Sitting in the cosiness
of my little home, I have explored the mystery of the cosmos, encountered
Schrodinger’s cat, chatted with Baruch Spinoza, witnessed Antony and Cleopatra
melting Rome in the Tiber, travelled among the arid mountains of Afghanistan
where hooded faces sought god in the barrels of guns, and listened to the music
of the stars. And accomplished a lot
more, all thanks to books.
I love books more than
people simply because it is easier to understand the former whether they be
fiction or non-fiction. When it comes to
fiction I like the kind which explore life in depth. I like fiction spiced up with philosophy,
history and possibly a little mystery too.
Good fiction takes us
through the dark labyrinths in the human psyche. Even psychology has not understood the human
motives better than Dostoevsky or Joseph Conrad or Javier Marias. The most sacred religious scriptures cannot
refresh my soul as does Nikos Kazantzakis or Franz Kafka. Jose Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
which culminates in Jesus’ lament on the cross, “Men, forgive Him, for He knows
not what He has done,” synchronises exactly with my understanding of
Christianity.
I love reading history
provided it is written by writers with some imagination. Ramachandra Guha’s India after Gandhi and Freedom
at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre suit my taste as much
as Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens and Suketu
Mehta’s Maximum City. John Keay’s scholarliness is as okay with me
as William Dalrymple’s lucidity.
When it comes to
religion, Karen Armstrong scores high in my list. She is both scholarly and empathetic. I found
Gurcharan Das’s The Difficulty of Being
Good a particularly striking exploration of the Mahabharata. Jennifer Michael Hecht’s Doubt: a history is a unique blend of history, philosophy and
religion.
There are books and
books. I cannot exhaust the list of
books I admire. I’m happy that I have so
many friends, innocuous friends, who inspire me day in and day out with so much
wisdom.
PS. Written for
Indispire Edition 170: #fictionornonfiction
Perhaps a dedicated complete book list (both fictions and non fictions) blogpost made by you would be of great help to the readers. I have read a fair amount of books, but your reading habits show quality over quantity.
ReplyDeleteSuch a list will be too long. I have mentioned some of the best I've read. Even then the list is not exhaustive.
DeleteIf we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.There lies the difference. To understand a book all that you will need is a dictionary and a brain to think. But to understand someone you will have to take all time in the world. Keep reading books, but remember that a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for yourself.
ReplyDelete