Paper Chase – The Light Appears

Robert Louis Stevenson – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (And Other Strange Tales) (2024)

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Michael

In 1886 the gothic horror novel, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by author Robert Louis Stevenson was published. Friends, especially lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, are concerned about the mental state of Dr Jekyll and horrified by the actions of a one Mr Hyde. The duality of personalities are a struggle between the human capabilities for both good and evil. The short book does a masterful job of capturing the gloomy dark side of London and all it’s hidden secrets. A foggy foreboding hangs over the words as the characters try to piece the mystery together.

The 2024 edition of the book by Arcturus Publishing also includes several short stories listed as Other Strange Tales. The stories include the creepy The Body Snatcher where students fill the need of finding bodies for medical dissection and The Bottle Imp where an imp creature grants its owner their every wish but with potentially damning consequences. Stevenson’s unfinished novel at the time of his death, Weir Of Hermiston also appears.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – 10/10

Other Strange Tales – 7/10

Paper Chase

Omar El Akkad – One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Posted on December 19, 2025December 18, 2025 by Michael

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by author Omar El Akkad has been acclaimed all year in 2025, a National Bestseller that is on most critics lists for books of the year. The current war in Gaza started on October 7^th, 2023 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas tragically killed nearly 1200 people in Israel, taking a couple hundred more as hostages. This was followed by the bombardment on Gaza a few weeks later, it was during this time that Akkad tweeted – “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” Two years later it’s been reported that approximately 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza, almost half of them woman and children.

Repeatedly calling the “war” a genocide, where Akkad really shines a light is on the left wing liberals of the West. Claiming they have fallen into a political area of being just a slightly better option than those on the right on several issues. At best – slightly better, but still terrible. The atrocities outlined in the book are numerous and it is a reminder of events that happened along the way. At one point Canada cut off aid funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and former US presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote on the side of an Israeli artillery shell – “Finish Them!”. I guess finishing them includes killing 30,000 women and children.

Akkad also writes of the tragic killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab – she died with six family members in a vehicle fleeing Gaza City. Two paramedics coming to her rescue were also killed. Her last words were over the phone to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society while sitting in a car with her dead relatives, pleading for help, crying about how scared she was. It is estimated that 335 rounds were fired at the family’s vehicle.

I could write all day my feelings on all this but this is not what this blog is for. It’s supposed to be fun and lighthearted look at music and a few books. One Day… cuts through all that and holds a mirror up to my face, a face that is quite liberal in outlook on life. About a year ago while talking to a friend we touched on Gaza. We talked about it for about 30 seconds, said what a terrible situation it was while drinking lattes at Starbucks, before quickly moving on to other far more trivial topics that were talked about in far greater detail.

Just this past week saw the tragic shooting of 15 people who were killed in Australia where they were celebrating Hannukah… and 10 people were wounded in a residential neighbourhood bombing in the Gaza Strip. The truth is that I will carry all this knowledge around in my head this weekend, not say much about it, go to a friend’s place for drinks and finish Christmas shopping. But what I will say here is to implore people to read this book. Whether you end up agreeing with it or not, for many it will be a truly eye-opening experience.

10/10

Paper Chase

Cormac McCarthy – The Road

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Michael

The Road, the acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy, was originally published in 2006. The plot takes place in a burned-out America and follows “Papa” and his young son as they head out in search of the coast. Steering clear of the burned out walking corpses; the two deal with freezing weather, marauders, lack of food, and little warmth. They find tins of food along the way as they carry all their belongings in a shopping cart, searching for that elusive coast on a taped together map.

McCarthy is a master of making the entire endeavor intense and foreboding as the two wander across the country side. There is a sense of dread throughout but the reader will root for the two to make it to their seaside paradise. The Road won several awards including The Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was later made into a movie and is listed as one of the best books of the 21^st Century by the New York Times.

9/10

Paper Chase

Yuval Noah Harari – Homo Deus

Posted on October 7, 2025October 28, 2025 by Michael

The follow-up to his very successful book, Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari looks to the “History of Tomorrow” in his book Homo Deus. Released in 2016 the book explores what has happened over the last several decades. Hunger, wars, and disease have become more manageable for most people/countries. As noted, most people are more likely to die of overeating than being malnourished. The book then looks to what may happen in the future – the continued rise of AI, new ideals, the importance of “dataism”, not to mention the rise of new god humans to replace Homo Sapiens.

While it was published 9 years ago, much of it is still relevant today and it’s fascinating to read in the midst of all the changes happening in the world in just the last 9 months. The book talks a lot about AI and the super-rich using technology to increase their wealth and life expectancy, leaving most of the world behind to suffer as their jobs are replaced by computers and are left with little meaning. It’s certainly a dystopian view. As he notes, Harari tells his ideas of the future to a colleague who’s reply is that she hopes she’s dead before all this happens. It was exactly what I thought as I was reading the passage.

While many others don’t agree with his view, as noted in various reviews, Home Deus is a fascinating look into the future. It’s one that will surely get the reader to think about what this will all actually look like and what he/she wants to leave behind for the next generation. It’s hard to fathom what happens tomorrow, but in a lot of ways, tomorrow is already here.

9/10

Paper Chase

Heather Morris – The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Posted on July 8, 2025 by Michael

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris published in 2018 was a New York Times Bestseller and seemed to be everywhere for a few years. Originally written as a screenplay, it was instead produced in novel form. It follows the life of concentration camp prisoner Lale Sokolov and his love for fellow prisoner Gita. The Slovakian Jews end up at Auschwitz-Birkenau a few weeks apart in 1942 and were there for three years. Lale takes on the role of tattooing numbers onto the arms of prisoners as they show up at the labour camp. The role offers a few small perks in an otherwise dismal situation.

Reportedly, the book has faced scrutiny as it is was based on the information told by Lale to the author and at times does not match up to factual events. Regardless, what does make the book interesting is that it focuses on the relationships rather than strictly the atrocities these people suffered. The fleeting interactions with Gita that Lale cherishes are contrasted with his interactions with SS guard Stefan Baretski who at times offers the smallest bits of kindness but was otherwise was a wretched person. Baretski was later sentenced to life in prison for the crimes he committed during the Holocaust. The book is hard to put down and offers a glimpse of humanity during one of the saddest periods in human history.

8/10