I have prepared a list of books that are comforting and offer a peaceful and calming refuge to escape into.
AUTUMN ROUNDS BY JACQUES POULIN
Autumn Rounds by the Canadian writer, Jacques Poulin is a gentle, tender, luminous and deeply meditative novel exploring the meaning of solitude, literature in our life, human connections, growing old and finding love at mature age. It is also an ode to the natural beauty of the Quebec landscapes and their power to heal physical and emotional wounds. Jacques Poulin offers a tale of many ordinary moments of seemingly simplistic tasks becoming an extraordinary event. Writing is subtle and delicate to reflect the inner life of the main protagonist, the Driver and people he encounters during his journey. Poulin’s prose conveys soothing melancholy in which characters in his book find the air of comfort.Autumn Rounds tells a story of a gentle middle-age man referred to as the Driver who runs a mobile library travelling around Quebec along the north bank St Lawrence river visiting little towns and villages lending his books to the readers with their unique tastes for great literature. He is a sensitive character, with firm convictions and empathy for his fellow human beings as well as animals – before starting up his van he always checks if there are cats under his mobile library to ensure he does not hurt them. Thanks to the Driver the books get to isolated villages warming people’s spirits. The books he delivers to people constantly move around and are on their own journey. Jacques Poulin’s novel is a gentle homage to literature and finding answers to burning questions in books and the importance of relationship between written word and readers. In Autumn Rounds human connections are based on the similar love for novels where people discuss books they love to find out what values they share.Ultimately this is a quiet and gentle read with a sensitive character at its centre with many ruminations on ordinary life and daily tasks and activities making one’s existence a bit less painful. It is a wonderful book to read during the first months of autumn especially when one is in need of something soul-soothing. FULL REVIEW
NORTH WOODS BY DANIEL MASON
North Woods by the American writer, Daniel Mason is a wonderful, spellbinding novel written in a variety of literary styles, from prose to letters to poems and songs, including cleverly placed illustrations and photographs of natural landscape and artistic expression. It is a tale of one country, the Unites States of America, told through the history of one single plot of land in Western Massachusetts. Its narrative spans hundreds of years and traverses a plethora of multifaceted characters occupying the land in the beautiful woods of New England. Told in twelve stories, North Woods is also an ode to the connection between the nature and human existence. This novel can be interpreted as a tale of constant change, people come and go, one single plot of land is being inhabited by various people with their own daily challenges, with their existence being shaped by the cycles of natural world. It is a kaleidoscope of the individual and the collective, of a complex and vivid history of the humanity over the centuries. Mason’s prose is enchanting, so rich and mesmerising, his art of storytelling is intricate with one of the best descriptions of nature I have ever encountered. Reading North Woods has been one of the most pleasant and charming experiences I have had in the recent years. It is a book I was reading in the evenings, just before going to sleep which was like a balm for my soul and tired mind. North Woods seems such a wonderful read, especially during autumn months or whenever one needs a warm hug and a cosy blanket. FULL REVIEW
THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE BY ELIF SHAFAK
The Forty Rules of Love follows the life of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz in the 13th century intertwined with the story of 40-something Ella set in the contemporary times. Personally for me, the story of Shams of Tabriz and the Persian poet, Rumi was a highlight of this book. The novel is a poetic exploration of Sufism and its tenants. Beautiful writing, nuanced descriptions of Rumi’s personality from different perspectives make this book a real delight to read. The portrayal of women in the 13th century Konya is rich in detail, and provides an interesting foundation for further reflection. I enjoyed this book and I think it is a great book to give others as a gift. It makes for a pleasant and gentle read.
THE WHEEL BY JENNIFER LANE
The Wheel is such a beautiful, tender and magical book. It is a truly soul-soothing read which takes a reader on a mystical journey of a (self-) discovery through wild landscapes of the British Isles filled with wonderment, gentleness, and magic. It is a nuanced, profoundly moving exploration of our connection with the nature, contemporary toxic working environment which many of us are forced to be a part of, and the healing power of witchcraft and ancient rituals. The Wheel is such a ray of sunshine, beautifully written, and extremely engaging. The Wheel by Jennifer Lane is a wonderful, magical autumnal read and hugely beneficial for people having experienced toxic work environment and their health damaged as a result of that. Also, it is a great read for those interested in the connection between the natural world and humans, in the ancient rituals, beliefs of our ancestors and their impact on our contemporary life in a modern society. I am truly in love with this gem of a book. I highly recommend it to everyone. FULL REVIEW
BRIAN BY JEREMY COOPER
Brian is a profoundly moving meditation on the meaning of solitary life, of art and cinema in shaping one’s perception of and connection with the world, of the hidden depths of human soul often kept private in fear of misunderstanding and stigma, and of the importance of companionship and community. This is a subtle novel of great depth focused on the interiority of life enriched by art. Jeremy Cooper thoughtfully and empathetically chronicled life of a gentle soul spanning thirty years starting in the early 1990s all the way up to the present times. Also, the book is in a way an ode to London, its topography and rich cultural landscape that the city has to offer. In addition, there are plenty of film references which will be a treat to many cinema lovers. As an antidote to self-inflicted solitude, Brian becomes a member of the British Film Institute (BFI). Films make him feel less alone. Anonymity remains an integral part of Brian’s pleasure in going to the cinema. Other movie-goers he meets at the BFI do not ask him about his name or what his job is, they only converse about the film they had just watched. There is “no false familiarity, no banality, no banter”. During these early years of attending the film seances at the BFI, Brian is received with greater warmth by almost everyone among the regulars at the BFI than he had ever experienced in his life. The BFI becmes his natural home. The cinema raises many questions in his mind about his own life and surrounding world. “In the cinema he disappeared as a person and was accepted as a member of the crowd”. At the BFI he feels almost as if he was being welcomed home. During thirty years of being the BFI member he has developed a very intense interest in the old films especially in the post-war Japanese cinema. He enjoys particularly films by Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Kon Ichikawa, Nagisa Oshima, Yasujiro Ozu, Fellini, Yilmaz Guney, Loach, Kiarostami, Werner Herzog, Agnes Varda, Robert Bresson and Chantal Akerman. I cannot possibly express in words how much I loved this story of a solitary man who finds some sense of belonging through the cinema. Brian carefully crafted his existence to avoid disruption to his routine enriched by the cultural landscape of art and cinema and his solitude.This is a quiet book, yet of profound depth. I absolutely loved this book and Brian has become one of my most beloved literary characters I have ever encountered in my reading experience and definitely one of the most relatable ones. FULL REVIEW
FRESH WATER FOR FLOWERS BY VALERIE PERRIN
This book is the most extraordinary, moving tribute to the resilience of human spirit. I must admit that I don’t remember when last time I was so deeply touched by a story. This tale evolves around a small graveyard in a small French town, Bourgogne. We meet an array of interesting, nuanced characters, including our main protagonist, Violette. The story of Violette’s life is slowly revealed to us through her own words or through the interconnectedness with the lives of other people. Fresh Water For Flowers is a tale about difficult love, mature love, grief, loneliness, god, death, the absence of those whom we love, relationship between people and their animal companions. There are many insightful observations about relationships between parents and their adult children, also about finding love at the later stage in life. This is a profoundly sad story, but at the same time it leaves the reader with a sense of hope and belief in the strength of a human heart. Writing is lyrical, melancholic, just beautiful. I highly recommend this book to everyone in need of magic in their life, especially during long autumnal or winter evenings. FULL REVIEW
UPSTREAM BY MARY OLIVER
Upstream by the American poet, Mary Oliver is a collection of essays in which she reflects on the connection between her life and the natural world as well as the world of literature. Throughout this collection she ruminates on the phases of human life: childhood, adulthood, and ageing. Marked by questions as to how we choose the life from among all the lives possible to us, Upstream is such a heartwarming collection of thoughts and profoundly moving observations on life by one of the greatest contemporary poets.The natural world and literature “were the gates through which [Mary Oliver] vanished from a difficult place.” The nature “was full of beauty and interest and mystery (…) and – the world of literature offered [her] (…) the sustentation of empathy”. For the author “the world’s otherness is antidote to confusion, that standing within this otherness – the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books – can re-dignify the worst-stung heart”. This collection of essays is very soul-soothing to read. Oliver’s observations on the nature and literature are reflective and subtle. I very much enjoyed this collection, especially reading Oliver’s essays during time of heightened anxiety helped me calm my tired heart and mind. FULL REVIEW
GREY BEES BY ANDREY KURKOV
Grey Bees by the great Ukrainian writer, Andrey Kurkov has become one of my all-time favourite books and its protagonist, one of the most beautiful solitary and introverted characters I have encountered in literature. The novel centres around a 49-year-old Sergey Sergeyich, a beekeeper, a retired mine safety inspector and one of two inhabitants of Little Starhorodivka, the village in Grey Zone of Donbas. He is one of the greatest introvert characters, a beautiful, solitary, and sensitive soul, living in accordance with the surrounding natural world and its changing seasons. The novel explores the life of ‘an ordinary’ person caught amid the terror of war, the consequences of the military activities,and political repressions on the individual life, small communities, families, and ethnic minorities. The novel captures the life of a sensitive, warm-hearted every-man, Sergey Sergeyich, in a small corner of the world, drowned in a sea of confusion of our superficial reality, being so much in opposition to the order of the natural world he wants to live in accordance with. Sergeyich always seems to stay on the peripheries of the community and observes it from the distance. The reader looks at the life of those living in Grey Zones of the war-torn Donbas as well as occupied Crimea through Sergeyich’s emphatic eyes. FULL REVIEW
