I wanted to make a post about Stripburger, but as my lovely friend asked me to write something about my favorite books (10 favorite books huh?), I'll first go on with that.
Now, I am not sure if I even have 10 favorite books - as most of my favorite authors are the best in the short story format, but never mind, I will just tell about my favies, and that's going to be cool enough!
So, as I've already said, I really enjoy short stories and writers who is good at it. Twain, Saki, Bulgakov and Chekhov - these are four my absolute favorites of the kind.
If you are familiar with all of them, I suppose you are able to see the link. Humor and realism. Although probably realism is not exactly what you can apply to Saki, and in case of Bulgakov I'm talking rather about the short stories than the novels, although he is a tricky thing - he's a mystic, he has some quite surreal elements mixed with painful honesty about the reality of that time, and I think that's the best thing about him. Sometimes witty, sometimes cruel, always clever and in general seems to be just a very simple and light reading, yet not the kind of light that makes less sense than a bubble gum does. This is just my thing, the reads I enjoy the most. Also, Oscar Wilde. He is a combination of everything I love.
I really love "The Stranger" (L'Étranger) by Camus. But this is just a book that everyone reads or at least everyone kind of has to read? It's tragic, it's life-affirming, it does good to you, if you let it to.
Lovely, so if we talk about one specific book - I'd say my best recommendation is "The Defense" (Защита Лужина) by Nabokov. I need to say that I am endlessly admiring Nabokov, and deeply terrified by him at the same time. His writing style is charming, it's beautiful, it's just mind-blowing - to describe something he uses the features you'd never think of, yet when he puts it down you feel like there is just no other way to describe it, because it fits perfectly, too perfect sometimes it is even scary. Especially because there's so much sickness in his works, like in The Defense - it's a frenzy, it's a misery, it's filled with misery and pain. But it is still so beautiful.
I would also recommend "Invitation to a Beheading" (Приглашение на казнь), it's even more surreal. Well, it's actually surreal as fuck!
Among the few things that had a great impact on me, there is one book for children. It's a book by Japanese actress, lovely lady and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, and it's called "Totto-chan. The Little Girl at the Window"(窓際のトットちゃん).
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Now, I am not sure if I even have 10 favorite books - as most of my favorite authors are the best in the short story format, but never mind, I will just tell about my favies, and that's going to be cool enough!
So, as I've already said, I really enjoy short stories and writers who is good at it. Twain, Saki, Bulgakov and Chekhov - these are four my absolute favorites of the kind.
If you are familiar with all of them, I suppose you are able to see the link. Humor and realism. Although probably realism is not exactly what you can apply to Saki, and in case of Bulgakov I'm talking rather about the short stories than the novels, although he is a tricky thing - he's a mystic, he has some quite surreal elements mixed with painful honesty about the reality of that time, and I think that's the best thing about him. Sometimes witty, sometimes cruel, always clever and in general seems to be just a very simple and light reading, yet not the kind of light that makes less sense than a bubble gum does. This is just my thing, the reads I enjoy the most. Also, Oscar Wilde. He is a combination of everything I love.
I really love "The Stranger" (L'Étranger) by Camus. But this is just a book that everyone reads or at least everyone kind of has to read? It's tragic, it's life-affirming, it does good to you, if you let it to.
Lovely, so if we talk about one specific book - I'd say my best recommendation is "The Defense" (Защита Лужина) by Nabokov. I need to say that I am endlessly admiring Nabokov, and deeply terrified by him at the same time. His writing style is charming, it's beautiful, it's just mind-blowing - to describe something he uses the features you'd never think of, yet when he puts it down you feel like there is just no other way to describe it, because it fits perfectly, too perfect sometimes it is even scary. Especially because there's so much sickness in his works, like in The Defense - it's a frenzy, it's a misery, it's filled with misery and pain. But it is still so beautiful.
I would also recommend "Invitation to a Beheading" (Приглашение на казнь), it's even more surreal. Well, it's actually surreal as fuck!
Among the few things that had a great impact on me, there is one book for children. It's a book by Japanese actress, lovely lady and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, and it's called "Totto-chan. The Little Girl at the Window"(窓際のトットちゃん).
Impossibly adorable illustrations by Iwasaki Chihiro
This book is very popular, but I didn't know anything about it until one day my teacher just brought it to me. On wikipedia it says that it's about "the values of unconventional education", which is certainly true - and there is a very particular message to be conveyed to adults in connection to that, but it wasn't the actual message that got me in this book. It is a feeling that you get when you first spend time reading it, and then look at the world around you - and really see it. It's a book about a little girl written by adult, but it's is not just the narration or description of events from a viewpoint of a mother, or of an adult self - it is a picture of a world seen and felt by a child, but masterfully captured by an adult. Do you remember how your eyes looked at the world when you were six or seven? I think I remember every flower I've seen, every butterfly I've followed, every frog I've caught, every spot on the ground I've passed when walking home from school, holding my grandmother's hand and looking around like it was the first time we're walking this road. The memories of me observing the most trivial things are the brightest ones that I have. Because they had never been trivial back then. Children do not assume they know everything about the world so they can walk their lives just by memory or common sense or experience or whatever you think you've got but you don't, but they really do look, they notice, they learn, they are alive every single second, and I don't feel so alive anymore. But on my way back home, right after I finished reading Totto-chan, my eyes just opened (god, this is really cheesy now right), and I just started making discoveries one after another. Wow, there's a flower pot here. Wow, I haven't noticed you could look through that window into a bright shop room, I didn't know there is a window at all! And what about this dog, doesn't it look just like my grandfather?
You know what I mean? It was like a revelation, I thought I know this way - I've walked it hundreds of times, but there are so many things I've seen for the first time, and I bet they hadn't just appeared over one night... That is the feeling that I got. And now I do not allow myself to forget about it anymore.
Anyway, that's pretty much everything I have to say so far - not too much but it took me quite long for some reason. I will add something if it comes to my mind... ever. Peace!
Oi, Totto-chan seems like an astounding read that I should get a hold of, if only there exists some kind of translation of the book. You wouldn't happen to know if there is one, would you?
ReplyDeleteI have to guiltily admit I never got around to reading anything of Nabokov's (if I did, it must have been so long ago that I wouldn't remember they were his works in the first place). You certainly make it seem worthwhile, so I'll be jotting that down on my to-read list as well.
What could you tell me about Saki? What works do you think would be essential to read?
I absolutely agree with you on your point about Bulgakov - I often thought it perplexing, how the very obvious (in comparison to other authors') symbolism of his works is capable of reflecting the essence of the world and his time in a way that very little clear-stated works of "realistic fiction" ever could. Personally, I always drew a connection between Bulgakov and another of my favorites - Ray Bradbury - in the sense that they both portrayed the reality through "unrealistic methods" (if I may call them such) - one placing his narration in a mystical, occasionally borderline absurd, the other in an other-world context.
There are, of course, some major differences too, the central one being the use of satire - while Bradbury is an ace in playing around with the reader's ability to empathize, Bulgakov fully exploits the chance to mock those aspects of humanity that we find in his works. I never found this in any of Bradbury's short stories - they focus on human joy and misery rather than the kind of situationalist humor that Bulgakov offers up as the only coping mechanism against hard times.
Absolutely, translations do exist, all over the internet. It's cute as hell and... it's really cute. Like, very much. Did I mention it's cute?? Oh well.
ReplyDeleteNabokov, just yes. You have to read him.
Saki, well. Any collection of short stories, really. It will probably be either Beasts and Super-Beasts or The Chronicles of Clovis, so try both. He's a charming cynic, his writings are simple and smart. I really think there's nothing to dislike about him, at all. Maybe you are not going to fall in love with him, but again - to spend some time in his company won't hurt you, I promise.
I have to say I've only read Bradbury twice, my first experience was Fahrenheit 451 which I absolutely hated despite the idea that was quite good (yeah I'm saying this even after you said he's one of your favorites but his style of writing is ehhh!!), and the other one was that short story book - Summer Morning, Summer Night? which was absolutely adorable. I guess I can apply what you've said to the first one? Anyway, that's an interesting link you've made. I would never think of comparing those two, but you made it quite obvious for me now.