I've decided to restart this book blog to see if it brings order to the chaos that is my reading. I started this year with reading Camus for the first time: mainly, I have to say, because it was the only short novel I had home at the time. I've walked out on the other side feeling intrigued, satisfied with the length and language, but disbelieving his characters.
The Stranger is about a man who drifts through life like a leaf in the wind. He takes things as they come and aspire nothing. It is this that I find hard to believe - or rather, hard to connect to. He seems disillusioned, though strangely happy in his way of life. I read in this a strange kind of machismo, a turning away from feelings, leaving nothing with meaning. Well, I'm not a nihilist.
In the latter half of the book, the man is charged with murder. He is described in the court as a man without feelings, someone who is therefor a threat to society and should be executed. I find myself not agreeing with the "threat" part, but well with the view that he is strange. And I pity him.
So, all in all, good book. But I don't believe it.
torsdag 7 januari 2010
torsdag 24 maj 2007
La Femme Fardée
La Famme Fardée is about some people going on a cruise. Most of them are rich, decadent, selfish and blasé and therefore have a cruel touch. Others are out to get their money...
I'm not going to write more about what the book is about — since I've read it, I already know and therefor it's not interesting for me. I'm not thrilled about it, as I have been by the other books I have read of Françoise Sagan; Bonjour Tristesse and La Laisse. I think her style gets a bit much in such a long novel as La Femme Fardée. What I like is her way to rearrange gender roles at the same time that she is very old-fashioned in their attributes. I like her way of getting straight into the characters, at some points uncomfortably close to their weaknesses — which are, of course, our weaknesses. Sagan has a way of describing our pettiness and decadence, and at the same time our naïvité, our godlikeness and friendliness. Her strength is in her portraits if you ask me.
Although there is some prejudices in this book, such as the way she describes gay men as "womanish"... There are not many characters that are truly good, even though I would desribe some of them as evil. Sagan's world is simple, though intriguing.
I'm not going to write more about what the book is about — since I've read it, I already know and therefor it's not interesting for me. I'm not thrilled about it, as I have been by the other books I have read of Françoise Sagan; Bonjour Tristesse and La Laisse. I think her style gets a bit much in such a long novel as La Femme Fardée. What I like is her way to rearrange gender roles at the same time that she is very old-fashioned in their attributes. I like her way of getting straight into the characters, at some points uncomfortably close to their weaknesses — which are, of course, our weaknesses. Sagan has a way of describing our pettiness and decadence, and at the same time our naïvité, our godlikeness and friendliness. Her strength is in her portraits if you ask me.
Although there is some prejudices in this book, such as the way she describes gay men as "womanish"... There are not many characters that are truly good, even though I would desribe some of them as evil. Sagan's world is simple, though intriguing.
torsdag 17 maj 2007
What's it all about....
Simply thought I would write some thoughts down about books I'm reading... This to create space for me to reflect in, to give me somewhere to structure the thoughts and feelings each book give me. So, here will follow: small texts about books I'm reading, what I think of them, and what they make me think. First out will probably be La Femme Fardée by Françoise Sagan, as soon as I've finished it.
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