It is not necessarily the story line that is so different and unique from other books, but rather the manner and style in which it is written. Coelho writes about things that we know are physically impossible, yet he writes them in such a way that they become believable. even more importantly they do not only seem believable, but it seems as if these were normal occurences that can actually happen during the course of one’s life. That to me is evidence of an extraordinary storyteller. Coelho tells his stories with such conviction and grace that it is natural for the reader to give in and get completely carried away.

The Alchemist tells the story of a boy Shepard who embarks on a life changing journey. It is on this journey that he discovers the most important elements of life, and the components that we must have to achieve true happiness. It is a journey of self discovery. As I mentioned before probably, we as human beings continue growing and developing till the day we die. There is always room for change, and more importantly there is always a hidden part of ourselves that we have yet to discover.

It is on this journey that Santiago learns about himself and his relation to the universe. You might ask me what is so special about this book that really makes it unforgettable? The Alchemist has taught me to listen to my instincts and to my heart because they are usually right. As long as deep down I have the feeling that what I am doing is right, it will come true. That is not to say that this journey is easy and without obstacles. Of course not. But when you know what it is that you want, you find the strength within yourself to get there.

For some it takes a little longer than for the rest of us, but it is imperative to listen to your inner voice.

P.S. It has been a really nice journey to do this blog. Not only have I been given the opportunity to share some of my favorite books with others, but it has also allowed me to refresh my memory and really remind myself what it was in these books that have made them so special and why they have earned such a special place in my heart.

in the desert

Margaret Atwood

I know that my blog is about books, but when I was trying to think of a book that I love the only thing that kept popping into my head was this poem that I loved. Yes, I wanted to write about love this week and the best thing that encompasses everything that I have to say about this subject is within the couple lines of this magnificent poem. I came across this poem over three years ago and I have not forgotten about it ever since. Whenever I hear people talking about love, this poem always, and I mean always come to my mind.

First of all, what is love? What does it mean to each one of us? Isn’t it a feeling, something that we feel deep within ourselves?

Frankly, a feeling that most of us are not lucky to experience. At least the real kind of love. To many love is associated with the color red, with large red roses, and large red hearts, filled with good chocolate, or anything else that companies have made us think as romantic. Atwood touches upon this aspect of commercialism, that love to most has become buying gifts and doing things that are supposed to be romantic. Shouldn’t we know and feel ourselves what would be most romantic of all to our partner??

“This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It’s the right size for those warm
blanks in speech”

How has it come to be that we plug holes in speech with the word love. This word should be rarely said. It carries such gravity with it that we should be scared to utter it, because of the responsibility and greatness attached to it. Instead people have made it become impersonal, normal, meaningless really. Love can be found anywhere. We don’t have to be in a beautiful expensive restaurant to fall in love and enjoy each others company. We can be just as much in love if we do it just like the “cool debaucheries of slugs under damp pieces of cardboard”. It’s not where we are, but rather with whom.

 Atwood lets us regain some hope about love in the second stanza. The writer then progresses into the other side of love. It is directed to those who know what love is, who know how strong and important of an element in life it is. She divulges into the depths of feelings that are attached once we let ourselves fall in love. It can bring us wonder and pain, but no matter which end of the spectrum we experience, she makes it known that this is a ride worth going on.

All we have to do sometimes is fall off the cliff with our eyes closed, and hope that we land safely…

Variations on th Word Love

This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It’s the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart-
shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell
it. We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines with not much in them
but the word love, you can
rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know
it isn’t what goes on at the cool
debaucheries of slugs under damp
pieces of cardboard? As for the weed-
seedlings nosing their tough snouts up
among the lettuces, they shout it.
Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising
their glittering knives in salute.

Then there’s the two
of us. This word
is far too short for us, it has only
four letters, too sparse
to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars
that press on us with their deafness.
It’s not love we don’t wish
to fall into, but that fear.
this word is not enough but it will
have to do. It’s a single
vowel in this metallic
silence, a mouth that says
O again and again in wonder
and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside. You can
hold on or let go.

A Streetcar...

It is actually only recently that I read this magnificent play written by Tennessee Williams. Considered one of the American classics, and rightfully so, the play captures the deepest depths and complexities of human nature while subtly reminding us once again to never judge a book by its cover.

It is not the location of the play or the fast paced action that make this play so special, but rather the intense complexity of the characters, especially that of Blanche, the protagonist of the entire story. Considered by many one of the most difficult and complex characters to play on a stage or on film, Blanche is a plethora of things, and yet at the same time is so opaque it is almost impossible to describe her in any concrete way.

The play takes place mostly in a lower middle class apartment in New Orléans, Louisiana. Blanche comes here to stay with her sister Stella, and her husband Stanley. Once again I will not dive into the plot of this play because I do not want to give a summary of the play but rather the important themes that it decides to touch upon.

Blanche is a character who projects herself to be one way: a lady of culture, manner, money, and of a good pedigree. She sometimes verges on the line of being condescending, however this brash demeanor is an act to cover the secrets and lies that are hiding in her closet. A person who has had an equally interesting as tragic, and drama filled life. Throughout her stay with Stella, Blanche does not learn to accomodate and learn from her mistakes, but rather digs an even deeper hole for herself. A hole so deep, she eventually cannot get out of it.

Being born into a world of expectations and pressure about the person she was supposed to become, Blanche became fixated on these points which in turn prevented her from becoming her own person. She became so engulfed in this image that she created for herself, yet was completely untrue, that ultimately the glass had to break. And once that beautiful façade broke it was already too late to fix it. The most important thing that I took from this play was the question of why and when do we allow others to decide our lives for us? Why don’t we realize that it is okay to break out and be our own person?

Moving away from the form of precipitation that manages to be the title it felt only natural for me to remind or introduce people to thsi amazing, well written, and deep novel. Snow takes place in Turkey and deals with the many internal problems that nations face. The book is written by Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize Literature winner. The book is written in a superb style and excellent language which trabslates into a gripping and engaging novel, but a difficult one to read nonetheless. Snow is certainly not the type of book that one should read on the beach while relaxing or that could be easily read in a day or two. The content that it deals with is intense and sometimes heartbreaking.

Snow tells the story of a Turkish man who returns to Turkey after being in exile in Germany for 12 years. He is intrigued and perplexed by the recent suicides of youn woman in Turkey, especially in one given town. These suicides are rather odd, espeically when taking into consideration that suicide is forbidden in teh Koran. I will not divulge into the many smaller story lines that take place but the book lifts the cover on the secret life of many people who seem more than ordinary.

It reminded me that first of all nothing is ever as it seems. Moreover, it shows that human nature is so complex and intertwined it is sometimes but than impossible to decipher it, let alone try to understand it. The book also sheds a light that true news are hard to come by, because people do not like to unravel the truth. It is easier to show people flashy slogans or short stories which do not even scratch teh surface of certain issues. Pamuk dives deep down into culture and the relations between men and women, government and its people, and how much power (good or bad) religion truly has over its believers.

Upon finishing this book I remember not really feeling anything. It’s this weird and awry sense of emptiness because you have been reminded of things that have and are taking place in the world behind closed doors. It shows that there isn’t always a happy ending. But the book also gives you hope.

Sometimes you need many not happy endings to get one happy one.

Snow Cover

When I think or reminisce about this book the first thing that comes to my mind is the intensity of it. It’s one of those books that has so much in it, emanates emotion, passion and addiction that you wonder whether you should take a break from it because it can take a toll on your psyche too, but for some reason you can’t because it’s as enthralling as the protagonist of the story.

The book tells the story of a girl and a boy who have known each other since childhood and whose paths in life cross at many times. The woman is the epitome of a heroine, one who you know is bad for you but you can’t let go of, no matter how hard you try. The man is teh complete opposite of her and even though through all the years she never shows him a dab of respect he continues going back to her, like a moth towards the light.

He knows it’s bad for him but he can’t help himself. If someone would tell me the outline of this book I would automatically think to myself that it is another kitschy love story. Even though it may seem so this way it is not. All this thanks to the superb writing skills of Mario Vargas Llosa who makes the normal or common seem like the most unique and gripping story of all time.

Thus, this is a book that once you read you will NEVER forget. You won’t forget it because of the emotions and feelings that you will feel while reading it. It’s a guilty pleasure I would dare to say, one that we can allow ourselves once in a while.

I was taking a walk on the beach today and thought to myself what would I want my next blog entry to be about? Then came the idea of differentiating between passion and obsession. Then right away only one book came to my mind. The Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

It was an instant hit when published in 1976 and garnered as much controversy as copies that it sold. The book explores the depths of passion that supercedes and translates into a life obsession that knows no limits or boundaries. When I think of passion I think of something good, something that an individual pursues to a great extent because this certain element plays an important role in their life. But how far can passion go? When does passion end and does an obsession come into play?

An obsession I perceive to include a hint of passion, however it is no longer at the forefront of the picture. It seems that the individual forgets the main reason for which he is doing something and instead it becomes the center point and thus leads to his entire life revolving around it.

The Perfume concentrates on a man who is born without a personal smell. Most of us don’t think about our own personal smell, but I guess we would notice if we wouldn’t have one. Since he is lacking a personal smell it seems that he is lacking a part of his own identity. It is a pssion of his to inderstand and study scents but at a certain point this essential part beecomes a dangerous, fatal obsession. The man is driven to continuous murder in his pursuit of realizing a scent that will have to the control to manipulate others. A smell that would lead to ecstacy.

This in turn makes me wonder…how far can we go before we forgot what our main goal was? How is it that we start a journey with a clear goal in mind but get sooooo sidetracked along the way?

Le Perfum

We complain about the little things and become seemingly judgemental of others, without pausing for a second and asking ourselves what we would have done in that situation if placed in somebody else’s shoes. Most of us don’t think on a daily basis if we will have something to eat, a roof over our heads, die of sickess or war. I know personally and from observation that we are also very quick to judge. It is easy to assume a certain position when most of our necessities are guaranteed, but what would we do if things weren’t so…?

The first book that came to my mind when debating this topic was “White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga. I read it about a year ago and it raises all these questions that I just mentioned. It tells the story of a man in India who moves from his small village to Bombay. He becomes a taxi driver for a wealthy family and in between becomes involved in situations that one would not consider ideal.

At a ceratin point he faces a choice: whether he does what we consider moral and continues his poor, menial life, or he does something many of us would consider ‘not the right thing to do’ but this guarantees him a safe, calm, and secure life. During the course of this book issues ranging from family, loyalty, Indian culture, and many more are raised.

I fell in love with this book because it reminded me that not everything is as it seems. Plus, everything is different, it only depends from whose eyes and perspective you look. A book that is hard to put away, but also sometimes so intense you wnat to put it away because it reawakens things that we dont ponder about on a daily basis. After all, it’s a lot easier to complain about those menial htings in life.

However, I do recommend that you read the book and ask yourself: if I was in the situation and was facing those circumstance, what would I do?? In most cases I can guarantee your answer won’t be what you would have expected from yourself.

The Last Lecture cover

Since this week is Thanksgiving and which also means that Christmas season has officially begun, I decided to choose an inspirational book. One that makes us believe and hope, a mood that I see perfectly fit for the holiday season (no matter what religion you believe in).

The Last Lecture is actually a mixture of a book and a real life last speech of a professor from Carnegie Mellon Univeristy in the U.S. The last lecture was given by Randy Pausch, who worked with a writer who helped him on this genius work, that strikes a perfect balance between reality and dreams. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with cancer and was told that he had less than 2 months to live. He had a wife and three young kids. He was somehwere in his 40′s. Did he break down and dwell on his fortune. No. He did the opposite and instead told us about all the wonderful things that life has to offer.

I must warn everybody… If you expect one big truth or big lesson from this book, you will not find it. Instead it offers many small lessons, and it is by the end of the book that we realize these are the ones that matter most.

When Randy found out that he had only a couple months left to live he decided to keep on living normally. Just like he did before. The only thing that changed was his decision to have this last lecture…that was supposed to serve as a memory to his small kids who would not remember much about their father when they got older.

I will not tell you all the good stuff that is in this speech/book, but will rather tell you all it has moments when you want to laugh, as well as moments that will bring tears to your eyes (so don’t read it in a public place if you don’t want to be seen with teary eyes), but most importantly will remind you that life is worth living, especially for the moments that take your breath away. It is certainly a book I will never forget because it creates such a positive mood, one that really awakens the best part of ourselves.

We don’t know how much time we have on this earth, so why don’t we make the most of it while we can?

It is our turn to fill in the blanks and we could put whatever answers we wish into those blanks.

This short story begins with two friends/acquiantances meeting coincidentally in a foreign country after many years of not having seen each other. The one man is an author and the other, the protagonist is a successful furniture dealer/seller who was the ‘perfect’ student his entire life and who did eveyrthing according to the rule book.

For some reason the protagonist feels comfortable enough to tell the writer a story he has never told anyone. Maybe it was the wine, the being in a foreign country, or a mixture of both. First, the author of this story tells us that this friend of his was the quintessence of everything ‘perfect’ in school. He had the perfect grades, was good looking, all girls liked him, was a born leader, and had the perfect girlfriend. Murakami describes them as Mr. and Mrs. Clean.

Quickly, we do find out that Mr. and Mrs. Clean could only be perfect on the surface. Overall, these two really did lead an ideal life. They would study together, talk, have honest conversations, have ‘fun’ with each other, but they never had sex. The girlfriend still held to the stigma that a girl should wait with sex till marriage. To make thsi story short, the two eventually broke up, never slept together, and went their seperate ways. Now come the questions that I started asking myself…

Was this couple theoretically so perfect that they shouldn’t have stayed together because many people believe that they shouldn’t be fully happy, or that happiness doesn’t happen when you are still in high school?

Before breaking up the girl promises the boy that she will sleep with him one day, once she is already married. She does call him years later and the two meet. They have ‘fun’, however are unable to sleep with each other.

Why is what I immediately asked myself? Maybe there is a certain time when something should happen and once that time passes there is no second chance? MAYBE some things are never supposed to happen?

It’s a story that doesn’t have a concrete morale or message at the end, but it definitely leaves you and keeps you thinking and asking…

When I think of this book, the first thing that comes to my mind is the feeling that I got when I read the ending. I thought to myself, but oh why, how can this be? And to this day that feeling of unfairness and injustice is what first comes to my mind when I hear the title. Often times I hear people complaining that life is unfair, or this person or that situation is not right. But then I think of this book and remind myself that there always has been injustice in the world and more likely than not, it will continue. However, looking on the bright side, there always were and will be those who will never give up fighting for what they believe in …

…in short to Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the deep south of the U.S., in a small town where everyone knew everyone’s business, and most importantly it takes place during times of segregation. It talks about a time where your skin ‘color’ determined whether you were better than someone, and during that time, as is shown in this book, that ‘color’ was even above law. A hierarchy that was so solidly implanted and ingraved in the minds of these people, that even law couldn’t come between it.

Even though this magnificant story by Harper Lee does not have the ending we would have wished for, it instead gives us something to think about and reflect on. It is a story of family, love, friendship, care, history, and most importantly one about human nature. It shows us the good and bad sides of humans, and more often than not, we do have the chance to choose which side we want to stand on. However, the question remains whether we are brave enough to stand on the right side?

One thing that I am certain of is that this book will definitely, and I mean definitely NOT disappoint.