Books that make you think. Russian writers about the meaning of life “In Cold Blood” Capote Truman
What is the meaning of life? Will a person be able to accomplish anything important in his life? How to find a goal, get satisfaction from life and achieve everything you want? These and many other questions arise before each individual when, growing up, he moves from the reflexive stage of development to the human one, where his intellect begins to dominate in determining general behavior and lifestyle.
The theme of the meaning of life and existence was of interest to many Russian writers. They sought to answer the most difficult questions of existence: about the Motherland, about love, about happiness, about the laws of the eternal Universe and God.
For example, A. Blok believed that those who understand what the meaning of life is will comprehend a lot. If a person discovers that the meaning of life is worry, also anxiety, then he will cease to be a simple man in the street.
A. S. Griboedov also reflects the eternal problem of finding the meaning of life, the problem of children and fathers in his numerous works, the most striking of which is “Woe from Wit.” Its main character, A. Chatsky, protests against all the old orders that have long been rooted in society. He actively fights for freedom, new life, patriotism and culture.
Another no less famous writer of the last century, I.S. Turgenev, also touches on the eternal question of finding the meaning of life. His famous novel “Fathers and Sons” solves in a slightly different way the eternal problem of relationships between different generations. Using the example of his main character, Turgenev shows that if you build something new without the desire, and do it under pressure, nothing will work out. We must strive for continuity of generations, the value of the culture of our ancestors. Turgenev once again proves in his works that one must live in complete harmony, responsibility and gradualism.
What about A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin?” It also touches on timeless themes. These are themes of love, the meaning of life, relationships, freedom of choice, the role of morality in our lives.
The desire for complete harmony with the world and with oneself distinguishes another famous hero of 19th century literature - Raskolnikov. This person, in search of such harmony, conducts an experiment on himself. He breaks the law and kills the old woman. What was Raskolnikov looking for? Harmony, freedom, happiness and independence? Aren’t these values the meaning of life for many of us? However, it should be remembered that if you take the wrong path to achieve your goals, the retribution will be too severe.
The heroes of Tolstoy’s epic “War and Peace” are also constantly searching for themselves, harmony, and their own path. For example, Pierre Bezukhov, after overcoming numerous painful mistakes and disappointments, eventually finds the meaning of his life. He strives for truth, dignity and light. Isn't this the meaning of our existence?
In conclusion, I would like to say that all literature of the 19th century and not only can be called the literature of an active search for the meaning of life, a search for a Hero. Many writers have strived to see in heroes people who are able to serve the Motherland, respect others, bring benefit to the Fatherland with their actions and thoughts and simply be happy, develop, be in harmony with themselves and move forward.
Each of the Russian writers solves the problem of the meaning of life in their own way, but the constant desire to move forward remains unchanged for Russian classics.
These books are not entertaining reading, but you can't always remain carefree. Reflections on the meaning of life, goals, consequences of actions or inactions visit each of us. Perhaps you will find hints in one of the books.
You've just figured out what's what in this life, grown wiser and wiser, when someone from above suddenly decides that it's time to go out - to where no one has returned from. Everyone ever asks the question: why success, love, suffering, if you still have to die? Perhaps one of the books listed will answer this question.
1. Mark Williams, Denny Penman “Mindfulness. How to find harmony in our crazy world"
The authors of this book are Doctor of Biochemistry and science journalist Danny Penman and Professor of Psychology at Oxford University Mark Williams. Both of them deal with the issues of mindful meditation as an effective way to prevent and combat suicidal tendencies.
People become depressed because they are no longer the main characters in their own lives. They are constantly running somewhere, busy with something, owing something to someone. Their life resembles the endless running of a squirrel in a wheel from which there is no way out. They miss themselves.
The authors call for breaking the system - “breaking patterns”, stopping mechanically following, getting out of the routine, and offer an eight-week course in mastering mindful meditation for different occasions and themselves as mentors. “Your mind will calm down and become smooth like the mirror surface of a lake. …Let life lead you by the hand,” they write.
2. Bernard Werber “Empire of Angels”
Bernard Verber is a French writer and philosopher. The novel “Empire of Angels” (2000) is the second part of the novel “The Thanatonautes”.
The main character of the novel, Michel Panson, goes to heaven after a disaster and becomes an angel. As befits angels, now he will protect the souls of three “clients”. Michelle chooses a reflective, emotional Frenchman, a young American woman dreaming of the Miss Universe title, and a Russian guy abandoned by his parents, who served in a colony and served in a hot spot. The angel’s task is, with the help of clues in the form of dreams, to allow the souls of “clients” to be reborn and reach a new level of development in order to become angels themselves. The angel has one more goal: to find out who controls him and what awaits him in the future.
Opinions about the book are divided, but most find it fascinating and inspiring. It touches on eternal questions about yourself and your place in life, about what will happen next - questions that all people who come into this world ask themselves. Recommended reading when feeling depressed.
The plot of "Empire of Angels" echoes the plot of Richard Bach's novella "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."
3. Richard Bach “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”
This philosophical novel by the American pilot, stunt pilot and flight instructor Richard Bach, whose main place in his life was the sky, brought him worldwide fame. Writing books was Richard Bach's second hobby, which gradually overshadowed the first. It is not surprising that the main theme of his books is flight.
Richard Bach's spiritual life was influenced by the mystical writers Aleister Crowley and Carlos Castaneda, most notably in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. This novella, written in 1970 and immediately becoming a bestseller, is an allegorical parable. Richard Bach once mentioned that her idea came to him suddenly, as if dictated by a voice from above.
The hero of the novel is the young Seagull Jonathan Livingston, named after the pilot whom Richard Bach admired. The seagull lives in the Flock. For the Pack, the meaning of life is food. When it’s time to feed, the seagulls gather in a crowd, and each one wants to grab a fatter piece.
Jonathan is not like that. He loves flying and speed. He wants to know the limits of his capabilities. “Be like everyone else,” his mother tells him. And Jonathan honestly tries, but he can’t. For experimenting with speed, he is expelled from the Pack. Now he is lonely, hungry and... happy.
His loneliness is broken by two shining seagulls: they take him to a more perfect world, where Jonathan meets people like himself - seagulls for whom the meaning of life is in flight. Here he learns: consciousness is not a prisoner of the body, the possibilities for self-improvement are limitless. He goes to Earth to pass on this knowledge to other seagulls expelled from the Flock for their passion for flying. They will have to return to the Flock and talk about the wonderful world, about the sublime feelings that exist outside the limited world in which the Flock lives.
Whether he succeeded will be known to those who read this parable, written in wonderful language, thanks to which it can be read in one breath. Everyone will certainly find something useful for themselves in it.
The main idea of the parable: the meaning of life is in the pursuit of...
4. Shunryu Suzuki “Zen Consciousness, Beginner’s Consciousness”
Anyone who was interested in the biography of the famous founder knows that Steve Jobs was a Buddhist and visited India to know himself and find the truth. The ideas of Zen Buddhism captured Jobs after he read the book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,” which is a collection of conversations between Shunryu Suzuki and his American students.
Shunryu Suzuki headed the Soto school, the most popular and influential branch of Japanese Buddhism. The book “Zen Consciousness” can be called a practical guide to Zen meditation. But this does not mean that it will be of interest only to those who intend to master this practice.
Every person sooner or later wonders why he came into this world. But obsessive thoughts, the internal dialogue that he conducts with himself, do not allow him to concentrate. Finding the answer is possible only by achieving a special state - insight, the best way to which is Zen meditation.
The book allows you to look at the world, at yourself, at your life in a new way.
5. Dominic Loro “The art of living simply. How to get rid of unnecessary things and enrich your life"
Many of us do not realize that living in harmony with ourselves is not difficult. Dominique Loro offers his own recipe: you just need to get rid of the clutter in your thoughts and in your home. Destructive thoughts, prejudices, far-fetched rules and restrictions complicate our lives, serve as a source of energy, take away our health and time, and prevent us from focusing on the main thing.
We must filter reality to make room for what we really need. The epigraph to the book is the lines of a poem by the Japanese poet Issa Kobayashi, written in haiku style:
“This spring is my hut. Completely empty, completely full."
The author of the book is a French woman who travels the world in search of an ideal lifestyle. Canada, Mexico, Central America - everything is wrong. And finally she settled in Japan, where she found what she was looking for: “To live comfortably, in harmony with your consciousness, you need to live simply.” Possessing little allows you to comprehend the main thing - the essence of things.
Dominic warns that getting rid of excess is a painful process, but it is worth it: “The less of everything you have, the more free and fulfilled you feel.” Abundance corrupts the soul and takes it captive.
6. Nick Vujicic “Life Without Borders”
This is the first book by Australian Nick Vujicic, whose name is hardly familiar to most. And in vain. We, healthy people, allow ourselves to whine and become depressed over trifles. We need to constantly push ourselves so as not to stop in our development. And someone who was born without arms and legs also manages to encourage others. He, who as a child, realizing that he was not like everyone else, wanted to die, now travels all over the world giving speeches and writes books, inspiring millions of people.
Nick Vujicic is married and has two healthy children.
He talks about his rules of life, about what gives him the strength to live and help desperate people in the book “Life without Borders. The path to an amazingly happy life." “Your life should be wonderful,” he says. “And I will help you find your own.” One of Nick Vujicic’s rules is to find joy in any difficulties. It took him several years to understand this. After all, as Nick says, one of the main difficulties is to understand yourself.
Those lucky enough to meet Nick thank him for changing their lives.
7. Ken Kesey "Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
The idea for the novel came to Ken Kesey while he was working as an assistant psychiatrist in one of the American hospitals. Despite the fact that the novel was written in 1962, it is still one of the most reprinted and read. “If anyone ever wants to feel the pulse of our time, let them read Kesey,” newspapers wrote after the novel was published. Many people are familiar with its film adaptation called “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
The action takes place in a psychiatric clinic. (By the way, the English word cuckoo is translated not only as “cuckoo”, but also as “crazy”, “crazy”, “out of my mind”). The story is told on behalf of one of the patients - an Indian who pretended to be deaf and dumb. The main character of the novel is Patrick McMurphy. And if the hospital symbolizes society, and the orders that exist in it - the system, then McMurphy is a rebel, a fighter against the system.
Ken Kesey himself did not consider the people who ended up in the clinic to be abnormal. They simply did not fit into the generally accepted framework of decency, so they were considered people with mental disabilities. Some of them hid in a hospital from life's circumstances and eked out a miserable existence here. With the advent of McMurphy, they felt the taste of life and the will for it.
8. Fannie Flagg “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Polustanok Cafe”
This novel, written in 1987, spent almost a year on the bestseller list. What is he talking about? That life is beautiful, no matter how old you are and no matter how your life circumstances turn out.
One of the main characters, housewife Evelyn, is going through a mental crisis: there is no relationship with her husband, the children have their own families, the meaning of life has been lost. She is haunted by thoughts of loneliness and death. A trip to a nursing home to visit her mother-in-law, with whom she has always had a difficult relationship, does not add optimism.
However, here she meets an elderly woman with an incredibly sad fate, who turned Evelyn’s inner world upside down. The void that formed in her soul was filled with warmth and love.
“A good, sincere book from which the soul opens up and radiates light” - this is the opinion that most readers have about this novel. It is worth reading during the season when tomatoes are ripening: the temptation is very great to immediately prepare dishes from fried green tomatoes, which were prepared in the Polustanok cafe and the recipe for which can be found at the end of the book. Once you try them, “you’ll feel like you’re already in heaven!” - the author promises.
By the way, this novel has an equally successful film adaptation.
9. Francis Mayes “Italy. Under the Tuscan sun"
A teacher from San Francisco bought an abandoned house in Tuscany, surrounded by a landscape of incredible beauty: picturesque hills and valleys, olive trees and vineyards, flowers and herbs conducive to thinking about the beauty of life and eternity.
But the main character didn’t come here to dream: she wants to learn to live differently than she lived before. Repairing and equipping a house with a plot, tidying up neglected trees and a vineyard, exploring the surrounding area, cooking Italian cuisine unfamiliar to her and finding a connection between food and culture brings her sincere joy and pleasure. “Burying a shoot of a vine and thereby giving it a new birth is a clear metaphor for how you need to change your life from time to time if you want to advance in your development,” writes Francis Mayes.
10. Cheryl Strayed “Wild.” A dangerous journey as a way to find yourself"
This book was translated into 29, and after its publication in 2012, it occupied the top spot on the bestseller list for quite some time.
The book is written in the form of memoirs. They are based on the difficult and dangerous journey of the writer Cheryl Strayed, which she embarked on in the hope of numbing her mental pain with physical difficulties. The death of her mother, divorce from her husband, drugs, many promiscuous relationships, and - she was haunted by despair, threatening to end in suicide. And she tried to save herself, to get away from the thoughts that were tormenting and destroying her soul.
Cheryl hiked 1,100 miles alone along a well-known route only experienced by experienced hikers. This is the Pacific Crest Trail, or Pacific Crest Trail, which runs along the Pacific coast from Mexico to Canada. The route is located far from populated areas - there is only picturesque nature around, and not a soul. On the way of travelers there is a scorching desert, snow-capped peaks, and narrow paths at an altitude of over 2 thousand meters above sea level. Cheryl overcame herself, found spiritual harmony and changed her life.
Based on the book, the movie “Wild” was shot in Hollywood, after which the number of people wishing to walk along the trail increased sharply. True, not everyone manages to go the whole way.
Erich Maria Remarque - “Three Comrades”
Erich Maria Remarque entered literature as the author of books about the fate of the “lost generation” - young people who experienced the horrors of the World War. His style is unique, and his books have long become classics.
“Three Comrades” is a poignant novel about loneliness and mutual understanding, about friendship and love, about devotion and the fragility of human life. Robert Lokamp, Otto Kester and Gottfried Lenz are trying to forget their hungry childhood and find love, but they cannot escape the ghosts of the past. They are ready to do anything for friendship. Despite the death that permeates it, the novel speaks of a thirst for life.
Quote: “Just don’t take anything to heart,” said Kester, “After all, what you accept, you want to keep. But you can’t hold anything back.”
Jenny Downham - "While I Live"
Knowing that she is dying, the sixteen-year-old heroine of this book writes a list of things that need to be done in life. She definitely needs to be in time, because the countdown has already begun...
A controversial work: on literary forums they often say that the main character is a dummy, a hypocrite, an egoist... She is condemned for sex with an unfamiliar guy, for drugs, for reckless actions.
However, everything she does is not only a desire to try the forbidden, but also simply an unbridled desire to live. Move. For something to happen. What else could she do - humbly wait for death? This work is about how you need to appreciate every minute of life and not be afraid to take risks.
Quote: “People grow up in different ways: some quickly, some slowly, and some in the moment. And everyone lives differently. Not just on purpose, but due to circumstances. The stronger these circumstances are, the greater the height of the flight or the depth of the fall of this or that fate. Where to fly - up or down - everyone decides for himself. But there is always a choice"
Boris Vasiliev - “And the dawns here are quiet”
Boris Vasiliev is one of those writers, eyewitnesses of the war, who themselves went to the front and defended the country.
After reading it, it is impossible to understand who is more pitied, the young girls who ruined their lives in the name of the Motherland, or Sergeant Major Vaskov, who went through so much with them and remained alive.
The plot of the book is based on real events and this makes it even scarier. This is a story about war, about its mercilessness, about the sacrifices that both men and women made to protect their country.
Quote: “It was so stupid, so absurd and implausible to die at nineteen”
John Boyne - "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
A small book that talks about terrible things in simple language. Through the eyes of a child who naively believes in friendship between “different” people and in world peace, the Auschweitz concentration camp is shown, a tragedy of the Second World War about which so much has been written. But this particular story proves that children pay for the mistakes of adults. Valuing your own life.
You can’t talk much about this book - you need to read, experience this story with Bruno, just a child who fell into the killing machine of the Third Reich, but who believed in the justice of the world to the end.
Quote: “Of course, all this happened a long time ago and will never happen again. Not in our days and not in our century."
The novel ends with these words.
Alice Sebold - "The Lovely Bones"
Just like the book “While I Live,” this work is surrounded by a lot of controversy - about the audience to which the book is addressed, about the genre - if it’s a detective story, then why is there so little blood and investigation, if it’s a drama, then why these horrifying details of the crime?
But regardless of this, this story evokes a whole heap of unimaginable emotions in everyone’s soul - from quiet melancholy over the vivid images of a peaceful American suburb to alarming bursts of “what if.”
A book about awareness: if you lose someone, it’s forever. And sometimes, so stupidly, for no reason, a loved one, just like the heroine of a book, can up and disappear.
Or are you on your own? What could be worse than the thought that you will be forgotten, that you will turn into a locked room that is no longer visited?
This story is definitely worth reading. At a minimum, to think about how fleeting life is and how easy it is to lose it.
Quote: “We stood on each side, a dead daughter and a living son, and each wanted one thing. So that your father will always be there. But this could not come true for both at once.”
Daniel Keyes - "Flowers for Algernon"
Literary forums are full of positive reviews of this work and define it as “a masterpiece of modern American literature.” And for good reason: a deep plot - a story about a mentally retarded boy who, in the course of a scientific experiment, becomes a genius and must learn to live again: to realize what love, friendship, sex, self-determination are... In order to walk the path that people have allotted their whole lives to, he must spend only months and answer the main question: “Who am I?”
A very touching and sometimes even naive book. Must read.
Quote: “If you don’t want to remain a child forever, you can’t wait for clues from others. You must find a solution within yourself - feel what will be right. Learn to trust yourself"
Charlotte Brontë - "Jane Eyre"
This name has already become a household name - the image of a modest, brave girl, ready to fight for her love, is subsequently present in many works of literature. However, it was Brontë who was able to endow the main character with those qualities that make you fall in love with Jane Eyre from the first lines and empathize with her until the last page.
The book “Jane Eyre,” which has become a classic, is still popular today, thanks to the precision of expression of human feelings that the author was able to achieve.
Quote: “You yourself could fly and cling to my heart if you wanted. But, grabbed against your will, you will slip out of my arms, disappear like a fragrance, without even allowing me to inhale it.”
Marc Levy - "Shadow Thief"
Almost everyone has heard about this master of the American word. His famous novels “Those Words We Didn’t Say to Each Other” and “Between Heaven and Earth” do not linger on bookstore shelves. It’s the same story with the book “The Thief of Shadows,” which is also a great success both in Russia and around the world.
At first it may seem that this is fantasy or a good fairy tale, but once you open the first pages, it becomes clear that this is a very strong novel, albeit small in volume. The story of a boy who has the gift of communicating with the shadows of other people and who so desperately wants to help everyone around him, but cannot help himself. Useful for relieving fatigue from the soul.
Quote: “In adolescence, we all dream of one day leaving our parents, but another day comes when our parents leave us. And then we dream of only one thing: to once again become, at least for a moment, the children who lived under their roof, to hug them, to tell them, without shame, how much we love them, to cling to them tighter, so that they can calm us down at least once more.”
Stephen King - "The Green Mile"
The name of this author has long been known to all fans of fantasy, action films, detective stories... But before us is a completely “different” work of his, “The Green Mile” - a parable about existence and people, about how terrible death is, even when you have to face it daily.
Many people say that reading this book is scary. And this is true, because there is so much in it: physical and mental pain, love of life, love of people, struggle with oneself and the world, fear of death and the vision in it of deliverance from suffering, the story of true friendship and the versatility of betrayal, human meanness and questions of honor... And all these questions and problems cannot be solved; neither the author nor the reader has an answer to them.
This is the case when you become so deeply immersed in the story that it is no longer possible to tear yourself away.
Quote: “...I discovered a monstrous truth: sometimes there is absolutely no difference between saving a soul and condemning it to eternal torment.”
Cecelia Ahern - "One Hundred Names"
This book is worth loving if only for how believable the plot is. The author did not come up with something super-outstanding: she was an ordinary journalist whose career was collapsing - and then a list of a hundred names fell into her hands. How are they connected? Why did her terminally ill friend choose them?
“One Hundred Names” is a novel about how no one in the world should be alone, about how people can help each other avoid tragedy.
Cecilia Ahern, in one short work, managed to show that everything in life can be changed, that every person is interesting and unique.
Most likely, this story, thanks to the happy ending, will not bring you to tears, but a slight smile. But the author of the blog sincerely cried over how wonderful it is when there is someone nearby who is ready to support.
Quote: “You’re not afraid to fly, you’re afraid that you won’t be able to get off the ground.”
What books make you cry?
Tears of tenderness, compassion and despair, as well as all shades of experiences from light sadness to devastating catharsis. During the most lyrical time of the year, we have selected books for you that will make you cry and that will make you a little better.
American writer Bruce Cameron's book "The Life and Purpose of a Dog" will touch you no less than "Hachiko" or "White Bim Black Ear", and you will reach for a handkerchief after the first third of the book. But these will be, rather, tears of tenderness. After all, Cameron's novel, which tells about a dog who is born again every time to live a happy life next to a new owner, is about how each of us needs a friend. If you believe the writer, it turns out that we are not responsible for those we have tamed, but our four-legged friends were sent to us to support us in difficult times. So the main character of the book “The Life and Purpose of a Dog” turns out to be vitally necessary for his owner every time, be it a woman disappointed in life, a man who has lost everything, or a lonely boy.
January 1939. Germany. A country holding its breath. Death has never had so much work to do. And there will be even more. The mother takes nine-year-old Liesel Meminger and her younger brother to their adoptive parents near Munich, because their father is no longer there - he was carried away by the breath of the alien and strange word “communist”, and in the eyes of the mother the girl sees fear of the same fate. On the road, Death visits the boy and for the first time notices Liesel, a girl who loves books. She finds herself on Himmel Strasse - Heavenly Street, where she will spend the war years, see human tragedies with her own eyes, and at a young age comprehend all the horrors of fascism. Books become not only an outlet for Liesel, they literally make up her entire life, measuring out the most important events - both good and terrible. Australian Markus Zusak, talking about the Second World War, managed to find the only right intonation that ensured his novel phenomenal success.
Alice Peterson's work was highly appreciated by Jojo Moyes, a master at squeezing tears not only from traditionally more emotional women, but also from stern men. The life of the main character of the book “Just be with me!” Cassandra Brooks shared the “before” and “after” of a spinal fracture. Life before the tragedy was like a dream come true, in which there were wonderful parents, mutual love, and studying at the prestigious Queen's University with a good job in the future. Life after, when Cassandra became disabled, is like a nightmare. The lover, not ready to take care of her, leaves, friends, feeling guilty, gradually move away, and dreams of success in the professional field remain dreams. All that remains for Cassandra is a vague hope for happiness and the desire to overcome her illness. But is this enough to bring back passion for life itself?
This year, the name of Boris Vasiliev was constantly remembered in connection with the new film adaptation of his story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”, while forgetting about another brilliant work “Tomorrow There Was War”, which, in the absence of descriptions of military operations, demonstrates all the horrors of war. The story tells about the students of 9th "B", their growing up and development, friendship and love, their first serious moral choice, plans and dreams. Vasiliev, who himself experienced the collapse of hopes and the loss of close friends, wrote about the everyday life and experiences of ordinary teenagers in such a way that the reader, behind their every word and deed, feels the breath of the approaching war, which quickly ended their youth.
After finishing reading the novel by Cyril Massarotto, you will not only burst into tears, but also want to call your parents as soon as possible. After all, this is a book about the love of a son - the young writer Tom - for his mother, forced to watch how Alzheimer's disease day after day takes away the person closest to him. Day after day, an insidious disease conquers a new part of the brain, taking away the most valuable thing - memories of shared moments, sorrows and joys. For all its poignancy, Cyril Massarotto’s novel reconciles with life. After all, Alzheimer's disease can take away memories and reason, but it cannot take away love. And Tom, when it hurts the most, will receive confirmation that his mother remembered him and loved him - always.
Anatoly Pristavkin spent the years of the Great Patriotic War in an orphanage, so “The Golden Cloud Spent the Night” was, as the author himself admits, largely autobiographical. The topic of war orphanhood had been touched upon by many before him, but only Anatoly Igorevich was able to write so expressively about the children of war, about the people around them and about the fact that everyone has their own truth. The story was translated into many languages, brought its author world fame and rightfully entered the golden fund of Russian literature.
Daniel Keyes managed to tell the story of an experiment on the artificial development of intelligence in a mentally retarded person in such a way that it contained the entire tragedy of human existence. Before the reader's eyes, the janitor Charlie Gordon, through the efforts of scientists, goes from a happy and good-natured, but mentally handicapped person to a deeply unhappy genius, irritable and at times cruel. The book, presented in the form of Charlie's own diary entries, allows you to penetrate so deeply into the hero's inner world that you involuntarily begin to think about what fate you would choose for yourself.
Spring... there is so much in this word. A thawed heart after the cold, the expectation of an unclear miracle, a warm wind that excites the blood, sun rays, the first greenery, life is blooming around and happiness is blooming. Even ossified cynics feel a vague restlessness of the soul in the spring. At this time, it is impossible to behave as before, and you want to read special books - piercing, awakening sensuality. Therefore, we offer you a list of such works that are ideal for reading in the spring.1. April Witchcraft by Ray Bradbury
Of course, the great Ray Bradbury needs no introduction. Although he wrote science fiction all his life, he was known as one of the main romantics in literature. His works are lively, imbued with feelings and bright colors; the way he describes nature and the world around him allows the reader to leave the gray world and rush into the romantic clouds. This book is the quintessence of springtime magical realism and will truly make you feel young, joyful, and ready for adventure.The plot tells about the creature Cecy - she can take any form. Here it is a drop falling to the bottom of a well, and here it is soaring like a bird over the forest. One day a girl drinks water from a stream, and Cecy turns into a person, into an attractive young lady who will have to experience for herself what feelings the human race experiences. This story is permeated with romance against the backdrop of the most magical time - spring. It is, of course, about love and the ability to love.
2. “The Orange Girl” by Jostein Gorder
Another truly spring book. She is sentimental, sensual, but in no way refined or banal. Deceptively light, “The Orange Girl” quietly awakens the soul and pierces it with contradictory and touching feelings. And I must say that the whole world appreciated her. Norwegian writer Jostein Gorder woke up famous with it, topping all sorts of ratings and collecting a decent crop of awards. This is a kind of book within a book - the story is told from the perspective of two narrators. A fifteen-year-old boy finds a letter from his father, who died 11 years ago. It turns out that before his death he wrote this work, wanting to shed the truth on his life story to his son and reveal to him the secret of the Orange Girl. It is likely that the subsequent plot will make you cry with emotion.
3. “Violets in March” Sarah Gio
Many people are well aware of the writer Sarah Gio, who has repeatedly occupied the first lines of New York Times bestsellers and whose novels have been translated into more than 20 languages. Perhaps, each of her books could easily be included in this rating, since the writer creates non-trivial and very romantic stories, but “Violets in March” can rightfully be called the most spring book.Emily used to be very lucky and successful, she lived in New York, but now her life is falling apart at the seams - her husband cheated, her family doesn’t understand, her creativity is in complete crisis. The girl escapes to Bainbridge Island, where she spent her childhood with her great-aunt in a small house where violets grow on the porch and the ocean lies around the corner. There she finds a diary of an unknown person, dated 1943. And Emily will have to learn all the secrets of the island, and maybe find love thanks to this. This story touched the whole world, and at the same time, it is fascinating to read thanks to the action-packed plot line.
4. “Lavender Room” Nina Gheorghe
This novel was translated into Russian in 2015, and it immediately blew up all sorts of ratings and won praise from critics. Worldwide it has been translated into several dozen languages. If your soul is languishing in sadness, and you are experiencing anxiety, a feeling of crossroads, then this novel will become a lifeboat in finding yourself.Imagine a small shop on the water, whose owner believes that books can cure any disease. Like a medieval pharmacist, he selects this or that product for his “patients” - unfortunate and lost customers. In his opinion, books cure sorrows, negative emotions, disappointment and unhappy love. Unfortunately, they did not cure the store owner himself, who has not been able to recover from a terrible loss for 20 years. But a new spring and new circumstances breathed life into him, and he weighs anchor to go to Provence, to meet new feelings and adventures.
5. “Mashenka” Vladimir Nabokov
It wouldn’t be amiss to add some great Russian writers to this list, because it was they who at all times paid great attention to feelings and “longing of the heart.” But let’s not go down completely banal paths. If you haven’t read Nabokov yet and are afraid of his snobbery and intellectuality, “Mashenka” will dispel your doubts and will probably serve as that very spark of nascent love. Not the writer's most famous novel, but one of the most sentimental, romantic and touching. Add to this the wonderful language praised by all and sundry, and you get Nabokov's exquisite prose. The story of Lev Ganin, a Russian emigrant in Germany, recalling his life and first love, is suspiciously similar to the fictional biography of Nabokov himself.
6. “Goddess of Spring” by F. K. Cast
This story is suitable for all modern witches. Even if you don’t sit over a cauldron at night, you still have a feminine, primordial power that stretches upward in the spring, like a sprout from the ground. Let her have free rein with this wonderful book.A young girl mixes up ancient culinary recipes, suddenly finding a spell among them, and chance takes her straight into the body of the beautiful Persephone, into Hades. Now businesswoman Francesca is the goddess of spring in person. Trying to get her life back, the girl fails Demeter's mission, falls in love with Hades, the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, and challenges all the gods, trying to save her love. A truly hot and exciting story with an unusual plot, without the banal moves and pink refined sugar so often found in women's novels.
7. “Book of Complaints” Max Fry
Want a reboot book that masterfully hides under the cover of entertaining fiction? There you are. "Complaint book". Do you like to whine and curse fate, compare yourself with others, blame your life? Well, here's a cautionary tale about why you shouldn't do that. A smiling salesman, an old lady on the subway, a passerby - all of them can happily live your life a hundred times brighter and more interesting, and they will send you to vegetate beyond the boundaries of your destiny. They are called Nakhi and they live next to people and are always ready to take their lives. What, it doesn’t seem like your home, friends, family are so banal anymore? But it's too late. You can escape from cursed creatures only through courage and self-acceptance. Fry is the author who will not only brighten up your spring, it is quite possible that in every snowdrop and light breeze you will begin to see secret signs and imprints of magic.
8. “The Witch of April” by Maigull Axelsson
Do you know the feeling of aching and incomprehensible melancholy that arises at sunset in April, when the air is fresh and the bell rings? Then, most likely, you will like the novel by Maigull Axelsson, which made her famous throughout the world. For it she received Sweden's main literary prize - August Strindberg Prize. “The April Witch” has been translated into many languages, including Russian.In the center of the plot is an unusual heroine, from that breed who are like witches, who can immediately comprehend the essence of things, who easily overcome time and space with the power of thought. And this is the only way, because she is paralyzed, left by her mother to social services, but her mind is sharp and knows no boundaries. The heroine has three sisters - some more successful, some less. The girl loves them all, but knows that one of them stole her life, which was intended for Desiree (that’s the heroine’s name). And she is ready to do anything to find out who. Her body is not an obstacle to true love, growing up, complex family drama and overcoming loneliness. In this novel, magic and reality are intertwined into an unforgettable phantasmagoria.
9. “Possess” by Antonia Byatt
I am ready to sing odes to this novel and put it on the pedestal of must read in the spring and precisely in the spring, because I have never seen more beautiful and at the same time intellectual prose about love. It’s hard to call the novel a women’s novel. It was not for nothing that at one time he received Booker Prize(and the author received Order of the British Empire) and does not lose its relevance and leading positions in many ratings to this day. He is called best novel of the 20th century, which in itself says a lot.Starting slowly and even timidly, it hides all the most fascinating things further, in the depths. Here is a chivalric romance in a new way, and a detective story that will not let you tear yourself away from it until the morning, and a truly large-scale drama that will last for more than one generation. Several facets of the work shimmer and beckon, turning to the reader on different sides. Through the maze of the plot, two young philologists, Roland and Maud, make their way into the past, exploring a new clue in the biography of the Victorian writer Henry Holly. They will have to discover the most mysterious love story of the past, and along the way, find their own destiny.
10. “Cold Spring in Provence” by Dean Rubin
Oh, if you have read at least one book by Rubina, you are unlikely to have to explain why it is worth loving and reading, and then re-reading. Kindly sentimental, femininely understanding, whimsical in plots and their interweavings, with a soft, captivatingly beautiful language. Her prose seems to be woven from spring itself. And it’s better to meet her with a volume of “Cold Spring in Provence.” Short sketches and essays are anything but a banal travel book. This is a flowery and motley, fragrant and poignant canvas of stories from different people and different times. The common denominator is, in fact, Provence, the time of action is spring. Before you know it, the book will end, to your regret, and something in your soul will turn over and shift.
11. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Another book that will enchant modern witches. After all, we are all women with a little sin, and if you wish, with a spark. By the way, the world-famous Alice Hoffman in February, which has already received positive reviews from critics. And “Practical Magic” is, perhaps, a classic that is a must for every self-respecting woman. Moreover, even if you have seen the famous film adaptation with Sandra Bulock and Nicole Kidman, then read the book anyway – it’s a hundred times better.Two heroines today possess the ancient gift of witches. The whole novel is about such women, who are witches, who wield feminine magic in a harsh, male world. And, of course, any witches deserve personal happiness. But who knows whether the gift will help him find it or destroy him?
12. “Blackberry Wine” by Joanne Harris
If the famous book by Joan Harris “Chocolate” and its film adaptation with Johnny Depp can be considered truly, a list of which you can also find, then her “Blackberry Wine” is a real ode to spring. It is bright, colorful and incredibly atmospheric, reading it as if in reality one feels the smells of mown grass, just picked berries, a suburb immersed in greenery, the earth reviving after the rain. This book will inspire you and serve as great motivation.In the story, the unfortunate writer Jay, whose fame has long passed, finds six bottles of homemade wine brewed by his childhood friend - the missing old man Joe. The taste of the drink literally creates magic and changes the hero’s life. How else can one explain his sudden purchase of a home in a village far away in France and subsequent adventures?
13. “Queen Sugar” Sarah Edison Allen
Josie is 27 years old, she lives with her mother and is dependent on her, because she is so quiet and modest. She has no friends, no normal social life, she is painfully shy of people and dreams of independence only in her dreams. Her life is brightened up by sweets and books hidden in the dressing room, where she consumes them in incredible quantities. So this gray mouse would have lived in the shadow of her mother, but one day, opening the door of her closet with supplies, she was surprised to find Della Lee there, a local troublemaker. From that day on, Josie's life changes. Perhaps yours will change too, thanks to this good book. In it, magic imperceptibly bursts into seemingly ordinary life. This is not just a fairy tale story, but a touching and unforgettable plot that can make you cry from light sadness.
14. “Tenderness” David Fonkinos
Who better than a Frenchman to create sensual, breathtaking, erotic and bewitching books about love. The young writer David Fonkinos fully confirms this opinion. He is called the brilliant novelist of his time; he already has dozens of novels and millions of copies to his credit. And his novel “Tenderness” is a wonderful book for the spring season, as the title itself hints at.This is a love story between a different man and woman, a love that is subtle, graceful and intricate. They say about such people “not a couple.” Everyone around her and even her boss are in love with Natalie. She is sweet, sympathetic, beautiful. But having experienced a bereavement, she seemingly forever closes her heart to relationships, turning all suitors around. It is not a macho man who can melt such a heart, but a person who is anxious and ready to wait, even if he is completely inconspicuous at first glance. And after the book you can watch a wonderful film adaptation with Audrey Tautou.
15. “The Matchmaker of Périgord” by Julia Stewart
Let’s complete our selection with a light book, sometimes funny, permeated with good English humor. Despite this, it also has a double bottom with touching moments and love that melts the heart. This is a real tragicomedy about the difficult paths of love and its unusual, non-trivial forms. Hairdresser Guillaume lives in a village with only 33 inhabitants. He, like no one else, feels that love is necessary for everyone. And when he finds out that half of his fellow villagers go to the neighboring village to see another master, he is not upset and opens a marriage agency. This is where a series of amazing, funny and romantic stories of searching for worthy couples begins. Against the backdrop of a green village and wonderful descriptions of dishes, you can get real gourmet pleasure from reading The Matchmaker of Périgord.
We hope your spring will not only be bright, but also rich in good books. And if this list is not enough for you, then you can find something for yourself from
