Darkness Rising in ... Wonderland?

Ok, my post is not as exciting as what the blog title says but.... well, I was going to just write the titles, when this occured. I suppose this is what happens when you're an untalented, fustrated writer. Anyway, from what I just wrote, you can probably guess that I'm reviewing two books today, one is obviously Alice in Wonderland and the other is Darkness Rising by Frank Tallis.

Alice in Wonderland (by Lewis Carol), is a book I should've read a long time ago, but didn't. I finally picked up the book after I read Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy (I know I'm going backwards, but it feels so Wonderland). Anyway, I thought I read Alice in secondary school, but reading it, the book seems different, I have a feeling I read Through the Looking Glass instead. But anyway, it's a good thing that this book was pre-loaded on kobo, so I could read the book at once.

The book itself is actually quite engaging, and it's episodic in nature, so I could read it in short chapters at a time. It's actually more thought-provoking that I thought it would be, and I did wonder more than once why I have never analysed this book as part of literature. But at the same time, the book is entertaining (I'm sorry to Twain-lovers, but I really think Huck Finn is boring), and I enjoyed reading it. For those who have been avoiding classics because they think they are 'boring', just read Alice in Wonderland, you'll definitely enjoy this book.

The other book is Darkness Rising (by Frank Tallis) and it's set in 1903 Vienna. Although we think that 1903 is (literally) history, I really enjoy the books that remind us that for those living in those times, then was exciting and full of changing ways of thinking/morals/literature. Anyway, this book is about the psychiatrist Max Liebermann, who helps solve murders. The murders were interesting, but what interests me more was the well depicted (to me anyway), 'struggle' between Jews and Christians.

Liebermann is a Jew, albeit a non-practicing one, which makes it easy for the author to showcase religious tensions. One sub-plot involves Liebermann being accused of religious intolerance (or something along the lines) for block a priest from giving a patient last rites because he felt that to do so would cause too much stress to the patient. This subplot, combined with the murders, worked well together to showcase the anti-semitism present in Vienna then.

Veering away from the two book reviews, I feel like I haven't been posting "good" posts recently. I know I've been reviewing, but I feel like I should be doing more, such as researching more about the books that I read, to have a more complete view of the book. For example, I found out that The Book of Lost Things is actually the author's first foray into fantasy.... But with IB, it feels like a pipe dream.