Summary of some “not-so-heard/unconventional” books
Just like every other new year, one common “New-year resolution” is to read some X books. This time, I wanted to try different genres and get a feel of those which I haven’t explored much in past. So, here is the gist of the books that I have read so far. While these might not be in the top-recommended books by many websites, I have found them interesting and bit thought-provoking as well. If your resolution has a “To-read” list, you can include these less-heard books as well according to your taste. Though I say these are less-heard, a few have gained world-wide accolades and awards besides criticisms. What I meant by the term ‘less-heard’ is “Less heard to general public”. The books are:
- Three men in a boat (To say nothing of the dog)— Comedy, Adventure
- The Trail — Suspense, Philosophy
- Why I am an atheist —Perspective, Biography
- The Strange Library — Fantasy, Child novella
- The Little Prince — Philosophy, Child novella
1. Three men in a boat (To say nothing of the Dog) — Jerome K Jerome
Category: Humorous, Adventure, Friend-trips
Have you ever had a trip with your close friends? Then your ‘gang’ might have The early-planner, the late-comer, the perfectionist, the repulsive one, the chef etc; where you had great time that you would like to cherish.
If so, you will definitely connect with this book. A 200 odd-page old classic by Jerome K Jerome describes about his stressful life and wanted to take a break from it by planning a vacation. So, he gathers with his close friends and decides to take a boat trip on the river Thames. The rest of the book is about how they plan the trip and the funny incidents that they encounter while executing the plan. This book will make us to recap a few of those “funny-incidents”.
Note: As it is an old classic and written with England backdrop specific to a voyage, the English is a bit difficult to follow because of its specific jargon. And thanks Vivek Neelam for suggesting this book.
2. The Trail — Franz Kafka
Category: Suspense, Philosophy, Dystopian, Fiction, Political
What if, one fine morning when you wake up, you got arrested without revealing the nature of the crime that you have committed.
This 200 odd-page old German classic by Franz Kafka makes us to ponder about few aspects of our life as we read along the chapters.
On a fine morning, Josef K, a bank employee finds himself getting arrested for a crime (which is not revealed to him and to the reader as well). And he is taken to an unusual proceedings/court which is not known/inaccessible to general public. What happens to K and how he tries to get out of this accusation (The irony is he doesn’t know what that accusation is!!)
Few aspects of this book which make it an interesting read are:
- The book was unfinished by the author, Kafka. He only wrote the initial chapters and the ending. So, though we know the intended climax and thus can say it is technically complete, we don’t know why it occurred and the reasons are left for our imagination.
- Like his other work, (The Metamorphosis) this one also has philosophical aspects, some poignant parts which makes us to rethink about the “Working of courts, how people can influence etc;”
Thanks Kirubananth Sankar for suggesting this book.
3. Why I am an atheist — Bhagat Singh
Category: Autobiography, philosophy, perspective, theism and atheism
We all have few questions in our mind such as:
- Does God really exist?
- If so, why did he create this universe? And humankind with all these miseries in the world?
- What about incarnations, prayers etc;
This book doesn’t try to claim/prove that “God is there” or “God is not there”. It just takes a stand and describes about why Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter, who is a staunch theist (believer of God) during his childhood converted into an atheist (non believer of God). Recommended by few of my friends, the title speaks about the content of the book.
“Religion/Philosophy is the outcome of human weakness or the limitation of human knowledge.” — A quote from this book
It doesn’t matter if you are a strong theist or an atheist, you can pick this book as it is always good to hear about the other side of the discussion as well.
One can read from (https://www.marxists.org/archive/bhagat-singh/1930/10/05.htm) and technically speaking, it’s a long post (takes about an hour to finish) or an excerpt maybe.
Note: This post neither supports atheism nor theism. My motivation to chose this book (or long post) is to understand his perspective on these never ending debatable topics, to know more about his contemporary situations on these issues and for gaining insights. And thanks Mukul Ranjan for this suggestion.
4. The Strange Library — Haruki Murakami
Category: Fantasy, Child novella
We all might have faced some situation in our life which we felt as “Am I dreaming?”, “This is the weirdest situation I have faced ever”. This book triggers that part of our mind.
Book-lovers (especially fantasy genre) must have heard about Haruki Murakami, the Japanese writer who is famous for this genre. Though there are other works by him which are far more famous and gained cult-classic attention, to get a feel about this author, this short book (a 100 page long) might be a good start.
A boy visits a local library and asks for a few books. The librarian guides to the basement where an old man sits and talks with an authoritative voice. When the boy says, he is interested in “Tax-collection” books, the old man takes him to an underground maze, gives books and asks to memorize them within a month (so that his brain has content and will taste good). There in the prison, he meets a mysterious girl and a tormented sheep man. The rest of the story is about how the party plans and escapes from the maze and what happens to him later.
5. The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Category: Philosophy, Thought provoking, celestial traveler, Child novella
A friend of mine usually says, “Never let the child in you die”. Some serious questions that one might have regarding this aspect are:
- Have you ever thought on what is the purpose of life?
- Have you ever thought that you are behaving like a matured adult at all matters and a child’s behavior is much better?
- We all had less worries and are more happy in our childhood. Why can’t we be the same when we turn into adults?
This epic classic, widely famous book (around 150 pages), TV series and movie (in Netflix) tries to shed in some light on that particular aspect of our life. The philosophy of this book in one sentence can be “Why so serious/busy in life !!”
It starts when the author was in early childhood and utterly fails as an artist because everyone behaves like a matured adult and could not appreciate his drawings/hidden meaning of his paintings. So, he renounces artistic profession and becomes a pilot. During a trip around 1942, his plane crashes in the Sahara desert and while he was repairing his engine, he encounters a little prince (mysterious) who stares at him and asks him to draw a sheep which can eat grass. Surprised by his attire, the author asks the prince his whereabouts. The prince says he comes from a different planet i.e Asteroid B-612. And eventually the prince starts describing the madness of the grown-ups present in various planets (metaphorically different traits that are possessed by humankind) with whom he interacted while traveling in space and how he encountered Earth. The rest of the book is about whether the prince (celestial person) returns to his native planet, if so how and what happens after that.
This book has some highly thought provoking aspects written in simple language. It might feel as a bit dystopian at parts. Some people that the prince encountered and the traits described are:
“On planet B-325, there is a king who rules the entire planet. He boasts that everyone must follow his rules. The irony is there is only one person on the planet and it is the king himself.” — Vanity
“On planet B-326, there is a fat person who looks like a clone. He asked the prince to praise him by saying he is the most intelligent person, the richest on the planet. Here also it’s the same irony, he is the only one on his planet.” — Narcissism
“On planet B-327, there is a tippler who was very busy and when interrupted, he says that he was drinking to forget that he was ashamed of drinking” — Grief, Greed, Over-analysis, Habits
“On planet B-328, a businessman who is blind to the beauty of the stars and instead endlessly counts and makes a note of them in order to own them all” — Materialism
“On planet B-329 which is so small that a full day lasts a minute, a lamplighter wastes his life blindly following orders to extinguish and relight the lamppost every 30 seconds to correspond with his planet’s day and night.” — Purpose of each and every small job, enjoying the mundane tasks
“On planet B-330, there is an elderly geographer who has never been anywhere, or seen any of the things he records, providing a caricature of specialization in the contemporary world.” — Live life for yourself
“On earth, a railway switch-man who told the prince how passengers constantly rushed from one place to another aboard trains, never satisfied with where they were and not knowing what they were after; only the children among them ever bothered to look out the windows.” — Satisfaction, happiness, enjoying the moments of life
“On earth, a merchant who talks about his product, a pill that eliminates the need to drink for a week, saving people 53 minutes.” — Too perfectionist, busy scheduler
Credits: Thank you Anju Anand for suggesting this book
Personal Website: namburisrinath.github.io
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