As we start the New Year, I thought it’d be a good time for me to review my reading last year and share some thoughts that I hope others might find helpful. For this list I have only included books that I finished (except one) and have categorized them into six different categories that made the most sense.
Reviewing books is not easy. From the content, the writing style, and the history of the work, there is simply too much to pick and put in a short readable paragraph. In essence, writing about each of these books could take a post of its own.
Regardless, I wanted to force myself to do this. In many ways the activity turned out to be a useful exercise for me to revisit the works, some of which I had read months earlier, and reconsider the key messages and lessons that struck me the most. I hope you find these useful.
1. Russian Literature
Reading War & Peace and Brothers Karamazov was the highlight of my reading in the year 2022, and therefore I decided to continue my exploration of Russian Literature in 2023. Below are some of my thoughts on the Russian novels I read this year:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: The opening line of the novel "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," hints at the overall theme of the novel, which is essentially one long meditation on the nature of love and the complexities of romantic relationships and marriages. Anna’s and Levin’s marriages form the central threads of the novel, with Anna’s descending from bliss to despair and Levin’s ascending from despair tobliss. The two stories are skillfully intertwined and form a contrasting view of spiritual and physical love. Personally, I find Levin’s story to be more memorable due to its lightness and optimism. It's no surprise then that the Folio Edition of the novel features Levin on the cover instead of Anna. For those who may not have the time to read the lengthy novel, there is a Movie adaptation starring Keira Knightley available on AppleTV, as well as aneight-episode Russian TV series available on YouTube. I would, however, recommend reading the book. Here are five authors sharing their experience reading the novel that might convince you if you’re not yet.
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev: I've been contemplating and evaluating my relationship with my father for a while now. For that reason, this book, given its title, has been on my TBR as I always wondered what Turgenev had to say about the topic. The book did not disappoint and has left me with much to think about. Bazarov, in particular, the nihilistic protagonist of the novel, who finds it difficult to find peace at home with his parents and away, has stuck in my mind. I cannot seem to get him out of my mind and find myself returning to questions regarding his character, his actions, and his fate.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol: Chichikov, the protagonist in Gogol’s novel Dead Souls, travels around a provincial town in Russia with the aim of executing a get-rich-quick scheme. His plan is to purchase Dead Souls from landowners (names of dead serfs still registered on the census) in order to spare their owners from paying taxes on them while using these 'souls' as collateral to acquire land for himself and reinvent himself as a gentleman. The title of the novel can be seen as a literal reference to the Dead Souls Chichikov is interested in acquiring, however, amore interesting interpretation lies in seeing it as a reference to the Dead ‘Souls’ of the Landlords that Chichikov visits, each of them dead for various vices. Manilov is an insubstantial fool afflicted with sloth, Nozdryov is an insufferable gambler consumed by lust, Plyushkin is an elderly miser driven by greed, Betrishchev is burdened with pride, and Pyotr Petukh suffers from gluttony. Through his grotesque gallery of human types, and while maintaining an intensely comedic and ebullient tone reminiscent of Monty Python skits, Gogol presents a highly readable and devastating satire on social hypocrisy.
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky: If Nietzsche boldly proclaimed that God is Dead in his book The Joyous Science, then Dostoevsky showed over multiple novels its implications for mankind. In Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky explores what happens to man when, without the redemptive power of faith to guide him, he turns the intense gaze of his intellect inwards. The unnamed narrator of the novel, whose diary we seem to be reading, has essentially withdrawn into an underground existence from where he analyzes himself and the world around him incessantly and drowns himself in emotions of disgust, contempt, pity, and self-loathing. The novel opens with one of the most nauseating lines in literature: “I am a sick man…I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts. However, I don’t know a fig about my sickness, and am not sure what it is that hurts me." And from there, continues its steep descent into madness. As I finished reading this novel, my body literally broke out into hives. Turns out it was a reaction to a recent viral infection I had, but until that diagnosis, I was caught in the grip of panic at the prospect of Mr. Dostoevsky breaking something inside me through his revolting protagonist. I intend to reread this soon if anything happens to me again.
2. Fiction by Jane Austen
Being a father of two young girls, I decided last year that it was finally time that I got around to reading one of the most famous female authors. I wanted to see what Austen had to say about the experience of girls growing into womanhood,and I wanted to be able to talk about these novels with my daughters once they finally got around to reading them. Beloware some of my thoughts on the novels:
Pride and Prejudice: ‘Enchanting’ is the word that comes to mind when I think about Jane Austen's novels,especially Pride and Prejudice. I believe it is because of her unique ability to recreate the world of the English Aristocracy, without much concern for other classes, and her deftness with the English language, which is distinctly hers in its wit, irony, and charm. Austen’s novels might lack the psychological depth of their Russian counterparts, but what they lack in depth, they more than make up for in lightness, entertainment, and, well, ‘enchantment’. Elizabeth Bennet, the female protagonist of the novel, is arguably Austen’s strongest character, and the satisfaction and enjoyment of this novel comes from seeing her trust her instincts about her conception of love, bearing misunderstandings, and breaking hearts along the way to finally finding love where she least expected it.
Persuasion: In Anna Karenina, Kitty rejects Levin only to find herself wanting to induce his proposal again; and in Persuasion, Anne Elliot rejects Captain Wentworth's proposal only to find herself in the same pickle. The predicament of the two heroines could not be more similar, and both have to go through a long dance of cat and mouse games and navigate the societal mores to finally get what they want. In the case of Kitty, in Anna Karenina, the resolution comes in the shape of the famous chalk scene; and in the case of Anne, in Persuasion, it comes in arguably the most romantic love letter in Austen’s novels. Both scenes provoke questions into the fragile nature of love and courtship and the predicament faced by either side in healing past wounds before they can come back together.
Emma: Moving on from Elizabeth and Anne, the middle children, we come to Emma, one of the few youngersiblings who acts as the protagonist in Austen’s novels. Emma’s opening line "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her" essentially sets the stage for Austen’s exploration into the impulsive, naive, and innocent nature of the youngest in the family (Alfred Adler’s theory of birth order impacts personalities). But if Emma is born with any of the limitations of the youngest child, she does well to overcome them over the course of the novel, which forms part of her charm for the reader. Over the course of the novel, we see her understand the limits of her perception, realize the misguided nature of her matchmaking, navigate various romantic entanglements, and accept her flaws to grow into a more mature and well-grounded adult.
Sense and Sensibility: In this novel it is the oldest child, Elinor, who takes center stage , whose ‘sense’ is contrasted against the ‘sensibility’ of her middle sister, Marianne. Over the course of the novel, the sisters are forced to understand each other's worldview and adjust their own to make space for the other. Although not one of Austen’s strongest novels, I really enjoyed the dialectical development of the two sisters forcing me to reflect more deeply on how siblings shape our personalities and life choices.
3. Fiction by Other Writers
I interspersed and complemented my reading of Russian literature and Jane Austen novels with some of the novels below. Below are some of my thoughts on the novels:
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: Similar to Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky, Don Quixote helped me crystallize my thoughts on the contrasting natures rationality vs. faith. If Dostoyevsky’s Underground man suffers from an overuse of his intellect and an underuse of his intuition, then Don Quixote suffers from the opposite on both counts. Over the course of the novel, we see the eponymous Don Quixote stumble from one bruising adventure to another under the misguided belief that he is a knight-errant whose job it is to uphold the archaic notion of chivalry and defend the helpless. Contrasted against Don Quixote’s blind faith is his squire Sancho Panza’s pragmatic and rational manner, who at each turn tries to protect Don Quixote from his intense imagination bordering on insanity. The clash of their perceptions, guided by their opposing beliefs forms the foundation of the novel, with each new adventure an opportunity to explore it further. Where Don Quixote sees giants to be fought, Sancho Panza sees windmills; where Don Quixote sees a castle, Sancho Panza sees an inn; and where Don Quixote sees two armies ready for battle, Sancho Panza sees only flocks of sheep. In effect, Don Quixote’s faith drives the novel forward while Sancho Panza’s circumspection tries to hold it back; and it is this dialectic nature between blind faith, which drives action in the novel, and circumspect rationality, which tries to hold it back, that I found the novel enjoyable, despite its tedious length. It reminded me to reflect on how these two opposing forces exert a similar influence in real life as well.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: Like Anna Karenina, the story of Emma Bovary ends in tragedy. While the two women take very different paths to their eventual demise, the emotions which drive them to the final act are the same: despair and despondency in the face of their romantic dreams clashing with reality. Personally, I preferred Tolstoy’s treatment of the subject, which comes across as more nuanced and enjoyable, given the contrast and spaces provided by Levin’s story. Regardless, both novels raise thought-provoking questions about the actions of the protagonists.
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James: The most enjoyable parts of Henry James's novel are his Proustian explorations into the intricacies of the human psyche and the complex web of social interactions. Many of these explorations, which come in dense and intricate passages, made me read and reread them endlessly in order to properly understand what James was trying to get at. Why was James trying to beat around the bush? I asked myself. At one point I almost gave up on the novel. But thankfully, having had similar experiences with other seemingly ‘difficult’ authors such as Nietzsche, Austen, and Proust, I persisted. Similar to James's work, at the end of each of these works, I was left wondering how else, if not through their chosen style, could the author have achieved the effect they were looking for.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante: I am not sure if I enjoyed this novel as much as others did, but it was nice to inhabit, again, the brain of a teenager and relive the concerns, insecurities, and the emerging passions which tend to overwhelm it. Over the course of the novel we see Giovanna, the teenage protagonist, turn from a young, naive teenager who adores her parents into a sulking adolescent who finds pleasure in self-effacement and making those around her uncomfortable. It will be a while until my daughters enter their teenage years, but I have put a note-to-self to come back to Ferrante’s novels, most of them similarly being Bildungsroman stories which explore the pain, confusion, and uncertainty that one needs to endure in order to grow up. There is also a Netflix Series based on the novel which you can check out.
4. Philosophy and Poetry
If the revelation for 2022 was Russian Literature, then for 2023 it was poetry, as I finally got around to reading and enjoying works in Urdu and English. I particularly closely read and enjoyed the works of the three philosopher-poetsbelow (with two of them being philologists as well) who wrote their original works in Urdu, Persian, and German respectively. The works were interesting because they allowed me to explore further, similar to works of fiction I had read earlier, the tension between intellect vs. intuition, reason vs. faith, and rationality vs. belief, arriving at very different conclusions. Below are some of my thoughts on the works:
Shikwa and Jawab-e-shikwa by Iqbal: After delving into Urdu Poetry by researching its history in the Nets of Awareness, exploring some of its Modern variants, and dabbling into Ghalib, I finally decided to read two of Iqbal’s most famous poems. Since then, I have reread the poems multiple times, and each time I am amazed by the emotions these poems evoke in me. Why these poems, among others by Iqbal and Ghalib in Urdu, have this effect on me, while those by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and Dickinson in English don’t, has forced me to re-evaluate my relationship with the two primary languages I speak: Urdu and English. I thought I had moved beyond Urdu, the language of my childhood, and indeed my reading of the text had become rusty, but after reading thesepoems, I have felt compelled to brush up on my reading of the Urdu text and further explore the works of Urdu poetry, especially those by Mir, Ghalib, Faiz, Faraz, and Iqbal himself.
The Masnavi by Rumi: Iqbal openly acknowledged Rumi’s influence on his work and even used him as the guide in his epic inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. So it was no surprise that, after reading Iqbal, I found myself finally sitting down and reading the first part of Rumi’s Masnavi (the first part). The work is essentially a series of parables consisting of metaphors, similes, and analogies through which Rumi tries to convince his readers that you need to overcome your ‘self’ in order to love unconditionally, believe in something bigger, and fulfil your life’s purpose. Rumi’s message reminded me of Don Quixote’s belief in, and irrational pursuit of, his chivalrous ideals often to the neglect of his own person and safety. It also reminded me of Rumi’s metamorphoses, at the hands of a wandering mystic Shams, from a proud Islamic cleric lost in his own head into a Sufi poet able to intuit seemingly divine truths.
Human, All Too Human and The Joyous Science by Nietzsche: Nietzsche’s philosophy stands in direct contrast to Rumi’s. If Rumi wants you to overcome your ‘self’ in order to realize your purpose by becoming part of a whole, then Nietzsche wants you to overcome your ‘intellect’ and realize your purpose by using your passions as a guide to carve an individual path separate from society. Rumi wants to join you to society while Nietzsche wants to separate you from it. Rumi’s philosophy is essentially religious and collective in nature while Nietzsche’s is potentially nihilistic and definitely individualistic. I somehow chanced upon reading both Nietzsche and Rumi together through my reading of Iqbal (who positioned his philosophy of Khudi halfway between that of Rumi’s and Nietzsche’s) and it turned out to be a rewarding experience. Reading the two together solves the conundrum Jordan Peterson proposes in his book 12 Rules For Life: “I don't think that you have any insight whatsoever into your capacity for good until you have some well-developed insight into your capacity for evil.”
5. History of Religion
My explorations into the conflict between reason and faith naturally meant that I had to brush up on my historical knowledge of the three big faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Below are some of the works I read and my thoughts on them:
Zealot by Reza Aslan: Jesus formed the starting point of my explorations given Nietzsche’s constant attacks on Christianity. I ended up picking Reza Aslan’s highly readable and controversial account of Jesus’ life in which Reza essentially confirms Nietzsche’s view of Christianity. Reza’s Jesus dies alone and dejected on the cross, unable to understand why God has forsaken him, with Christianity’s key tenets and teachings only being crystallized after his death through the letters of St. Paul and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As The Guardian rightly points out, the book hardly treads any new ground, and if not for the famous interview of Reza being attacked by a conservative Fox News anchor, the book would never have become as popular. The controversy arises because Reza, like Nietzsche, analyzes Jesus’ life using the cold eye of reason, whereas those of faith view it from the intuitive lens of belief. The same dichotomy that showed up in my reading of works of fiction, philosophy, and poetry showed up in works of history as well.
Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong: This is not an easy read and sometimes reads more like a book of scholarship than a book targeted at the general audience. Regardless, I picked it up as I wanted a book on the early history of Judaism with threads leading into Christianity and Islam and realized that this book isperfect for it. Karen centers her narrative around the city of Jerusalem from the time before Abraham (~3,200 BCE) until the modern-day state of Israel, covering vast swaths of history of the three Semitic religions along the way. I only ended up reading the book halfway as I was more interested in the development of Judaism until the time of Jesus than after it and found Karen’s account captivating. The story she tells about Judaism’s early development seems to position it as a syncretic blend of various polytheistic and monotheistic beliefs, with the concept of monotheism gradually taking hold over time. Her narrative also explores the development of the Old Testament as part of the Documentary Hypothesis.
Muhammad the First Muslim and After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton: Hazleton’s biography of Prophet Muhammad is equally readable if not equally controversial for similar reasons. In Hazleton’s case, the controversy arises not so much from her interpretation of history but from her unique approach in trying to intuit what the Prophet "must have felt" or "surely would have" done. Indeed, she does this so well that the reader sometimes feels as if they are reading a novel or the Prophet’s autobiography rather than a biography. On balance, her unique approach serves first-time readers of the Prophet’s life well as it narrows the gap between them and the subject, brings them closer to the action, and makes them feel as if they were peeking over the Prophet’s shoulder at pivotal moments, such as the Prophet running down the mountain in panic after his first revelation, spending the night shivering under a blanket, trying to reconcile his divine experience with reality in conversations with his wife, and his first dinner with his relatives reciting his verses and inviting them to join his mission, all vividly portrayed and brought to life.
6. Essays by Novelists
Previously I wrote about some questions I had been contemplating about the nature of reading, writing, and storytelling,such as what compels writers to write? What comprises good storytelling? Why do we read fiction? I therefore decided to pickup a few non-fiction books by fiction writers. Below are some of the works I read and my thoughts on them:
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami: I have only read one of Murakami’s novels, A Wild Sheep Chase, and personally I did not like it. I did not like Murakami’s “unadorned natural style”, the bland and plain protagonist, the weird surrealistic elements being blended in without any shift in tone, and the complete pointlessness of the story. Since then, I have not picked up another Murakami fiction novel, nor do I intend to pick one up anytime soon. Nonetheless, I could not stop asking myself why and how he writes what he writes. I was also intrigued by his story of how, at the age of thirty, he decided to become a novelist in a moment of epiphany at a baseball game. And thus,I found myself browsing this slim edition at a bookshop before summarily devouring it within a day. Turns out that all the elements which make Murakami a bad fiction writer make him a decent non-fiction writer. The “unadorned natural style” worked well, and his tendency to blend surrealistic elements (like his baseball story and others) provided flourishes which kept me engaged. As for my questions about Murakami’s writing and content, I will probably have to share in another post, but I think this Guardian review, and this one from the Los Angeles Review of Books, do well to capture the answers.
Incidental Inventions by Elena Ferrante: Similar to Murakami’s book, I randomly picked up this non-fiction work by Elena Ferrante at a bookshop, intrigued by the author's exotic name (this was before I read her novel), fascinated by the girl peeping from behind stage curtains, and curious about the contents of essays titles such as"Insomnia”, “Addictions”, “Linguistic Nationality”, and “Odious Women”. The book turned out to be a collection of fifty-two essays the anonymous author had written for The Guardian over the course of a year between 2018 and 2019, with each essay being a light and short meditation on the topic. The lightness of the essays comes from Ferrante’s conversational tone and her copious use of childhood and adolescent memories in expressing her opinions. Reading the essays, you can understand why Ferrante became a writer of bildungsroman novels such as the Neapolitan series. Ferrante seems to have a limitless amount of childhood and adolescence experiences vividly captured in her memory, which she seems to be able to interpret and reinterpret endlessly. An enjoyable and light read
Concluding Remarks
This post ended up being longer and more difficult to write than expected. I thought I’d be done in a day, but it took me several to revisit some of these works, collect and organize my thoughts before deciding what to say in a short paragraph. While it took some effort in getting this done it was great to spend time again rereading some of these works and reliving some of the memorable moments in them.
I would love to hear what you guys think about the books discussed here. Have you read any of them? What did you think about them?
I would also love to hear how useful you found this post. Are there similar topics you are interested in? What would you want to hear about next?