E-books are fine, I suppose and practical for traveling but I have never thought about books as something practical, for me this is "the stuff that dreams are made from" and although I have around 300+ e-books in my virtual library at the moment, I would always prefer real, paper books, no matter how small and tiny paperbacks they might be. In fact, some of my all-time favourites were little paperback prints that suddenly reveal themselves as unexpected treasure (Willa Cather comes to my mind) - I had a peek at ship's library and amongst books that passengers left behind, found Herman Hesse's paperback edition, small enough to carry back to my windowless cabin and even to take home, since its really nobody's book. It has found a home now.
Herman Hesse - I was familiar with him from my adolescence, though only vaguely remember much, as our memories are just impressions anyway. I guess "Siddartha" is what I remember the most, my impression today was that this would be something dry, philosophical and probably difficult. I couldn't be more wrong! Or perhaps I have changed much since days of my high school. In any case, Hesse grabbed me immediately from the very first page - there was absolutely nothing difficult or too complicated about this novel, which I enjoyed immensely each night after the work - I got so carried away with the story and Hesse's writing that I wept from excitement as I read certain chapters. It moved me deeply and now I wonder what was I thinking earlier, when I assumed Hesse would probably be something too dry and unappealing. I can't even imagine what kind of person I was decades ago, probably was looking for fast-moving stories and page-turners, but now in my mid-40es I found this to be page turner: a little bit of philosophy, a little bit of psychology, a lot of beautiful style and insight about human thought. I just couldn't get enough of this novel and it excited me profoundly, mirroring some of my thoughts in process.
It is about friendship between two very dissimilar men - a priest, calm and well protected behind monastery walls and adventurer/artist with fire inside of him, both connected with philosophical view of the world and very strong bond that could be best described as passionate platonic love. They appear dissimilar at first but they are both deeply spiritual and destined never to truly stay away from each other. It is pointless to even try to describe such a beautiful, artful novel here in just a few lines - I love it deeply, it had moved me profoundly and made my head buzzing (& re-thinking about my own life). This is a true literary masterpiece and I am glad I had re-visit it again at this point of my life.
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