Anthony Manella (Where My Bones Rest Easy)
SPB: What’s your favorite book?
Manella: I'd have to say the book that has stuck with me and held a lot of weight in helping me process things in life as a young teen/adult would have to be Albert Camus' The Stranger. I first read it when I was 15 or 16. So at an early age the book was more intriguing to me from a religious standpoint more than anything. I was adamantly atheist as a teenager, because I needed something to rebel against, haha. So when I was younger I was just really excited on all the symbolism (of what I thought at the time was a rejection) of organized religion. Growing up and re-evaluating my thoughts on such topics of faith and how it ties into living one’s life. I've taken Camus' use of religious symbolism in The Stranger as more of an effort to stray away from the focus of a promised afterlife being the sole reason to be a "good" person with the lives we have. But rather live your life on your own terms defining what is "good" and healthy along the way, knowing that the only thing that is ever promised to you is death. That may be morbid to some, but it gives me a little comfort in knowing that I'm doing what I know makes me happy and gives me some sort of life.
