3rd Reading of Germinal by Émile Zola #Zoladdiction2024

❤ Time and again I have mentioned that Germinal is my all time favorite book. I haven't yet found any other which is as compelling and eloquently written as this Zola's chef-d'œuvre - magnum opus. This was my third read (listen, actually) of it, and I still hold on to my conviction, that Germinal is the most magnificent work I've ever read.

❤ Germinal is about the life and struggles of mining workers in a small town of Montsou, where Étienne Lantier (offspring of the Macquart line, with history of drunkards in the family), is looking for a job. He serves as the outsider's point of view of the local struggles (this is Zola's usual trope - a newcomer who changes or stirs the existing ground). Germinal has quite many facets of the story, the social injustice towards the working class; their hatred to the bourgeoisie; the struggles of the bourgeoisie - sandwiched between their inferior and superior of the "bosses" in Paris. It also touches on the socialism dream, and, of course, Zola's pet topic: naturalism.

❤ The strong point of Germinal lays in, as are with Zola's other books, his vivid narration of the landscape. You'd feel suffocated just by reading about the condition in the coal mine, hundred meters below the earth, which Zola brought to life through his magnificent research and detailed description. Another strong point is the eloquent prose with which he told this drama of human nature with its raw emotion. You'd feel the characters' anguish as if you are their kin.

❤ I think Germinal is one book that has to be read, not listened to. Either the audiobook I listened to uses edition with less qualified translation, or Zola's words are more eloquent read inside my head, rather than narrated. I don't blame the narrator, though, Leighton Pugh do a great job. I have listened to his narrating The Ladies Paradise, and really liked it. Germinal is just too eloquent to be narrated, that's what I think. Other than that, I think I wasn't supposed to read this book during my current mental condition. It conveys a huge amount of sorrows and helplessness (though with a little sparks of hope of brighter future in the end), and now just isn't a good time to read about these dark elements. Thus, I decided to give Germinal a rest for at least five or ten years before taking it again for the fourth time. Or maybe.... a great book is supposed to be read not more than twice, to preserve its magnificent quality? I don't know... 

Read this book for:

Zoladdiction 2024

Have You Got Everything You Want? by Agatha Christie #AgathaChristieSS24

💎 A recently-married young wife is on board the Orient Express to Constantinople to join her husband, who had been there some days before. She recognizes a man whose name is familiar to her from The Times ad she often notices: 'Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne.' Well, Elsie is unhappy right now, so she consults Parker Pyne.

💎 A week before her husband left for Constantinople, Elsie found on the blotting paper few lines of her husband's writing: 'wife', 'Simplon Express', and the most curious one: 'just before Venice would be the best time'. Elsie is naturally worried, and Parker Pyne takes the matter in his hand.

💎 Near Venice, a little incident happens, and during the confusion, Elsie's jewelries were stolen. A Slavic woman is their suspect, but they find nothing on her. Where the jewelry could have been? At one point Elsie can't trust Mr. Pyne any longer as he didn't deliver what he had promised. But Parker Pyne proofs he's a good detective besides his skill of making people happy.

💎 It is a light story, and the perpetrator isn't hard to guess. Nonetheless, it's an entertaining piece of story with a bit of cuteness. I guess that's what makes every Christie's a comfort read for me. It's not just about the mystery (and they are usually simple-clever), but Christie seems to always promote love as the greatest mystery of human being. And she delivers them with a humorous cheekiness. ❤

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino #1937Club

🖤 Genzaburo Yoshino was graduated from college in the 1920s with a degree in philosophy, but his interest was soon shifted to politics. In 1925, Japan passed the Public Security Preservation Law, forbidding its people to say or write anything critical to the government. Yoshino was arrested and imprisoned for eighteen months after attending political meetings with socialists. After being released, a friend offered him a job of editing ethics textbook series for younger readers, to teach them the importance of free and rich culture to human progress. Yoshino thought such books would bored young readers, so they came up with the idea of writing it as a novel instead. How Do We Live? is the end result.

🖤 The story is about a fifteenth year-old boy called Honda Jun'ichi, but nicknamed Copper. It's an interesting story how Jun'ichi got this nickname. His father died two years before, and his last wish was that Copper would grow into a good human being. So, Copper's uncle begins to guide and advice him. They become very intimate and inseparable.

🖤 One day Copper and his Uncle are on top roof of Ginza, looking down on the busy street of Tokyo. At that moment Copper realized how tiny his existence was, just like a single molecule within the wide world. And that's when his Uncle starts writing a letter-like notes to Copper in a notebook. His topic ranges from science (Coppernicus - that's whom Copper got his nickname from), philosophy, ethics, to culture (Buddhism) and history (Napoleon).

🖤 Through out the story, we are presented alternately with Copper's struggles at school, as well his impressions of human beings; and with the Uncle's long notes on various topics accordingly to what Copper has faced or shared to him about. Inspiring and reflective though they are, I think these lectures could have been too long-winded, if they were addressed to young readers. My favorite part is when Copper befriends a poor boy, whose family own a tofu shop. Well, not so poor as they have few employers, but is considered poor compared to the wealthy families the boy is in school with. I just wondered why the poor family chose this school for the boy in the first place. Anyway, it provides a nice education for Copper. Another one is one of Copper's friends is bullied, and how Copper, when the moment come when he should've stood up for his friend, failed to do so, and it tormented poor Copper. What a huge learning he got from that experience, what with his understanding mother and intelligent uncle! 

🖤 All in all, it's a gem from bygones that I'm very glad to have found, thanks to the 1937 Club! Speaking of 1937, it's refreshing to be able to take a journey to Japan in that era. I would love to seeing newsreel film at the theater, like what Copper and his uncle do for leisure.

A few wonderful quotes:

"A heroic spirit that's not devoted to human progress may be empty and meaningless, but goodness that is lacking in the spirit of heroism is often empty as well."

" When you have made a mistake, to recognize it bravely and to suffer for it is something that in all if heaven and earth, only humans can do."

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read this book for:

The 1937 Club

hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book & Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

The Classics Club Spin #37

I am almost completing my annual task of tax reporting at work, and I think I deserve some excitement, that is…. The Classics Club Spin! I will allow the Spin to decide which book I will read for May. But first…

What is Classics Spin?
It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday 21st April, 2024 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list. This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period. On Sunday 21th, April we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 2nd June, 2024.

My list:

--UPDATE: I'll be reading: Cold Comfort Farm-- 

1. A Room with a View (E.M. Forster) – DNF several years ago, just because I was not 1n the right mood.
2. Frenchman’s Creek (Daphne du Maurier) – planning to read for Daphne du Maurier Reading Week (if happening).
3. Lucy Gayheart (Willa Cather) – I used to do a personal Willa Cather reading month, and been meaning to start again this year.
4. The Cornish Coast Murder (John Bude) – planning to read for A Century of Books, year 1935.
5. Queen Lucia (E.F. Benson)
6. Cranford (Elizabeth Gaskell)
7. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (Helene Hanff)
8. Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)
9. Stormy, Misty’s Foal (Marguerite Henry)
10. The Enchanted Barn (Grace Livingston Hill)
11. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L. Konigsburg)
12. Cider with Rosie (Laurie Lee)
13. Miss Marjoribanks (Mrs. Oliphant)
14. Excellent Women (Barbara Pym)
15. The Nine Tailors (Dorothy L. Sayer)
16. Rhododendron Pie (Margery Sharp)
17. The Black Arrow (Robert Louis Stevenson)
18. The Reef (Edith Wharton)
19. A Woman of No Importance (Oscar Wilde)
20. Maltese Falcon (Dashiel Hammet)

Spot a favorite or two? Which ones do you hope the Spin pick for me? I’m hoping for no. 2 and 4, but any book will be nice!

Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac #1937Club

🦇 I am familiar with English idiom of "bee in the bonnet", but "bats in the belfry" is a new one that I got to know only from this title by E.C.R. Lorac. It's the 12th book of Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald - a police figure of my favorite from Golden Age detectives.

🦇 Bruce Attleton, once a successful writer, but is now struggling, is missing from his house. Two of his guests at dinner party where he was last seen try to take the matter in their own hand. They suspect a man called Debrette who must be behind it, most probably a blackmailer.

🦇 Their investigation brought them to The Belfry - an old dilapidated building with a tower, where Debrette is said to stay. It's a spooky old house, but few days later Debrette, too, vanished. The amateur sleuths found Attleton's suitcase with his passport inside The Belfry. At that point, they involved the police, and... enter Robert Macdonald. The thorough searching resulted in the finding of a mutilated corpse inside the wall. Whose was it? Attleton? Debrette? Did the one murdered the other?

🦇 This is my third Lorac so far, and I think it's going to be my favorite. A spooky house, an over-zealous amateur sleuth in Robert Grenvile, a cute love story, identity confusion, and an intricate plot that leaves us guessing until near the end. Even MacDonald wasn't so sure of who commits the murder until the murderer was forced to make a desperate move.

🦇 All in all, this book possesses every aspect of a great and highly entertaining crime story. The presence of youngsters in the center of the mystery: Robert Grenvile (who wants to marry Attleton's ward), Elizabeth Leigh (the ward), and Neil Rockingham added a refreshing charm that melted even Robert MacDonald's usual formal manner, that he becomes more charming and less serious in this story.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read this book for:

The 1937 Club

hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book & Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh #1937Club

🍾 I know I have read Ngaio Marsh years ago in high school, but can't remember which one or how many, so I shall count this as my first introduction to Roderick Alleyn. The Chief Inspector is on holiday, and happens to be travelling on the same train with a theater company on their way to perform in New Zealand. Alleyn soon befriends some the theater members, though only reveals his true identity as Scotland Yard officer to Albert Meyer, owner of the company: Incorporated Playhouses.

🍾 Mysterious things start to happen on board the train: Meyer was nearly murdered after allegedly being pushed off the train. Then one of the female actresses lost her money. But things got really beyond control after their successful first night performance. Meyer wanted to surprise his wife, the famous actress Carolyn Decres, on her birthday, by a theatrical trope of a huge bottle of champagne falling down from the ceiling after she pulling down a rope. Well, she pulled the rope, but the huge bottle hit Meyer on the head instead, and killed him.

🍾 The incident happened, no doubt, because someone who knew about the arrangement - and everyone knew and were involved in it except Carolyn - had tinkered the contraption just before the party started. Who had opportunity and motive? Alleyn cooperates with local policemen to investigate.

🍾 This is a delightful old school Golden Age crime fiction involving a series of interviews, checking on alibis, and the intricately calculated plot. Part of the delight is the 1930s behind-the-stage theatrical life atmosphere which added a unique charm to this story. The company was inspired by the similar theater company Marsh had joined herself, and that's how it felt real.

🍾 I also loved the cultural touch of Māori in this story. One important clue is a tiki - a tiny statue with human images carved into wood, bone, stone, or other material - that Alleyn gifted to Carolyn Decres for her birthday. And a Māori Doctor is a prominent figure in this mystery. Allen's confusion of the local slang used by the police is quite hilarious and reminds us that the crime is happening in New Zealand.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read the book for:

The 1937 Club

hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book & Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

Preparing for the #1937Club

I am very refreshed today after a week of holiday, which I spent mostly with preparing for the upcoming #1937Club, hosted by Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Karen @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. I have read the three books I was intended to read, and am now finishing review of the last one. Next week will be super tight for me, so it's better to settle everything by this weekend.

1937 was a glorious era for Golden Age Detective writers, there are so many titles to choose from, that I ended up reading two. The other one is an Asian middle-grade classic. I won't reveal the titles now, just wait till my reviews published!

Meanwhile, I will share books published in 1937 that I have read so far:

Golden Age Crime Fiction:
Three are from Agatha Christie: Death in the Nile, Dumb Witness, and Incredible Theft. The other is from J. Jefferson Farjeon: Mystery in White.

Classics:
- The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
- To Have and Have Not (Ernest Hemingway)
- Jane of Lantern Hill (L.M. Montgomery)
- The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)

Graphic Novel:
The Broken Ear (Adventures of Tintin #6)

Will you join #1937Club? What will you be reading?