Category: Paper Chase

Posted in Paper Chase

Ryan Holiday – Right Thing, Right Now

Posted on by Michael

The third book in Ryan Holiday’s “Stoic Virtues Series” was published in 2024.  Right Thing, Right Now focuses on the Justice virtue which is illustrated through Holiday’s usual method of telling the stories of historical figures and events. In this book, Mahatma Ghandi and Harry Truman play prominent roles as does Frederick Douglass and Thomas Clarkson. The stories of their lives to show good values, character and deeds.

Like Holiday’s other work, this book can skim a bit on history and breaks things down into simple consumable snippets.  It should not be an end to learning, but rather a starting point in the direction of reading more about some of these people, their lives and events. Others may complain about a vanilla approach but with all the negative noise in the world, Holiday helping show people how to be good people is refreshing.

8/10

Posted in Paper Chase

Albert Camus – The Fall

Posted on by Michael

The Fall by French philosopher Albert Camus was originally published in 1956, a year before he won the Nobel Prize for literature. The novel takes place in Amsterdam where Parisian lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence has moved. He befriends a fellow patron at the Mexico City bar and opens up about his life with its many ups and downs.  Most notably, speaking about the parts of his life where he has not acted charitably. Or even when he does, is it to help fellow men and women or to only gain attention of others..?

It’s a fascinating story that takes place over several meetings, Clamence is charming with seemingly many lives lived. The whole story feels like it takes place in a Brassai photograph – in black and white, at night, and in the cold and damp.  Clamence’s fall from grace, his Garden of Eden, sees him turn inwards and analyze his life and its many events, his many decisions. At less than 150 pages, it’s a quick story but thoroughly thought provoking, a true work of art.  

10/10

Posted in Paper Chase

Ali Smith – Spring

Posted on by Michael

Spring, the third installment in writer Ali Smith’s 4-part series was published in 2019.  It’s post Brexit in the UK and this gives a glimpse into every day life. TV director Richard is saddened by the loss of his good friend and while travelling to Scotland meets Brit and Florence whose stories had been running parallel. Florence is a young girl who has a special aura about her, Brit works in an immigration detention centre, a bleak place to be for both workers and detainees.

Like the Autumn and Winter books, Smith’s stories are rooted in everyday life but take in a dreamlike quality to them like they are happening out of time. Politics is once again in the story but lurks in the shadows. The real story is the people living their lives, interacting with others, and the moments we share with one another.

8/10 

Posted in Paper Chase

Johnny Marr – Set The Boy Free

Posted on by Michael

There’s been plenty of terrific books written about The Smiths over the years.  Books by Tony Fletcher, Simon Goddard, and Johnny Rogan are all excellent and worth investigating.  In 2016, guitarist Johnny Marr added writer to his name when his autobiography Set The Boy Free was published. The early stories will be familiar to fans of The Smiths – born to Irish parents living in Manchester, Marr became fascinated by music and the guitar at a young age. Later, while recording songs in the room he was renting and working in clothing shops, the music world changed when out of the blue he knocked on the door of singer Morrissey and asked to form a band together. In a short period of time, The Smiths became one of the most important indie rock bands in the history of music.

Where Marr’s autobiography really shines is when exploring his personal and professional life after The Smiths. The list of artists he’s played with is staggering – The Pretenders, The Talking Heads, The The, Kirsty MacColl, Electronic, Pet Shop Boys, Beck, Noel Gallagher, etc.  Not to mention stints in Modest Mouse, The Cribs, working on soundtracks, and his own successful solo career.  His love of music, his family and eventually healthy living make for a success story both in and out of the music business.  Set The Boy Free is light on some of the drama covered by the other books about his life, but instead this is a breezy joy to read about the music side of Johnny Marr’s extraordinary life.

9/10

Posted in Paper Chase

Franz Kafka – The Trial

Posted on by Michael

The Trial is Franz Kafa’s novel originally published posthumously in 1925.  The book tells of Josef K who is accused of a crime by two government men who appear in his rooming house one morning, the crime is never revealed. Josef then meets several people who appear in his life to help but he never gets anywhere, never fully understands what he’s been accused of or how to clear his name.

The Kafka world in The Trial is a dream like fog. It always seems dark, everything happens in the shadows. Confusing scenes of going to court located in an apartment, being let in by a woman who is not part of the court. Towards the end of the novel, he visits a church and is lectured by the priest who knows all about him and his case.  The man who he was supposed meet there never appears. The surreal story illustrates the red tape of bureaucracy, the facelessness of the system, not knowing who to talk to.  A century later, The Trial is still an intriguing read, one where very little is ever truly revealed.

8/10