1. The
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
“One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them.
In the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie.”
[The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R.
Tolkien]
And thus started, during my teens, a
lifelong love affair with this epic trilogy – probably, the most popular work
of all time from within the fantasy genre. That there can be reality in fantasy
accompanied the realization that Tolkien’s Middle Earth is no different from
the world that I inhabit. As happens in Middle Earth, there are hobbits, elves,
dwarves, mythical and magical figures or creatures around me and in me – yet
the beauty and evil, light and dark, of that human entity is paramount. I would like to call upon the Tolkienian in
you to recall the conversation between Gandalf the wizard and Frodo Baggins a hobbit, and the
presumably inconsequential ring bearer, in the 1st part, ‘The Fellowship of
the Ring’. Trapped in the mines of Moria they are surrounded by all
sorts of evil and Frodo is extremely disillusioned. He wonders why Bilbo
Baggins, his well-travelled uncle of The
Hobbit fame, did not kill the mean, somewhat schizophrenic, Gollum, when he
had the chance. At that point Gandalf reminds young Frodo not to be too eager
to dole out death and judgment and instead to focus on this: “All we
have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” And for me Gandalf’s words were strongly
reminiscent of my understanding of reality: in the final analysis, we
ourselves are responsible for our destinies
- our journeys - in life.
2. The
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
What’s common between a missing cat and
a missing wife in the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle? Answer: Both belong to the
protagonist and narrator in this book, and you realize that soon after delving
into it. As you read further, you are dealt with a hefty dose of fantasy and
magical realism inter-twined in such a manner that you have a hard time sorting
one from the other. The narrator is a pacifist to a pathological degree and
that annoys the reader in me. The fact that I can have such real emotion for a
mere character in a book is simply Murakami’s genius. If you like irrationality,
then this book is for you: I mean narrating about a missing cat, a missing
wife, a deep dry well, and in the backdrop, a bird that can be heard but not
seen….it can’t get any more bizarre! But through Murakami’s superb story
telling it all does come together. Over the past five years I have become a
huge fan of Murakami. He takes weirdness to a surreal level and the Wind-Up
Bird Chronicle epitomizes that other worldliness that is Murakami’s hallmark.
3. In
Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Several years back a friend of mine, an
avid reader, gave me this book to read. He hadn’t read it himself so he
couldn’t say what it was about. At that time I was unsure what to expect, as I
was not a fan of short stories. However, on reading it, I was delighted how the
eight stories were linked through one character – K. K. Harouni - a wealthy
landowner in Pakistan. The narratives shed light on a complex interplay within
the feudal system with its components of class dynamics, abysmal poverty, uber
lucre, and gender disparity - all looked at through the cultural context of
contemporary fragmented Pakistani society. The characters are unaware of how
inter-connected they are, and in that oblivion they come alive through scintillating
narratives. This book was particularly monumental for me as it became the
inspiration to write brief narratives of my own using the same style, i.e. all
stories connected through one central character. I obviously did not create a
masterpiece of the kind that Mueenuddin did, so I would highly recommend that
you read his book first.
4. The
Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
'A wonderful tale of love and spiritual
longing, brilliantly exploring the universal desire for intimacy – with another
human being, as well as with the divine.’ This description on the jacket of the said book was all that was needed
to get me to delve into it. The way Shafak put the interaction of Ella and Zahara, the two 21st
century characters, against the backdrop of 12th century powerhouses
Jalaldin Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, was simply brilliant. The description of how
Rumi, the most revered Sufi mystic poet, was first sought out and then
transformed by his spiritual companion Shams, was superbly divine. How Ella in
Boston is ‘transformed’ into a lover of life by love itself, made the book much
more relevant to current times. Rarely does one come across a book that has the
potential to unlock some of the mysteries of one’s heart, possibly mind. ‘Forty
rules’ did that to me. Rumi said, “He who tastes knows”. I say, “The
corollary to that is ‘he who does not taste does not know!’” Ultimately, whether
or not you choose to read the book, I would still recommend you read the rules
in isolation, i.e. just the 40 rules listed one after the other. You can find
such a list through Dr. Google. It’s worth the exercise.
5. Deschooling
Society by Ivan Illich
The basic premise of Illich’s thoughts
on education, detailed in this boldly provocative book, is that universal
education through schooling is not feasible. Per his radical critical
discourse, any attempts at universal schooling by developing alternative
curricula, improving teaching, using technology inside or outside of school, and
so on, to benefit impoverished children in particular, will likely lead us
further away from that attempted universality. For me it was such an eye opener
when Illich writes that schools, as so called institutions of learning,
undermine the real purpose of education – a process in which each moment of a
person’s life should be lived in a ‘learning, sharing, and caring’
manner. Illich’s conclusion is that all important social issues, such as education
and health, need to be reevaluated, and thus society as a whole, needs ‘deschooling’.
In a process that one might consider ‘reschooling’, Illich then writes
that what is needed is a more targeted approach to schooling – for instance,
vocational education being the more rational approach for children of low
income families. There was a time I was so gung ho about educating all children
in Pakistan as an end all be all. After reading Deschooling Society, I realized
how crucial it was to carefully think through, prior to rushing into universal
education. I think Illich’s book is
more than a mere critique of contemporary education and schooling: it contains
suggestions for redefining learning that encompasses the individual’s lifetime.
And this might get us closer to the educational utopia that I envision for
Pakistan - where all have been schooled in an egalitarian manner.
6. The
Year of the Quail by Ines Roberts
In
this book, the gifted and acclaimed photographer Ines Roberts takes you through
a photographic journey of the first year in the life of a quail. Well, a covey
of quail, to be more precise – from eggs to chicks and beyond. The story, a
real life occurrence, is written in the form of a diary in the year 1979 while Roberts
was spending a lot of time at home raising her two young children. While
reading her diary, you realize that the
author-photographer’s connection with birds is a quest of a personal nature as
reflected in the question that she poses to herself and the vulnerability that
she exposes: “Why should I feel the loss of a small bird so deeply, so
personal?” Her soliloquy is endearing as she reaches a conclusion of sorts:
“…helpless creatures in our hands…enriches us, fills us with tender joy and
humility.” The overall essence of the book, and perhaps why Roberts created
her work, is summarized in the question “Is it our yearning for paradise
lost and to be in harmony with nature?” For a nature lover as I claim to be and a bird aficionado in
particular, this book was a strong endorsement for continuing my avian
pursuits, such as bird watching and then writing about my feathered
friends.
7. The
Black Swan by Nassim N. Taleb
This book has nothing to do with the
same name movie of Natalie Portman fame. A black
swan event can be positive or negative, good or bad – it is deemed highly
improbable, yet it causes massive consequences. The book is a fascinating,
history-heavy account of how unpredictable today’s world is and how utterly
random events are. Taleb writes more from a broad world historical perspective,
but I wonder if a similar argument could be applied to one’s own life
events…those that one considers to be monumental or life altering? In
retrospect, we tend to tell ourselves a story and things or events seem to have
occurred linearly and the outcome for that event was predictable based on that
linearity. What Taleb seems to argue is that the linearity is a ‘narrative fallacy’ - that our minds
tend to create simplicity and attribute causes to effects eagerly, when in fact
there is immense complexity and intricate interactions of variables. Thus,
complete unpredictability, randomness, chance or coincidence is much more
likely than pre-determination. I feel that Taleb’s work can be a game changer
for people like me who question or challenge cookie cutter approaches to
life.
Acknowledgment: A version of this post was first published by the Express Tribune Noptepad.
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