BOOKWORM

A Bit of Vacation Reading

As you may or may not know (Kris and I have yet to put up the formal trip articles) we just got back from a brief stint in Hawai’i. With vacations comes vacation reading, and we all know there’s nothing better than some ultra light pulpy nothingness to read on the airplane. That’s why I opted to read John Hersey’s Hiroshima and Kobo Abe’s The Face of Another on our trip.

*crickets*

Okay, still there? Yup, when it comes to books I don’t break for trash, even on vacation. Both titles deal with heavy heavy issues. Hersey’s Hiroshima follows six survivors of the Hiroshima bombing, through their initial struggles after the blast to their lives forty years later. The book is pure, classic journalism. No bias. Just facts. Hersey uses simple language to convey the events, and therein lies its power. It can be read and comprehended by people of all ages, from all walks of life. As such, the book is truly affecting — frightening, disturbing, and enlightening. As the Saturday Review of Literature states on the cover, Hiroshima should be read by anyone possessing the ability to read.

Second up is The Face of Another. Straight up I must admit that I am still reading this book, but it ranks with his best, and might just be his most important work. The Face of Another concerns a scientist who suffers major facial damage due to a lab mishap involving very volatile materials. The scientist, his face now a bandaged mass of keloid scars, makes an effort toward creating a prosthetic face, in order to restore his connection with the regular face possessing populace, and in doing so confronts all types of existential quandaries, relating to the nature of self, identity, personas, prejudice, saints, monsters, faith, and more. The narrative is laid out as a series of notebook entries from the scientist to the reader, whose relationship is slowly revealed over the course of the book. Very deep. Very good. You might want to read some other Abe before tackling The Face of Another, but it’s definitely one not to be missed.

Also, while on the trip I picked up a few titles at Shirokiya’s Book Off (near-new books for just $1.00). I will list the titles here. By no means should they be considered a full endorsement, as I haven’t had time to read them, but you readers might find them interesting

Da Word, by Lee Tonouchi. Written entirely in pidgin

The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot: Two Novels, by Junichiro Tanizaki. I read most of Tanizaki’s Some Prefer Nettles. He’s definitely a great writer, and the book was very interesting, but I had a hard time connecting with the unhappily married couple (I’m quite the content married man). Still, I intend to finish it, but I might sneak this one in first.

The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History, by Robert Darnton. What a terrible title, you know? But the incidents covered look to be pretty interesting.

The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner. Never read it. Think I will.