There are indeed so many literary fictions that I have not read. I love watching films and there are several films I have been meaning to watch but if I can only do either one , I will read a book.
As a teenager, I read a lot of Chinese romantic novels written by Chiung Yao 瓊瑶 and Yi Shu 亦舒 . I
also read a few contemporary classics such as Family written by Ba Jin 巴金 and musings by some other Chinese
contemporary writers. My mother and I shared a common interest in reading
traveling stories written by Sanmao 三毛.
When I was seventeen, I read Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
and the likes so the central themes of the stories I had read then were either
unrequited or forbidden love stories or about fatalism and the inevitability of
fate or whimsical travel adventures .
When I was at the
university, I had felt compelled to read classics like Anna Karenina and Madame
Bovary. And then I was attracted to existentialism so I read some of the writings by Jean Paul Satre and Simone
de Bevoir. They were all translated versions of the original works. When I read
“ The World According to Garp” by John Irving, I absolutely loved it. I was
probably doing a lot of reading to avoid reading the whole list of cases which every law student had been assigned to read.
When I started working,I read John Grisham.
Life as a lawyer in fictions and law dramas on television is definitely far
more glamourous and exciting than the legal practice in reality. Then I
found pleasure in reading fictions
that were written about how the
working women could have it all.
“Chick Lit” are funny and
quirky. I thoroughly enjoy reading Lauren Weisberger and Sophie
Kinsella, Marian Keyes . I was never one for the espionage genre. John Irving, Julian Barnes, Lionel
Shrivel, Philip Roth, Meg Wolitzer, Nick Hornby, Jay Mcinerney and many many
other novelists are amongst my favourite authors. The stories written by Haruki
Murakami about the surrealism of metaphysical world are fascinating and there
are passages ( English translation) that I can resonate with. Recently Ruth
Ozeki’s writing strikes a chord with me. The list of my favourite authors
continues to grow.
I particularly
enjoy reading travel memoirs although some of them may be fictionalized account
of one’s life. Julia Child’s ‘My Life in France’ was very meticulously and
methodically recorded, whimsical and real. The stories written by Ruth Reichl
as a food critic in Garlic and Sapphires are absolutely delicious and
hilarious. Incidentally I have read news that Reichl’s debut novel entitled “Delicious”
is due to be released in May 2014 and I look forward to reading the novel.
When we read,
you and I relate differently to the story and various parts of the writings
will strike a chord with various readers. Not everyone who reads the same book
will share the same connection to
a piece of writing.
In reality, every reader, while
he is reading, is the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a
kind of optical instrument, which he offers to the reader to permit him to
discern what, without the book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.
The reader’s recognition in his own self of what the book says is the proof of
its truth.
In The Polysyllabic Spree,
Nick Hornby wrote about the how, and
when, and why, and what of reading. I do not remember pretty much
everything that I have ever read. I am much comforted when I read this passage
written by Hornby:
“A
couple of months ago, I became depressed by the realization that I'd forgotten
pretty much everything I've ever read. I have, however, bounced back: I am now
cheered by the realization that if I've forgotten everything I've ever read
then I can read some of my favorite books again as if for the first time.” –
Nick Hornby , The Polysyllabic Spree
There are
just so many different writings that I am attracted to and I sometimes
find myself having problems deciding on the books to bring on a vacation. Hornby also wrote, “ There is no rule that says one’s reading
has to be totally consistent. I can’t help but feel, however, that my reading
has been all over the place this month.”
That is exactly how I feel and it often happens.
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