November 2014 Reading List

A varied bunch of books this month:

1. The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford
2. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
4. The Moonlight Palace by Liz Rosenberg
5. Waking Up by Sam Harris
6. Still With Me by Thierry Cohen (translated by Summer Robinson)

 The Great Siege was a great historical retelling of the siege that took place on Malta in the 16th century between the Turks and the Order of St John.  I know!  Who knew about this event, right?  And yet it is an incredible story about the underdog winning an impossible war against incredible odds.  This account was written well over 50 years ago but still seems as fresh as anything from today's historians.  An awesome read and totally recommended.

Who has been living under a rock (or maybe in a sewer?) and has not seen or heard the well known Phantom musical from Lloyd Webber.  But you might be forgiven for not having tackled the book upon which the musical is based.  I decided to give it a crack.  The story was written/published a little over a century ago and it's style is typical of stories written at the time.  Partly based on historical events Leroux wrote his book as if the entire thing were a true story and is recounted from the testimonies of some of the characters.  After completing it I was satisfied that Lloyd Webber did an ok job of converting the story into a romantic drama.  The movie version of the musical even more so.  But I will say the original story is just creepier and more disturbing than either retelling.  Measured up against today's standards however, it is a mere trifle.

Gone Girl on the other hand is what mystery and roller coaster rides are all about! I read this novel in preparation for seeing the movie (which I have not yet done as of yet).  Without revealing any spoilers in case you're one of the ten people on the planet yet to read the book or see the movie, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of the story.  The only aspect I was disappointed in was the ending.  Perhaps it was appropriate given the journey but I am interested to see how it is Hollywood-ified.  Don't tell me though!

Moonlight Palace was one of those impulse buys.  I like historical novels because I learn a little about another time and most often about another place too.  In this case its a coming-of-age story taking place in Singapore during the 1920s.  I found the historical stuff interesting but the rest was a bit predictable.  Just ok.

I have read all of Sam Harris' books and I really like his intelligent and unique observations on issues that the majority of us are conflicted about (or might never have considered!).  I have to admit I had no idea that Harris was an accomplished practitioner of meditative techniques.  So I was also surprised how linked his practice with the concept of spirituality.  Waking Up goes further and examines the whole understanding of self and consciousness, which are topics that Harris has explored before.  However, the integration of these concepts via meditation is something new.  As always Harris leaves me with plenty of substance for rumination.

I have to admit that Still With Me shook me up a lot.  Looking into the background of the book I understand that Cohen used the writing process to help him deal with the suicide of a friend.  The consequences of the protagonist's act get harder hitting as the book goes on.  It's a delicate subject and has had a lot of media attention recently.  So reading this book helped me examine how suicide affects those who are closest to it but being honest it is impossible to truly know unless you are directly impacted.  For that reason I think this book could easily polarize readers but I think the effort would be worthwhile.