I was digging into some books for around the last year. Well, i was only able to read like 1 book in 2 weeks but still, it got me some ideas. In this post, i wanted to write about some books that i have read. I can't say i know a lot about literature and books but there are some details that gets my attention in the spectrum of books that i have seen. I will be writing about them too. Some of these books are in Turkish. I don't know if there are equivalent books of them in other languages.
I think these are mandatory for almost everyone. These books will summarize you love, the human nature and the world.
This is a book where George Orwell successfully predicted the future in the year 1949. It shows the result of autocracy and the building blocks that leads there. There is a system of full submission from Orwell's perspective in this book, which is the dream for most of the governments today. I have written about this book in detail in this post.
This book is written in Turkish about Noam Chomsky. It basically summarizes his ideas and explanations about various topics. I liked it because it was concise. Id doesn't go into linguistics, which would be hard to understand for usual people. There is a book called The Essential Chomsky, which is i guess the same. Chomsky is a must read for everyone. Together with 1984, you can understand the dirty, dysfunctional and inefficient order.
This is one of the philosophy books of Nigel Warburton. This book shows us how other people thought about things throughout the history. Thus, it will widen your perspective and vision. I have written about this book extensively. This book focuses on western philosophy. I haven't been able to find a book that summarizes the eastern philosophy yet, but i will try these: Engaging Japanese Philosophy: A Short History, Islamic Philosophy: A Beginner's Guide ve A Short History of Chinese Philosophy.
This is a Turkish novel from Mehmet Rauf. This one must be translated in other languages i think. It will give you new ways to look at love. I think i can also say this book is my favorite.
After the mandatories, i want to talk about the books that somewhat impressed me. I don't think you would regret reading these.
People say this is a torment focused novel. Even though it is a bit exaggerated, it depicts how one can endure tormenting situations for love. It felt a bit exaggerated because i am a realist person but French literature is usually not bad.
This is a Turkish classic from Reşat Nuri Güntekin. It is nice to see it is translated into English. It is about a father who is witnessing his family turning out to be something a lot different than he envisioned, due to western tendencies.
Another one of Turkish classics. It is from Sabahattin Ali and also kind of a tormenting novel like Lily in the valley. It is about a strange and passionate man-woman relationship and the power of the destiny.
This book could have been better. We have a protagonist who has been inspired from a mentality called Shibumi, which is an eastern rooted term and means a confident serenity. The book tells you about what he lives extensively. But unfortunately, it focuses too much on the background of the main character and misses the opportunity to become an international super exciting novel. I think people write fictional stories through some historical facts, and this book could have been sensational if it had given us more events on the main character.
Even though it could be a bit boring at times, this book will take you to a literal and figurative journey from one end to the other of America. It depicts a family who has been exiled from their lands and moving to west to find jobs in the dawn of the savage capitalism after the great depression. The greediness and stupidity of humankind never changes. After almost a century, they are still trying to make a world order by exploiting and suppressing laborers and preventing them from prospering.
This book is one of the American classics. even 13 years old kids can read this book but they have to grow up a little to understand it fully. The books tells you the consequences of the judgement of Americans against black people. But it is mostly told from the perspective of our youngster, Jean Louise Finch.
I confess, i have read these books but they have left 0 effect on me because i didn't understand them. I am not criticizing the books, i respect the effort. But whatever they are trying to express, i have no idea :)
I think i have attachment problems with the writer's perspectives. I have seen radio dramas of Oscar Wilde books on youtube and found them meaningless. After reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, i have asked "what did i read now??". I mean i didn't even understand the books enough to be able to summarize it. If you ask me, i have read self hallucinations of a spoiled and narrow minded brat. It is probable that the writer were trying to give another message there. I don't know what would you think though, don't take me as reference :)
As far as i know, Plato writes books about the views of his mentor Socrates. And i guess the Republic is about trying to find the ideal state management through Socrates' questionings. I say "i guess" because i have dropped it in the middle :D Because it was going to make me crazy. Of course the questioning method of Socrates can shed light into our lives but we need to know what to question, when and how, and also we need to keep the context in mind in the process. Otherwise you may see a resemblance between cows eating grass and people eating food. For example, this is what can happen if i follow the questioning system in this book: Why is your name Alice? If your name is Alice, can we name animals? Well then, do animals talk to each others? Do we need to be sitting while talking? Is looking around while sitting a good behavior? :D Questioning without a context and a goal and direction will only mix things up.
This is a Turkish novel, and it is kind of popular too. But this book was so strange, i have even forgotten its subject. I can only remember the inexplicable behavior of Nuran in the story. The writer, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, is a very well equipped intellectual, this is for sure. I have found this book kind of unreal. Let me explain. We can see some mistakes that people make. Or sometimes we can observe an unexpected behavior in a person. But there is usually a consistency of these behaviors or even mistakes. Even the psychological illnesses have some patterns and show up on people. But it feels like this book presents us people who would not behave the way they do under real circumstances, whether it is expected or unexpected.
I think geography effects literature. For example, i find Russian writers a bit too overkill with details. It feels like they have repetitions or chit-chat that has no meaning for the story. I feel like English writers are diving into a figurative world and getting detached from the real world because of their abstract thinking. I think American writers a bit materialistic focused. German writers feel like soulless. Turkish literature is definitely above average in the world. I feel like French writers are close to a sweet spot in the middle of material and abstract. Therefore i strongly suggest everyone to read Les Miserables. Also The Count of Monte Cristo is nice too.
Well, i have recommended some books and written my thoughts about them. I am nit-picky when it comes to books and i have high expectations. I prioritize a book giving me something, a perspective, a new idea, a new tangible world, rather than just looking for enjoyment. I hope these books can give you something too. See you at the next post :)
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