Book Roundup #1
Fahrenheit 451, Norwegian Wood and 1984.
Trying something new
All this time, I have never been a book guy. I always think movies are the best medium on entertainment and nothing else. Books are boring and feel grindy to me. Well at least I was feeling that way until the last quarter of last year (around October 2018), which somehow I got ‘lectured’ by watching YouTube videos and reading articles on Medium how reading book is important not only as your entertainment needs but also self-improvement as a human being (Internet sure does have a big influence, huh?)
So I decided to change my perception of book: whatever it takes, I must buy, read and finish a book. Around that period, I finally go to a bookstore and bought a book. Because I love Science Fiction the most as a genre, I was planning to buy Dune by Frank Herbert that time, but the bookstore I was visiting hasn’t got that book for unknown reason. Disappointed by that, then I do a little research on Google what Sci-Fi books are recommended to read. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury showed up. Coincidentally, the bookstore sell that book as well. I decided to bought that book.
So in this writing I want to share my opinion as a ‘newbie’ reader about the last three books that I read. I titled this writing ‘Book Roundup #1’ because hopefully there will be more Book Roundup in the future (in other words, I read more books!). In this writing I also try to summarize my opinion as short as possible per book, just to make it’s quick and to the point. The first book is Fahrenheit 451.
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
My first book. My first taste of buying a book by my own will. People on the internet say that it’s one of the classics. The main ‘selling’ of this book is the world, which in this world the rules and law has changed, and one of the major changes are books are now prohibited because it can ‘subdued’ our mind and way of thinking and it’s judged not necessary. Solely based on that reason, all books has to be found and burned to the ground.
I found this book very intriguing at first, but then fell short when I finish it. The characters is quite fleshed out with their struggles (especially Montag the Protagonist) and how they dealt with all the problems. But the thing that I found struggling was the main idea that this book trying to convey about the importance and morality of reading books, which it was fail for me. The thriller sequences are described greatly though. Maybe the problem of this book is located in its sum of pages, which is around 200, making this book a quiet ‘fast’ book to finish, making it a hard job to flesh out the world and ideology which the writer trying to communicate. But, still a good read though.
Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
I love romance as genre. But the problem with romance movies nowadays are sometimes they are too cheesy (or corny) for me. There are only a few movies I considered as a great romance movie. Because of that thought, I decided to try explore romance in literature and Norwegian Wood is one of the popular results from Googling with the keyword ‘best romance books’.
“You’re walking through a field all by yourself one day in spring, and this sweet little bear cub with velvet fur and shiny little eyes comes walking along. And he says to you, ‘Hi, there, little lady. Want to tumble with me?’ So you and the bear cub spend the whole day in each other’s arms, tumbling down this clover-covered hill. Nice, huh?”
— Toru to Midori in Norwegian Wood.
I love this book, especially the characters and dialogues. It was really, really down-to-earth and I feel like it actually can happen in real life. This book explore the beauty of individual, introvert side of ourselves and being okay with it and also depression. It was a nice and enjoyable ride, with a lot of small comedy moments contain in their dialogues. It has some adult erotic moments as well which I would say not over-the-top so it makes a great change of pace. I highly recommend this book for something fresh out of your mind.
1984
by George Orwell
The second Science Fiction book, and boy do I love this book. The world-building, the ideology, the characters are so twisted with their own mind and their interaction with each other. The thrills, the stakes are high and when it starts it continues with a solid pace. I’m sure the writer does take a lot of time researching before writing this book, because there are a lot of political and philosophy thoughts and references within this book. The writer also getting deep in world building by writing a book within a book called ‘ The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism’ which I was mesmerized when reading the idea conveyed inside this book.
Winston Smith, the main protagonist is a vulnerable character living in a dystopian world and trying to figure out the truth behind all the lies in the place he living. Throughout the story, he meet a lot of struggles, problems and characters which all of them have an impact to him. It has a lot of dark, twisted moments but also ‘wow moments’ when this book deliver bold ideas to the reader.
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
— The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
I found out this book has inspired a lot of media, movies, books, music (anyone listen Radiohead?) and other stuffs. People of the internet say it is one of the classics, and I agree.
Final saying
Reading is fun actually. I was wrong the whole time. I already bought two books and plan to read them as fast as possible. Hopefully there will be another Book Roundup!👋 (Please future Steven, don’t let me down).
