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It by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had been skipping writing reviews past few months as my reading has dwindled to dismal levels compared to last year. Also, I had decided not to write reviews unless I really feel like it. This book has made me wake up from my deep metaphorical review related sleep.
This 1400 page mammoth felt daunting when I started it, but does it grip you like a leech! The seven children/adults, the protagonists, some given more space than others but equal importance overall, touch you at all the right chords. There are multiple moments in the book where you stop and take a moment to admire the sheer beauty of writing. Mr. King is a legend, no wonder he is such a rock star. I feel his strength as a writer shines the most when he verbalizes the feelings of children, merely 12 years old. It is an extremely difficult thing to do according to me.
After every few pages, I used to feel that I relate to this. Every one of us has a Bill, a Ben, a Bev, a Rich, a Mike, an Eddie and a Stan inside us. I related to every character on some level.
Though the whole book is an adrenaline filled roller-coaster ride, what I absolutely loved is the way he ended his book, the part after the climax. It was so sad, poignant but at the same time felt correct.
I think after reading such pieces, a part of you dies inside and another takes birth!
I could go on and on but don't let me spoil this book for you. have a go at it. It is worth each of the 1400 pages of "It" (pun intended)!
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Four stars, because I couldn't fathom the whole meaning of some of its stories. I understood they were deep but maybe one needs to graduate to a certain level of EQ to understand stories like this. At first, till 2 or 3 stories, I felt that these stories were obscure. But then I read some stories which went very deep, you know, the kind of stories where the characters do something but it means something else entirely! I reread the earlier stories and I let them seep in. They started making sense. I felt the utter incompatibility about feeling and sensing deepest of the emotions. What a fool I was, feeling superior after reading some books that I understood human emotions and mind. Raymond Carver was a genius who understood darkness and loneliness. Don't get fooled by the title of the book. It's not about just love, it's about other things which we try to ignore which come with love, like insecurity, celestial loneliness, feeling that no one will really understand you, jealousy, boredom, acceptance of the things the way they are and death of romance. Time does that to love. There are great philosophies underlying in the book, not the kind which you use to enhance your happiness, but the kind which makes you put away the veil that society advises you to put on dark issues. Mind you, that veil is necessary to go through life without being constantly depressed and should be encouraged in my view, but not without understanding what lies below, in the dark, lonely alleys of the mind.
I still haven't understood some stories fully. It's like knowing someone is there but not knowing who. I'll keep rereading till I feel I have understood them at least a little.
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What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After reading this book, I can say confidently that Murakami is my "soul-author", if there is such a term. While reading Murakami novels, I had tried imagining the personality of the author based on his protagonists. I had thought him to be this calm, slightly introvert, shy with display of emotions and one who has accepted the insignificance of human existence, ambitions, actions, etc in this wider sense of cosmos. After reading this book, which he says is as close it gets to an autobiography, I can say that most of my predictions were right. I feel happy reading an author whose beliefs are similar to mine. He is an author whose books I can go on reading without getting bored. This book also talks about running and his need for a physical pursuit. "An unhealthy soul requires a healthy body", he says, pointing out that a writer has to go through a lot of dark patches while writing and a healthy body gives him that stamina to endure it for a long time to come. This book is a beautifully written diary of sorts. It's a must read for all Murakami fans and running amateurs too.
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