Monday 11 May 2020

Eleven Books for Everyone to Read under the Lockdown

The COVID19 enforced lockdown has unexpectedly given many once upon a time bibliophiles a chance to engross themselves in their lost habit. If you are that bibliophile disheartened because you never had the time for those long, stories inside stories types of epic masterpieces, you must be happy with the lockdown. Because there never was a better time to blow the dust off that bulky book in the back of your shelf and finish it off at your own pace.

Here are my lists of eleven books for different types of readers. Why eleven, well because 11 is a beautiful number, there are 11 members in a cricket or soccer team, there are 11 months with at least 30days, we had a five minutes break at 11am, while at school and the list goes on. Of course, these books are all acclaimed as classics and I have taken care to include only one book by a great author in one list. Yes, I have multiple lists: for those who have a lot of time, those who prefer shorter books, for kids, for those who read world literature, for those who like Indian literature, for the lovers of lady writers; yes I have lists of eleven to satisfy all which will be published in the coming days. I am also giving an approximate duration one may require to finish the book, courtesy Reading Length. It is assumed that your reading speed is 50 words per minute on average. And yes, you can check it yourselves by clicking on the link. So to rewind your reading life, here is my list of epic novels first; those big, massive 1,000-page giants that will keep you busy for a while.

1. The world is at war now, the war against the virus and we hope to achieve peace of mind as soon as possible. Hence I prefer to start with the War and Peace. First published in 1869, it has everything: history, romance, military battles, family drama, and philosophical essays. The novel also demonstrates how people try to find their way forward in a time of crisis and social upheaval, which makes it a worthy companion for your days under the lockdown. About 1300 pages on average, Count Leo Tolstoy's seminal work might take one about two to three weeks to complete at a leisurely pace.

2. “So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age, the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of woman by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.” says the Preface to Les Miserables. If you want to develop a new philosophy for your life post lockdown, there are few better choices to spend your 2 weeks on. Victor Hugo's magnum opus is my personal favorite.

3. If you have a month to spare or if you are a fast reader you can go for In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust's massive masterpiece running into more than a million words. Completed in 1927 and regarded as one of the most influential novels of the 20th century, the work is narrated to you by a sensitive young man who wishes to become a writer dwelling on the profound musings on art, the elusive nature of memory, and the melancholy passage of time.

4. We can't be blamed if we perceive the efforts of politicians to claim the credit for fighting the virus, "quixotic", the word originating from the protagonist of the Spanish novel The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered as one of the foundations of modern literature having found direct mention in many a classic novel that came afterward, notably in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844), Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). Its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting has always been a reassurance over and above the tragedy wherein Don Quixote's idealism and nobility are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. The journey with Quixote on Rocinante will take a week for you.

5. Searching for Charles Dickens' longest novel, I had a pleasant surprise. Dickens’ David Copperfield was always one of my most favorite heroes from fiction for his optimism, diligence, and perseverance in the face of heavy odds stacked against him. And yes, in terms of words, his eighth novel, published in 1850, The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account) edged out the more philosophical Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation by 5 words! David Copperfield: the Unabridged edition will take you less than a week.

6. If you are someone with a philosophical bent you couldn't have missed any piece from Fyodor Dostoevsky. Philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre had accepted his influence, Nietzsche even regarded him as "the only psychologist ... from whom I had something to learn". He had influenced and impressed not only later Russian writers like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Anton Chekhov but also literary stalwarts outside Russia such as Hermann Hesse, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka to list a few. Modern cultural movements such as the surrealists, the existentialists, and the Beats cite Dostoevsky as an influence and he is cited as the forerunner of Russian symbolism, existentialism, expressionism, and psychoanalysis. Russian-American author Ayn Rand wrote that Dostoevsky was one of the two greatest novelists in history (the other being Victor Hugo). Writing about Dostoevsky, perhaps the only great novelist who studied Engineering and worked as an Engineer, I almost forgot to mention his work that is in this eleven. As I have been marking books for long reads, The Brothers Karamazov, his passionate philosophical final novel set in 19th century Russia, that deeply dwells into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality is chosen. This spiritual, theological drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, judgment, and reason called "the most magnificent novel ever written" by no less a person than Sigmund Freud shall take you a week to get over.

7. There are many great works from India deserving to be on this list. But I would like to recommend Kalki Krishnamurthy's volumes and volumes of a novel, Ponniyin Selvan, the Son of Ponni, telling the early life story of Arulmozhivarman, who later went on to become the legendary Raja Raja Chola. Widely considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written in Tamil literature, the work attempts to give an accurate account of the rise and rise of one the greatest Emperors in Indian history. You might need a month to finish all the volumes.

8. If Kalki's book tells the glory of India, the one book that will give you the story of the struggles of ordinary Indians is Munshi Premchand's poignant portrayal of the life of the downtrodden Godaan, the Gift of a Cow. Perhaps a bit like the Indian version of the Les Miserables, the book chronicles the parallel history of the times before the independence through the lives of the exploited, poor, farmers, lower castes, women, and the laborers in the Hindi Heartland of India, also known as the Cow Belt. A must-read for any student of India, the book will take you a week

9. James Joyce's stream of consciousness narration of the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904, is considered by many as the greatest novel of the century, so much so that 16th June is celebrated as the Bloomsday. Ulysses might take you a week or many weeks to get over, but that's your business. "Joyce was not at fault if people after him did not understand it. The next generation is responsible for its own soul; a man of genius is responsible to his peers, not to a studio full of uneducated and undisciplined coxcombs," said T S Eliot.

10. Orhan Pamuk's brilliant portrayal of the philosophical system of 16th century Istanbul during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, My Name is Red will give you a glimpse of the complex East-West relationship at an important period in history. This masterly blend of mystery, romance, and philosophical puzzles told in finespun sentences, full of passionate art appreciations and descriptions of urban scenes of the times will take a week of your time.

11. The final one week reader in the list is the novel that probably announced the arrival of its author as one of the most impactful writers among the worldwide audience. Conversation in the Cathedral, the later Presidential Candidate Mario Vargas Llosa's examination of the deep roots of corruption and failure in Peruvian politics and government during the 1950s completes the present eleven of the giants.

So here are my 11 posted at the 11th hour on 11th May. If there are no lady writers on the list, it is because another list is coming. And do not worry all the lists promised are ready to be posted.

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