More than Human

 

This science-fiction book by the great Theodore Sturgeon is one of my favorite books.  The main reason why is because of the middle part "Baby is Three" where a sociopath talks to a psychologist.  It's very engaging and each time I've read this section it's been a real page-turner.  Ultimately the book is about how six individuals build up a whole and finally the sociopath Gerry gains a conscience, the last part.  I like how he isn't left behind and there is still redemption even after all of his acts.  Each of the six individuals contains a gift, one is telekinesis for example and the twins deal with teleportation.  I have this rule to myself that I can only reread a book once three years have passed.  I broke that rule.  It's been one since I've read this book.  This should be recommended reading to anyone who doesn't see the artistic value that science fiction has.  This is proof that it can be literature.

Laughter in the Dark

 Nabokov wrote more than Lolita.  In fact, he got books published for many years.  I wonder if he didn't write Lolita if his books would just have faded into the abyss kind of like Jean Rhys' books did before Wide Sargasso Sea.   Laughter in the Dark is about a man named Albinus who has a good life: a great respectable wife and child yet he wrecks it all to have an affair.  The other woman Margot is easily one of the most obnoxious women I have ever read in literature.   Why he doesn't dump her to the side is mysterious and sometimes infuriating to the reader.  There's a scene where Margot purposefully sends a love letter to his house which sends the wife packing.  Why he didn't leave Margot then and there is beyond me.  Margot also carries on a relationship with an artist Rex and they try to live off all of Albinus' remaining income.  You feel sorry for Albinus but know also that he caused his own ruin.  He should have been grateful for what he had. 

Momo

I made the mistake of throwing this away when I was trying to free up space in my apartment.  I thought well the library has it anyway.  However, it's the Coronavirus and the library is closed.  Momo is not even on Kindle yet so I bought a paperback copy.  This time I will keep it.  Michael Ende hasn't had that many books of his translated even though he did a ton.  That's a shame because this is amazing just like The Neverending Story.  Momo is about an imaginative girl named Momo who finds her world destroyed when grey men convince adults that they need to save their time.  In other words, they are a time bank.  What they are actually doing is robbing people of their time.  Soon children are being completely ignored.  Adults aren't being social either.  Everything is rushed because they can't waste time.  With the help of Professor Hora and a turtle that can see in the future, Momo is determined to get everyone's time back to them.  This book is an excellent example of how life is about more than work and productivity.  It is also about enjoyment, creativity, reflection, and friendship.  Michael Ende is spectacular.  I really liked this the first time I read it at nine years old.

Lolita

I read this as a teenager but was way more disturbed reading it in my late 30's.  Humbert Humbert's obsession with a twelve-year-old girl is very unsettling.  After marrying and driving the mother to her death, the professor has a cross country trip with her daughter Lolita.  I almost quit this book, put it aside, and read the rest later.  Humbert has to be one of literature's most unreliable narrators.  He thinks that Lolita is seducing him. However, are two clear truths that come out later when she complains about the rape, and later when she says as an adult that he wrecked her life. Truman Capote (who was by the way very talented) said that Nabokov's only good book was Lolita.  I'm reading another so I know he was wrong.  I've heard Truman Capote put down other writers.  He strikes me as a very jealous man especially when it came to his friend Harper Lee.  Anyway, the Kubrick movie was ok.    If you want a happy read this definitely isn't it.  

Shiver

I read this horror comic collection in two days.  I found it really involving and actually liked it better than Junji Ito's books Gyo and Tomie.  I thought he mastered the short story.  I thought the short story here Painter was the best story in Tomie.  It was originally his first for the Tomie comic. I liked the stories about the grotesque model.  I was also impressed with The Long Dream which was a piece on a patient who experiences dreams that expand a length of time and eventually it takes a toll on his physical appearance.  I can't wait to read Ito's other short story collection Smashed. 

The Owl Service

I watched the Gillian Hills tv movie of this which was an awesome adaptation.  This book follows the myth of  Bloeuwedd.  It deals with three teenagers: the housekeeper's son Gwyn, Alison, and her stepbrother Roger.  It begins with a girl finding some plates of owls in the attic.  It also deals with the housekeeper's mother's past.  Alison starts to have a secret friendship with Gwyn.  Garner likes to deal with myths in his books.  I read another one of his.  I think Alan Garner is talented in mixing new fiction and mythology. I'm excited to read another one of his books in the future.

Raise the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An introduction

I've now officially read everything that Salinger wrote.  Franny and Zooey is more acclaimed but I liked this one more.  This is another book about the Glass family.  I like the first part more as we learn about the Glass' radio program "It's a Wise Child" which was also discussed in Franny and Zooey.  They were precocious prodigy kids.  The main part though is about Seymour leaving his bride at the altar and the awkward interaction that his brother Buddy has with the furious guests there.  The second part "Seymour" is about his suicide and other things.  It's mostly ramblings.  I enjoyed the first part of the book more.