An ex-reader comes back

Hello. I'm a guy who likes to read. Haven't done so in years, except for the very occasional book that I'd read, on and off mostly. Apparently, according to some headlines in news sites I'm an endangered species. Decided to do something about that by trying to incorporate reading in my hobbies again and because I had sincere curiosity for some books that I never got the chance to read when I was a kid and a teen.

So here are some books I've read. For curiosity sake: I am not an english native speaker:

ANIMAL FARM – I read 1984 years before. Decided I wasn't traumatized enough by it and I wanted to get back to reading, so I picked this one since it was short. Got depressed instead. Still glad I read it. If you ever need to explain to someone why taking initiative and acting before it's too late is so important, give them this book;

THE NAKED SUN – yeeeeah, I completely forgot to check the order of these books. No matter, got this one and the first Foundation book by Asimov and decided to read it anyways. It was a nice way of getting into this author's work. For a detective story, it features a solid amount of world-building and makes it part of the investigative work. All of this combined leads into some interesting questions: how would a mundane life look be in the future? What if we lived a live of sheer, robotic comfort? What habits and taboos would remain, which ones would change and which ones would outright disappear?

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS – I had been dying (heh) for a copy of this book, and for the time to read it. After all, out of all Agatha Christie's books, this might be one of the, if not THE book that seeped really deep into pop culture. There are escape rooms and an EXIT game (which I've completed) themed around it! On the other hand, I felt sad reading this so soon. The book subverts the genre, so I wish I read more detective novels before jumping into this one. Still a pretty good book though. Didn't stop me from falling into a small reading slump sadly, which leads me to…

THE FREIDA MCFADDEN FEVER – no, this is not a book. It's just a section dedicated to how I gave in to the hype, in an effort to get out of my comfort zone. This led me to read Never Lie (it was fine, very atmospheric, the twist felt forced though), Ward D (more of the same but horror-flavoured, might actually be my favorite of these 3) and The Housemaid, which made me exhausted from her writing (it's very formulaic when you read multiple Freida books). I get the hype though, it's probably one of the most relatable and cathartic books from her;

METAMORPHOSIS – Kafka… what the hell is wrong with you? Joke remarks aside, this one got me depressed after reading it, even though I was already familiar with the topic this book is about. Decided to give book reading a pause and went for some Dragon Ball manga to cheer up;

FRANKENSTEIN – 5/5. Sure, there were a couple of parts that dragged a little bit, but I absolutely loved this book: the scientific obsession that made Victor act first and think later, the creature, Victor's fear (which basically seals both of their fates), the small touches and inner monologue… Mary Shelley was a terrific writer. There's not much that I can say about it that wasn't already said, so I'll just say that I'm a little bit disappointed about the lack of nuance in Del Toro's adaptation, despite overall being a solid film;

THE HANDMAID'S TALE – felt a little goofy at first, but everything started making more sense as I realized Atwood relied solely on events that had already happened in human history. A very grim tale, but at the same time a hopeful one as it shows how human nature is stronger than a dictatorship's tyrannical rules, to the point where no one really obeys them if they can help it. Also ironic how a certain place (at the end of the book) feels more free than regular Gilead's society. This may have taken over the #1 dystopia spot for me, but I still have to read Brave New World;

PROJECT HAIL MARY – read this one as it was sitting on my shelf and I realized that the movie was already out! After reading the previous 3 books it kinda felt weird to read something more… indulgent I guess (as in the author didn't really care much for each societal detail, the stars mostly aligned to make sure the mission would happen), but it was a fun romp filled with scientific endeavour and very touching moments. I can see why this one is so popular.

That's it for now. Currently reading Pratchet's Pyramids from his Discworld series (I could use a good laugh and the first few pages alone already managed to do that), and then Intermitências da Morte (Death with Interruptions) by José Saramago will follow, as I've been reading way too many english novels.