Man in the Dark – Paul Auster

An Auster book that encountered mixed reviews (at best) from critics and was quickly forgotten by readers, and one which I actually really liked.

Dystopia is boring, dystopia is overdone, dystopia is so very often the same old story. But Auster writes it differently: Auster is supremely talented, Auster is (nearly) always interesting, Auster is cynically critical of everyone (including himself, I believe).

And Man in the Dark is not just about a supposed dystopian future, it is about a man facing his own fears, the pain of fixing a shattered family, the dynamics between a father and grandfather and his daughter and granddaughter, the long – and possibly impossible to complete – process of recreating a life after a massive loss.

This might not be Auster’s best book, yet it is still better (or, if not better, at least way more interesting) than 96.7 % of the books published over the last 10 years.

Il Nome della Rosa – Umberto Eco

Considering my dislike (no, scrap that, it was actual hatred) for Latin, I was not expecting to enjoy so much a tome of these dimensions and with so many passages in a dead language with which I fruitlessly struggled for three years.

Yes, there have been tons of mystery and detective stories set in the Middle Ages lately, but this is something else. Guglielmo and Adso, like Sherlock and Watson, aren’t just insightful, they are a perfect tandem, complement each other, and also have a (monastic, but still highly developed) sense of humour.

The book is a joy to read, although because of its size it’s clearly not one that can be read in a day. And it’s downright thrilling (and scary, at times). Also, we can finally forget the pursuit of the Holy Grail (the only time this was fun was when Indiana Jones was chasing it) or that of other boring relics – for once these monks are fighting for something that actually matters.