Later by Stephen King

“If you can see the dead, maybe don’t tell people”

Later is considered a horror story, which is usually not a genre I read. But, hey, it’s Steven King. And it was short enough to give it a go.

The premise is that Jamie Conklin has the ability to see and talk to dead people. Told from the perspective of Jamie Conklin, the narrative shuttles between the immediacy of now and the hindsight of “later” to tell a kind of coming-of-age-as-mystery story, an exploration of innocence and what’s on the other side of childhood.

In Later, as well as telling a good story, Stephen King lightly brushes and engages with wider concepts. He looks at childhood relationships, what clarifies right and wrong, if murder can be justifiable, and far more. Whilst the book does not revolve around these issues, it certainly brings in a humane, thought-provoking angle in including such issues from the perspective of a child.

The key to this snappy little novel that reads so quickly is the narrative voice of Jamie. It has that coming-of-age innocence laced with a bit of streetwise sarcasm that just works so well. Despite an ultimate battle between good and evil, this one you find to be horror-lite. It doesn't get to the point of being terrifying, but coasts around that border a little.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

“Guns, a dog, and a Cessna — post-apocalyptic survival pack”

Overview: Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.

This story, for lots of reasons, reminded me of my father. The hunting, the solitariness, the chewing tobacco, the main character’s relationship with his dog, his sense of connection with nature; and I shared many of those experiences with my father, so this book really touched me.

I also liked it because it was a dystopian novel, but subtle. There wasn’t a lot of exposition or background on the nature of the “disease” that eradicated most humans - just sort of tossed you right into the middle of what was happening.

It’s hard for me to describe the power of this book, and through it all, I’d rate this post-apocalyptic story as "hopeful." But, in its odd, idiosyncratic and special way, I think it is. Even though the journey to that point of hope is a real doozy.

Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

“A story of aliens, space, and adventure, featuring no aliens”

Overview: Rendezvous with Rama is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story is about a 50-by-20-kilometer cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System and the team of explorers who are sent to explore it. 

Clarke does a great job with the scientific tone and meticulous details that slowly build the reader's anticipation that something very big is going to happen when humans land on and make their way into the craft. Gripping is the best way to describe it. 

I fucking loved this book. This is a bit more sci-fi than I tend to read, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It’s one of those books that you can just visualize in your head without even realizing that you’re reading. 

Rama is very well written and although the characters are not the most complex I have ever encountered, they make very logical decisions and do not stray from their character. The real beauty in the story is the gradual unraveling of the secrets hidden within Rama as well as its strong grounding in real-world scientific principles as well as what might realistically be possible with sufficiently advanced engineering.

Overall, Rama is straightforward, clean, technical without being too much so, well written and a good story with an intriguing premise.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

“He has a habit of repeating himself. So it goes”

Overview: Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.

This book is oddly engaging, unpredictable and just plain weird. This type of work can not be copied because it so utterly original.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book, I had never read Vonnegut before and didn't know what this book would be like. Vonnegut does an excellent job mixing history with war criticism and science fiction. It seemed to me an unlikely combination, which is probably why this book is so peculiar.

The premise is simple: we follow the non-linear narrative as told by Billy Pilgrim, sandwiched between the author-narrator’s opening and closing chapters – so from that perspective, it makes for an unexpectedly different read if you’re used to going from A to Z.

The circumstances surrounding the bombing of Dresden during World War II are central to the story, not only the author-narrator’s fascination with it, but also the role it plays in Billy’s life. What I liked about Billy’s narrative is that we’re never sure whether his alien abduction and apparent time-traveling has any basis in reality, and I’m quite a fan of this sort of ambiguity. 

Vonnegut also put himself, along with his characters, into the story, which is weird since Martin Amis did the same thing in his book Money, which I just finished.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

“There is never a right time to fall in love”

The novel is a nostalgic story of loss and burgeoning sexuality. It is told from the first-person perspective of Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo.

This was the second Murakami book I read this year and similar to the first one, there’s an ease with his style of writing that puts you right in the middle of every scene he’s describing.

The story is about the life of a Japanese university student in the late 60s and his relationships with different women as a student. At some points, I thought, “Why am I so invested in the characters of an angsty romance novel?” But having thought about it, Norwegian Wood is so much more than that. It’s about life, loss, love, and everything in between. The ending caught me off guard, but I felt complete with it - sort of thinking to myself, “well of course that’s how it had to end.”

Reading Murakami, as an aspiring writer, is challenging. Part of me loves his works, and the other part of me thinks, “Well, this Japanese author is as good as it gets, there’s no topping it.” Despite the internal jealousy and unrelenting fascination with how he uses his words, I look forward to reading more Murakami in the future.

The Outsider by Albert Camus

“If you can’t handle heat, don’t go to the beach”

The story is about a man who kills an Arab in French Algiers during a conflict with a friend. He is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting the main character’s first-person narrative view before and after the murder.

This was a Christmas gift, so although I don’t like first person novels, I powered through this 116 page classic in a day or two. Overall, it was interesting, but I wouldn’t read it again. At one point in the story, I wondered if the main character was mentally handicapped or a psychopath, someone born without empathy towards people or animals. In the end, I just realized he was pragmatic, and that instead of feeling guilty for the murder, I can understand why he states he simply feels annoyed by the legal proceedings.

The book had some good lines mixed in with the plain descriptions of his surroundings. One quote that stuck out to me was, “According to the priest, human justice was nothing and divine justice was everything. I pointed out that it was the former which had condemned me.”

I also don’t know if I agree with the quote on the cover, because I’m not sure how much this book marked my life, and certainly not ‘indelibly’.

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

“Hope, regret, what if, and probably - is love really ‘real’?”

The novel tells the story of Hajime, starting from his childhood in a small town in Japan until the age of 36. Hajime now the father of two children and owner of two successful jazz bars in Tokyo must choose between his wife and family or attempting to recapture the magic of the past.

This was the first book that I’d say I really identified with. It’s about a Japanese guy and his relationships throughout his life and how they shape who he is and the way he sees the world. In the book, a lot of the bad things that happen are due to the main character’s choices, which I liked rather than something happening to him. The end of the book is weird. You feel like you’re going down one path, and understanding what’s happening, and then all of the sudden you start to question if one of the biggest parts of the book is even real. Someone said Murakami likes to drift in and out of reality and the spirit world, which I would say was an accurate description for this book. That said, I really liked it and I connected with the main character on an emotional level, having thought a lot about my relationships and the person I want to become as I grow older.

Empire of Dragons by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

“A rugged Roman Gladiator road-trip with a Chinese twist”

The story follows Roman Emperor Licinius Valerianus and his twelve guards who are dragged away to work as prisoners in a solitary Persian turquoise mine. They escape and thus begins the adventures of the Romans as they journey to China. There they will discover that they aren't the first of their kind to arrive in China: they were preceded centuries before by the survivors of the 'lost legion'. 

I read this on planes, trains, taxis, and busses while traveling through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. This book was epic, and reminded me a lot of “The Physician” by Noah Gordon. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it was full of action, forbidden love, and both a physical and personal journey. Books like this are just a fun read and easy to get lost in. So if you’ve been reading a bit too much dystopian stuff, this was a nice change of pace.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

“Learning to accept yourself is easier when ‘thought’ than said”

The novel takes place in a dystopian society set in the future after a nuclear holocaust. The inhabitants of the society subscribe to a fundamentalist religion focused on keeping all living things in their “pure” form, denouncing genetic mutations. 

Typically, I shy away from first person books but since my friend Carlos gave this to me for Christmas, I decided to give it ago. Five pages in, I realize the main character is a child and I’m dealing with his thoughts in first person and I almost noped right out of there. However, I stuck with it and was surprised with how well first person worked for this book, especially once the twist is revealed. The ending was cool, and one of those scenes that flows so well you can imagine it in your head.

Fatherland by Robert Harris

“A riveting, alternative history with an über amount of German”

Set in a universe where Nazi Germany won World War II, the story's lead protagonist is an officer in Kripo, the criminal police, investigating the murder of a Nazi government official who was one of the participants at the Wannsee Conference. In so doing, he discovers a plot to eliminate all attendees of the conference in order to help Germany establish better political relations with the United States.

I almost stopped after a few chapters because there was so much German I questioned whether the book was in English or not. The titles of all the offers in the book were so long that it was difficult to keep track of who was speaking or who characters were referring to. Once I got over that, this was a really interesting concept that played out nicely. I’m looking forward to reading more Robert Harris because the structure and flow of “Fatherland” was easy and fun to read.