A Year in Reading II
Condensed takeaways on Books from last year
A few days back I wrote a post on my reflections on books I had read last year. The post ended up being longer than expected so I thought I’d force myself to write a single takeaway I would take from the book.
Trying to capture the essence of any book in a single line or statement is clearly reductive but is powerful nonetheless. It helps us capture how we feel about the book in the moment.
In this spirit then, as part of this exercise, I read my post from last week again and tried to write the first thing that came to my mind. In many cases this ended up being a takeaway from the book’s story but in some it ended up being a thought on the book’s history or critical reception.
Realizing that the takeaways, if shared on their own, without further commentary, are probably too cryptic for others to make sense of, I have tried to link articles, reviews, and videos which might help you explore the topic a bit more. I hope you guys enjoy this.
Fiction
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: Marriage is hard and requires work (here)
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev: Brooding over Life’s biggest questions is dangerous work (here)
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol: All successful men are alike; each unsuccessful man is unsuccessful in his own way (here)
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Analyzing yourself endlessly is a surefire recipe for disaster (here)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Growing up means believing in yourself, reflecting on your actions, adapting and being open to change (here)
Persuasion by Jane Austen: Growing up means trusting yourself and finding your voice (here)
Emma by Jane Austen: Growing up means realizing, accepting and overcoming your self-delusions (here)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: Growing up means learning to guide your passions while not overthinking it (here)
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes: Without faith it is difficult to provoke action; without pragmatism it is difficult to make sure you succeed (here)
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: The grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side mentality will literally kill you (here)
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James: It is easy to get lost in life without a good understanding of our capabilities and our limitations (here)
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante: The world runs on lying; growing up means accepting that (here)
Poetry & Philosophy
Shikwa and Jawab-e-shikwa by Iqbal: Having permission to complain to and challenge God can be wonderfully liberating (here)
The Masnavi by Rumi: Your ‘self’ needs to be overcome for you to realize your purpose (here)
Human all too Human by Nietzsche: Wake-up and see how the traditions around you shackle you (here)
The Joyous Science by Nietzsche: God is dead! And you need to create meaning by freeing your passions from your intellect and letting them guide you (here)
History
Zealot: Reinterpreting the life of a religious figure is controversial business (here)
First Muslim: You can only look at things in a unique way by following your own path (here)
After the Prophet: Sometimes even the greatest of men can also falter (here)
Essays by Novelists
Novelist as a Vocation: Writing is hard and requires discipline (here)
Incidental Inventions: Your Language defines who you are (here)
Concluding Remarks
I hope you guys found this useful. Have you read any of them? I would love to hear what you thought 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?