The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Russian soul is beautiful, mysterious, destructive, resurrecting, merciful, mean, forgiving, religious... The list can go on and on. It is hard to comprehend that eternal craving for happiness and denying every possibility of it. Self-torment is the biggest enemy of Russians who are almost never in peace with themselves, with those they love, with those they try to hate and fail doing so.

Each time I am asked about the mysterious Russian soul I pick up The Idiot and give it to read. Here we are all - naked and immortalized by genius Dostoevsky.
The book is full of different characters belonging to various social levels of tsarist Russia. They all have their own tragedy, their own crime and their own punishment. The ability to describe each and every of them in such a detail makes Dostoevsky a master. In the centre of this chaos stays Prince Myshkin, yet another character representing Jesus Christ (in Crime and Punishment it was Sonya Marmeladova, in The Brothers Karamazovs - Alyosha Karamazov), with yet another attempt to survive, to stay sane, to not be crucified. The result... we know it too well. The confrontation of Myshkin and Rogozhin is the eternal good or bad, white or black with the only exception that there is no one correct answer, because they are one whole.
The book teaches love and compassion, the art of absolution and acceptance, it teaches to stay human even among animals no matter how hard or even impossible it may seem. I love this book and it stays a mystery for me why children are always made to read Crime and Punishment at school if The Idiot is the Bible of the literature. I also advise to watch the latest screen version of The Idiot (2003, Russia). The English subtitles can be found in the Internet which seldom happens to beautiful and yet too self-sufficient Russian cinema.

My September 08 Bookshelf

A Creative Companion by Sark

I swallowed this book and the word left on the tip of my tongue was sweet. As the book was written in the lying position, it was read in the same way or swimming-in-the-bath condition.

When I saw A Creative Companion in the book fair, it immediately called for me with its rainbowish look. I opened and it was written by hand, I knew it belonged to me.

It is filled with ideas how to colour your life, how to bring creativity into every day, how to be happier. Smiling I leafed it through with thousands plans born in my head and heart. I immediately wanted to hug trees and put a weird advertisement, I never watched snails but I am sure they are worth changing my habits, I long for moonbaths, I hope I will dare to invite someone dangerous for tee, I am sure my inner child will be celebrated...
This is the book to make you feel special and miraculous (just the way you are, in case you have forgotten), instead of telling you one of Hollywood diets it will push you to take a bar of chocolate and enjoy life. It will reveal the treasure of being yourself and teach to equally appreaciate a child and an old person.
A Creative Companion is also filled with tips and links to other books. You are guaranteed to stay delighted. Give it a try.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

After my August Book Shelf I found myself devastated and hoped The Jane Austen Book Club would bring me back to life. Although I did not experience any fit of hysterical laughter I found it quite entertaining.

The book consists of six chapters, in each of them one of the six characters hosts the Book Club to discuss one of Austen's six books. During the literary polemics we learn more about the main characters who mostly appeared to be at the turning point of their lives. Different in age, occupation, even sex (there is one man among the Austen's admirers) they all share one thing - their Jane. The plot is nicely invented and the happy end seems to be the only logical possibility. On the other hand, I expected more discussions of the books and their characters, but they always appeared to be shifted aside.
I really liked the quotes of famous people about Jane Austen (although some of them were frankly rude), the idea of Ask Austen Ball and questions made by each of the characters to the reader in the end of the book.
The greatest merit of The Jane Austen Book Club is that it makes you want to read everything from Pride and Prejudice to Persuasion, as well as the biography of a writer who never being married managed to successfully marry all her characters and convince the reader that good people end up being happy despite any obstacle on the way.
According to the protagonists of the book, everyone has their Jane. Now let me discover mine.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The book appeared quite a challenge for me and there were far too many naps from my side, I admit. To begin with, I could not understand what it was all about with donations and carers up to the 80th page or so. Only then the subject of cloning came up to bring about some answers at last.

Obviously I am not a fan of science-fiction and although the book, all the events and main characters may easily be viewed as quite ordinary with the teenagers in the boarding school first and then adult people falling in and out of love and having all normal feelings and desires, something on the back of my mind whispered all the time about uselessness of it all. Why clones? There are so many children in the world who have no chance for any art and education, who have no childhood and hardly any hope to make something out of their lives. Why to go that far?
Maybe, it is only a matter of taste. Never Let Me Go has received many awards and I do believe that awards (not always but sometimes) are given for some reason. But if I am to say, the book is mostly work rather than fun.