I have found keeping track of my reading in 2024 and 2025 extremely useful and interesting. I know that nobody else is really interested – and that is ok – but it helps me to structure my reading and that is reason enough to continue this year.
Werbung wegen Markennennung. Considered advertising due to naming of brands.
Tutankhamun: The Eternal Splendor of the Boy Pharaoh, Text by T.G.H. James – Photography by Araldo De Luca
To start off the year, some non-fiction… some jaw-dropping non-fiction.
This book gives a brief history of Tutankhamun’s place in history, especially in relation with the religious, political and artistic upheaval brought out by his father Akhenaton. It then covers Howard Carter’s career from artist to archaeologist and his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
What really stands out in this volume though are the photos by Araldo De Luca and the accompanying texts, detailing composition, imagery, techniques used, etc. The photos are stunning and the objects photographed even more so. Objects like the Canopic Shrine, the Ceremonial Throne or even a pair of earrings with duck heads are amazing. And there are so many more. I had to read this a few pages at a time – in order to fully appreciate what I was seeing.
Some thoughts:
- The author is perhaps a little to biased in Carter’s favour. Although the main allegations against him only came to light after this book was published, there were plenty of contemporary rumours and suspicions that he was stealing from the tomb.
- The tomb was robbed twice in antiquity. What we have left is amazing… but that begs the question – what was taken? The robbers also damaged some of the objects they left behind. Very sad.
- Tutankhamun was a minor pharaoh. He was still basically a boy when he died. How magnificent must the tombs of the great pharaohs have been? All plundered by thieves in antiquity.
Rose/House, by Arkady Martine
Arkady Martine is the author of the fantastically good sci-fi novels ‘A Memory Called Empire’ and ‘A Desolation Called Peace’. ‘Rose House’ is a novella that is a creepy near-future sci-fi murder mystery with AI at its core. A good read, but it didn’t grab me as much as her longer sci-fi novels.
Jour gris et autres récits, par Colette
Ces quatre nouvelles ravissantes de Colette sont de petits bijoux parfaits, parfaitement construits et aux multiples facettes.
J’ai trouvé cela difficile à lire – tant de fleurs et d’autres termes botaniques !
Ok… this is easier for me in English. These wonderful little gems of short stories each deserve a long detailed analysis. Indeed, as far as I know, they are often covered in literature classes in French schools for the baccalauréat (final school qualifications) and are probably analysed to death on a daily basis.
Colette triggers all of your senses as a reader and makes every short story seem like a journey of discovery, in which we meet her in various forms along the way. Unfortunately for me, the triggering of many of those senses involves a vast array of different flowers and other descriptive language, which meant that I had to turn to a dictionary more often than I would have liked.
I will return to Colette in the future – probably first to read more of her short stories.
Twelve Months, by Jim Butcher
The 18th book in The Dresden Files series, takes place in the twelve months (hence the title) following the huge battle that took up pretty much the whole last novel in the series. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the last novel that much – it was like the second half of a Marvel film – one huge epic battle that just didn’t work for me as a novel. This latest edition to the series is much more down-to-earth and human though, focussing more on character growth than huge magical beasties (but of course, with plenty of those too). This series is one of the most entertaining fantasy series out there – total worth reading.
The Oresteia, by Aeschylus. Translated by Robert Fagles
The Oresteia is the only remaining trilogy of tragedies that we have from ancient Greece and is a hugely important work in the history of world literature. But even if it didn’t have historical significance, it is a powerful and evocative piece of entertainment, and would still be significant.
It tells the story of the transition away from revenge and towards justice. The curse of the house of Atreus results in a seemingly endless cycles of murder, culminating in Orestes’s murder of his mother, Clytemnestra and the birth of courtroom justice. Powerful and poetic, this work is a turning point… away from the primal revenge and barbarity of The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Captain Future – Der Ewige Herrscher, Szenario: Sylvain Runberg, Zeichnungen: Alexis Tallone
Diese BD wurde mir geliehen von einem Bekannten. Ich gestehe, ich hätte sie mir nicht selber gekauft… Insgesamt würde ich sagen… nicht schlecht. Nette Geschichte, gute Zeichnungen… mir fehlt nur etwas… Meine Lieblingsserien wie z.B. Valerian und Laureline oder Le Cycle de Cyann oder Der Incal, usw… habe deutlich mehr…charm? Biss? Ich weiß es nicht.
Sibylline: Chroniques d’une escort girl, scénario et dessin par Sixtine Dano
Cette bande dessinée raconte l’histoire d’une étudiante qui devient escorte pour financer ses études. Bien que cette histoire soit clairement opposée au travail du sexe, elle n’est pas moralisatrice. Les personnages et les situations sont tirés de la vie réelle et sont donc d’autant plus percutants. De plus, les dessins sont excellents. Vivement recommandé !
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