The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
Engaging, enjoyable read. This was one of the most unputdownable read of the year for me. Once I began it, I read it wherever and whenever I could. I picked this up from my bookshelf (Collected Conrad), and then downloaded it to my phone and at times read it off my laptop screen too.
Engaging, enjoyable read. This was one of the most unputdownable read of the year for me. Once I began it, I read it wherever and whenever I could. I picked this up from my bookshelf (Collected Conrad), and then downloaded it to my phone and at times read it off my laptop screen too.
Set in London, written over a century ago before any of the World Wars, inspired by a real event (and here inspired is the correct word as it works as the take-off point for the author to weave the story from), the book is a political novel, a story of a secret agent. It covers themes of terrorism and anarchy, and the politics of police and agents and media and politicians and the element of randomness and misalignment of objectives and interest. As much a book about secret agents as about the whole industry around them.
Early on during the read, I stumbled across a spoiler (sort of) on the internet which colored the reading experience. Left me a bit annoyed. How do you un-know what's going to happen in the book that you are so devotedly reading? Still, on second thoughts, it is no page turner, and it was no spoiler. I was in the novel's grip even though I sort of knew where it was leading.
Early on during the read, I stumbled across a spoiler (sort of) on the internet which colored the reading experience. Left me a bit annoyed. How do you un-know what's going to happen in the book that you are so devotedly reading? Still, on second thoughts, it is no page turner, and it was no spoiler. I was in the novel's grip even though I sort of knew where it was leading.
I don't often read books like these. Instead, I watch a lot from such genre: Spy/Agents/Heist. I love the fast pace and the intrigue most of these shows depict, and the grip that the characters as well as the plot can exercise. The fantastic-ness of their lives. Or the different-ness of their existence and meanings they assign to stuff in their life. Keeps all my thoughts engaged imagining and trying to fathom their worldview.
For isn't it that their worldview is different that makes them appealing for further contemplation? Often the ideology that the rest of the world keeps in 'good to have' bucket, they make it their mission in life. And the whole life is defined around it. Such people are not routine characters. And the books that are set up around such characters are not routine. I am trying to think what would be similar books? They are not soldiers drafted to put their lives on line for a war (and here, most war books fit in). They are not even unique extraordinary individuals (like Sherlock Holmes). They are normal people who choose to walk this not-normal path.
For isn't it that their worldview is different that makes them appealing for further contemplation? Often the ideology that the rest of the world keeps in 'good to have' bucket, they make it their mission in life. And the whole life is defined around it. Such people are not routine characters. And the books that are set up around such characters are not routine. I am trying to think what would be similar books? They are not soldiers drafted to put their lives on line for a war (and here, most war books fit in). They are not even unique extraordinary individuals (like Sherlock Holmes). They are normal people who choose to walk this not-normal path.
Let me quote the following from the book itself:
There are individuals of character amongst that lot too,” muttered Ossipon ominously. “Possibly. But it is a matter of degree obviously, since, for instance, I am not impressed by them. Therefore they are inferior. They cannot be otherwise. Their character is built upon conventional morality. It leans on the social order. Mine stands free from everything artificial. They are bound in all sorts of conventions. They depend on life, which, in this connection, is a historical fact surrounded by all sorts of restraints and considerations, a complex organised fact open to attack at every point; whereas I depend on death, which knows no restraint and cannot be attacked. My superiority is evident.”
I enjoyed the writing, the story, the portrayal of the characters. The way the randomness or the accidental factors intersect with the seriously planned lives of so many people. And the way the circumstances and events themselves become characters. At some point, planning to watch the BBC adaptation. On my list as I look for shows to watch during the holidays.
**
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
This book is one of the most popular of Von Arnim's fiction books. It is about four women (two of them are wives, one a younger unmarried lady, and an older widow) wishing to escape their normal realities and daily lives to spend a month, an enchanted month in a little old castle on the Italian coast. Hence, the enchanted April.
A very quick read. Over in a day. I must note here that I am not a fast reader. I invariably end up spending a few days with most fiction books. Few days imply that the amount of headspace that these books can occupy can be so much more. (Although some short books too have the power to stay in thoughts for so much longer). This one took just a day. A day when I was specially seeking a light-read. And given the nature of the book, it is just that, a light read. I have little else to note here.
It is interesting in the sense that it quite evokes the place for you in all its glory, the blue sky, the blue sea and the beautiful flowers. But that is about it. The premise not as much, and the people, they seem to have less dimensions than what you would wish to read about. Sort of like fairy tales, or kids' books. The writing is laugh-out-loud funny at places. But the whole idea that the women need to make such elaborate plans to get away (mainly from their husbands) is sad. Even respecting that it is a book of different time and age, the outcome or the niceness or the saccharine level reaches quite high towards the end. Just like a fairy tale, everything quickly resolves and falls in place. No complications at all.
Incidentally, around this time, I asked my child to try reading Little Women, having enjoyed it at the time when I was of the same age as Jo or Beth. And since it is at times a challenge to get him to read books that don't have adventure, superpowers, magic, dragons or spies, I decided to make a project of it, and read it together since I remember loving it when I was younger. And I must admit, that it is very different to read that book in your thirties from reading it in your teens. The saccharine, fairy-tale niceness in both these books seems difficult. Impractical. There is one thing to be kind. But other to have direct cause and effect relationship between kindness and a happy outcome. And that got me reading about Louisa May Alcott and her life, and how what is portrayed is more a fairy tale (again), and what should be, then what is.
Seems like a warp in which the lives portrayed in these books exist.
Anyhow, back to The Enchanted April. Easily skipped. I love her diaries far, far more than the fiction. (More on her diaries, here)
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Currently reading
The reading pile keeps changing - some get finished, and new ones keep getting added, and I drift away from the slow ones. From my last post on current reads a month or so ago, I finished a few. Added a couple more (the above two), and finished them. But out of that pile, Tristram Shandy is exactly where it was. What the Dog Saw too. As to the others, I am still reading Zweig's Shooting Stars - somewhere in the middle. Have given up on 1688 for the time being.
A few new ones added to the current reads. I picked up The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. I have not made up my mind yet. Not being a major fan, I know not whether spending time trying to work my way through such a massive book is something I want to do. But I am intrigued, and enjoying meanwhile the dipping in and letting it take some mind space. He was, after-all, a writer that expanded the boundaries of possible. And the things talked about are quite fantastic. So much thought fodder! Slows me down while reading. I end up day dreaming.
There are other couple of fun reads: journals and memoirs. The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits - I had not heard of her or read her before. But loving the diary. Just opened it for the first time yesterday. And then Susan Hill's reading memoir, Howard's End is on the landing. I may not finish that one, reading for exploring, and the pleasures of book-list-making. As an aside, the first book that I wrote about on this blog was Howard's End. The first book that I 'kindled'.
Then there's this book, The Golden Thread - how fabric changed history by Kassia St Clair which looks at history in an interesting way: through the thread of fabric. Enjoying it so far. This and so many other books in my immediate view that I wish to read. It takes so much time!
Let's see what gets logged in 'recent reads' before the year ends.