Happy Wednesday everyone! Wednesdays mean WWW Wednesday updates. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. The mechanics for WWW Wednesday are quite simple, you just have to answer three questions:

  1. What are you currently reading?
  2. What have you finished reading?
  3. What will you read next?
www-wednesdays
What are you currently reading?

Wow. May is nearly done. We are closing in on the sixth month of the year. But before we greet June, I am trying to complete as many works by European Nobel Laureates in Literature as I can. This journey has brought me back to another familiar name. It was through must-read lists that I first encountered Portuguese writer and 1998 laureate José Saramago. In 2019, I read The Double, my first by Saramago and I followed it up with Raised from the Ground last year. This makes The Cave my third book by Saramago. I just started reading the book. It introduced an elderly potter named Cipriano Algor, his daughter Marta, and his son-in-law Marçal. Since I just started reading the book, I haven’t formed that much impression yet. As such, I will be sharing more of my impressions of the book in this week’s First Impression Friday update.

What have you finished reading?

It was in the mid-2010s when I first encountered German writer and 1929 laureate Thomas Mann. His novel, The Magic Mountain, piqued my interest; back then, I had little inkling about the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, it took me nearly a decade to finally explore his oeuvre; The Magic Mountain was part of my 2023 reading journey and was also the 1,100th novel I read. It was beyond my expectations, making me look forward to reading his other works. Among his works I was looking forward to was Buddenbrooks, his critically acclaimed debut novel that earned him the Swedish Academy’s nod

Originally published in 1901, Buddenbrooks is effectively a family saga that charted the fortunes of the titular Buddenbrooks family. Their story began in 1835 when the family moved to a new home in Lübeck in north Germany. The success of their trading firm, helmed by the patriarch Johann Buddenbrook Senior, allowed them such luxury. At the housewarming dinner captured in the opening pages of the novel, Mann also introduced other members of the family such as Antoinette, the matriarch; Johann Junior (Jean), the heir apparent, his wife Elizabeth and their children Antonie (Tony), Thomas (Tom), and Christian. Over the following decades, the novel charted the rise and fall of the family, including their skeletons in the closets. Familial dynamics was a major theme. The novel also underscored the conflict between personal desire and family duties. On the backdrop, Mann vividly captured the changes seizing 19th-century Germany. While Mann preferred to be recognized by the Swedish Academy for The Magic Mountain, Buddenbrooks is certainly a literary feat that reels readers in. And yes, the family was inspired by Mann’s own.

From a familiar writer – a writer whose work/s I read before – to an unfamiliar one. From Germany, my literary journey took me to Hungary. Recognized by the Swedish Academy in 2002 “for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history,” Imre Kertész was the first Hungarian writer to receive the recognition. With his novel, Detective Story, Kertész is a welcome addition to a growing list of Hungarian writers who has piqued my interest and whose oeuvre I have explored. He joins Magda Szabó,  László Krasznahorkai, and Péter Nádas.

Interestingly, the novel was set in an unnamed Latin American country. Despite this, Kertész explored a subject familiar in his literary landscape: the legacy of authoritarianism. At the heart of Detective Story was Antonio Rojas Martens, a former interrogator for the secret police. Narrating the story from his own perspective, Martens was awaiting trial for multiple counts of murder. Following the overthrow of the regime, Martens was promptly taken into custody. The novel takes the form of a confession, starting from his ascension from “honest flatfoot” to ingenuous “new boy” who was tasked with monitoring the activities of Federigo Salinas, prosperous liberal department-store owner, and his son Enrique, a university student yearning to join his country’s radical liberal underground. Alternating with Martens’ account were sections of Enrique’s personal journals which Martens forcefully acquired. The book had its strengths and sustained my interest, somehow. However, I feel like it was a little constrained. There was something lacking to make everything fall into place.

It is without a doubt that the Nobel Prize in Literature has introduced me to writers whose bodies of work, on a normal day, I would not have thought of exploring. Among them is Patrick Modiano, the recipient of the prestigious literary award in 2014 “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.” Earlier this month, I read Paris Nocturne believing that it was part of my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge. It turns out that it was The Black Notebook. Regardless, I have no qualms about reading Paris Nocturne.

Because The Black Notebook is a part of an ongoing reading challenge, it is imperative that I read the book. In a way, The Black Notebook shares similar characteristics with Paris Nocturne, at least where the nostalgia-laden atmosphere is concerned. The Black Notebook started with a man who went out for a walk. This man – who we eventually learn was named Jean – was accompanied by his memories of the past. His recollection transports the readers to 1960s Paris. During his youth, Jean met several characters who he listed in the titular black notebook; his notes also included conversations with those he met. However, one character stood out in his memories. Dannie was shrouded in a veil of mystery and was involved with members of the “Montparnasse gang.” When the Gang members’ paths crossed with Jean, Jean was in his “age of encounters.” Jean’s nocturnal meanderings did remind me of Paris Nocturne. The Black Notebook had a slim plot, if at all. However, the atmosphere that Modiano creates draws readers in.

What will you read next?