The seventy-ninth book: #68 Michael Kohlhaas - Heinrich von Kleist
Today's book made for a nice change of pace. A fictionalized account of a possible real story, it tells the tale of Michael Kohlhaas (originally Hans Kohlhase), who starts a rebellion against the German nobility at the time in response to injustices that led to the horses he was trading being stolen from him. There's a feeling of indignation throughout, where he was clearly wronged and is taking revenge - excessive revenge, but one with popular support by commoner while the nobility gets scared. It's well written and engaging, with less interpersonal drama, but also a throughline that was easier to follow. It's a nice break from the romance drama I had and that I know I'll get more of. Instead, the wheeling and dealing, and broadly drawn, but realistic characters keep this engaging as a character study and action story.
The seventy-eighth book: #67 Elective Affinities - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Known for his drama, I wasn't expecting Elective Affinities to be what Goethe wrote. The thesis, about how chemical elements have preferences in what they combine with, extends to a love sotry where a husband and wife have two friends live with them for a while, and how it changes the relationships and how they interact. The couple end up splitting up and get involved with their friends, as they turn out to be their better partners.
This is foreshadowed early in the book, as part of a scientific discussion, but comes back as the plot of the novel - something that makes there be a point to the story, and an exploration of the concept. It does create a 19th century romance novel after that, that doesn't necessarily always kept my interest (with a translation that didn't feel the most engaging), but works well to get to the point - it's a good novel, but I felt a bit out of touch with its setting.
The seventy-seventh book: #66 Rameau's Nephew - Denis Diderot
Like the book itself, I feel this post can be short. Rather than a novel with a story, this is a philosophical dialogue between, supposedly, the writer and the (I assume) fictional nephew of composer Rameau. It talks about life and art and the philosophy surrounding it and it's all, to be honest, somewhat boring. It doesn't really register and while I pick up on some points, for the most part there's not enough of a line through that works to explain it. Luckily there aren't too many of these for a while, but yeah, this isn't worth noting.
The one hundred seventy-second album: #172 The Stooges - The Stooges
We're seeing punk approach as one of the genres that follows 60s rock. The Stooges live in this era, taking off the route the Stones took, mixing in garage rock and generally have a raw, dirty sound. Iggy Pop's clear vocals sit on top of it, creating a contrast that works especially well in We Will Fall, a darker number that has dark vocals and very constrained guitars playing as Iggy Pop performs over it. It's all a lot more focused and prepared than the looser style from punk and garage rock and it creates something with more of a vision through that. It may sound wrong to some, but this level of polish is the way I prefer my (proto) punk to sound.
The seventy-sixth book: #65 Henry Von Ofterdingen - Novalis
Every once in a while, I wonder whether the different translations I get for these are really the best - often the Gutenberg edition comes along as the most accessible, but then there are others that aren't on there and have a different source. Novalis' Henry Von Ofterdingen seems to be marred by this, with a story I didn't really track much of and an explosion of words that didn't lead anywhere for me. It seemed like I wasn't the only person to struggle with following this and I think it's probably good this just flew me by.