Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino)

Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities

An odd book having Marco Polo describe various cities to the emperor Kublai Khan. As time goes on it seems that Marco has not visited many of them, indeed all may be made up or modelled on his hometown of . It's odd as it's written as if they are modern with some being steel and glass. There is some discussion between the two about cities and reality of being. Probably cos they're smoking opium I suspect. The city descriptions are about a page each and although interesting I did feel a bit so what. It's one book I don't think I quite got the point of it at all. Maybe as it's written more as a poem in prose and I don't get on with poems usually. Although do like stories written in verse. Anyway, before I get into a prose verse poetry debate with myself I'll just say it's an interesting book to while away the time but I'm not going searching out others of his.

The Outsider (Albert Camus)

Albert Camus

The Outsider

It's been a while since I read any of Albert's books and this makes me want to read more. A short story about a man who has few emotions for his fellow man and is a real outsider. Not from conventional society in which he lives and gets on pretty well but from society as the force that binds us together in communities. Feelings for our main character vary from disgust to sympathy - as in feeling sorry for him rather than empathising. Although in many ways we all tread a narrow path between community and selfishness so at times we do empathise too. The climax of the book drives home Camus' point of the story and although hardly climatic as such does leave you thinking about like, society, family,  relationships, religion (if you still bother to think about it) and finally death. I'm sure you can find numerous books and PhD theses on this book so I won't try to analyse any more. A final point though, the writing and descriptions of nature are brilliantly evocative which make an impressing counterpoint to the societal observations. Must re-read more of his stuff.