L2RA | Fukuyama to shitty detective novels

This is the new little series that I am initiating to get back into reading. This project is a continuation of my letter. I'll just review random books I have read or thoughts while I am reading. It's a travel journal of sorts. I'll use L2RA as an acronym to make the titles shorter. 

The first one is about all the books I read this year (there are shockingly little, but still huge for me). I have started a lot of books but finishing them is another story. 

"The End of History and the Last Man" by Francis Fukuyama. 

When I look back since the start of the year, this is the first book I remember reading. I had to read it for an essay I was writing for my International relations class. 

This book is a famous work in IR and understandably so. Fukuyama uses philosophy, history, and politics to theorise how international affairs are conducted. He boldly states that ‘liberal democracy may constitute the “endpoint of mankind’s ideological evolution” and the “final form of human government,” and as such constituted the end of history’.

I enjoyed this book. Fukuyama writes in a simple manner, which is refreshing. It introduces so many concepts that I hadn't known being a 1st-year uni student. It explores the difference between Hegelian and Marxist's concept of History (emphasises on capital H) that is fundamental to understanding idealist and communist schools of thought. I think you should read it even if you don't do politics as a specialisation, just because it is easy and quick to read and is very insightful. I am not sure if I agree with what he says but you can't deny the impact this had on IR. 

"Un Raccourci Saisissant" by Dorothee Chifflot 

There are a lot of used books that are sold throughout Paris and I make sure to always pick up a few. They cost around €1, which is great since I am broke, and I prefer shopping second-hand for everything. I usually buy classics or detective novels, but since it's second hand you never know if it would be good or bad. 

In this case, it was horrible. It won a prize in 2000, probably because the standards have since evolved, but I still can't get on board. I know I am harsh but this book was infuriating. It was so full of cliches that it was kind of funny. It felt like it was written for a creative writing assignment in middle school. For example, the dead guy had a mistress who owned a lingerie store. Like come on, put a little bit of effort.

I persisted with this book because I didn't have much to do at the time and I wanted to prove to myself that I can finish a book. I had a boring internship and it was not going well. I thought the ending would satisfy me to an extent. It only made me angrier. I'll spoil this book because it is only in French and I am sure no one is going to read it. It was heavily foreshadowed anyways. The twist was that the guy wasn't even murdered it was a fucking heart attack. The whole book follows a none existent murder. Talk about being disappointed. 

"The Speaker of Mandarin" by Ruth Rendell 

This is also a book I bought second-hand. I read it in french as well so it might not have the same nuances. I didn't mind this one as much. The murder story was interesting and enjoyable. The characters are all well described which throws you into the story. I used to live in China and enjoyed the way Rendell described it. The inspector is an enjoyable character to read through. However, there are a couple of things that irked me. Notably, the weird hallucination plotline which was not very exciting. The POV randomly changes once at one point and kind of destroyed the flow of the book. There was also a character that mentions rape in a way that is so so off-putting that it kind of turned me off. 

I don't have much to say about this book. Expect that I read it in one day. I woke up started reading and by dinner, I finished it. It felt really good; just like how I used to read.