I’ve fallen further behind in my reviews than I ever have. So, I’ve decided to do what I did for The Dresden Files: combine my reviews into one giant post. Is that cheating? I feel like that’s cheating. The longer I drag this out, though, the more I’m likely to fall behind. The Stranger, by Albert Camus (5 stars) Firstly, I read this because it’s one of the most frequently cited great novels from French literature. In my quest to read more classic novels this […]
A Very Happy Book (not really)
For months now, I’ve been meaning to read all the books on my bookshelf that I’ve never read before. And for months, I’ve been distracted by the pretty new shiny books at the library. But now, it’s time. I’ve cleared out my library loans, and I have a clean slate (apart from an audiobook, but that’s for my commute). I received Albert Camus’s A Happy Death for my college graduation from my dear friend D, who majored in English, Math, and French (she’s crazy smart […]
The Victim’s Name Was Musa
My brother’s name was Musa. He had a name. But he’ll remain ‘the Arab’ forever. Albert Camus’ The Stranger, published in 1942, is a literary classic about one man’s existential crisis. The action of the novel takes place in Algeria under French colonial rule and the narrator, Meursault, is a Frenchman who has murdered an Arab. In The Meursault Investigation, Algerian journalist Kamel Daoud imagines the same story as told by the victim’s brother. The result is a powerful and insightful tale of the destructive […]
Nonchalantly haunting
Thirty-ninth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. We are floating through the cold indifference of the Universe with a death sentence dogging us around. Some of us ignore this fact and live life with the expectation that death, though a reality, is an incredibly distant one and we don’t really think much of it. On the other hand, there are those who get too concerned by this fact and spend their lives in mortal fear of being claimed by their end. The there […]