Rereading Books

I used to reread books all the time, in elementary/middle school I made my way through the Harry Potter series at least once a year. But during high school I didn’t have time to read for pleasure anymore, and since then I’ve been more concerned with reading new books and trying to absorb as much information as possible instead of retreading old ground.

But for a variety of reasons, there’s been a number of books that I’ve reread over the past few months. The primary reason has been the traumatic breakup. I don’t bring it up again because I want to keep harping on it or because I’m looking for pity or something, but it’s something that has colored everything that I do and everything that I think in the past 6 months or so. I initially started rereading books because I wanted that sense of the familiar and I wanted to consume some art that I already knew was amazing and beautiful. The secondary reason has been that I’ve moved out of DC and have spent the summer traveling and couldn’t really bring anything new along. Either way, it led to me thinking about what books I wanted to reread and which would be worth a slightly different perspective on them.

I bring up the breakup for another reason which is that all of the books that I have reread have seemed slightly different to me in this light. I find myself drawn to different aspects of them and coming to different opinions of the characters as a result. I’ll tackle the works one at a time, but if you want to reread my initial interpretations of them, here are the posts on The Shadow of the Wind and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The others I apparently read before I started this blog, funnily enough.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

So I initially came to this book with limited knowledge of postmodernism, and now am a postmodern nut. It's more or less responsible for many of my wacky ideas about art. It's also the first book that I started post-breakup, and I also rewatched the movie again. Hot take: I love both the book and the movie.

This time around I was more drawn to Sonmi-451’s story in the book where her revelations are a sham. Whereas in the movie that more celebrates love and all that when she is saved. This is primarily for obvious reasons (ie. breakup), but also the revolution being faked in the book is so powerful and a very profound statement about control and what we think we are doing vs what we are doing. The revolution did not exist because it was planned by the big guys in charge!

This story also comes to the conclusion that just because our actions are determined does not mean that all is for nothing. Sonmi still causes a revolution and becomes a religious figure in later stories, which is a great message about how even though the revolution is faked that doesn't mean we have to give up.

Finally the interconnectedness of us all is wonderful within this story, especially with the movie and how the different actors stand for different reincarnations. It shows how we can grow and change over time and how the way we treat each other is central to that, culminating in an important message of hope and justice.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I mainly remember this book being about reading and the power of books when I initially read it. Also remember disliking the rest of the series haha. But you can check the previous posts for more on that.

I had forgotten that it began with Daniel being manipulated and abandoned by a woman he loved. Again, post-breakup that struck me much more powerfully this time around, for obvious reasons. In general I am much more critical of the female characters in this story as they don’t seem to DO much, Beatrice does next to nothing and the rest just die. Not great. Also his relationship with Nuria Monfort is really strange and not super explained… Just makes me feel icky.

Having said that, I am in the habit of pulling quotes from books that I read, and my first time through this book I only grabbed a couple. This time through I grabbed at least 10. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is a book for reading enthusiasts, there are so many references to classical works and also many aphorisms or worthy quotes. So despite it's flaws, the writing really spoke to me. 

Another aspect I had forgotten is that while Daniel’s story revolves around love and its healing nature, Julian’s story revolves around letting it go and learning to live without love. Julian realizes that the love of his life is dead and then conspires to his own destruction, buy by the end he lets her go and stops the rest of that nonsense. Which is just as important of a story, because at the end of the day you have to be able to stand on your own feet as well.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Again, originally read this during my postmodern binge several years ago, and I don’t remember much about my reaction to it other than that I liked it.

The story here is basically about the realities of love, and how it cannot fix everything. You can be like Oscar and in love with every woman out there, but that doesn’t mean they will love you back or that the Dominican mob won’t kill you for it in the end. You can die professing your love, but that doesn’t mean that your death keeps your sister and her boyfriend together. Everyone in this book has been let down by love in some way or another. For obvious reasons, I was into it haha.

But that doesn’t mean that they are all miserable. Oscar starts writing, the boyfriend is the author of this book in the story, life goes on. Full disclosure though: I’m still not sure what to make of the family curse. Maybe the point is that we are all cursed. It just seems as though it could have been left out of the story and it wouldn't change. I'll have to think about it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Oh man, this is still one of my favorite books of all time. The story is amazing, to be able to go back over it knowing the ending and how it all pans out was incredible because I picked up on so much more foreshadowing and meaning that I would have originally. And it is also is about a breakup of sorts, Strange and his wife end up separated by the end as he’s in an Impenetrable Darkness and she isn’t. I’ve seen stuff online about how their marriage isn’t based on love and I kinda disagree, Strange makes himself go MAD when he realizes that she’s still alive and trapped in an enchantment and that’s got to have a basis in love of some sort.

This time around, I found myself focused more on Childermass and Vinculus. I mean I’ve always loved those two characters but initially I was focused on Strange and Norrell since they are the titular characters. Seeing what the two lower class characters get up to is more interesting as they seem to do much of the work at times haha. I've also seen stuff about how the prophecy could apply to those two but I’m not really sold. Clarke does leave a little ambiguity in there but it’s so clearly referencing Strange and Norrell that I don't think this interpretation really holds water.

Then there's also the women. I didn’t think much of them first time around, but at second glance they really are shut up by society and doing their best to be independent. Honestly this all makes me want to rewatch the BBC mini-series but I haven’t yet.

Ugh I really hope that she finishes the sequel one of these days, it'd be so good.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Man I've been saying it for years, but I really need to read more Vonnegut. This is such a good book about life and war and the feeling of not being in control. Again for obvious reasons this is RELATABLE CONTENT for me. In general, the book is perfectly what it needs to be.

The idea of being unstuck in time, of not having free will, of experiencing time as a landscape, it all makes a lot of sense when you are faced with the randomness of the universe and lack of meaning. I found myself thinking a lot about the narrator, clearly Billy is meant to be a stand-in for Vonnegut. But at the same time, he is not. There are one or two places where the author is pointed out to be a fellow prisoner of war and not Billy. I found this confusing and contradictory, but whenever you go back into memories, you do sometimes find yourself inexplicably in third-person perspective of yourself. Or you want to frame it that way. Possibly this is Vonnegut doing that in story form.

I also thought a lot about Derby, the man shot for stealing a teapot. It’s given away very early on what his fate is, and it’s continually referenced. Which is interesting as the execution itself as a result is very underwhelming versus in the first chapter where Vonnegut is saying that he wants to make it the climax. I guess there isn’t really a climax anymore, given the jumbled nature of the story. You know what’s going to happen and know that it has to happen and it’s all fine. (Thanks Tralfamadorians.)

But also, I remember wondering about this before and it’s still bugging me but how does Billy get off of the planet of Tralfamadorians? No explanation is given in the novel but he somehow does end up back on Earth. I am just confused by that. But still such a good story.

This Is Beautiful: Living on Your Own

Ok so I just finished a big ol' move (moving is the WORST but this isn't about that) and now I'm in a studio again. It's so nice having the place to myself, not having to put up with people around me and just managing my own things. Having spent a month traveling and a month home, I really needed this. And the alone time is making me feel ready for grad school and for being busy and interacting with people 24/7 again. Here we go!

“21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Yuval Noah Harari

It isn’t hard to pick up on the fact that I am a fan of Harari’s writings (please see these posts) and that I was pretty excited about his latest book. In contrast to Sapiens, which focuses on the past, or Homo Deus, which focuses on the future, this book is written for the here and now.

Mm, sorta. To be honest, I think that a lot of his chapters aren’t so much the here and now but actually quite a ways off. He writes a lot about the future of jobs and how AI will eventually take over all of them and leave us with increasingly limited and specialized job prospects. But come on, that is not happening anytime soon, although I think that he is correct in his description of that trajectory. What I like about his take on the future of technology is that it does not involve fanatical descriptions of robots killing us, it is more accurate to describe it as simply humanity’s errors writ larger. As in, robots won’t kill us, it’s the people programming the robots that’ll kill us.

What I found fascinating about the book is that he dedicates quite a few chapters to religion and meaning in our lives. And the side that he comes down hard on is that all religions and stories are invented and therefore incorrect. What he prioritizes instead is meditation and knowing yourself as opposed to seeing yourself in someone else’s story. Now you don’t have to read that much of his works to realize that he is firmly on the side of science, so it makes sense that he’s a bit of a nihilist and only wants to follow the things he can sense and observe. What surprises me is that he goes for it so head on in this work. And these parts are the closest he comes to actually giving a concrete lesson that he advertises in the title.

To be honest, the main thing I feel icky about when reading this book is that it is clearly a product of his earlier successes. By which I mean that even just the title, 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, is pretty pompous in thinking that he can give us 21 lessons in the first place. And while the chapters are grouped together and he clearly makes an effort to link them, they can seem like just an assortment of advice he’s yelling into the abyss in order to say “I told you so” later. I highly doubt that he would have written this if his earlier works didn’t have so much success, and even then, quite a few chapters follow the same path as sections of Homo Deus, especially the sections I alluded to earlier about the future of technology. Which again, makes sense, but it does seem as though he is merely retreading the same ground at points.

Having gone through all that, I still think that this is a book worth reading. While it may not have very concrete answers to all of our problems, the section on meditation is probably the closest he will get to giving us solid advice going forward. And I maintain the belief that he is one of the greatest thinkers on subjects like the future of humanity and society. But could you also read his other two books and reach similar conclusions? Yes, absolutely. But that is really up to you, this work is more accessible than his others and shorter. Personally I would just go for the longer ones to get the most out of it, but maybe this will get others to at least think about these topics in a slightly different way.

This is Beautiful: Robin Hood BBC

So having seen that new Robin Hood movie, all I wanted to do was go back and watch some decent Robin Hood content. And the 2006 Robin Hood tv series is still one of my favorites.

I've posted about this show previously. But this is my first time revisiting it in years. My favorite part is still seeing a smaller band of Merry Men and getting to know all of their different personalities. Sir Guy has not aged well for me, the fact that he's an abusive sadist really turns me off, despite Richard Armitage looking fine as hell. And somehow the Sheriff is one of my favorites, mostly due to Keith Allen's tendency to chew the scenery and just go balls to the wall with the role haha.

Man, I wish we had some content like that again. I miss it so much, and it's over a decade old now. It makes me feel ancient.

The 2018 Robin Hood Movie

It's been a while since I've posted about any Robin Hood media on here and I think I should fix that. The 2018 movie, directed by Otto Bathurst and starring Taron Egerton, was supposed to form a franchise to rival Marvel movies and all that. Unfortunately, it falls super flat. And I'm a Robin Hood obsessive nut.

The plot is very standard, Robin goes to the Crusades, is sent home for sympathizing with the natives, and finds the Sheriff abusing his people. He is convinced by a man who followed him home from the war (he goes by "John" as in John, Little) to take up arms against the Sheriff and undermine his authority after hearing that Marian is now with a certain Will Scarlet. Hi-jinks ensue, and it ends with Robin getting Marian back, evacuating the people of Nottingham, and Will being made the new Sheriff after the old one gets killed.

Honestly my biggest problem with it is that it tries to say too much about the current political climate. Clearly there are parallels between the Crusades and the modern Middle East, but the scenes with Robin fighting in the Holy Land don't look medieval at all. Arrows apparently go off automatically, and explode everything around them like guns. And then he returns and doesn't seem to care too much about politics, until John forces him to. Which triggers a couple of dramatic speeches that seem out of character.

Then there's the characters. Robin, to his credit, hits a nice note of always enjoying stealing from the rich. What I'm confused about is why John followed this mess all the way back to England to just take revenge on one town that he didn't have much to do with. The switcheroo involving Will becoming the Sheriff just because his girlfriend broke up with him also confuses me as he was for the people right up until that moment. My biggest problem though is with this training montage where John teaches Robin how to fight once he's in England which makes zero sense as he just spent a couple of years fighting in the Crusades which I'm sure trained him to fight.

So it isn't a great movie. I still found it fun, but that's just me. I'm consistently amazed at how modern Robin Hood movies try to set up a series only to fall flat when all I want is a franchise I can enjoy. Maybe someday it'll come.

This Is Beautiful: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Up next in the series of me watching gay children's cartoons, "She-Ra" is a show on Netflix that started last winter. A friend of mine introduced me to it (she knew that I really liked "Steven Universe") and I've been hooked. It just came out with the third season, and I would bet that it's going to continue after this.

The show tells the story of Adora, a soldier in the Horde who is tasked with fighting the Princesses of Power. Eventually Adora ends up outside of the Horde's lands and sees the destruction that they are wreaking, learns that she is a mystical warrior known as She-Ra, and decides to switch sides. Along with new friends Bow and Glimmer, she starts uniting the Princesses against the Horde. However, she left her best friend Catra with the Horde and now Catra hates Adora and wants to make her life miserable.

It's very well-written for a children's show, definitely not as sophisticated as "Steven Universe," but it takes a great look at friendships. Particularly female ones. The main reason why it's been labeled "gay" my the mainstream media is Adora's relationship to Catra. I'm a little baffled by this since they have clearly a toxic relationship where Adora cares about Catra very much and Catra just wants revenge. Honestly I found it cathartic in the last season when Adora stands up to her and punches her in the face.

If you're looking for something to binge, I would highly recommend! Can't wait for more episodes.

“Wanderlust: A History of Walking” by Rebecca Solnit

I read A Field Guide to Getting Lost ages ago, which was also written by Solnit. You can clearly see how the two books came from the same brain, both are about walking/wandering and its place within history and culture.

Solnit looks at how walking has been portrayed throughout history and literature and dissects the underlying meanings within it. She starts with how we evolved to become walkers, and the various theories behind why this happened, and from there goes through the Victorian era, to the twentieth century, and to the present. One of my favorite passages was when she pulls apart different character’s walking habits in Pride and Prejudice and illuminates how this demonstrates their social class and views.

And of course with marches and protests it all spills over into politics, as well as how cities have changed over time to affect our walking habits. There is a really surprisingly diverse range of topics covered in this book, it sounds boring to read a book about walking but she makes it fascinating. Each chapter is accompanied by short snippets of Solnit’s own experiences walking and traveling, as she is an avid walker herself. These bring a personal nature to each of the chapters, and spice up the history.

At first I found this annoying, but what ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the book was how at the bottom of each page there are quotes about walking and famous walkers. The quotes correspond to the subject of the chapters as well, so quotes from literature about walking around cities can be found on the pages where city walking is discussed. And often the works cited in the quotes are not mentioned at all in the chapter, indicating just how much research and effort Solnit put into this. I thought it was a cool way to incorporate other views and insights, especially since so much of the book is about the portrayal of walking in writings of the time.

To no one’s surprise, I would highly recommend any of Solnit’s works, and particularly this one. It is a very thorough overview of all of her research, and very insightful as well. A Field Guide to Getting Lost is shorter and might be more accessible to those who aren’t sure if they are interested in the subject matter, but this book is an excellent deep dive into the subject of walking through the ages.

This Is Beautiful: American Gods season 2

Yo I just got back home and have been relaxing and binge watching the TV that I missed. Let me tell you, the second season of "American Gods" is really good! I've posted about the book and possibly the first season before, and I was kinda concerned about how the second season would do with all the delays and everything. But it's just as gorgeous as the first season was, the cinematography is GORGEOUS I love it.

There have definitely been additions to talk about race, particularly with Shadow cast as a black man. I really like it, it means that they can go into Anansi as a god and into race within America (the show is called "American Gods" so it should be in there). Personally I am into it.

Can't wait to finish this season! And I sure hope that they manage to get season 3 out in a more timely manner haha.

“The Book of Joy” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

Final book that my counselor recommended! This book was a wonderful project involving the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop getting together to discuss joy and how to cultivate it in our lives. Abrams as a writer joined them to compile the book. Together, they create a wonderful book that highlights both the Dalai Lama as well as the Archbishop’s philosophies, as well as their friendship.

Joy here does not mean happiness or forcing yourself to be happy all the time, it is more in line with an attitude cultivating a healthy approach to life, accepting the sadness and finding ways to still see the joy in the midst of it. This book tries to not be religious, despite the fact that it’s a collaboration between two holy men. The Dalai Lama says somewhere in it that this is a practice for everyone, and they want to make it accessible to non-religious folks as well.

Chapters are organized by topic, highlighting different aspects of joy and questions about them. At the end of the book, numerous meditation examples are outlined, to help with cultivating joy in the reader’s life.

I found this book to be a ton of fun to read, it’s wonderful getting to know all of the authors while at the same time learning from them. I hope to someday be able to approach life like them, but we’ll see what happens haha. Reading this book seems to be a good place to start though.