It's late and I'm kinda hammered, but here's what I can add for now...
I've got a copy of Clavell's "King Rat" printed out, sitting on my floor, and waiting to be read. Apparently, it's a fictional account of his
experiences in a WWII POW camp in Japan. Do you remember the line from the BFB song "Redemption Denied" where Rob says, "I read somewhere that
'Without hope, man is but an animal'." I went searching for the line recently, and it seems like it's from Clavell's book. I looked him up on
Wikipedia, and it turns out he became a crazed Ayn Rand libertarian, which substantially lessens my desire to read King Rat.
Since I'm drunk and posting, I'll mention that I've been reading as a leisure activity much more recently. I read Camus' "The Stranger" a week or two
ago... kinda sucked, unless you look into Camus' philosophy in advance, which I didn't and still don't care about even after reading about his
philosophy (absurdism) even if I am sympathetic. Finally read Burgess' "Clockwork Orange" a few weeks ago... very similar to the film (credit to
Kubrick here), but the last - omitted - chapter changes the whole story.
Next things I'll probably read are finishing off William Dulaney's PhD dissertation about (non-1%er) outlaw MCs and Hunter Thompson's "Hells Angels
[...]."
If anyone has suggestions for other reading, I'd like to hear them, including Conrad and Kipling ("The Jungle Book"). The only other thing on deck is
Plath's "The Bell Jar," but no guarantee that I'll have the motivation to read it. |