I started reading literature when I was fourteen years old and it was by reading the Russians. And I think everyone must. What a greatness and profoundness! Well, it doesn’t mean that the five best books that I love to own and read again and again are all Russian books. But three of them are Russian books.
And Quiet Flows the Don
Other than the fairy stories that I read when I was a small boy, this was the first book I read. What a great book! I was fourteen and it took me a month to finish it. This is Mikhail Sholokhov’s master piece. But I didn’t know it then. The story frame is very thin. It is the progress of the Cossack Gregor Melekhov from youthful lover to Red Army soldier and finally to Cossack nationalist. It also delineates Grigory’s tragic love affair. Like a small child decorates a rag doll with ornamentation and attire, Sholokhov stitches living pieces of human endurance and struggle to the story. Using realism to its fullest extend, he opens up a new world before us. I don’t want to write about the story and the characters. Snatch a copy and read it. You will never forget the experience. A cheap copy is available in book fairs. Why do I like it? Great depiction of life. Characters with character. Beautiful narration. Moreover, it is like getting married when you’re a boy. You’re married not only to a very young girl but also to an everlasting influence because she is your first love. And while the book is long, it is not as dragging as ‘War and Piece’ even though Sholokhov may have got the inspiration from the master craftsman himself.
Anna Karenina
I think this is Tolstoy’s master piece though the critics disagree with me. Again the story is a very simple one. A married woman falls in love with a young man. Anna falls head over heels with Vronsky to learn later that her decision to leave her husband and son for her immature emotion is not only unwise but also self-destructive. Tolstoy, with his great craftsmanship made the story an unforgettable one. His depiction of life in Russia is real and great. To feel his greatness please read the description just before Anna’s suicide. It’s in par with Shakespearean verse. Experience this book.
Dr. Zhivago
Compared with the other two books this is a small book and is not as great as the other two. David Lean made an epic movie based on this book. Watch the movie and read the book or read the book and watch the movie. Although David’s movie is a great one, it is not as moving as the book. Still, it is not a perfect book. However, I may have read this one more than twenty times because it is my travel companion. The narration is superb and the characterisation of Yuri and Lara is authentic. But except these two characters, the other characters are not well developed. Probably Pasternak might have fell in love with these two and made them so perfect that he left the others as such. Again the story is a direct one. It is the love story between two married people. Of course they are not married to each other. The back ground is the Russian Revolution. But life flows uninterrupted.
Apart from the above three great ones, those mentioned below are not really great. But they are somewhat contemporary.
Humboldt’s Gift
Saul Bellow’s book is about two writers. They represent different decades though they are friends. Their success and failure. Humboldt was an eerie poet and Charlie Citrine was a playwright and historian. When Charlie was a success Humboldt had become a failure. However, Charlie never learned from Humboldt’s mistakes. He too was doomed to fail but was helped by Humboldt from his grave with a legacy. Above all, the novel depicts the decline of personal relationships and genius in American capitalism. The book is funny, readable, and small(470 pages in paperback).
Doctors
I must admit that this book by Eric Segal is not a great one but a popular one. It tells the lives of five doctors and their family. Their struggle, phobias, and failures. Again it is a love story, but this time the lovers are not really aware of their mutual attraction for each other though they are best friends. Incidents are sometimes superfluous. Characters are sometimes exaggerated. Still, I like this book because it is very fast moving and vigorous. Very good for reading while you’re travelling or falling asleep.