Dreaming about a Life

Death in Spring 

by Mercè Rodoreda

 

“Breathing. Only the chore and sadness of breathing and breathing, as things change from tender to dry, new to old, the night-moon that grows thin then swells, the fireless sun that lights up, the soughing of wind that transports, shatters, gathers, and drives away the clouds, raising and flattening the dust. Only the sorrow of going to sleep and waking up, feeling life without knowing where it comes from, aware that it will flee without knowing why it was given to you, why it is taken from you. Here you are: there is this and this and this. And now, enough.”   ― Mercè Rodoreda, Death in Spring

 

 Death in Spring is lushly eerie, incredibly challenging, disconcerting, and strange. In this it is reminiscent of Pedro Paramo, another masterfully written but eerie book by Juan Rulfo. The narrative deals with the coming of age with a mixture of simplicity and density of texture. The story is like a dream but it is rooted in the real world.

You may read it as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, for its exquisite prose, and for the way it will seduce you despite your desires. Ultimately it is a novel about coming of age with a surprising edge.

A Glimpse of Eternity

Notebooks 1935-1942 

by Albert Camus

“Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.”   ― Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942

Albert Camus, a prominent existentialist philosopher and Nobel laureate, shares his philosophical ideas in this volume. Furthermore, there exist passages of description that were incorporated into specific publications during his lifetime. The notebooks help us understand Camus's reading preferences and the ways in which his activities shaped his ideas. The entries piqued my interest since they offered a glimpse into the process of creating some of Camus's works during this time. I would recommend these notebooks to anyone who enjoys the fiction of Albert Camus.

Small Bookstore in Troubled Times

The Sentence 

by Louise Erdrich

“Small bookstores have the romance of doomed intimate spaces about to be erased by unfettered capitalism.”   ― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

The first few chapters of this book had me intrigued, especially Tookie's character and her bookstore. The plot seemed to meander as it went along and turned into a commentary on a number of current affairs. Although I recognize the significance of these events and the issues they raise, the story's plot seemed to veer off course. I could not help but wonder why it was all happening, even though it might have been my fault as a reader.

The story had a lot of strong themes of love and death, which made it quite an emotional ride for me. Tookie and her husband Pollux have a pure love that makes me smile warmly at times, but then Tookie has another unsettling encounter with the ghost that haunts her, and that chills me. I was able to enjoy the story despite its apparent lack of direction because of the author's superb writing style.

A big plus was the "Totally Biased List of Tookie's Favorite Books" at the end of the novel!

Introduction to Isaiah Berlin

The One And the Many: 

Reading Isaiah Berlin 

by George Crowder

"What he sees is not the one, but always, with an ever-growing minuteness, in all its teeming individuality, with an obsessive, inescapable, incorruptible, all-penetrating lucidity which maddens him, the many." - Isaiah Berlin

In the history of ideas and political philosophy of the 20th century, Isaiah Berlin is regarded as a significant figure. His discussion of the connection between the "positive" liberty of self-fulfillment and the "negative" liberty of non-interference has made him most famous in the modern era. Offering a thorough introduction to Isaiah Berlin's ideas "across its whole range" is the audacious aim of this compilation of  essays about his thought. Regardless of whether that objective is met, this is still a remarkable collection of essays that highlight Berlin's wide body of work.

Berlin's Karl Marx, a brief book that served as my personal introduction to Berlin's ideas, is the subject of the first essay. Other subjects covered include history, nationalism, pluralism and liberalism, the Russian intelligentsia, and liberty. I have read a few of Berlin's books, so this was a great addition to my reading. It may also serve as an introduction to the diverse ideas of Isaiah Berlin for readers not familiar with his writings.