............................
Sacred Books of the East - I was interested in reading the Koran but this compilation was all that was available. Brief thoughts on each:
Vedic Hymns - Dull, pompous odes to Marut warriors. Long-winded with no religious or philosophical wisdom, just praises about how great the demi-gods are.
Zend-Avesta - The key Zoroastrian text is another major disappointment. The first chapter starts off promisingly: we tour the eleven great regions of the world created by Ahura Mazda, each designed to be an earthly paradise. However, Angra Mainyu introduces an Achilles' heel to each land. For example, the tropics are lush and beautiful where one only has to stretch out one's hand to pluck delicious fruits; however, it has been made unbearably hot. Great plains of rich vast fields of plentiful wheat and grain; Angra Mainyu invents the locust. Etc. Much of the Avesta consists of little more than edicts on punishments - "For sin A, 50 lashes; sin B, 100 lashes; sin C, 200 lashes," and so on. The one bit of wisdom is the one quoted by Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic: "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds."
Dhammapada - "From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear." The chief Buddhist book of proverbs is well worth the read; the above quote is fairly typical, and one reason why I could never totally subscribe to Buddhism, thought it is the wisest and most admirable of religions in many ways.
The Upanishads - More Hindu boredom, odes to mighty warriors that contains little insight or wisdom, just long-winded bla bla bla.
The Bhagavad-Gita - This is slightly better than your average Hindu text, though it's still no great shakes. The most striking aspect is that it's bluntly pro-war: Ajurna moans with guilt about all the people he's slain, and Vishnu chastises him for it, telling him that as a member of the warrior caste it is his duty to make war, just as a blacksmith's duty is to forge instruments out of iron, and duty is the highest calling of man.
The Life of Buddha - I was already familiar with the broad outlines of this, and this lengthy classical piece told me nothing I didn't already know. Honestly, there's no reason to read this classic of stilted purple prose (awkwardly translated from ancient Sanskrit to medieval Chinese to 19th century English) as there are quite a few versions of this story in many media forms. There was a fairly good manga version I read a long time ago, and that's as good as anything else - King James this ain't, the literary merit is neglible.
The Koran - First 5 chapters were all that were included, and that's more than enough; I can't imagine ploughing through the entire turgid mass of it. First impression is that every negative stereotype of Islam as a violent, hateful, intolerant religion is true. Threats of the fires of hell are mentioned multiple times on literally every page, juxtaposed with "God is gracious and merciful." There are anti-Jewish rants (they rejected Jesus) and exhortations to slay infidels as duty (but only if they transgress against Islam first, "for God abhors a transgresser," and thus a good Muslim shouldn't start a fight, but if the unbeliever starts a fight, then it's his duty to finish the fight to the death). Any former Muslim who turns away from his faith is condemned to death (Salman Rushdie). What's weird about the Koran is that in order to understand much of it, one must already be intimately familiar with the Old Testament - there are many references to Moses, Abraham, and the like that are dropped throughout without any explanation. Mohammed diverges from the Bible on several key plot points: Ishmael not Isaac was Abraham's sacrificial son; Jesus didn't die on the cross, because at the last minute they somehow substituted the real Jesus with a doppelganger and Jesus escaped.
....................
Complete Works of George Orwell
Of course I'd already read the Big 2 and sometimes 3 (Burmese Days), so I skipped over to his three minor novels that no one reads these days. And for good reason - 2 of these are kind of good but basically for completists only.
A Clergyman's Daughter - The best of this lot, setting you firmly down in small town England of the time, and the title character breathes as real human being; it's one of the rare novels written from a secular point of view that treats religion and religious people seriously, not as an object of jokery or derision. The biggest flaw is the plot turning point midway - suddenly she just loses her memory and winds up hundreds of miles from home, destitute on the streets? Not credible even by Dickens standards.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying - I hated this damn character and this damn book. An angry young man who whines about money (the word is repeated several times on literally every page) and capitalism on and on and on, he grows tiresome very fast. Look, we've all been broke, unable to buy the things we want, and take our best girl out for a night on the town for want of cash, but just shut up. No one wants to read a novel length whine about it.
Coming Up for Air - The best-regarded of these three, it's the gentle, sentimental reminisces of a middle-aged man for life in small-town, pre-war (WWI) England of his boyhood. He returns to his hometown to find everything's changed. Not bad if lacking in a real plot.
.....................
Orwell's three memoirs are all much more interesting and each is still well worth reading, if a bit dated.
Down and Out in Paris and London - A must read! No other writer before or since that I've read really has a feel for the details of poverty. From working 12 hour days as a plounger in third-rate French hotels and restaurants, to grubbing by on the bum as a tramp in England, this is a hella ride. I've never been so poor and out of work that I've gone three days without any food, but he describes it so vividly that you can feel the starvation.
The Road to Wigan Pier - Divided into two parts, both of which are rather dated but still worth the read. The first is a journalistic description of coal miners' work and lives in the north of England. The second is a critique of Socialism from an ardent Socialist - that is, why hasn't Socialism succeeded in appealing to the working classes, despite its common sense attractions of fairness and justice? Orwell's answer is that, just as Christians are the worst advertisements for Christianity, Socialists are for Socialism. The average Socialist is too academic and out of touch with the working man to do more than alienate him; they don't speak the same language. Substitute liberals who speak in woke jargon that is an alien language to those not in woke, liberal circles, and it's still relevant to contemporary times.
Homage to Catalonia - His first-hand account of his adventures fighting as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. The Republican cause, according to him, was sabotaged by Communists on orders from Moscow, who fought a civil war within the civil war against the even more radically leftist Anarchists. He barely escapes being imprisoned or shot during a Stalinist liquidation after the Communists take over the government (he was a member of the more moderate POUM). He sees his share of action on the front lines, which makes his disappointment with the treacherous political infighting behind the lines more painful after seeing the bravery of the soldiers in the trenches. There's quite a bit of tedious detail about the alphabet soup of political parties involved in the Republic. Interesting to see that "fake news" was very much a problem issue even back then.
....................
Now reading: Orwell's collected essays
Responses