Happy Wednesday everyone! Woah. Today is the last day of the seventh month of the year. Tomorrow we will be entering the so-called ghost month. Nevertheless, I hope that August will be kind and great for everyone.

Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday updates. Unfortunately, I was not able to post an update last week as I was on vacation. As such, this weekly update will be a little unique as it will cover all the books I read in the past two weeks. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. Unfortunate

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?

While going through the registry of all the books I read, I noticed how lacking it is in Italian voice; it is, unsurprisingly, dominated by American and British voices. I have since resolved to explore Italian literature more. This interest in Italian literature has introduced me to writers beyond Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino. Among the Italian writers I recently learned about was Cesare Pavese who I learned is a prominent voice in early 20th century Italian literary circles. He was even referred to by Natalia Ginzburg in her autobiographical novel Family Sayings. I was able to obtain a copy of his novel The Devil in the Hills through an online bookseller. It is considered as one of his masterpieces. Set amongst the hills, vineyards, and villages of Piedmont, the novel charts the story of three young men.

What have you finished reading?

In the past two weeks, I was in the process of wrapping up my foray into the works of European literature, a journey I commenced back in May. This three-month journey has fascinated me and took me to various parts of the continent. Among the familiar writers I encountered during this journey is George Eliot who I first encountered through must-read lists. Her works were ubiquitous. In 2018, I read her – George Eliot is a pseudonym by Mary Ann Evans – novel Middlemarch. It is a complex look into the intricacies of life in the English countryside. It was a challenging read but it also made me look forward to reading her other works.

It was been some time since I acquired a copy of Adam Bede, prompting me to include it in my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge and 2024 Top 24 Reading List. Set in the fictional countryside town of Hayslope, the novel charted the fortunes of four characters, including the eponymous Adam Bede, a young local carpenter. Adam is renowned for being principled and hard-working. The story commences with the unexpected demise of his father, Thias. His mother, Lisbeth, was devastated. Dinah Morris, a Methodist preacher who arrives in town and is one of the novel’s four main characters, comforts Lisbeth who wishes her to be her daughter-in-law. This provides a hint of how the story is going to move forward. Meanwhile, Adam was besotted with Hetty Sorrel, Dinah’s cousin. Adam pursued Hetty despite her reservations about Adam. A fourth character, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the grandson of the local landlord, shakes the dynamics of the characters. Eliot’s debut novel. craftily constructs the psychological profiles of the eclectic cast. She takes the readers into their minds to understand their motivations. Overall, Adam Bede is a compelling read.

Like Adam Bede, Max Frisch’s I’m Not Stiller is one of the books I included in my 2024 Top 24 Reading List; this makes it the 17th book from the said list that I read. Admittedly, I barely had any iota about Frisch who I initially thought was German; I would later on learn that he is Swiss. It was sheer curiosity that prompted me to obtain a copy of his novel I’m Not Stiller when I first encountered it through an online bookseller. Further, the book is listed as one of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. With this book, I am shooting several birds, including expanding my foray into Swiss Literature.

Originally published in 1954 in German, the novel is narrated by a man named James Larkin White. When the novel commences, White finds himself being arrested upon his arrival in Switzerland. Carrying an American passport, the Swiss authorities alleged that he was the missing Swiss sculptor Anatol Ludwig Stiller. White vehemently refuted the allegations but his denials fell on deaf ears. Incarcerated, not even his lawyer believed his assertions. His cynicism was not helping his case. Who could White run to when everyone was going against him? Is he really not Stiller? White remained levelheaded, managing to convey his backstory. However, his backstory was ludicrous; it included confessing to killing his own wife. Besides, the police already have his dossier. As people who claimed to know Stiller started to arrive in Switzerland, White’s story became a he-said she-said story. People from Stiller’s life were able to confirm that White and Stiller were indeed one and the same. As the story unfolds, one begins to understand the motivations underneath. Can we truly run from our past and rewrite our lives? I’m Not Stiller is a riveting read.

As the curtain is slowly drawing to a close on my journey across European literature, I have been making the most out of it. Among the books I long wanted to complete is Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past. It has been years since I acquired a copy of Swann’s Way – the first book in the seven-book novel – but I had to put on hold reading the book when I learned it was just one of seven books. In 2020, I was able to obtain four more of these seven books, prompting me to finally commence reading the novel. Last year, I read the second and third books and this year, I am reading the fourth book.

Cities of the Plain was originally published in 1921/1922 as Sodome et Gomorrhe, hence, the alternative English title of Sodom and Gomorrah. At the heart of the story again is the unnamed narrator; it has long been established by Proustian intellects that the unnamed narrator is Proust himself. The fourth book picks up from where the third book left off, with Marcel at the Guermantes. He was waiting for the confirmation of his invitation to a soiree at the Princesse de Guermantes’s residence. Much of the first part of the book is concerned with the social gathering where Marcel caught up with his old friends such as the Guermantes, Swann, and the Baron de Charlus who Marcel previously had a disagreement. More parties would ensue but the crux of the story – and a reference to the French title – was a sexual encounter that Marcel witnessed following the soiree. It was between the Baron de Charlus and a tailor named Jupien. It was an eye-opener for Marcel as it was one of his early encounters with same-sex relationships. Cities of the Plain captures the glaring dichotomies between our private and public lives. Like the first three books, it is another compelling read.

In the past two weeks, I have been alternating familiar writers and writers whose oeuvres I have yet to explore. Among those in the latter group is the mysterious Italian writer Elena Ferrante. Recently, her works have been ubiquitous; My Brilliant Friend was a familiar presence in bookstores. However, I was ambivalent about reading her novel because I was not a fan of the book’s cover. More of her works would be released in the coming years. I would also learn that they are part of a series collectively called Neapolitan novels. This only piqued my interest in the books further.

In the prologue of My Brilliant Friend, sixty-year-old Elena Greco receives a call from the son of her friend Rafaella “Lila” Cerullo back in Naples; Elena is living in Turin. Elena and Lila were childhood friends. Lila’s son informed Elena that Lila went missing to which Elena responded that her friend did not want to be found, hence, her son should stop looking for his mother. The story then flashes back to the past, starting when they studied in elementary school in 1950s Naples. Lila and Elena were the best students in Maestra Oliviero’s class. While Elena considered Lila the more clever of the two, Lila failed to impress in the final elementary school exam. With the Maestra’s motivation, Elena pursued further education. It was at this juncture that the two friends’ paths diverged as Lila’s parents refused to pay for further schooling; they were raised in the impoverished section of Naples. With no recourse, Lila turned into her father’s protégé in his shoe shop. Lila also grew into a local beauty which naturally attracted the neighborhood’s young men. The concluding pages of the story set up for a sequel which I get to read in the succeeding months.

From Italy, my literary journey next took me to another familiar place. I was originally not planning on reading Fredrik Backman’s Us Against You, the sequel to Beartown, a novel that further underscored why I have become a fan of his works. I wanted to read the entire trilogy but with time dwindling down, I opted to push back reading the books. However, I had a change of heart when I was planning which books to bring with me on my trip to Japan; my mind changed at the drop of the hat because why not. I was curious about what happens next to the characters introduced in Beartown.

Us Against You transports the readers back to the Swedish countryside, to the quaint town of Beartown. The town once prided itself on its ice hockey team. However, it was already past its heyday. Locals were moving out of town. Job has become scarce. The town’s spirit once again lifted when the junior team, spearheaded by prodigy Kevin Erdahl, reached the semifinals of the national competition. A scandal, however, would push everything back which brings us to the second book in the trilogy. Members of the junior team moved to the neighboring town of Hed. Meanwhile, Bobo, Benji, and Amat – also members of the dream team – opted to stay for various reasons. Benji, Kevin’s best friend, was basically ostracized for not standing up for his friend. But there is more than meets the eye as Benji has his own secrets. With the Olympics ongoing, the novel is a timely read. However, it is more than a sports novel as it probes deep into small-town life. These faultlines were already exposed in Beartown but Us Against You encroaches into other subjects previously not tackled or were ephemerally captured in the first book. As always, the novel is a scintillating read although it is lamentable that the primary driver of the first book has taken the backseat in the second book. Nevertheless, it is as compulsive as the first.

What will you read next?