Wuthering Heights

One thing this list is teaching me is that you should banish all preconceived notions of what a book is about until you’ve read it.  As Ayn Rand would say, “Check your premises.”

I always thought Wuthering Heights was more of a “Little Women” kind of story, romantic and flighty, with a weak passion more like Anna Karenina (my opinion, I’m sure some will disagree).  I was so wrong!  For some reason I expected Emily Bronte to be childish in her description of love, but she really captured the bare bones, inside out, gut wrenching torture of true love. 

Wuthering Heights is a perverse, twisted, abusive love story, full of real heartache and desire.  It’s the story of Catherine Earnshaw and her undying, unstoppable love for and with a man named Heathcliff.  Their love was without question; their souls were bound in life and eventually in death.  Part of the story is of the madness of both people when their love was denied each other.  Without spoiling it, at some point one of them dies, and the rest of the book is about the devastation and heartache of the remaining person (but it’s not as depressing at it sounds).       

The only thing I didn’t like was I got the feeling the book didn’t really end.  I still find myself thinking, “I gotta go finish Wuthering Heights.”  Oh wait, I did that!  It didn’t end abruptly or anything, and didn’t leave any loose ends, it just felt unfinished.  It may be because several generations of people were covered, and I kind of latched on to the second generation, so when their story ended halfway through the book I felt like something was missing. 

This is really a great novel.  Bronte did an amazing job of creating another world, very much like in The Secret Garden, where you could really identify with the characters and use Wuthering Heights as your place to escape.  I definitely recommend it.

Siddhartha and Illusions

Alert!  I’ve strayed from my list! 

I’ve been so gung-ho about staying on my list, but in the meantime, Luke and I have found a small joy:  reading out loud.  He doesn’t particularly like to read fiction of any sort other than Tolkien, but something compelled me to read Siddhartha out loud, and we both enjoyed it immensely.  Reading out loud puts a whole new spin on things – it makes you really slow down and cherish each word.  Throughout my entire reading years, I never realized how fast I read, or that I actually skip over words.  So in the end, I got to work on my vocal skills, and Luke said it was as if he’d read the books himself. 

This is a new joy in our lives, when we need it most, so I’ll be jumping around my list a little.  I am actually sticking to my list at the same time, and am almost done with Wuthering Heights.  In the meantime, Luke and I finished Siddhartha, as well as Illusions by Richard Bach.

 

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse:

I’d read this book years ago, on a ferry-boat on my way to Bremerton and back (which is ironic, as a key character in the book was a ferryman).  Took me about 3 hours to finish it.  At the time it was hard to read, but this time around I realized the true beauty of the book.  It’s the story of a young “Brahmin” in search of enlightenment.  The whole point of the story is that enlightenment can’t be sought, or taught for that matter, and it’s his journey through love, self-denial, self-indulgence, patience and finally peace. 

Herman Hesse did a wonderful job of putting the Eastern teachings into layman’s terms, especially for the 1950′s era.  Siddhartha meets the Buddha personally, the “Illustrious One,” but politely rejects his teachings, recognizing that wisdom cannot be taught.  The overall lesson is that “god is within you,” and the eternal “Om” flows within us all (basically, the sum of all our ancestor’s souls, past and present, as well as our own past, present and future all rolled into one).

What I gained from this book was the idea that to find peace within oneself, we must reject all expectations, relinquish all control, and let the natural flow of things, like a river, lead us where we are meant to be.   

All in all, I’d have to say it was a beautiful book with a peaceful message.

Illusions  by Richard Bach

This was the perfect follow-up to Siddhartha, as it is in the same spiritual vein, but a lot more low-key and humorous.  The tagline to this book is “the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah,” and is a very modern story of an auto mechanic turned messiah, who retires from the job out of boredom.

I’d read this book in my younger years as well, when I was a bit more impressionable.  This story also promotes the idea that we are all in control of our destiny, but takes more of a “What the Bleep do we know” approach.  The main concept here is that all reality is an illusion, and if we can see through it, we can control anything – even being able to walk on water or swim in the earth. 

These concepts always drive me crazy, as I feel like deep down I know they are true, but cannot convince my brain of them, and am therefore stuck.  The concept is great, especially when we combine it with quantum physics, and the idea that atoms (which every single thing is comprised of) is subject to change based on how we observe them.  In my opinion, this is great in theory only, because I’ve yet to meet a living person who can walk on water or bend spoons (or the illusion of them) with their mind.

This book is well-written, putting the concept of the world being illusions into terms anyone can understand.  It is lighthearted and downright hilarious at times. 

For a crash course in “mind over matter,” I recommend both of these short, “enlightening” books, back to back.