Books I Read in May 2022

 “What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?”

— Anthony Trollope from The Warden

Seven books this month. 

Lucky Breaks (2022) by Yevgenia Belorusets 

This is a collection of short stories originally published in 2018 about women affected by war in East Ukraine. The stories are very short, from one to four pages. 

The stories are also quite surreal and fragmented, more sketches than actual stories. After reading a few I read the afterword by the translator. It helped me gain a better understanding of Ukraine’s history and of the author’s intentions and storytelling style. 

In the end though, the stories just blended together into a haze of random surrealness. I gather that was the author’s intention, but I enjoyed and got more out of the translator’s afterword than the actual stories.

The Year of Reading Dangerously (2014) by Andy Miller 

This book is the author’s account of spending a year reading books that he had always wanted to read but just never got around to. In between the discussion of the books, he mixes in various anecdotes. I enjoyed the stories about his time working in a bookstore and the stories about the books he read as a child.

Throughout the book he talks about the joy and the frustrations of reading with wit and humor in an uplifting way. While I found some parts of his journey more interesting than others, every chapter is filled with the love of reading. 

Pietr the Latvian (1930) by Georges Simenon 

This is the first book in the long running Inspector Maigret series by Belgian author Georges Simenon.

At only 162 pages it was a quick and enjoyable read, especially after things really picked up at the halfway point. I believe the other books are all around the same length. Apparently Mr. Simenon wrote them so each one could be read in a single sitting. I’ll be reading more. 

Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret #1) by Georges Simenon

Blood’s a Rover (2018) by Harlan Ellison 

This is a collection centered around Ellison’s story “A Boy and his Dog.” It won the Nebula Award for best novella in 1969.

The stories are about Vic, an amoral boy and his telepathic dog Blood, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world after nuclear war. 

Besides the title story this collection includes the prequel “Eggsucker,” the sequel “Run, Spot, Run,” and the screenplay for the aborted television series “Blood’s a Rover.” The other stories are interesting but they don’t have the same impact as the original novella.

“A Boy and His Dog” is the strongest story in the collection. It’s dark, disturbing, satirical, and controversial. In other words, peak Harlan Ellison. 

The Complete Poems (1994) by Edgar Allan Poe 

This is a collection published by Barnes & Noble. I was familiar with “The Raven” and the titles of a few of the others but most were new to me. Many of the poems are about love, death, and despair. I had to look up a few of the poems to understand what Poe was referencing but they were all beautifully written. 

The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) by Ray Bradbury 

This is a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and non-genre stories. While I liked some stories more than others, I liked Bradbury’s prose in all of them. Bradbury was a master of metaphor. The paperback edition I read includes twenty-two stories. Later editions include ten more.

Favorite stories: 

"The Fog Horn"

"The Pedestrian" 

"Invisible Boy"

"The Flying Machine" 

"A Sound of Thunder"

"The Great Wide World Over There"

The Warden (1955) by Anthony Trollope

This is the first novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, set in the fictional county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester, England.

The protagonist is Reverend Septimus Harding, a conscientious clergyman who is also a warden of a hospital.  He finds himself enveloped in scandal when a lawyer investigates the hospital’s charity and the amount of money it brings in.

The writing style, the humor, and the characters hooked me so I’ll be reading more. 

Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: The Warden by Anthony Trollope

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

 “Trollope’s purpose is to present the dilemma of the just man involved in an inequitable system, and in the process to illuminate whole areas of public and private life, rather than merely to expose a few corrupt individuals.” — David Skilton from his introduction to The Warden 

The Warden is a short novel written by English author Anthony Trollope. It was published in 1855. It’s the first novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, set in the fictional county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester. The novels follow the clergy and the various social classes of the county. 

The Rev. Septimus Harding is a sincere and conscientious clergyman who is also serving as a warden to Hiram’s Hospital. His duties include looking after twelve elderly laborers who can’t earn a living anymore. The hospital was established by John Hiram centuries ago and according to his will, the person running the hospital and up to twelve elderly laborers who cannot work anymore receive an income. Over the years the money the land generates has grown considerably. This allows Reverend Harding to receive an impressive income as well as to feed and pay a group of retired laborers living at the hospital. 

Enter John Boyd, a young surgeon, reformer and activist. Believing that the laborers are not receiving a fair amount of the money and that Rev. Harding is receiving too much money, he begins an investigation by contacting lawyers. Then he makes things public by contacting a reporter. 

Rev. Harding, who only wants to do his job, take care of the old men, and support his daughter, is suddenly enveloped in scandal. To complicate things further John Boyd is in love with Rev. Harding’s daughter, Eleanor. 

Although the situation is treated seriously and Rev. Harding struggles with his conscience, the story is also told with humor. It’s part comedy of manners and part satire. Everyone has a different solution and no one can even think of compromise. No one is perfect and no one is left untouched by satire: the clergy, the reformers, the lawyers, and the press. Some of my favorite passages were Trollope’s satire of the press. For a book written in 1855, those parts hold up remarkably well today. 

The novel was a slow burn at first but I was drawn in. Once everyone was introduced and the situation was set up I was interested in all the characters and their outcomes. 

Trollope has an interesting style. He breaks the fourth wall and refers to the reader often. His descriptions of people and places were clear and he made them come to life. I also liked the dialogue between characters, especially during the various confrontations. I can also now say that I’ve read the Latin phrase sanctum sanctorum in something besides a Dr. Strange comic book.

On the other hand there were some places where I thought the narration went on too long. Also things get wrapped up rather quickly in the last few chapters. The ending felt a little rushed.

The ending wasn’t what I expected but it did come across as realistic. There were no outright villains, just various people thinking they were right and that others were wrong, unwilling to compromise, not understanding or blind to how their actions would affect others, with the most vulnerable having the most to lose. Like Trollope’s commentary on the press, it feels very familiar when compared with current events. 

There’s a quiet scene toward the end that really spoke to me. Rev. Harding is in London to meet with a lawyer. Tired, overwhelmed, and unfamiliar with the city, he manages to find a quiet moment in a cigar divan, a coffee house for smokers. I love this quote:

“What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?”

In reading reviews about this series it sounds like Trollope’s writing develops in the later volumes, his presentation of moral dilemmas becomes more subtle, and that since the other volumes are longer they don’t have the problem of a rushed ending.  I’ll be visiting Barsetshire and the town of Barchester again.

Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret #1) by Georges Simenon

 “Inside every wrong-doer and crook there lives a human being. What he waited and watched out for was the crack in the wall, the instant when the human being comes out from behind the opponent.” — Georges Simenon describing Inspector Maigret from Pietr the Latvian 

This is the first book in the long running Inspector Maigret series by Belgian author Georges Simenon. After being notified that international criminal Pietr the Latvian is traveling to Paris, Inspector Maigret attempts to apprehend him. Things go wrong right away Maigret and begins searching through Paris for the criminal. 

Around the halfway point I put the book down and started wondering if anything other than following suspects around Paris was going to happen. I immediately picked the book back up, read a few more paragraphs and got my answer. Well played Mr. Simenon, well played. I was hooked. The rest of the book was a real page turner. 

All the questions that were brought up in the first half get answered throughout the second half. While the first half felt like a standard mystery or police procedural, the second half felt more like crime noir. One scene I particularly liked had Maigret interact with a suspect in a bar with no dialogue. While no words were spoken the encounter was still very intense. 

It’s a minor point but one thing I found distracting was the use of exclamation points. They’re used quite a lot. I was curious as to why there were so many but then I read the following from an article in The Guardian by Rupert Davies:

“The character of Maigret is introduced in Pietr the Latvian (1930). It’s a novel that bears some of the hallmarks of the hundreds of pulp novels Simenon had written in the previous years (a surfeit of action and exclamation marks), and this embryonic manifestation of Maigret is more of the alpha-male action hero than in the later novels…”

Aha!

At only 162 pages it was a quick read. I believe the other books are all around the same length. Apparently Mr. Simenon wrote them so each one could be read in a single sitting. 

There are 75 books in the series and 28 short stories. I’m looking forward to reading more.