JUST READ / LISTENED TO

The beginning of this reading year has been interesting already: going from almost a DNF to a fabulous discovery.
Let’s start by the best:

 Alpha Centauri or Die,
by Leigh Brackett
scifi
1963
121 pages
Counts for my Classics Club 5th list
and for #VintageSciFiMonth

The story begins on Mars. Earth’s “Pax Terrae” government now controls the solar system. An Earthman named Kirby and his Martian wife, Shari, live under the strict rule of that government.
To find freedom, they and a group of colonists have secretly fixed up an old spaceship, the Lucy B. Davenport, in the Martian desert.
They are now ready to escape, but it is a dangerous race as they fight past a government blockade and dodge robotic patrol ships to leave the solar system.
Plus, they are not completely sure what they will find on their destination, Alpha Centauri, and it will take them five years to get there!
Will they have enough fuel and food? Can there be mutiny, with many angry wives and kids around?
Shari has telepathic abilities, but can this be enough to fight machines and robots?
This was a big discovery for me – I had just bought this book at a library book sale knowing nothing about the author.

It was written in 1963, but sounded so 2026!!:

“He looked at the children, standing in little mobs and watching the grownups. ‘Maybe it was for them, more than anything. They ought to have a chance to grow up to be men and women, not just bits of information fed to a computer.’”

I liked the tension and suspense of the first part.
Then something weird happened, and at first, I was wondering where this was going.
But the resolution was very satisfying.
It points to what we mean by intelligence, and what we should be ready to confront if we do price freedom. The freedom to be humans and not parts of a machine.

When I finished reading, I checked who Leigh Brackett was!! Wow!

 The Guest Cat,
by Takashi Hiraide
Literary fiction
Translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland
猫の客 was first published in 2001
2014
140 pages
Will buddyread it (January 21-24)
with Mallika @ Literary Potpourri
Counts for Japanese Literature challenge 19

I have to say, exceptionally, this Japanese novel left me a bit disappointed. But I may see more to it when we start sharing about it with Mallika.
Becaus of our upcoming posts, I won’t tell you more about my opinion today.

“A bestseller in France and winner of Japan’s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living.
A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen…”

 8,2 secondes,
by Maxime Chattam
Narrated by Cachou Kirsch
Mystery
2025
391 pages / 11H29

I have read and really enjoyed several books by Chattam, especially Prime Time.
This is his latest, not yet translated into Engish.
Here is my translation of the official synopsis:

The story follows two very different women:
May Malkasian is a tough 34-year-old New York detective, busy chasing a scary serial killer called the “Big Bad Wolf.”
Meanwhile, Constance Holloway is a screenwriter hiding away in a quiet cabin near the Canadian border to deal with the death of her husband and her son, only to discover dangerous secrets hidden in her past (I didn’t really liked these elements).

The book switches back and forth between them:
May’s parts are fast and exciting like an action movie, while Constance’s parts are slow, spooky, and focus on her feelings, eventually showing how their two lives are connected.
The connections were great, and the twists totally unexpected, to the very end. Masterful.

📚READING / LISTENING  TO  

Among others:

 This Perfect Day,
by Ira Levin
scifi
1970
309 pages
Counts for my Classics Club 5th list
and for #VintageSciFiMonth

Well, this was not planned, but a friend at church lent me this book. As it’s vintage scifi, it’s perfect for this month.
Interstingly, the context of humans turned into machines that I mentioned above is also here.
I have really enjoyed Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying, but I had no idea he also wrote scifi!

“The plot of this book takes place in a future which is perhaps not very distant. All the nations are now controlled by a giant computer, hidden under the Alps. The human ones are programmed from the time of their birth – at least those who were authorized to be born – and are regularly treated by drugs which immunize them against diseases, but also against initiative and curiosity.
There are, however, rebels…”

  Call for the Dead (George Smiley #1),
by John Le Carré
Narrated by Simon Vance
Mystery
1961
144 pages / 4H35
Listening for my BookBound project
Counts for Hundred Years Hence Reading Challenge (#HYH26) (hosted by Neeru)
For the 1961 club
and for my Classics Club 5th list

This is one of my husband’s favorite author, and I have only read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the #3 in this series.
As this one was ublished in 1961, I decided to start with this series for the 1961 club.
It is lovely listening again to Simon Vance, one of the best narrators out there.

I only have twenty minutes to finish the book, and have been really enjoying it a lot. But you’ll have to wait until April to know my thoughts about it.
I’ll definitely keep reading/listening to the rest of the series.

“John le Carré classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him — and his hero, British Secret Service Agent George Smiley, who is introduced in this, his first novel — unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

George Smiley had liked Samuel Fennan, and now Fennan was dead from an apparent suicide. But why? Fennan, a Foreign Office man, had been under investigation for alleged Communist Party activities, but Smiley had made it clear that the investigation — little more than a routine security check — was over and that the file on Fennan could be closed. The very next day, Fennan was found dead with a note by his body saying his career was finished and he couldn’t go on. Smiley was puzzled…”

  Greek Lessons,
by Han Kang
Literary fiction
Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
희랍어 시간 was first published in 2011
Narrated by Greta Young and Earl T. Kim
2023
192 pages / 4H36

I started this a while ago, and didn’t manage to finish it in 2025!
And now, I have decided to switch to the audio format.
I enjoyed The Vegetarian, but this one is very different, and on the slow side, with a lot of back and forth between the characters.
I see it as a slow meditation on communication so far.

“In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.”

  BOOK UP NEXT 🎧

 Guilt (Detective Godai #1),
by Keigo Higashino
Mystery
Translated from the Japanese by Giles Murray
白鳥とコウモリ was first published in 2021
April 7, 2026 by Minotaur Books
416 pages
Counts for Japanese Literature challenge 19
Received through Netgalley

A new series by Higashino! I can’t wait to start!

“A tour de force crime novel from one of the international masters of the form, where a simple murder case questions the simple notions of good and evil, guilt and redemption.

Homicide Detective Godai of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is assigned to investigate the death of a lawyer, Kensuke Shiraishi, whose body was found on a Central Tokyo riverbank.
His investigations leads him to one Tatsuro Kuraki, who claims to have had limited contact with Shiraishi – but, surprising the investigators, Kuraki not only confesses to the lawyer’s murder, but another one from thirty years ago – for which another man was arrested and died in custody before trial.
This brings unexpected resolution to two cases but there is one problem: to Detective Godai the confession rings false.”

  THE LINK OF THE WEEK

Denmark stops using tablets
and goes back to books and writing in their schools!
Helping students focus again.

🎧  THE MUSIC OF THE WEEK  🎧 

Music and light show, and fireworks
at the Arc de Triomphe on January 1st

 LAST BOOK ADDED TO MY GOODREADS TBR  

The Long Tomorrow,
by Leigh Brackett
scifi
1955
223 pages

Yes, I do want to read more by Leigh Brackett!
What did you think of this one?

“Two generations after destruction rained down upon America’s cities, the population is scattered into small towns. Cities are forbidden by law, as is scientific research.

Rumors abound of a secret place known as “Bartorstown”, where science is untrammelled by interference or hatred. A youth named Len Colter, developing an unhealthy thirst for knowledge exacerbated by the discovery of a forbidden radio, sets out on a long road. During this journey, he will change his mind many times before determining the correct direction for himself, and the benighted America in which he lives.“

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
BE SURE TO LEAVE THE LINK TO YOUR POST

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