The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov, translated by John French

I thought this would be a science-fiction story, because I vaguely remember phrases like “aliens” and “building rockets around the world” when I first saw it in a random booklist. But it’s actually first of all a story about a man’s life in the Soviet Union, and the life and deaths of his friends. It happens in the Soviet Union, but this story is not set at the center of it. Not the glorious Motherland Russia that started the revolution, but in Kazakhstan, where religion, traditions, and old legends are perhaps a bit more at odds with the Soviet ideals.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Liu Cixin, even though he’s often heralded as “the best sci-fi author in China”. He does (sometimes) demonstrate interesting ideas by combining scientific concepts and imagination, but in my opinion that’s not quite enough to be a good sci-fi story. In particular, these two elements in his writings always leave me feeling irritated, if not downright angry:

1. Helpless female characters with a “pure” mind (and body)

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I picked up a random book by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., expecting a science-fiction type of story, but instead got a book about war.

I never liked books or movies about war, they glorify it by telling stories of heroes and their gallantry, whereas the dead sidekicks and other collateral damages barely constitute an afterthought.

I’d hate to be such a sidekick, and hate it even more if I were such a hero.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

I’ve been curious about the writings of Charles Bukowski for a while, mostly because of his dirty, subversive style.

This story delivers just that: a straight punch to the gut (there are many punches thrown in the book, both figurative and literal), packed with the hopelessness and disillusionment of being an outsider, and the rage of man against machine.

Among the many themes explored in the story, the one that resonated the most with me is how an individual can be totally powerless against the institution and the society at large. And the violence always makes me shudder. I don’t like violence, and wish it gone.