The Lover's Dictionary - David Levithan

I have a habit of judging books by their covers and their titles. For example, if a book is named "She Swiped Right Into My Heart", I will avoid it at all costs. So, naturally, even though I knew that this book was supposedly good, I had no intentions of reading it. In fact, the only reason I read it was because of a Goodreads challenge. And let me just say, I'm glad I read it.

The Lover's Dictionary consists of a word and then a passage following it which narrates about a relationship. For example, think of a word. Let's say - absent. It will be followed by a narration of a failed relationship related to the word - absent. Think of it as something like "Terribly Tiny Tales" except all of the individual tales add up to the main story. So, we basically follow a relationship between the narrator and a girl. It alternates between past and present events. So, there is a clear contrast. When the relationship is in its early stages, it is very optimistic and hopeful. And when the narration shifts to the present scenario - it is bitter and sometimes, nostalgic. Overall, the book does an excellent job of exploring a modern day relationship - from its happy beginnings to its five stages of grief ending.

Now, any sort of experimental writing is a bit of a risk. People might love it or absolutely hate it. And not all experimental writing is well done. However, this one is fairly well done. I had mixed feelings about the book because of my personal preferences. But, overall, this is a good book and I would definitely recommend it to the right audience.

A Room Of One's Own - Virginia Woolf

I'm going to go ahead and say something that I probably should not say - I find Virginia Woolf's writing style very difficult to engage with (at least in this book). While I appreciated her sensible tone of making her point, I could feel my focus slipping in parts of the book (to be fair, it could be because of my insistence to read it all in one day). However, that aside, I really liked this book.

This book was originally published in 1929 when gender inequality was worse than what it is in the modern day. 'A Room of One's Own' is actually an extended essay based on a series of lectures delivered by Woolf in Cambridge University. It centres around the idea that women need a steady income and a room of her own in order to explore her artistic capabilities. This book also touches upon patriarchy and the oppression of women under a patriarchal society. While the current situation of women is significantly better than what it was around the time when this book got published, some of her ideas are still relevant. She gives a hypothetical example of a hypothetical Shakespeare's sister - whose literary capabilities equalled that of Shakespeare's. However, Woolf imagines, this sister would never gain the fame or recognition of Shakespeare and would ultimately resort to suicide because of the societal constraints of women present at the time. She also talks about Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, imagining how difficult it must have been for these women to write in the drawing room - where there were constant distractions.

Through her observations and analysis, Virginia Woolf puts forth a strong argument for the need for feminism. However, she keeps her arguments free from prejudice. In fact, she is so sensible that it is hard not to see her logic. This book also stresses on the importance of women to be financially independent - something that resonated with me very strongly.

“All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority, belong to the private-school stage of human existence where there are 'sides,' and it is necessary for one side to beat another side, and of the utmost importance to walk up to a platform and receive from the hands of the Headmaster himself a highly ornamental pot.”  

Would recommend to : Anyone with an interest in classic feminist literature.