Dubai: Jorge Luis Borges wished paradise would be a kind of library. Saul Bellow insisted that “people can lose their lives in a library. They ought to be warned.” While for Carlos Ruiz Zafon, books are mirrors. “You only see in them what you already have inside you.”
Whether making for a good conversation-piece or offering a new perspective on human experience, books still offer the magic they always did, allowing us to lead a thousand different lives.
As the year comes to an end, Gulf News asked its readers to share the books of 2015 that have stood out from the rest.
For Abdulmessih Ineni, a 25 year-old civil engineer, Orhan Pamuk’s “A Strangeness in My Mind”, a modern epic of coming of age set in Istanbul, was his “definite favourite.”
“I’ve been a fan of Pamuk’s works since I read “My Name is Red” about three years ago,” Ineni said, “Through Pamuk’s precise prose, you can easily get lost in a character’s introspection as if it were your own. He’s a wonderful writer, confronting some controversial subjects, unique to this region, in a very classy and tasteful manner. I would recommend his new book to anyone who has already read some of his previous work.”
Tariq Abdallah, a Dubai-based graphic designer, said he’s almost finished reading “The Season of Migration” by Nellie Hermann, a novel about Vincent Van Gogh.
“The novel is like a plunge into Van Gogh’s distressed mind,” he said, “it opens up with him trudging through the rain on his way to France, feeling defeated, exhausted, and starving. Through the book, you can almost see the eye with which Van Gogh saw the world. That passionate, delirious eye with which he interpreted his surroundings, beauty and the way he hurled into onto the canvas.”
Leen Al Tinawi said she just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic”. A book that is affecting her just as much is the author’s acclaimed “Eat, Pray, Love”, a book she cites as her favourite.
“I love her style of writing. It’s so simple, precise and accessible,” she said, “her books can be entertaining while having abundant food for thought. It’s all about the reader’s approach.”
