Welcome to my Bookshelf!

Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka

Following my encounter with Calvino, I was hungry for some short stories. Taking Nicole's reccomendation, *finally* picked up Kafka's collected short stories. While I don't think I'll end up finishing this collection, I did work my way through the hits, including "The Judgment," "The Metamorphosis," "In the Penal Colony," "The Great Wall of China," and "A Letter to the Academy."

I never got to read "The Metamorphosis" in school, though it is a very common short story to include in American curriculums. I went in with some background knowledge about it, but still managaed to be pleasantly suprised. For one, I really enjoyed the exploration of Georg and his sister's relationship. There is something very uncomfortable but very familiar about caring for one's loved ones while also feeling disgust and resentment towards them. You can tell that in the beginning the sister's sense of responsibility is based in love, though by the end its more propelled by muscle memory.

This idea really resonated with me as a young-ish person watching the adult around me age. Though my love is unconditional, seeing them pale before me is undeniably jarring. As they need more of my support, I often feel subconcious twinges of annoyance, like, "you have always been able to do this for yourself, why do you need me to do this now?" These feelings, while fleeting, scare me, because they go against my deep moral convictions about the inherent value of human beings. And of course, that absolute truth that every human being has the right to be here, regardless of their ability to add to the economy or whatever capitalistic bullshit we measure the value of our lives by.

In this way, feeling annoyed at new caregiving responsibilities makes me feel gross, because of course everyone deserves love and the dignity of having their needs meet. But here is where the isolation of Georg's family comes in-- besides their rude maid, Georg's family completely isolates themselves from the world. They know that the world will not be kind to Georg, so they push him (and themselves) into squallor. They actively anticipate the intolerance of the world, and respond defensively before the world is even given the chance to properly evaluate the situation.

Georg's family responds to their bug-son's condition in the way that the some families of aging or disabled people do. They view themselves as maytrs, burdened by their caregiving responsibilities. They don't think that others will understand their situation, so they isolate themselves. More importantly, they are so wrapped up in their own suffering, that they don't consider the humanity of Georg! They strip his room of everything that once gave it personality, beauty, humanity. And once all reminders of Georg's humanity are gone, they view him as a simple pest.

I did not realize how emotional this story would be. Though we will never be bugs, "The Metamorphosis" is a deeply disturbing reminder of the way we dehumanize aging and disabled people in our society.

Time read: around two weeks, unfinished.

Started: 7/19/25

The Secret To Superhuman Strenght: Alison Bechdel

It's diffult to talk about Alison Bechdel without projecting. She is, of course, the patron saint of overly-educated & neurotic white lesbians everywhere. Objectively speaking, I am always impressed by her mastery over her form. Bechdel is just a great writer, flat out. Her monolouges read like podcast transcripts, effortlessly weaving in historical narratives and personal musings. And her visuals seemlessly transition all these disparate parts so geniusly. Her opening monolouge might be my favorite example of this-- ie, the one where she gives an overview of the narrative while literally going through all the prepartion of an outdoor excursion herself. Her illustrations are so lush (and also are colored by her wife! I could cry). Content wise, the narrative is also pretty meaty. Exercise-haters rejoice-- Bechdel never wastes page space on calories or body image or diet nonsense. Of course, she suffers through her sport, but her exercise story differs vastly from the traditional feminized narrative. Of course, Bechdel can't avoid talking about gender. But like her other narrative works, the heart of Bechdel's stories are grief and longing. So much is contained in each character's signature Bechdel-frown.

I really devoured this book. From the minute I got it, I spent every free moment on it. More personally, i've been in such a reading slump. But Bechdel's work really just lights me up like no other.

Time read: 2 days

Started: 7/8/25

Invisible Cities: Italo Calvino

I have been meaning to read this book for a while, so when i discovered that Nicole already had it among her personal collection, I quickly swooped it up. "Book" may be a generous description-- its really more of a collection of forty or so short stories held together by a charming dialectic. In Invisible Cities, Calvino guides us through a series of vignettes, each portraying a "city" bearing a different woman's name. Calvino's stand-in philosophers of choice are no other than Marco Polo, the famous traveler, and Kublai Khan, the great emporer. Toegther, the men discuss Khan's empire, and get real metaphysical with it. Enjoyers of Borges (such as myself) will enjoy the themes of repetition, doubling, and projection Calvino imbues in his cities. Individuals with difficulty compartmentalizing casual misogyny (such as myself) will find his descriptions of women a little jarring.

Time read: 2 days

Started: 7/5/25