The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

It's the second straight week of work where I've had literally nothing to do, so today, I spent my time reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I thought that the fact that I know the general gist of the story might ruin the effect, but it didn't have much of an impact, actually.

It was a quick read that flowed smoothly. I liked that the majority of the story was told by an outsider (in the way that many stories of this time are) so that I could follow along solving the mystery along with him. The moody, dark imagery was effective, and kept me engaged and in the atmosphere of the story. Jekyll's character is a bit flimsy without much attention given to backstory or motive, but if you chock it all up to good/evil-based emotions, I guess you can get away with it.

I guess that's really all I have to say about this one. I hope January goes quickly, on account of a few situations I am currently in that I am anxious to have end. If I had a Miss. Hyde, she would surely be punching everyone in the stomach and hurting everyone's feelings right now. Rabble rabble.

The Thousand and One Nights

I spent the last two days reading The Thousand and One Nights and I am not ashamed to say, I did not finish it. I got far - I was 3 more life-sucking stories away from the end of Volume 1, but couldn't bring myself to go through any more. I let myself quit because I am more than 100% sure that nothing more would have come out of it at the end, and that I had wasted enough time. Nonetheless, I'm marking this off my list because by god, it was a struggle.

This collection of stories is a torture. It's one rambling labyrinth of male praising, murderous, idiotic hell. For one thing, there is no possible way that there could be so many "most beautiful" women who look like a moon or whatever nonsense in one place and moreover, so easily found. Also, with all the cutting off of heads and "cutting in twain", it's a miracle that anyone is left alive in this terrible land. What is even the point of these stories if not for entertainment? There isn't any parable or lesson to be learned at the end of them, and is basically just encouraging people to be horrible forever in a relentless cycle like this collection itself.

I guess it's inventive to put a million stories into the skin of one, but really, all of the stories are identical and are simply not fun to read. Whoever the sultan or king or whatever is that Shaharazad is telling this to must not have a very high bar for entertainment. And for the love of anything, PLEASE cut your word count. Praise be, it's over and I never have to do it again.

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As for a story that I did enjoy, Philip Pullman recently came out with a new book and I recently finished it. I'm a huge fan of His Dark Materials, and the first of his new trilogy, La Belle Sauvage was a thrilling delight, as I would expect of him. Sure, there were a few cliche moments that dragged it down from its preedecessors, but I beg of you, save yourself. Read that instead.