Halls of the Dark Muse

As some of you may know I had a short time ago engaged upon a journey to submerge myself into the darkest, bleakest literature that fellow members could recommend to me, and while the mood of which had first inspired to such a venture has passed, I still look forward to continuing to pursue the reading, for when I am not in the mood to read something dark and bleak?

The first book I began with was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Now I quite looked forward to reading this one since I am in general a fan of Russian literature and I have never heard of the author before.

All in all I have to say that I rather enjoyed the book, from the start it had drew me in, and there were elements of it that made me think of Notes from Underground, which was just the sort of thing I was looking for at the time. Though some comments had been made both here and elsewhere about Solzhenitsyn being a mediocre writer, and the further I advanced into the reading I can see what people meant. There were times when I felt that the prose was awkward and it is true that it was not great literature. While the beginning of it really hooked me in there was a point about half-way through the middle where it felt like it started to drag somewhat and I had more trouble getting through it, but than towards the end I felt it pick up again. All in all I am glad to have read this one and I think that the author did to well to portray a look into the life within the Soviet Work camps, and I liked the atmosphere he created.

My next endeavor will be Fight Club, which should prove to be interesting because I have to say that I did not really care for the movie, but it seemed like the kind of thing I should or would like, and I am intrigued by the concept of it, so I am hoping that the book might provide me with something that I did not find within the movie. I have mixed feelings about Chuck Palahniuk, I have not in fact read anything by him, but he seems like the kind of author I would enjoy, and when I read about his books, on the one hand they sound intriguing on the other hand I am never entirely certain if it is really something I want to read. I am always left just upon the edge of unknowing which way to go with his work. So I figured I would plunge in with this one and see how it goes.