2020 has been a strange year, which, on the contrary, was
supposed to be an exciting start of a new decade. It would be awfully laughable
to say that 2020 disappointed us; grateful instead should all of us be who made
it through despite the many struggles and tragedies. However, as I recently
wrote in my no.34 weekly 5BF that no matter how bleak and strange this year proved
to be, almost all of us had something to be thankful for and smile about if we
look hard and positively enough. For me the thing to smile about and be
grateful for has been reading. I read a total of 75 books, from fiction to
non-fiction, to philosophy and poetry. Ironically the number of books I read
this year is almost as many as I read in my previous three years of reading
combined. And not only the numbers, but the ever-present company and the sheer
fulfillment, both figuratively and literally, that books and reading provided
me during these 12 months of emptiness, pain, depression, anxiety, and
mental/emotional breakdowns, was truly supportive and something close to
life-saving. And through this instinctive survivalism that is sometimes pompously
called courage and strength, reading helped me not only survive but to draw
strength from these challenges, and somehow, reach the other shore – although
scarred and emotionally distraught – a more learned and wiser person.
Making such lists is an emotionally brutal exercise while
being equally as fun. You kill many darlings to pave the way to appreciate only
a bunch of them as enthusiastically as they deserve. For me, it’s an exercise
of looking back and honoring the books that won me over from its first pages
and continued only to surprise and move me even more throughout, and by the end
of it, I felt emotionally, mentally, and even physically a changed and more
tender, learned, and wiser person. Some of these books resonated with me on a
level that I felt like ‘this book was written for me and was waiting to be read
by me’, while others added to my little knowledge a little bit more and
continued to supply to the shifting and completing perspectives on life, and
some other books did what reading is meant to do at its purest: to offer
intrinsic and wholesome joy – a joy that is rarest of its kind.
So now, here is a list of my 15 favorite books that I read
during the year of 2020.
I read this
short novel back in January of 2020 and felt so emotionally and psychologically
connected to this book that it has closely stayed with me ever since, and will
do so for much longer. The lonely, sad, seeking, passively angry, and caring
protagonist of this lusciously lonely novel and Rhys’s beautiful prose makes
this probably my favorite novel of the year.
Marcel
Proust is as much a celebrated writer as any in English literature. This book
is the first volume, in a seven volumes novel, that is twice the size of
Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ – Proust’s only and life-reflecting work. There’s a
reluctance towards thick books in readers, and while these seven volumes may scare readers, I'm here to assure it’s equally as rewarding and fulfilling if you choose to dare.
This thousand-page novel is Dostoyevsky’s most renowned work, and rightly so. Although my first Dostoyevsky novel, I, by the end of it, felt the whole weight of his profound insight into human condition and his masterly ability to reflect it through great set of characters and literary genius. Tiring? A bit towards the end maybe, but definitely worth reading and thinking upon.
I love this
book. This novel here is a complete book unto itself. This is a book that I can
confidently choose as my only book to take on an island or into a concentration
camp. Kundera’s wit, originality, philosophical insights, and unique
story-thinking and telling is truly amazing. Easy to read and thoughtfully feeding.
A favorite writer and a favorite book.
This novel
unexpectantly and consistently produced the palpable and innocent joys that
comes only from reading great literary fiction. A novel set during the WWII
between a young Nazi soldier and blind French girl, this book extended my
knowledge as to how powerful and incredibly visual a work of fiction can be.
If not my
favorite Shafak novel, then definitely my pick for a Shafak novel to reread.
Like most her novels, this tackles some of the most pressing questions of our
times, from question of virginity in modern Turkey or even Islam to the
philosophical debates about God Himself. This novel beautifully blends fiction
with topical issues into one literary and enjoyable read.
A vibrant and enjoyable collection of 12 interconnected stories of queer black women of Britain, Evaristo in her booker-prize winning funky-prose novel reflects the tumultuous times we live in. Identity demand and identity politics, individualism and increasing hatred, islamophobia and LGBT community’s confused state, all of it beautifully, unbiasedly and importantly written about.
I wouldn’t
have known Proust, and many other important things, if it weren’t for Alain de
Botton and his services. This book, which encouraged me to know and read
Proust, is a combination of a masterful study of one man and his life-long work
and drawing practical and essential life lessons from it. A book that truly,
and also hilariously, reflects de Botton’s wisdom and intelligence.
By ‘Yuval Noah Harari’
This is an
important book. Anyone interested in the history of humankind should definitely
read this book; and since all of us are humans, this book is for everyone to
read. Harari with his ability of simple explanations succeeds in telling a
narrative of our species and our journey from animals to dangerous gods in a
book that is thrilling, easy to read, and most of all, essential.
Perel is our
modern-day guru on relationships and its complications. And no wonder I found
her when looking for warmth and advise after my girlfriend cheated on me. This
book is not only aware of the messiness and complications of relationships and
its inevitable enemy ‘affairs’ but also kind towards it. Perel examines a
fall-out of coupledom from all sides and achieves empathy.
I wish more
of such warm, true, kind, and generous books existed in what can be cruel world
at times. This book is about pain and how to handle it through acceptance,
humility, and courage. Cathy’s human approach to write this book works
seamlessly as it connects to almost everyone who has felt pain, or is feeling
it, at the basic and common level – that of humanity.
By ‘Jostein Gaardner’
A must read
for everyone interested in philosophy and wanting to enter this deep world of
ideas, thoughts, big names, and human’s greatest ability and achievements – all
inquest of truth and meaning of life. Gaardner’s easy-to-read mystery novel
combines and sorts the greatest thinkers and their ideas from pre-Socratic
times all the way to 20th century. A book of wisdom!
By ‘Voltaire’
The great
Voltaire’s masterpiece, the book that gave us the all-time best quote ‘cultivate your own garden’, Candide is
the journey from innocence to experience, from optimism to action, and from
philosophy to its noblest application. A quick and thrilling read that still
haunts and reminds me with its vivid details of what humankind is capable of:
incredible brutality and incredible wisdom.
By ‘Ha Jin’
A Chinese
folklore about a doctor torn between the two women in his life: his ugly but
generously loyal wife at his hometown and his young and beautiful lover at the city
hospital. As simple a prose as I had ever read, this book introduced me to the
genre of ‘folklores’ and provided me a taste of how beautiful, simple, and good
reading a domestic book can be.
By ‘Julian Barnes’
As beautiful and meaningful a novel as its title; Barnes’s novel does what writing aims to do: to pass our fleeting lives onto pages and for it be relived and learned from through retrospection. A novel narrated by a single character, Tony, as he reflects his life in reminiscence while meditating on themes of regret, memory, youth, age, choices, and the overall responsibility and burden of life.
Some Honorable Mentions:
After The Prophet (Non-fiction, Religion) by Lasley Hazleton
Fallen Leaves (Essays, Philosophy) by Will Durant
Schopenhauer: Essays and Aphorisms (Philosophy) by Arthur Schopenhauer
Dozakhnama (Fiction, Historical) by Rabisankar Bal
Touch (Novella) by Adania Shibli
Burnt Sugar (Contemporary Fiction) by Avni Doshi
Turtles All the way Down (YA Fiction) by John Green
Autumn (Contemporary Fiction) by Ali Smith
Antifragile (Non-fiction) by Nicholas Taleb