A January Wrapup: What have I done, read and seen?
Hey All, This post is the first of its kind, but will be a monthly recurring feature, as you can probably tell from the name of the post. Essentially, I'm going to write little reviews of the books I've read, talk about the music I've listened to and highlight any major events that occured during the month!
Books I read:
- Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer
- Authority - Jeff Vandermeer
- Acceptance - Jeff Vandermeer
- L'autoroute du soleil - Baru
- Au-dedans - Will McPhall (translation by Basile Béguirie)
- Search History - Eugene Lim
- Bug, T.1 - Enki Bilal
Once again sci-fi holds an unbreakable sway over my recently read books. This has been the case since I was thirteen or so, so it doesn't surprise now. All of the sci-fi I read this month though does something a little new. Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy was fantastic and unique. I wouldn't say it was amazing from start to finish, as I actually did not love most of the second book, but the first and third entries more than make up for it. If you're interested at all in sci-fi and the natural world, and/or transformations beyond our imagining (or perhaps our acceptance) I would highly recommend the series. Annihilation is one of very few books I have ever given a 5 star rating. A brief synopsis is as follows: several years ago, something happened in a largely wild area of southern Florida, which the government has now shut down claiming that they need to do environmental cleanup. The truth(?) of the matter is that a shadowy agency called the Southern Reach has moved in and is sending people across a mysterious border to investigate the truth of that place where nothing is quite the same. But it's all very familiar. You'll have to forgive Vandermeer for using "poisonous" instead of venomous twice though. Additionally, if you have seen the movie I would say the books are all the more worth reading; they are very different and I would argue better.
Bug, for its part, explores a new kind of technological apocalypse. We have seen stories of nuclear strikes causing EMPs or solar flares devastating worldwide communications, but Bilal's spin is a bit different. Nothing is wrong with the technology itself, but every scrap of data, every 1 or 0 has been wiped off them. (Somehow operating systems seems to have been spared but that's neither here nor there.) Set slightly in our future, we now have to deal with the consequences of learning how to live without all the technology we have come to rely on, with the exception of communications - if you happen to know someone's number. Bilal doesn't seem interested in answering these questions on a societal scale however; the story follows basically one man - the sole survivor of a mission to Mars, who is returning to Earth as the data apocalypse occurs - and his family as they attempt to reconnect. All of this is complicated however by the fact that it seems that his return to Earth may be the very thing that triggered this disaster.
Search History is...different. It's hard to say if it has a plot. It consists of a scant 191 pages, none of which are individually very difficult to read. The issue rather comes in piecing together what is happening. What relation has the dysthmic AI scientist to the strange little girl? Why is this drone pilot so sure a dog is his dead best friend? What does the dog itself want? Why is so much of it a meditation on grief, and how did AI end up playing into it anyway? These are all questions that I would have to read it at least once more to really take a crack at answering. If quick but heady reads are your style, give it a shot.
The other two books I've this year were both bandes-dessinées or comics. So, in fact, was Bug but I felt it fit better in the sci-fi section. These two books could not be more different, except that they were both comics I read in French. Baru's L'autoroute du soleil is a story of unlikely friendship, unruly sex, and race relations in 1980s France. It's not exactly my kind of book, but post-colonial relations between France and North Africa are a special interest of mine, and Baru has written other comics I've read on the topic. It was well written and a good example of Baru's unique art style which makes use of very exaggerated faces, which are always interesting and make up an important piece of his story telling. If you happen to speak French and can find a copy, I'd say it's worth the read. Finally, Au-dedans or In as it originally appeared in English is a study of connection and meaning in the modern world. It also deals heavily with themes of death, but despite this it is at times startlingly funny. Will's drawings run the gamut from mere lines to fully illustrated scenes. Many of the books pages are rather sparsely illustrated, but that makes the pages with heavier art stand out all the more. It's a very moving book that deserves every prize it's won.
On, then, to music. In January I've largely returned to folk and country music that I had taken a step away from for a while, listening to more French Hip-Hop and Japanese Pop over the last few months. My top 3 songs of the month are:
Finally, the biggest news of January: I've done my first paid literary translation! If Bug sounded interesting to you, then you can see my translation of it in Heavy Metal Magazine which reboots this spring! The book will be split into approximate quarters over the first four issues of the magazine. Additionally, I took a trip to Québec for work, which is where I picked up some of the French books I read. A good month for languages! I'm also working on translating some pieces of an 18th century treatise on insects for my sister's Master's thesis, which turns out to be surprisingly interesting stuff!
Anyway, that's been the first month of 2025 for me! I hope you're all off to a good start as well.