What Are You Reading Right Now?
All right, before I start, allow me to explain why, lately, I post
infrequently. I’m sure my readers want to know what’s happening to my
life. It’s… not so great. Actually, it’s pretty bad. My home’s desktop
computer was busted. A tire ripped while I was driving. My friend’s
mom’s blood pressure rose. My office’s desktop computer’s (what I’m
currently using - yeah, today’s an idle day. What can I say?) keyboard
was busted, and I got an awful one as a replacement - and by that I
mean the keyboard that wouldn’t write unless I pound it. I’m also
pretty broke.
About the only good thing was that I’ve finished reading a few books last week.
Actually, I don’t know if I should call that "good" news instead of
"normal", which would then be cancelled out by those predicaments I’ve
been going through. One of the lofty goals I have planned for this year
is to finish 52 books; that means I need to finish 1 book per week. Six
weeks have passed, and I’ve finished six books. I don’t see what’s so
great about that. If I’ve been a book or two ahead, that’s what I would
call good news.
Additionally, I’m currently reading Odyssey. If you’ve read my "10
things" post, you know what’s to come next - a 900-paged, notoriously
unreadable book that disregards everything you’ve learned about
English, and yet is heralded as one of the most essential texts. I’m
getting a mixed feeling of anticipation and apprehension.
Now for the first time, I’m not starting my paragraph with letter
"A". I like doing that back in college so as to remind my professor
that that’s the alphabet my grade deserves. I heard the effect is
sublime, although I don’t think that ever worked the way I wanted.
Anyway, this is not a term paper, and nobody’s doing any grading. Let’s
get to gist of this post now.
I read Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) and Foundation
(Isaac Asimov) simultaneously, but I end up finishing Things Fall Apart
a day earlier. The title should give you the clue that this is a
fall-from-grace story, and it is. It details the life of Okonkwo, who,
in enduring many hardships, rose to become a person of high rank. His
ego was as massive as the respect his village people paid him, and he
ruled his family with iron fist, often resorting to violence. He
eventually fell, but I’ll let you find out what led to that. I enjoyed
Things Fall Apart very much, particularly how it paints the norms and
the traditions of Africa, and although some of Okonkwo’s shortcomings
leave a lot to be desired, I still find myself sympathetic to him. I
also like Chinua Achebe’s writing style: it is simple yet crisp, and
despite the relatively low verbal proficiency the book required, it
never sounded dumbed-down.
Foundation takes place 10,000 (some) years ahead of now. By the
powers of math and psychology, Hari Seldon predicted that in 200 years
the Galactic Empire would fall. So he gathered a few notable scientists
and built the Foundation, so that he can mitigate the effects. To think
that math and psychology can predict the future is to oversimplify
theories of divinations, but whatever, I still think the idea is sound.
Sadly, I’m indifferent to whatever the hell is going on with the
Foundation, and that’s because of the plot and the writing. Basically,
there’s more talking and yapping than any movement, it’s like reading a
boring dossier. It wouldn’t be so bad if the characters were
interesting. They weren’t. Everyone was either the interchangeable
manipulative intellectual powerhouse (Seldon/Hardin/Mallow) who always
wins and who talks like he has rehearsed his every dialogue, or the
also-interchangeable inept pseudo-intellectual "thinks he’s the shrewd
devil" cannon fodder who always loses and who also talks like he’s
rehearsed his every dialogue, except with more venom. And notice the
choice of pronoun? That’s right, there were almost no woman, as if a
woman is insignificant in politics (a bizarre belief if, while reading
foundation, you’re in a country where a woman perverts democracy). I
also think that the wins were done in a very annoying way - what I call
the "Knew Ex Machina", which is the "I KNEW THIS ALL ALONG HOHOHO!"
plot device. The readers never could’ve learned beforehand how a person
could possibly overcome an adversity, then it just happens and that
person discourses a whole chapter about how awesome his wit is. Such
cheap storytelling! The setting is also irrelevant: I don’t know why
this had to be in the future, because the description of such future
was so sparse. It could’ve taken place now and the story wouldn’t
alter. Heck, Asimov could put a lolcat in there and it won’t matter
(like, "V10L3NZ D LAST PWNAGE 4 INCOMPETANZ!"). I heard that the latter
Foundation books are better. I sure hope so, because the first book is
bust, despite the good premise.
So that wraps my post for today. Anyone read any good books lately?
Want to make some recommendations? Want to comment on my opinions of
Things Fall Apart and Foundation? Then cram my comment box to your
heart’s content!
