If you have a book rec for me based on what I like to consume, drop me a line :)

Stats:

Books read: 16 (10 Fiction, 6 Non-Fiction)

Unique Authors: 14 (8 Men, 6 Women)

Most Read Authors: Ursula Le Guin (2), Elif Shafak (2)

Average Rating: 4.25 (4.2 Fiction, 4.33 Non-Fiction)

warning: some spoilers may be contained in the following reviews

Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

I really wish I could say this book ignited a bonfire in me, but its flame merely sparked and dwindled (please excuse this terrible pun). Farenheit 451 is set in a dystopian world where firemen are tasked with burning books in which the protagonist Montag (who is a fireman), begins a journey in which he discovers the value of books and strives to rebel against the forces that have constructed such a society. I thought the conversations between characters were pretty riveting (especially the ones about the value of books), but the narration was quite dull. The prose was meant to be evocative, meshing together all sorts of metaphors, but it didn’t really do anything for me. Oh well.

Also, the extended fire metaphor was a bit drawn out, and there were some lines that incited a visceral wtf moment in me. For example, towards the end of the novel, Montag notices: “He hadn’t known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take”. Did the dude never cook anything with fire???? 3/5

The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak

I loved this book. Ella is a disillusioned American suburban housewife who takes on a part-time role at a literary agency, and begins reviewing a novel as her first assignment. The novel takes her to the Middle East in the 13th century, and exposes her to Sufism, a mystical Islamic practice. The story she reads revolves around spiritual connection, as Shams of Tabriz (a dervish) turns Rumi, a former scholar, into a poet through his forty rules of love. The novel changes her profoundly, and she makes life changes that align with her newfound perspective on life.

Throughout my reading, I found myself highlighting and rereading passages I found beautiful and insightful, and there were so many of them. This book also introduced Sufi ideas to me for the first time in my life, and it feels like a very palatable way to interpret Islam, in a manner that transcends the boundaries of dogmatism I’ve long perceived the religion as having.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.

The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.

5/5

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

I can always find comfort when reading Jhumpa Lahiri. The stories in this collection are all about 2nd generation Indian-Americans, navigating their careers and family lives, a subject matter that is close to my personal, lived experience. Lahiri writes close to the belt and simply, bringing to life characters (Bengali, highly educated, east coast residences) that are familiar to her, but manages to still capture a diverse array of personalities (balanced, flawed individuals) through these works. Some of the personalities felt so real - I found myself tearing up when reading the story about the brother who succumbed to alcoholism, as it reminded me of an old friend. Lahiri toys with your emotions, as the endings of these stories tend to be melancholy, leaving you with a dull ache in you chest as you realize that the happy ending she has dangled like a carrot throughout the story was simply a well constructed head fake. 4.5/5

Blue Zones - Dan Buettner