Just a quick post to update what I’ve been reading lately.
Book #3 was Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett, the second of three books in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy. It was a pretty fun read, almost as good as it’s predecessor, Only You can Save Mankind. I shall have to look out the third book in the series, Johnny and the Bomb one of these days.
Book #4 was Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. The book began well. I identified strongly with the central character Jude, and his dreams and foibles. However, as I read on, I didn’t really like it. This was possibly because I just couldn’t get on with the character of Sue at all – she seemed terribly insecure throughout, and woefully inconsistent. As the book progresses, Jude loses some of the complexity that drew me to him as a character too, and because almost completely focussed on pleasing Sue. Arabella is conniving and utterly unsympathetic, and Phillotson unremarkable.
I also found that towards the end the plot seemed increasingly contrived. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, and certainly shocking in it’s time, but I didn’t really enjoy reading it and felt like Hardy beats you over the head with the themes you are supposed to think about and the emotions you are supposed to feel rather than working them in more subtly.
Book #5 was The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. It’s poetic philosophical fiction, and some of it passed me by, while other parts I found very profound and relevent. I suspect this is a book I’ll come back to time and time again. Here is a short extract of one of my favourite bits:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you, yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
My 2011 Resolutions 