The Unoriginal Bastard Meme- Favorite Books of 2007

Master and Margarita- Mikhail Bulgakov. Finally finished this sucker after several tries. Well worth the time and effort.


RUR- Rossum's Robots- Karol Capek. The original Robot play. Robot is the Czech stem for work. But these first fictional robots are not mechanical automatons but actually synthetic genetic clones. Way more advanced and nuanced portrayal than I thought. Also very funny and tragic at the same time.


Botchan- Natsume Suseki. Very funny especially if you have ever been a teacher. It kind of reminds me of the trials and tribulations of Torgodevil in Korea (especially in the beginning). The novel details all the stupid politics and rivalries between teachers and the administration not to mention the students themselves, who are spoiled and unruly. The narrator is also interesting in that he is from Tokyo and looks down upon the small town as provincial and unsophisticated.
Though you can identify with him, the main character is a bit of a prick himself having been doted on my his maid Kiyo all his life. He is her "Botchan" like the Spanish señorito is a title given to spoiled boys of rich families.
So he goes on giving unpleasant nicknames to everyone at the school: Badger(Tanuki), Redshirt (Akashatsu), Porcupine (Yamaarashi) etc . . .
And even refers to them this way in regular conversation.

Overall, a very good light read.



Rimas y Leyendas- Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. I thought this 19th century work was all mamby-pamby Romanticism. Actually the poetry is quite modern in structure belying its supposedly simple surface.


Canto general- Pablo Neruda. A very ambitious work about the American continent. A modern epic poem. I admire the scope of the work and there are several



Walt Whitman- Complete Poetry and Prose. I finally was able to digest this uniquely American author. It helps when you have more than the 1850's edition of Leaves of Grass but also the last edition from the 1890's. Whitman's prose, especially his description of the Civil War is particularly poetic and moving. He helped attended to the wounded and dying at an army hospital.


Al Kuzari- Yehuda Ha-Levi. A very impressive treatment of the Philosophy of Religion. Especially Judaism.


Jesus of Nazareth. His Holiness Benedict XVI. A very good analysis and rebuttal of an unquestioned faith in historical criticism and its fruits in appreciating the figure of Jesus.


Socrates meets Descartes. Peter Kreeft. A pretty thorough treatment of Descartes' philosophy and his underlying presuppositions.


El libro de su vida. Santa Teresa de Jesús. The autobiography of Saint Theresa of Avila who turns out to be one of the most down to earth people you will ever meet contrary to her image in popular culture.


A Heroe for Our Time. Mikhail Lermontov. In a series of connected vignettes this novel details the exploits of Pechorin an aloof Byronesque character who manipulates everyone and everything for his own disenchanted ego out in remote Caucus region of Russia.


Prose and Poetry. Alexander Pushkin. His poetry is notoriously hard to render in translation but his prose works maintain a great vibrancy.