So summer is upon us and it is hot here in Beijing. And I mean hot. The forecast is for +35C for the next two weeks or so, though people say that this is just the beginning.
Anyway, I’ve been back in Beijing for just about eight months now and, although I’ve enjoyed the new job, it has kept me so busy that I’m only now able to sit down and reading some of the books I brought with me. Since the North Americans are entering their summer breaks, I figured I’d share what I’m reading in case you wanted some ideas. Below you’ll find my reading list for fiction in English that I aim to tackle this summer.
These will be the main books I try to get through this summer as some of them will go pretty quick. Further, they don’t require as much thinking/studying as the other non-fiction books I aim to read.
The first surprise was finding out that Stephen King‘s books aren’t all that scary, at least not in the gory sense depicted in the movies based on his books. Rather, his stories are more like sitting in a cafe and having a disturbing conversation with a doctor who is telling you what he saw at the office today. “How did you lose your leg?” “Oh, well, this fog appeared today and everybody who went into it never came back and so I made a run for it and then it got me. Managed to get my leg. Poor guy beside me was crushed to death.” And on it goes. I finished his first collection of short stories Night Shift as I left Canada last year and started Skeleton Crew as I started my new job. Why the short stories? I wanted to see what his early writings were like before he got famous. And I can say that he is worth the hype. I didn’t know that he revisited several of his story ideas later on in his career, notably the Salem’s Lot story, which shows up in at least two short stories.
I’m also reading Neil Gaiman’s short stories, Smoke and Mirrors, an author who several people have talked about before and has also had some of his works made into movies (notably The Watchmen series). I asked the peeps at the bookstore in Winnipeg what they recommended starting with and just about everyone said start with the short stories because then you’ll know if you actually like his writing. The next step would be to read Neverwhere, his first full length novel. This, I need remind you, was last summer when American Gods had just been released and made into a TV series. All of them warned not to start with American Gods because I might be put off by his writing. I heeded their advice and picked up the short stories and his first novel. I am finishing the short stories collection right now and can say that Gaiman is a lot more free or flexible with his fantasy writing than most authors. He doesn’t stick to prose, instead opting for whatever form he feels necessary for the story, ranging from poetry, song, or really, really short prose. He also appears more “real” in that he describes the everyday-ness of his characters and then throws a twist in at the ending, which kind of makes you laugh.
I also have yet to finish the Haruki Murakami book, Wind/Pinball. It’s two of his first short stories and I’ve got through one of them so far. No surprises here, much like Gaiman and King above, masterful storytelling with bizarre twists throughout. This reminds me that I still need to finish 1Q84 which I started a few years ago.
Next up will be Steven Pressfield‘s Gates of Fire, a fictitious account of the Battle of Thermopylae between the 300 Spartans and invading Persians. This book has repeatedly come up in “Recommended Reading for Classics” and so I thought I’d give it a try. I know Pressfield through his book The War of Art which was a rallying call for creative individuals all over the place to simply go with their inspiration, and that got me wondering about how he actually writes. He has written several other “how to write” books and it got me wondering, with my own background in the Classics, why have I never tried to pen a novel about the Classical times? Maybe this book will give me my answer.
Then there’s Margaret Atwood‘s The Handmaid’s Tale which was made into a Netflix mini-series last year. The show was great but was left on a note that I thought should have been resolved. Or, rather, I was surprised that it was left on such a note and that there was no sequel to the novel, especially since she wrote the book back in 1984. Although I watched the mini-series a year ago, I hope I’ve forgotten enough of it to enjoy the book on its own. I am also hoping that there might be a bit more explanation in a few parts the miniseries seemed to gloss over. A second series has just been released but I’ll hold off on watching that just yet so I can get through the book first.
Next is Ken Follett‘s World Without End, his sequel to Pillars of the Earth, a historical novel set in the Middle Ages when the Church was one of the most powerful organizations in the world. I might take my time getting to this one because of its sheer size. I can’t imagine this is a hard book to read, much like Pillars, but it is long and will therefore need more of a time commitment.
Finally, the latest and newest addition to the stack is Aravind Adiga‘s The White Tiger, which was a gift from a colleague who just returned from her homeland of India. Right after she gave me the book another colleague recognized it and said it was a good book to read, (“Easy,” they said), and a few others had heard of the name. It’s no wonder since the book won the Man Booker Prize in 2008. I’ve only read the first few pages but it’s subtly powerful stuff, especially since part of the book deals with Indian and Chinese relations. I’m looking forward to this one.
And so that will round out the English fiction I’m reading this summer, or at least going to try to read this summer. What are you reading and do you have anything to recommend? Tweet me @stevensirski!