Next book: The Stranger from Camus

Come back soon for our reading schedule and get ready for some good French existentialism!

Our newest candidates

So we have three potential, very interesting, books to read, in the mood for the classics, Saul Bellow or Camus, or maybe reading about a journey in Africa, which one will you vote for?

Rocío suggests: 

My suggestion is for Saul Bellow and his novel "The Adventures of Augie March", that has been said one of the greatest american novels of the 20th century and its opening paragraph is one of the most famous (curious to read it already?). 

Saul Bellow has received the Nobel Prize of literature, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Award for Book Fiction (three times) .

I have just read his life and wikipedia, a very interesting one, so I decided, time to read the 20th century classics... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow

Jorge has two suggestions this time:

"The Stranger" is not merely one of the most widely read novels of the 20th century, but one of the books likely to outlive it. Written in 1946, Camus's compelling and troubling tale of a disaffected, apparently amoral young man has earned a durable popularity (and remains a staple of U.S. high school literature courses) in part because it reveals so vividly the anxieties of its time. Camus won the Nobel Prize in 1957 and was noted for his existentialist aesthetic. The remarkable trick of The Stranger, however, is that it's not mired in period philosophy.

The plot is simple. A young Algerian, Meursault, afflicted with a sort of aimless inertia, becomes embroiled in the petty intrigues of a local pimp and, somewhat inexplicably, ends up killing a man...

And the second (a Spanish book, feel free to use google translate on the right side to get an instant imperfect translation, but again, instant!):

"El sueño de África", con el subtítulo de «En busca de los mitos blancos del continente negro», es un libro de viajes escrito por Javier Reverte que relata un viaje del autor de varios meses por África oriental. El el primer libro de los 3 que el autor ha escrito sobre este continente, que juntos reúnen la «Trilogía de África».

Publicado en 1996, fue un éxito de ventas y está considerado como uno de los libros de viajes más representativos del género publicados en España.^1 2 La edición dispone de bibliografía e índice alfabético, que permiten que sea utilizada como obra de consulta.

Dance, Dance, Dance: Final Discussion

So we are finished with Murakami, the Sheep Man, and our protagonist and his particular world and "friends". 

What were your thoughts when reading  the last page? Were you expecting that end? Do you feel everything gets connected? Or maybe you were not waiting for any particular connection... And at the end of the day, do you think you will be reading another Murakami soon?

We would love to hear from you!

Dance, Dance, Dance: Chapters 23 - 32

Things have been busy during the holidays so this post is coming a few days later than scheduled. However, it seems the reading has been good and fast for many of you. Great!

In these chapters we get to know more about Yuki "skills" and the relationship with her particular family. What do you think about them? What about Dick? What is the purpose of his role in the story, if any? And what about the trip to Hawaii? How do you feel about the evolution of the relationship between Yuki and the protagonist? Is it everything clear and clean in it?

Worth mentioning too is the bizarre persecution of Kiki and the elements of classic mystery novel in that persecution that, in Murakami's hands, are at the same time not classic at all. And again, is it all in the protagonist's mind or is it real? Will we know as we keep reading? Looking forward to find out.