. That's when I stumble again into this show. So I watched the pilot and loving it. As a result, Superstore has been accompanying my social distancing days. In fact, I've caught up to the latest season.
There you have it. The world is falling apart and I hope everyone is staying safe and strong. We're gonna get through this. In the meantime, let's try to make best of the situation and help as much as we can. If you're planning to spend your time at home reading, there's an exciting readathon happening in April called the magical readathon inspired by Harry Potter's O.W.Ls test hosted by G over at Book Roast Youtube channel. Perhaps you could check that one out. How have you been spending your days lately?
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