Tag: penguin classics

The Penguin Classics Book by Henry Eliot

What a beautiful and rich book and reading experience. This is a readers book.

Essentially this is a book that covers Penguin Classics books. From the figures behind the books inceptions and the editors and translators. The book is split into sections like Ancient Greece, Rome, Republic Rome, Middle Ages, Renaissance etc up to World War 1. It features fiction, poetry, non-fiction, sagas. Each author featured has a short biography where one exists along with books they have printed as part of Penguin Classics. Each book shows covers of the editions of the books along with a paragraph long commentary/synopsis.

It really is an interesting and insightful read, I have bookmarked many books through my reading of this one, lots of new to me books and authors.

Another interesting tidbit is the breakdown and meaning behind the ISBN of books, something that is overlooked can be so fascination such as the 978 or 979 portion is a country code for books or Bookland as its known in the industry.

Suspicion by Seichō Matsumoto

A short novel in which a woman is accused of her husbands murder. The woman has prior convictions and the court of public opinion against her, presuming her guilt based on circumstantial evidence.

A journalist who stirred the fires is worried that a competent lawyer may get her acquitted and that he may reap what he sowed in her revenge due to her reputation and ties with the Yakuza..

I enjoyed it and the conclusion when it came was surprising and sudden and I would have liked more.

I really have had good experiences when I have read the novels of Seichō Matsumoto.

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A beautiful read, a short story that will linger long in the memory and one that will be revisited. Clear to see how Dostoyevsky is a master of his craft and gets right to the heart of the human condition.

At times this was heart warming and heart breaking, two lonely souls who find love and a connection however fleeting it may be. Though I finished reading this yesterday it has lingered in my mind all day, it was heartbreakingly beautiful and I found myself empathising and feeling the lead characters loneliness in life, something I have lived through and live through too. We all have our own loneliness in life and have wasted years we later look back on with regret and sadness. This passage really hit me.

Ultimately the character in this story is an early version nice guy who gets friendzoned.

The second short story I read but didn’t care for, its the titular story that gets all the glory