Books Du Jour

Hello! After a spell of the lazies and the flu, I return! Well, I still seem to have a flu of sorts but I digress. You will not be seeing an animated movies themed entry from me, I’m going to let that go and just say that animated movies were a big inspiration for me art-wise and I continue to appreciate the work of a variety of animators, such as Glenn Keane (The Beast of Beauty and The Beast, Marahute the golden eagle from Rescuers Down Under, Tangled etc). I think Keane is solely responsible for the way I often choose to draw eagles and eagle-like birds...

Now, on to favorite books. I find it difficult to list rather lone talk about them. Truth be told, it has been a long time since I’ve last read passionately, gulping down fictional worlds like it was sustenance. Still I have managed to find few books to feel passionate about even as an adult.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Ever since I saw the humorously written back cover for this book circulating on Tumblr, I had wanted to get my hands on it. I was already concocting clever plans to acquire it (yes, it takes clever plans when you live in a country whose native language is not English and in a city where book stores do not have the largest of selections, especially for literature that is in English -- basically, thank god for Internet). Yet I managed to get less enthusiastic about it, plenty of time passed and it slipped to the back of my mind. Until last summer, when I went to visit Helsinki in order to attend the first Finnish nerdfighter gathering. Towards the end of the meeting, few of us decided to go to a nearby bookstore. And, naturally, unlike our local book stores, this one was large and had a decent selection of literature and comics. After an hour or so of hungrily going through rows and rows of shelves, I spotted this book. There it was, all pretty and fun-looking. I was ridiculously happy, and surprised, to see the book in the shelf selections. I immediately snatched it from the shelf - didn’t even have to think twice about buying it.

The book is not really an autobiography, but rather a collection of essays about Tina Fey’s life from childhood to life after creating 30 Rock and having her first child. This is a choice she made because according to her, her life hasn’t been interesting enough to include all of it. As silly as it may sound, but I have occasionally thought about what it would be like to write an autobiography and those are the exact thoughts that lingered in my mind. I find it very clever that she chose to get around it by writing in an essay-like form. The book is very entertaining and I can’t say how many times I laughed out loud reading it. She bites into her own faults and the society in a rather admirable manner while still being amusing and entertaining. This was the first book in years that has gotten me so hooked I couldn’t put it down. I struggled to pace myself, wanting to save the book for later (for a 5-hour train ride back home to be precise). After finishing it, I yearned for more, feeling sad the fun reading experience was already over. I have never been one to read autobiographies and the like in the past, but more and more I find that ones by comedic people you are interested in are worth a read. This book has me considering reading Stephen Fry’s book The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography.

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch

A book about the Rwandan genocide, focusing on different cultural and political factors leading to the genocide as well as what happened to victims and murderers after the genocide. Many of you likely remember John Green recommending this book, I believe it was even the first nerdfighter book club book. I, too, found out about this particular piece from John Green’s video. I found the topic to be interesting, so after a while of pondering, I ordered it online.

It is an excellent book, though while reading it, you have to remember that it is written by a journalist who looks at the events from a certain view point, who will focus on different things than a researcher and an academic would, and express it in a different manner. You have to be aware of the fact that the author is likely to have certain goals in his writing and that he is likely to try to get certain feelings out of the reader and so on. Regardless of all this, I was able to use it as a supporting piece for a presentation I held on the Rwandan genocide a couple of years back.

My presentation was mainly based on Jared Diamond’s piece, Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed, which dwelled into the environmental and geographical factors involved in causing, in Rwanda’s case, the genocide to occur. The view presented in Collapse can be viewed as rather environmentally deterministic, but even Diamond himself admits that he is only observing what happened from one point of view and that there is indeed much more to it than geography and difficulties related to the environment. I think Gourevitch hence provides a nice counter-balance to Collapse, as it focuses heavily on the politics and the people, leaving the factors related to nature far less prominent.

The Egyptian (Sinuhe egyptiläinen) by Mika Waltari

This books is one of the Finnish classics, much like Moby Dick is an English classic. It is set in ancient Egypt, mostly during the rule of Pharaoh Akhenaten, 18th dynasty. The main character, Sinuhe, is a doctor who ends up going through a lot in his life, from losing everything he owns to becoming a royal surgeon and seeing the kingdom sink into chaos as its turning from polytheism to monotheism etc.

What I remember really struck me in this book was how well it was written. The language alone is rather beautiful at times, though I read it in Finnish so I don’t know if the translation manages to convey it. When you read this piece you really can’t believe it was written in 1940’s by a Finnish man who had never even been to Egypt. He manages to be historically surprisingly accurate, even though this is a fictional story. The story includes actual historical events, figures and even mannerisms. The author doesn’t seem to judge the slavery and the variety of other cultural features that would have been considered normal to that time period, instead he truly manages to step into the shoes of a doctor living in 18th Dynasty ancient Egypt. It’s simply amazing.


So, as I’ve lately managed to awaken my urge to read once again, I have plenty of books in my to-read pile at the moment. In fact, I’ve even graciously placed them right next to my bed in case I manage to tear my eyes off the internet for few minutes. Some of those books might end up becoming my favorites, who knows. I actually hope so, I would love to have more books I can honestly list as my favorites.

Some of the books I'm currently reading: Heat Wave by Richard Castle, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, O: The Presidential Novel by Anonymous