Les Romans.
Some may have noticed that 2012 had been the greatest year of my life so far; from January 2012 until December 2012, I read many books that inspired me to write more and live more, these books helped me throughout the year of confusion and, ultimately, the year of contentment. What more can I say? Books are my friends, I enjoy losing myself inside their realms, being some characters that, otherwise, I won't be if there weren't books. Books offer me a certain kind of salvation which none others can give to me willingly. I could never live without books, but it does not mean that I live for books-- for I live for the journey, good or bad but they are equally exhilarating.
I will write and review books that I've read in 2012, hoping that by doing so, people would read these works, and they would love and appreciate the writers as much as I do. So, here we go.
I will write and review books that I've read in 2012, hoping that by doing so, people would read these works, and they would love and appreciate the writers as much as I do. So, here we go.
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World by Haruki Murakami (1991) ✭✭✭✭✭ I have a certain kind of admiration to Mr. Murakami. He creates his own whimsical worlds that are believable. The worlds are mostly not common, especially the ones in this novel. There are two different worlds in this novel, one is regarded as the reality, while the other is called "The End of The World". However, neither of them are usual, they take place in different worlds, different times even. There are two different narrators in the two worlds, each of them tells their own stories and lead their own interesting lives. The book kinds of mesmerising in their own ways, making you believe that you actually are the narrators and living those lives. It is like taking a breath of fresh air.
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) ✭✭✭✭✩ People often compare this work to Orwell's 1984, which I find very suffocating because both of them are different and they portray different lives. Brave New World describes a utopian country where people are ruled by entertainments and drugs to be their gateways from reality. Notwithstanding the fact that 1984 is beautifully written, but I found Brave New World was very relatable to life and the literary work was easier to digest. I don't really like the plot due to its sad ending, but the world that Huxley had created is amazing and yet I don't really want to live in such life-- where people are governed by their own need to be happy but not knowing that their happiness is not real.
- Like The Flowing River by Paulo Coelho (2006) ✭✭✭✭✭ It is a compilation of non-fiction stories by Paulo Coelho. It tells the readers about Coelho's experiences and about how we should cope about life. It taught me how to let go and why there are things happen the way they are supposed to. It made me reconnect myself, reflect in what I do what I am doing. It's a survival book for our soul.
- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1949) ✭✭✭✭✩ A coming of age story that sets in the 1940s in the castle on the countryside of England. It revolves around the narrator's life in the castle with her father, step-mother, siblings and their helper/worker. I found myself in love with the naïveté and the innocence from Cassandra's writing, because she was so keened in helping her sister, yet, she had a conflictual emotion because she fell for her sister's fiancé. I loved how she became the person in the family that mended everyone, but I despised the ending--perhaps I should deal with my hatred towards unrequited love more, because it's beginning to bias my opinion on good books. All in all, despite the ending, this is one of the novels that I found very charming in its own way.
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (2011) ✭✭✭✭✭ I've promised myself that if I ever did a book review, I won't put in two works of an author--but unfortunately, I'm breaking my own promise. You see, since 2011, I've fallen in love with Murakami's writings-- his book that I've read first was Kafka On The Shore (another ✭✭✭✭✭ I must say) and I got addicted to his works, so I purchased Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World. After that, I tried to read his thickest work yet, 1Q84, and it was beautiful in its own way. It's kind of amazing how Murakami made the story sounded relatable to our current life when the setting was in 1984, Murakami had managed to blur the boundaries between the present and the past, so it felt like you actually were living in his world. I fell in love with the characters, especially Tengo. One of my favorite books so far.
There are several others that I've read during the twelve months, but they don't have more profound impact to me than these five books. I went to strange places with those books, but I didn't feel like I was estranged, I was actually felt like at home. To those of you who never found the joy in reading books, I hope you can someday find a book that will change your mind about that-- because books and films always save me in the darkest of times. Long live books and their authors!