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Forays Into The Landscape Of Books . . .

1/21/2021

17 Comments

 
Picture
We all perceive our lives to be a straight line…we start at the beginning and hope to reach somewhere where we aspire to reach. Things changed in the past year, the line started curving, enclosing us in our small spaces, at home and between others. We tried to locate ourselves within that circle, carrying on with our lives, hoping for a day when the circle would expand and become an arc to set us free.

One of the ways I coped being within the circle was by reading books and this year particularly, I lost myself in many of them. Each one of them was different in its own way and a discovery by itself.
In the beautiful stillness that enveloped me on many a day, these books kept me engrossed like a sliver of light in dark days.

I must admit that I am a traveler on two roads: the one I greatly relish exploring is in the realm of nonfiction. Occasionally I heed Frost’s advice and take the road that leads me into the land of fiction and poetry. Hence, not surprisingly, the “list” of top ten books is a healthy blend of the two!

Like a spider I was weaving a web and many a book landed there…these are some that attracted my attention!

EAT THE BUDDHA
The Chinese have been trying to quash Tibetan independence for decades. There have been very few books that offer insights about the travails of Tibetans trying to preserve their culture, faith and language against the depredations of a seemingly unstoppable superpower. In this engaging book, Demick profiles a town in China's sprawling Sichuan Province. Travelling in disguise to evade the Chinese authorities, Demick interviewed residents of the town Ngaba over three years. In the 1930’s Mao’s Red Army fled to the Tibetan plateau to escape their adversaries in the Chinese Civil War. By the time the soldiers reached remote Ngaba, they were so hungry that they looted monasteries and ate religious statues made of flour and butter. To Tibetans, it was as if they were eating the Buddha. Over the years the town became a hotbed of Tibetan resistance, culminating in shocking acts of self-immolation. To make sure that there was no chance of rescue, some wrapped themselves in quilts and wire, while others drank gasoline so they burned from the inside. Over the course of centuries, hundreds of monks took their own lives. Having steeped themselves in Dalai Lama’s message of peace, the protesters turned the violence inward. One monk left a recording, “I am giving away my body as an offering of light to chase away the darkness to free all beings from suffering.” The book is a vivid portrait of the lives of a people locked in a struggle for identity and independence.  It was curious to read that “In 2007, the State Administration for Religious Affairs issued an order that said in essence that one needed advance permission from the Chinese government in order to be reincarnated!”

VESPER FLIGHTS
I am mesmerized by birds of prey and find them to be majestic. Helen Macdonald wrote a book “H for Hawk” a few years ago. It is a powerful narrative of the author’s battle with depression after the loss of her father and how she coped with it by acquiring a pet Goshawk called Mabel. Her new essay collection, “Vesper Flights”, is a stunning book that urges us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world, and the need to preserve it. As she writes in the introduction, "I choose to think that my subject is love, and most specifically love for the glittering world of non-human life around us." And that love is palpable in every page of the book.

YOU ARE NOT LISTENING
How often do we really listen to someone properly? This is a book that urges us to close our mouths and open our ears! While it is not necessary to actively listen to everyone, many a time in our everyday lives often we assume what the other person might be saying and don’t actively pay attention to the conversation. This is especially true when we are listening to views that we are not in tune with, especially when they are of a political nature. But active listening is the essence of all relationships and is an important part of therapeutic engagements.  Information overload with its attendant distraction make us bad listeners. Simon and Garfunkel wrote about it presciently in Sounds of Silence, “people hearing without listening”. Though it’s hard to listen in a world so full of noise, this book underscores why being a good listener is important and it also shows us the way to be one.

BREASTS AND EGGS
What does it mean to exist as a woman? In this first novel published in English, Japanese author Mieko Kawakami follows three women and their relationships with their changing bodies, single motherhood, beauty and gender norms. There’s Makiko obsessed with her breasts and trying to make them more aesthetic through implants. This outrages her daughter Midoriko and she is filled with disgust about the ideal of feminine beauty and how women pursue it. Then, the story shifts ten years forward, focusing on Natsu, Makiko’s sister who is single, confused by her fears about aging but keen to have a child. As Japanese government policy prevents donor identification, leaving thousands of adults without knowledge of their biological father, she feels uneasy about the consequences of this policy and the possible fate of any child she chooses to have by herself.. In narrating these anxieties, the author offers us multiple stances, opinions and ideas about the expectations put on women by the world and by themselves. As the author observes perceptively, “While it’s true that this is a story about the life of three women … it’s ultimately a story of people, living life through tears.”

SHUGGIE BAIN
It is one of the most moving books I have read last year. It is the story of a young boy growing up in a dysfunctional family amid politically fueled economic turmoil. Shuggie’s mother, Agnes, is an unrepentant alcoholic, and his father, Shug, is a taxi driver who despises his wife’s addiction, cheats on her and ultimately abandons them in a low-income housing development called Pithead, a depressing colliery where residents survive on government handouts. Agnes’s older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Shuggie tries to negotiate his life caught between his mother’s alcoholism, catholic-protestant resentment, his own nascent sexuality, its social repercussions and loneliness. His unwavering love for his mother is the flicker of hope in this bleak scenario which sustains their lives. There is tenderness and resilience in the bond between Shuggie and his mother. It is a beautifully written, poignant story of the strength of human attachment and affection which is heartbreaking yet magically uplifting.
Fiction offers us a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of others, yet at the same time gently urging us to examine our own unlived lives.

WILD GEESE RETURNING
Chinese Reversible Poems
This was the most unusual book I have ever read! It is a collection of a form of poetry that can be read in different directions.  Thanks to the way Chinese written characters take meaning from their position in a text, it is possible to write poetry that reads both forwards and backwards, whilst still retaining the rhymes and syllable counts. The reversible poetry's greatest practitioner was Su Hui, a woman who in the fourth century, embroidered a poem woven in five colors in silk for her distant husband with a 29 x 29 character grid consisting of 840 characters. No one has ever fully explored all of its possibilities, but it is estimated that the poem and the poems within the poem may be read in as many as twelve thousand ways!
Among the collections in this book, I particularly liked the one by Wang Anshi (1021-86) titled 'Thoughts of a Traveler', which begins with geese on a secluded island and flows with the twists and turns of a river; then, twisting back on itself, returns across the landscape to the wild geese at rest.
Thoughts of a Traveler
Wild geese at rest squawk on a secluded island Receiving
the pink clouds of the falling evening, a river.
The clapping of the night watch carried by the wind, the
shower passes.
The pavilion reflects the moon, its quarter tilts.
On the silent bank a sail beats
On the distant shore a fire flares.
Great peril in taking the narrow path. The twists and turns
of the channel unwind all around the leveled fields.
--
Flat fields skirt around the winding ravine The narrow path
surmounts the danger.
A fire crackles on the distant shore
A sail floats on the silent bank.
The low quarter moon is reflected in the pavilion The
shower checks the wind, one night watch follows
another.
On the river, evening, red clouds that gather there fall On
the secluded island squawk wild geese at rest.

BREAD, CEMENT CACTUS
A Memoir Of Belonging And Dislocation
When the Covid pandemic swept across the country, we sought security at home while thousands walked their way back to their “native” abodes. As the old adage says there is no place like home. More than a physical space, home conveys a sense of belonging.  For Zaidi, one of the first memories of home is cactus, conceivably associated with resilience. Twenty years later, when she returned to the place she wonders as to where she belongs. She tells the stories of migrants who end up in cities where they live on the margins and of minorities, including Muslims who face bias in everyday life, including the herculean task of finding a house to live in. She reflects poignantly, “Was Partition concluded in 1947, or was it initiated?” It is a haunting narrative of identity, belonging and dislocation in contemporary India. Zaidi thinks of home as morning mist, wispy and beyond her grasp. The book is embellished with wonderful illustrations by her mother.

OUT OF MY SKULL
The Psychology Of Boredom
When one my patient called me sometime back, I wondered whether she would talk to me about her anxieties during the lockdown. Instead, she simply remarked “I feel terribly bored doctor. I keep surfing the net, watch Netflix for long but there’s nothing of interest. Kindly help me!” Boredom seems to be a post modern malady as evidenced by the slew of books on it in the past year. This book is exceptional in exploring the larger landscape of boredom with interesting insights. The authors describes boredom as a combination of being mentally unengaged, and wanting to engage with something, yet being unable to, which they call as a “a failure to launch”. It is basically a feeling of lack of agency and dissatisfaction in life. Paradoxically boredom can be the result of too much information and stimulation or too less. They question whether evolution has built into us a desire to use our cognitive capacities well, and boredom is the adaptive signal that we aren’t doing so. Expanding the canvas further they reflect on the political ramification of boredom and postulate that boredom could be one of the driving forces behind the advent of tribalism and xenophobia of late. Did voters who are profoundly bored, elect leaders like Trump whom they believe to be stimulating?! It is also true that the consumerist world deliberately orchestrates boredom to profit from it!

SILENCE
The Power Of Quiet In A World Full Of Noise
“If I were a physician,” wrote Søren Kierkegaard, “and if I were allowed to prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence.” In silence, we find ourselves. Most of us are enmeshed in the web of diverse thought processes that either drag us into the past or pull us into future, stopping us from living in the present and enjoying the moment. In this beautiful book Thich Nhat Hanh urges us to turn inwards and shut out not just the external noise but also the flurry of information that occupies our mind. Mindfulness facilitates such a process. In the words of the author, “you use mindfulness to become aware of everything, of every feeling, every perception in yourself and as well as what’s happening around you. You are always with yourself, you don’t lose yourself. That’s a deeper way of living.” Like other sages, most importantly Ramana Maharishi, Thich Nhat Hanh urges us to seek silence within us and does so eloquently. Read it aloud..better still when you are alone!
​
THE LOST SPELL
The last book in this list is one I treasure the most. It was a gift from a close friend who is also a talented artist. Robert Macfarlane’s Lost Words illustrated by Jackie Morris was an exceptionally beautiful book. They have followed it up with this pocket-sized wonder. Each "spell" poem conjures an animal, bird, tree or flower with which we share our lives and is embellished by Morris’s iridescent water colours. These painted verses shimmer with a magical exuberance in every page. To read The Lost Spell is to see the natural world anew…in every moment.

I would be delighted to hear from you about these books and also the ones that left an impression on you in the past year.
Feel free to pen your thoughts here!

17 Comments
Brunda amruthraj
1/22/2021 01:29:00 am

Beautiful review of the books to read

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 04:34:42 am

Thanks Brunda!

Reply
Aruna Yadiyal
1/22/2021 03:56:35 am

Sir, it was a very enlightening read n introduction to a new set of books.. have added to my new bucket list of books for this year!.. thanks sir!

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 04:35:02 am

Thanks Aruna!

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 11:28:19 pm

Lovely list of books Nandiin!

Nandini link
1/22/2021 08:17:17 am

This is a discerning reading list! In creative writing, we are often encouraged to read like a writer and I see much value in that as I read through this anthology of books.
Raptors are among my fave birds too! I read H for Hawk and found it a poignant portrayal of love and loss. The Hawk, a powerful raptor, reminded me of the feral wild quality of grief.
However, must read Vesper Flights.
Thich Nhat Hanh is another fave, as also Kawakami.

In the last year, I missed the outdoors, especially my forays into the forest. Not surprisingly, my reading list had books (non fiction and poetry) on travel and nature.

I re read Pico Iyer's books (love his poetic prose!),
Full Tilt : Ireland to India (in 1965) on a bicycle by Irish writer ( now 88 and still traveling!) Dervla Murphy who pioneered slow, non touristy travel,
Wild by Jay Griffiths (an elemental journey into some of the remotest places on earth),
Surviving Extremes by British geographer Nick Middleton (a new look at survival in the most inhospitable terrains),
Rewilding by Micah Mortali (reconnecting with our wild essence and awakening our intimate bond with nature)
Braving the wilderness by Brene Brown (the quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone)
the poetry of Mary Oliver ( my favourite contemporary poet whose themes are Nature),
The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry,
and my all time fave fiction Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, the timeless fable of the old man (Santiago), young boy (Pedro) and a giant fish.


Reply
nandini
1/22/2021 11:47:02 pm

Thank you, Ragu! Delighted that you resonate with the list !

Reply
Chauki
1/22/2021 08:44:57 am

Sir amazing breadth of topics. Wish to read atleast a few !

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 11:28:53 pm

Each one of them deserves a good read Chauki!

Reply
Senthil
1/22/2021 08:30:26 pm

What a range of books. Sir, Thanks for summarising and instilling interest to read them. 🙏🏽

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 11:29:19 pm

Just a sampler of the rich harvest last year!

Reply
bhavani hamann
1/22/2021 09:33:34 pm

Dr. Raghuram, The Tibetan saga has for a long time bothered me. I had a friend in Bangalore who had flown from Tibet in the 70’s. Her family struggled in Bangalore amidst hostility at work, supercilious neighbours, bullies at school and so much more. Father died in his thirties while the mom juggled housekeeping and caring for three offsprings with major mental health disorders. She bore her travails with strength and fortitude. I know so little about their homeland where they always hope to return. Thanks so much for sharing your reading.
I know little of birds of all kinds, they do fascinate me.
The Japanese girls’ pain seems to be universal. In some ways it reminds me of Anne Franks’ struggle with her changing body and many Indian girls too. Despite the different circumstances and culture, change that one simply has no control over, amplified by societal restrictions, there is a common, almost ambivalent feeling girls go through. A rite of passage if you will.
I hope to read some of these wonderful books.

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/22/2021 11:30:41 pm

True Bhavani. The plight of the Tibetians who have refuge across the country needs to be documented. Somehow they are still in the fringes of our society and to some extent populace treat them as "outsiders"

Reply
GAUTAM MOORTHY
1/22/2021 11:39:36 pm

What eclectic taste! The review of the books you have read gives one an insight into subtle yet imperative issues that confront us as a people. Each book appears to be a philosophy in itself, urging the reader to take a look within oneself. Thank you for sharing. Going through these books would require a quiet and focused determination. Alas, with the distractions available today despite the almost self imposed lockdown, one wonders if one can make it through the list.

Be that as it may, as per your request, here's the list of books I have read during the past few months that I would like to share with the readers of your blog :-

1. Flood of Fire-Amitav Ghosh. This is the third of the trilogy that recaptures the time of the Opium Wars with the setting in Calcutta, Bombay and Hong Kong. If you like historical fiction, this entire trilogy is arguably amongst the best you can find in contemporary literature.

2. A Legacy Of Spies-John Le Carre'. Arguably the best writer of the spy genre who sadly passed away recently, He has been my constant companion over 50 years since school when I read ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’. He’s one author whose every book I have read. Pity he didn’t ever get the Nobel or even the Booker. His prose was classic, his stories, elegant and touched a chord with his readers. I am not able to recall a single novelist who brought out the frailty of human character with such poignancy as he did. Here is an obituary of him:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19888446. The underlying theme of his novels is captured in this sentence, “He argued that in a world where official secrecy is all pervasive, the spy novel performed a necessary democratic function : To hold up a mirror, however distorted, to the secret world and demonstrate the monster it could become.”

3. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century- Yuval Noah Harari. A brilliant book in which the author tries to cut through the clutter of the present times and peeps into the future that we would be facing and how humanity is equipped to deal with these challenges.

4. In the Shadow of the Sword : The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire- Tom Holland. An extremely well researched book of deep scholarship, the book raises some of the critical and fundamental issues that Islam grappled with during its rise and is still grappling with today. The chapters on the New Roman Empire and the Persian Empire too give context and meaning to the rise of Islam.

5. Dispatches-Michael Herr. I re-read this book after 43 years. A journalist with an eye for detail, he wrote about the Vietnam war from the trenches mingling with the troops on ground. It was due to journalists like him that the unpopularity of the Vietnam war got highlighted in public consciousness that finally led to the withdrawal of the US from that country.

6. Full Spectrum-Arjun Subramaniam. Following up on his first book, "India's Wars", this one covers all operations that the Indian Military has fought after the 1971 War. It offers a refreshing and honest insight into India's military history, the current affairs of my generation.

7. The India Way-Strategies for an Uncertain World-S Jaishankar, our EAM. (Am reading this now.)This is a very important book from the PoV of those wishing to understand how our decision makers shape our policies to keep pace with India's rise as a global strategic and economic power.

8. Prisoners of Geography-Tim Marshal. Next on my list.

Thank you, Ragu for introducing us to some excellent books.

Regards,
Gautam

Reply
Dr Raguram
1/23/2021 12:24:34 am

Thanks Gautam. Will catch up with these books soon! Time for you to write with your rich and vast experiences in the armed forces!

Sarita
1/23/2021 05:08:30 am

Not read any but sounds very interesting....my reco is The Blood Telegram...Gary Bass and Indica A Deep Natural history of the Indian subcontinent ...by Prannay Lal

Reply
Paavannan
1/24/2021 08:53:55 am


It is really nice to note the list of ten books which you completed during the corana period that confined us within four walls. It is really good experience to read the brief description about each and every book. The gist of every book provokes to read them in full. The list is combination of fiction, nonfiction, psychology and poems. The way you described the experience of poems is really interesting and it shows how efficiently travel through your thoughts step by step by holding one or two lines. In fact, critics used to say that every good poem is a package of one or more images. You are able to land on the image directly without any effort. It is really nice. Congratulations.


I too spent these days only by reading and writing. In fact, I could spend more time than usual towards reading and writing. No day passed without writing at least two or three pages and reading at least 50 pages a day. I felt very happy about the way these days were spent fruitfully.
With regards
Paavannan

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