Another read-along comes to a close

We've been reading Haruki Murakami's most recent novel, 1Q84, for more than 2 months. And on a Friday night, a few members of the book club decided to meet to discuss the book, officially bringing to a close the online read-along. Needless to say, it was a night well spent talking about the novel and enjoying one another's company.

We didn't think about the traffic that day, considering that it was a weekend and a pay day. We couldn't care less that we'll be meeting again the next day for an official book club event. We didn't mind that there'll be only a few of us for the meet-up (we were only 11). We just wanted to talk about the book, get it out of our system, and hear other people's thoughts about it.

1Q84 is such a polarizing book, that's what I got during the discussion. A few really found it very enjoyable, and some didn't take to it at all. What we did agree on, however, was that there were lots of questions that were left unanswered even after more than a thousand pages. In fact, the discussion centered on those questions, with the members sharing their theories about them.

I'll post my review of 1Q84 soon. A caveat: I didn't like it that much. But what's more important, I believe, was the experience of reading this doorstop with awesome people from the book club. I never thought that read-alongs could be so much fun.

I managed to take a few pictures during the meet-up, and I'm sharing them with you, dear reader.

Joko, showing the bespoke shoes that Ajie made just for her

Pretty glasses that Ajie painted on

Ajie and Ling, all smiles before the discussion

Iya and Gege, engaging in small talk

Michelle, one of the members who really enjoyed the novel

Michelle, Lia, Joko, and Iya
These ladies had a lot to say!

Anne, Ling, and Mike
e-reader love!

Iya, Arthur, and Ajie
Of course, it wouldn't be a book club meet-up without food.

Dusk

Finishing a really thick book is like saying good-bye to an old friend. That's exactly how I felt when I turned the final page of Haruki Murakami's 1Q84.

This novel isn't Murakami's best work, I feel. But I took my time with it, spending a few chapters every night, slowly reading each word. I got lost in the make-believe world of 1Q84, with its 2 moons, little people coming out of dead people's mouths, and the frequent references to Janáček's Sinfonietta.

I think that's the allure of doorstops, those thick books that require commitment and stamina. Since you spent a great deal of time with them, you're very much sad to let them go. 1Q84 had 1,150 pages, and there were indeed times when I felt that I might as well throw the book in the air unfinished.

I'll stop posting my further thoughts on this book for a later entry. We're still meeting this week to cap off the discussion of this book, which was our selection for a read-along lasting for more than 2 months. I sure would love to hear the thoughts of the other members of the book club on this much-sensationalized work by one of Japan's contemporary novelists.

Now I'm scanning my shelves on which doorstop to read next. Should I read Proust's Remembrance of Things Past? Or Cervantes's Don Quixote? Decisions, decisions...

On to the next doorstop

It seems ages ago since I last read a contemporary novel, and, for some reason, I'm not missing it. After reading Anna Karenina and really enjoying the experience, I'm still up for reading the classics.

Recently, I bought my first Dickens novel, Our Mutual Friend. It's a doorstop at 900+ pages. Why this particular Dickens, you may ask, and not his famous David Copperfield or even Bleak House, which most people consider his best work? Well, I was intrigued by the back cover summary, which tells of a dark and corrupt London.

But what I'm more excited to read is Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote. I'm still a few pages in the book and I still can't form an opinion about it yet. Harold Bloom's brilliant introduction though is worth the price of this book. (Yes, I read everything from cover to cover, beginning with the copyright page till the end notes.)

Yes, I'll read this, all 936 pages of this.

So bring on the adventures of the knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. Let's see if I'll enjoy your company for a few days.

The train! The train!

After more than a week of reading, I finally finished Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina on this fine Friday night. (Thank goodness for holidays and long weekends, no?) Yes, it's everything that I thought this novel would be.

There are a few points that surprised me though. Much as the main character of the novel is the eponymous heroine, Anna Karenina is also the story of lots of other characters. It is this myriad of voices and streams of consciousness that lets the reader feel fully satisfied by the novel's end.

There's Levin, the unbeliever and spurned lover at the beginning of the novel, who manages to get the girl and come to grips with his faith and belief in the goodness of people. There's Kitty, a noble-born girl, who eventually accepts Levin's love despite her initial rejection of him and becomes a good companion to him as his wife. Of course, this doorstop wouldn't be complete without the rest of their families, countless members of the Russian upperclass, peasants, house help, and artists, among other personas.

Another thing that I found surprising was how the Russian upperclass appear to be "inbred," as they all seem to be related with one another. It's a vicious society, one full of gossip, malice, and an endless parade of balls and dinners. It is this close-knit nature of these people that caused Anna and Vronsky to be shunned when they embark on their relationship.

In whatever angle you look at it, Anna Karenina is still about the scandalous affair of Anna and Vronsky. And it's one of those love stories that seem to be doomed from the start. Anna is married to a man who refuses to grant her a divorce. Vronsky, a man with huge potential in the Russian government, throws everything away just for the chance to love Anna. Two passionate and beautiful creatures amid the unforgiving elite, wherein they used to belong.

Tolstoy did love his parallel story lines. In the novel, running along the love affair is the story of Levin. If Anna were the novel's heart, one can think of Levin as the novel's mind, the thinking character whom Tolstoy uses to communicate his ideas about politics, commerce, and faith. If this novel were titled Levin, it could still work, I believe.

Despite the subplots in Anna Karenina, there's a certain structure to Tolstoy's narrative, with the stories of the main characters complementing one another. When Anna officially leaves her husband to escape with Vronsky to Italy, it is when Levin and Kitty become engaged. Anna's apparent apathy to her love child coincides with Kitty's pregnancy. Vronsky's deterioration goes hand in hand with Levin's enlightenment.

One does feel a sense of accomplishment after reading the last page of this doorstop. It takes stamina to go through Tolstoy's numerous name-switching instances (or maybe this is a common feature in classic Russian novels), his depictions of agricultural life in the country, and the drastic shifts in perspective, to name a few. It's quite a reading experience, if I may tell you, dear readers. And it's one experience that I highly recommend that you go through as well.

Read this book if:

1. You've never been satisfied with any of the "Anna Karenina" movies. (Believe me, these movies barely scratch the surface of the novel.)
2. You love Russian doorstops.
3. You've always been curious about this "greatest love affair ever written."

Another doorstop in my bag

No lengthy introductions for the Penguin Classics Red!
Woot woot!

Here I am thinking that my one doorstop for the year would be The Count of Monte Cristo. But Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has been in my TBR pile for so long that I simply decided one day to just get it over with.

There was a time, when I was in my 20s I believe, that I wouldn't think twice about reading doorstops. Ah, those glorious yesteryears when I read Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (unabridged), James Joyce's Ulysses (with annotations), David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (the footnotes alone can make a novel), and Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (not really very American but very, very tragic), to name a few.

Now I'm around 300 pages in the novel and, so far, I'm liking it. Perhaps it's due to the wonderful translation of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, which makes the text very accessible indeed. Or maybe I am on a natural high from reading all the name switching that's happening (e.g., Levin is Konstantin is Kostya; Kitty is Katerina is Katya). It could also be that I'm just a masochist.

So how long will Anna Karenina stay in my bag, lugging it with me everywhere I go? I don't really know. I've been reading 80 pages or so every night and, frankly, I might lose some steam. Hmmmm... Steam. Now I'm thinking of trains. Anna Karenina did love the train, didn't she?