5 More Beautiful Passages from Books

You've probably read my previous article "5 Beautiful Passages from Books" and if you haven't then it is also a link that will take you right there. This is a second part to this little series after I asked people whether they liked it and got a pretty good reaction across the board.

I love inspiring people to discover new books. I love recommending people things to read but most of all, I love it when people talk about how they appreciate certain lines and passages in books. When you come across them, you just have to take a pause, slow down and take it all in. Sometimes, people get emotional over passages in books, I know I teared up at Frobisher's Suicide in "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell out of sadness and I know I boiled over with tears of anger whilst reading the book "Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple" by Jeff Guinn - especially when it got to the section on November, 1978. Books are amazing like that, they can really move us to various emotions. Some books do it better than others and I'd like to cover five more books with great passages in them. Excuse the little anecdotes as well.

These books are in no particular order.

5 More Beautiful Passages from Book

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I read this in my teens (I initially started it at fourteen and tried to re-read parts I didn't understand when I was 15-16 years' old, yes it took that long but it was worth it) and had a notebook to go with it because of everyone's names and families, all the rankings and titles, all the stories interweaving with each other etc. But, there are many times I have cried whilst reading this book as well - parts where characters die, or where characters have been unfaithful and have been found out. As you can tell, I'm trying not to give away the storyline but I also get really excited when someone else has read it because of that being pretty scarce. My advice: don't think about the size of it, just dive in. Even if it takes you all year it'll be worth it in the end.

“They say: sufferings are misfortunes," said Pierre. 'But if at once this minute, I was asked, would I remain what I was before I was taken prisoner, or go through it all again, I should say, for God's sake let me rather be a prisoner and eat horseflesh again. We imagine that as soon as we are torn out of our habitual path all is over, but it is only the beginning of something new and good. As long as there is life, there is happiness. There is a great deal, a great deal before us.”

• Check out my 'reading experience' article on "War and Peace" here
• Check out my 'ten great scenes from 'War and Peace'' here

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

This is one of my all-time favourite novels and if you haven't been around that long then you should probably check out all the writing I've done on it because when I was in my teens, I swear to God that book changed my entire perspective on everything. From crime, to family, to the way in which we believe and trust people - needless to say I developed serious trust issues because of this book. Thanks a lot, Fyodor, don't you know ignorance is bliss? Anyways, take a look at some of my writings on the book and then have a look at this quotation I love:

• An article I wrote for a read-along with some people on the internet I was doing. A long time after I read the book for the first time, I wanted an excuse to read it again.
• The history of me and "The Brothers Karamazov" can be found through my reading experience article.

This is probably one of my favourite quotations from the whole book:

“The more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he’s too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.”

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

I remember the reading experience of this book very vividly - I was sixteen years' old and it was near my exams. I was utterly engrossed in 'Moby-Dick' for reasons I cannot explain. I had a really nice copy of it as well. It was a blue cover with a picture of the whale with 'Moby-Dick; or the Whale' written at the top in big white letters, followed by 'introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick'. It was a penguin copy. The way I loved this book was so complete, I felt like I would fall off the face of the earth. Every single thing about this book was so perfectly written, such as this particular quotation:

“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began."

Check out my reading experience article on it here

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

It has been almost fifteen years since I read this book for the first time and since that time, I have studied, re-read and even taught 'Jane Eyre' over and over again to the point that each and every plot detail seems to be burnt into my memory. A brilliant book with such incredible power, it is something that excites and surprises the mind, something that makes you upset with empathy, something that makes your whole being feel alive with deep, threatening gothic drama. Just take a look at this quotation:

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

Check out my 'reading experience' article here

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I was thirteen when I first tried my hand at "Frankenstein" and ever since then I have been completely in awe of the book. The writing, the passion and the philosophy all blew my mind the same way back then as they do now. I even teach this book sometimes and through that, I can see new angles and new analysis and even new ways of seeing the famous symbols that litter the novel. This book is so well-written that I don't think many other novels really live up to this one at all. Take a look at this:

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.”

Check out my reading experience here

Conclusion

By popular demand, I brought back a next edition of this article so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.