I was supposed to write this post in January, but better late than never. Hello readers, be welcome to my second book post of this 2024. You may have read some of these, but I bet there are others you have never heard of, so come in and have a nice reading time.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Joseph Addison
This is my second book post of this year and it’s going to be a long one, but it will be worthy of your time.
On this list you will find the 10 best books of a total of the 16 I read last year. Books are my favorite subject to write about, and I hope to write more about this in the future.
Here you will find a beloved American classic; a wonderful Russian story about Christian faith and devotion; a collection of short biographies of great artists; a 19th century French classic of intrigue and murder; a biography of an iconic American president told in the form of a novel; the story of a villain set in 18th century France; the best philosophy book I have ever read, and other books that will sure spark your interest.
As I always do with my book posts, first you'll have a brief description of the plot and later some information about the author, the book, and my own thoughts.
So, without further ado, let’s begin:
10 - The Way of a Pilgrim (1884) By Anonymous
A cover. (Via: goodreads.com)
One day, while reading his Bible, a humble peasant of 19th century’s Russia, decides to go on a pilgrimage to find someone to teach him the correct way to pray to God. He’s thirty three years old, his left arm is useless, his only possession in this world is an old Bible which he carries in a saddlebag. On his journey he encounters several amazing people and a staretz (an Old Russian monk), all of which help him in some way and leave an indelible impression on him.
Then, he will find a curious old man who helps him and asks him about his origins. And the pilgrim tells the sad story of his life and what took him to start his journey. To find the correct way to pray to God is his only mission in life. We will never know his name.
Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky – Rest on the way from Kiev (Pilgrim) (1888) (Via: bonhams.com)
A book I bought it in 2012, but never read it until last year when the reading of J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey, where The Way of a Pilgrim is mentioned, finally brought me to this short but wonderful book. This classic of Russian literature was written by an anonymous peasant who started a pilgrimage in order to find the perfect way to pray to God. The original manuscript was finally written around 1865 and was kept in custody by a group of monks at Mount Athos; years later it was delivered for its publication. It arrived to Western Europe and was edited in Germany in 1926 and was published in English in 1930. Since then many translations and editions have been printed to this day.
A sentimental and wonderful journey of a book I repent not having read before. It is divided in four parts and my favorite is the third one, where the wandering peasant finally tells the sad story of his life and what took him to start his pilgrimage to find God. I hope one day you can read this classic Christian tale of discovery, devotion, and faith.
9 – Angela’s Ashes (1996) By Frank McCourt
A cover of Angela’s Ashes. (Via: goodreads.com)
After living a miserable life in Brooklyn, New York, and the death of their infant baby girl, a poor Irish family decides to go back to Ireland with the help of some relatives. It’s the 1930s, Frankie McCourt is four years old, has other brothers, a drunk father who always loses his jobs, and a weak and irresponsible mother, who always has money for her Wild Woodbine cigarettes. All life has to offer for Frankie in Limerick, Ireland, is poverty and misery. But Frankie’s good humor and fighting spirit will help him pull through all the hardships that are coming for him.
Then, one day, his father will go to England to find work but will never come back. Frankie, his mother and brothers, go to live with a distant cousin and always pester family, friends, and the local church for money, food, or handouts. In his teenage years, Frankie will get a job as a messenger in bicycle. His only hope is to save all his money and one day go back to America, the place where he was born. But will he get there?
A poster of the 1999 film adaptation. (Via: google.com)
Frank McCourt was born in New York City, he was he eldest son of a couple of Irish Catholic immigrants. At the age of four he went back with his family to live in Ireland, where he suffered all kinds of hardships and sorrows. At the age of 19 he went back to the United States where he worked in a variety of odd jobs before starting his studies and graduated in 1957. Later, he worked as a college professor and published his tragicomic memoir Angela's Ashes in 1996, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize the next year. He went to write other two more autobiographical books. He died in New York City in 2009.
A book I always wanted to read since I saw the excellent film adaptation by Alan Parker in the early 2000s. It was only last year, when I stumbled by chance a copy of Angela’s Ashes in a book giveaway at my local church, that I was finally able to read it. You can never put this book down; it’s so funny, sad and pathetic at the same time, and you always want to know what new adventure awaits for Frankie now. Some situations are so outrageous and absurd you’re left wondering if they really happened at all. Turns out this is a memoir book, not an autobiography, has many exaggerations and fictional parts, and McCourt didn’t paint a nice flattering portrait of his mother either. Probably the best book ever written about poverty. Read it whenever you have the chance.
8 – Franny and Zooey (1961) By J.D. Salinger
A cover. (Via: goodreads.com)
A curious and bittersweet book that consists basically in a short story and a novella involving the younger members of the Glass family. In Franny we meet Frances “Franny” Glass, a pretty 20 year old college student who is on a date with her boyfriend Lane at a restaurant. As the pair drinks, eats, and smokes, their differences start to come to surface. Franny talks about the book she’s reading, The Way of a Pilgrim, but she has a hard time trying to communicate with the young man in front of her. Then, suddenly, Franny gets dizzy and faints.
Zooey consists in a couple of long conversations between the smug 25 year old actor Zooey, his mother Bessie, and his sister Franny. It’s November, 1955, and the Glass family still suffers the death of the older brother, Buddy. While he’s in seating in the tub of the bathroom, reading a script and smoking, Zooey is interrupted constantly by his mother. Later, Zooey gets ready to go out, but his sister Franny is in the living room. The siblings engage in a long talk about religion, art, and their problems as a family. Between lots of smoking and reflections about art, the likes of Pascal, Epictetus, Baudelaire, Emily Dickinson, and even Stan Musial are mentioned here.
Author J.D. Salinger in 1952. (Via: google.com)
The first time I heard about this short but excellent book was in 2003, when I took a screenwriting workshop and the professor recommended this book and told us to pay close attention to the dialogues. It was in 2009 when I bought the book, tried to read it, but couldn’t pass the first pages. It wasn’t until 2023 when I finally decided to read it. It can be a difficult reading at first because nothing really happens and you’re just submerged into several long conversations. But it is also told in a great, irreverent, and ironic way, with magnificent dialogues where art, religion, and books take an important place. A beloved book that took me to read The Way of a Pilgrim, and a book I definitely will read over and over again, and so should you.
Born in New York City into a Jewish family, J.D. Salinger was mostly known for his only novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), and a few short stories. He attended the Columbia University in Manhattan, fought in World War II, and wrote for prestigious magazines. After the publication of his only novel, the excellent short story collection Nine Stories (1953), and Franny and Zooey (1961), he became very reclusive avoiding public life and went to live in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he died in 2010, at age 91.
7 – American Adulterer (2009) By Jed Mercurio
A cover of American Adulterer. (Via: goodreads.com)
The Man is rich, handsome, powerful, he likes women and, since a very young age, has discovered they like him also. Among his many mistresses are models, secretaries, actresses, interns, prostitutes, friends of his family; he once confessed that he had a strange migraine if he didn’t sleep with a woman for more than three days. He’s married to a rich beauty, 12 years his younger, has a nice family and, at the age of 43, he has become the youngest president of the United States.
But he also suffers many diseases since he was a kid and to make matters worse he also suffers from a severe back pain, the product of an explosion during World War II. His many doctors assist him every day, prepare cocktails and injections to alleviate his pains, much of which have side effects on the Man’s health. His dear wife is always there for him, but she has suffered several miscarriages, smokes a lot, and spends money without any concerns. He alleviates his life with alcohol, lavish parties, travels around the world, and sex with the many women at his disposal. Then, in 1963, one of his trips to seek reelection will take him to Dallas, Texas.
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy relaxes in his Boston apartment, circa 1960. (Via: gettyimages.com)
John F. Kennedy wasn’t precisely a good president; he had many failures, and his short term in office didn’t do much for the country. Narrated as a biographical novel, American Adulterer tells the story of his life in a haunting and somewhat ironic way. With a nice and clear prose, the author constructs a realistic portrait of a family man and a politician loved by women and his people, but to whom the constant physical ailments took a good portion of his life. This is a book I bought back in 2013, but it stayed on my bookshelf until I finally decided to read it last year. It’s a good novel of this 21st century and, although is not exactly poetry, it is a better book than most of the things you can find out there. Some of the things you will discover in this book will really shock you.
Born in Lancashire, in 1966, Jed Mercurio is television writer, producer, director and novelist. He studied at the University of Birmingham, but retired from medicine to pursue a writing career. Since the 1990s, he has produced more than a dozen TV shows, and has authored four books. In 2021, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to television drama.
6 – Creators (2006) By Paul Johnson
A cover of Creators. (Via: goodreads.com)
Divided into 15 chapters, Creators showcases the portraits of several artists who that have left their indelible marks in this world through their respective crafts. The author touches also the theme of creation, the lives of the artists, their shocking secrets, and questions whether their works are the product of pure nature-given genius or just hard work. Creators is part of a trilogy Paul Johnson started in 1988 with Intellectuals, and finished in 2007 with Heroes.
The lives, dreams, routines, secrets, and deceptions of the likes of Shakespeare, Wagner, J.S. Bach, Hokusai, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Balenciaga, L.C. Tiffany, Picasso, Walt Disney, and many others are portrayed here in a way only a historian like Johnson could have done it. He concludes: “Creation is a wonderful thing, and all of those who create live a privilege life, no matter how difficult could it be.”
Walt Disney working in his studio. (Via: gettyimges.com)
One of the greatest historians of the 20th century, Paul Johnson was born in Manchester in 1928, and graduated with a second-class honors degree at Oxford. He worked as a journalist and collaborated in prestigious publications like The New York Times, Forbes, The Daily Telegraph, among others. As a historian he was the author of more than 40 books. In 2006, Johnson was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush, and in 2016 was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to literature. He died in 2023, at age 94.
Albrecht Dürer was the first artist who created a logo; J.S. Bach was the prolific father of thousands of music works and 20 children from two marriages; Wagner was addicted to luxury and was always pestering rich Germans for money; Hokusai relocated 93 times throughout his life; J.M.W. Turner started painting at the age of three; L.C. Tiffany was practically forgotten until he was rediscovered in the 1960s; T.S. Eliot never allowed himself to be photographed without a neck tie; Pablo Picasso was protected by the Nazis and lived a comfortable life during the German occupation; Thomas Edison was the greatest inventor the world has ever seen; Walt Disney invented cartoons with sound… these and many more are some of the curious things you will learn in this book that touches the mystery of creation like no other book you have read before.
5 – Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1985) By Patrick Süskind
A cover. (Via: goodreads.com)
In the filthy fish market of 18th century Paris, a creature is born with an extraordinary gift: a formidable sense of smell. His mother tries to kill him at birth, the other kids fear him, and he’s rejected by everyone who comes in touch with him; a priest gives him the name of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille and gets rid of him. In his teenage years, his extraordinary sense of smell caughts the attention of the famous perfumer Baldini who will teach him the art of making perfumes. One night, Grenouille follows a smell that fascinates him, the smell of a young redhead woman, and an accident will occur.
After leaving Paris and having many adventures in the south of France, Grenouille will arrive in Grasse to learn the secrets of the enfleurage. There, another young beautiful redhead woman will capture his attention. Suddenly, Grenouille has a purpose in life: to create the greatest of all fragrances ever known, and so be accepted by the world that has always rejected him. But to carry out his purpose he will have to become a murderer.
The 2006 movie adaptation. (Via: google.com)
A novel I discovered in 2006 after seeing a copy at the desk of a receptionist woman. It really blew my mind the first time I read it; it’s a story told in a quiet, yet classical way that nonetheless grabs you from the beginning and never lets you go. It has been accused of having a pastiche prose that it’s not quite at the level of the great literature, and although that can be true, it also has excellent descriptions about plants, materials, and formulas, and I love how the gothic eerie atmosphere of 18th century’s France is depicted here. Customs, clothes, places and cities, the smells, and even the prices of objects, are all described in a superb way almost never seen in contemporary literature. This book was an immediate success, it has sold more than 20 million copies, and has been translated into 49 languages, including Latin, proving that commercial literature can also be good literature.
A German writer, Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, Bavaria, in 1949. He’s mostly known for his only novel The Perfume. After taking the world by storm with this magnificent fantastic novel in 1985, he wrote a couple of books that didn’t make it. He retired to live as recluse in Munich and in a little town in France, and has been described as Germany's most mysterious author. The Pefume was adapted into a film in 2006. Fun fact: The Perfume was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite books, which he re-read ten times and always kept near him. A perfect novel for those who want to read the good literature but don’t know where to start: you can start right here with this amazing novel.
4 – La Bête humaine (1890) By Émile Zola
Lithograph advertisement for La bête humaine, 1889. (Via: commons.wikimedia.org)
One afternoon while in Paris, the beautiful Severine confesses a terrible secret to her husband Roubaud, a railroad officer. The secret will lead to a horrible murder inside a moving train only witnessed by Jacques Lantier, a young man also an employee of the railroad. Lantier also hides a terrible secret of his own, an impulse he can barely control. When Lantier starts working on the railroad, he will also start an affair with Severine while Roubaud will lose himself in drinking and gambling.
As the story goes between Paris and Le Havre, a tangle of intrigue, murder, railroad accidents and even a suicide will alter the quiet life of the French countrymen. Then, Jacques Lantier will give himself to his impulses with terrible consequences for those around him while at the same time France prepares for the Franco-Prussian War.
An illustration of La Bète humaine from Le Petit Rouennais. (Via: meisterdrucke.es)
Born in Paris in 1840, Émile Zola was one of the greatest French authors of the 19th century. He published more than 20 novels during his lifetime, became a very wealthy man, and had influential friends such as Paul Cezanne, Gustave Flaubert, and Anatole France. In 1898, he involved himself in the infamous Dreyfus affair and published his manifest J'Accuse...! He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in Paris in 1902. Many of his works have been adapted to film.
I have never read anything by Zola until last year when a friend who was moving to another country gave us a red book containing four novels by this author. I started reading Nana, but switched for La Bête humaine, and really liked it. Zola had a keen eye for observation, the skills of a reporter, and some say he even anticipated to cinema. His descriptions are very detailed, something typically French, and can be overwhelming for someone who is reading a French novel for the first time. Although this work is not at the same level of works by Flaubert or Victor Hugo, Zola is still an author I’m glad to have discovered and want to read more in the future. With its intricate plot of secrets, betrayal, murder and suicide, *La