Score!

Sometimes, the list project can get you down or seem like a waste of time. And then you read something you know you wouldn't have read otherwise, you fall in love, and suddenly everything is right again.

Life of Pi was one of those reads for me. It's one I had seen all the time at bookstores before, and one that I had never had any interest in reading. But I absolutely fell in love. It is so, so, so good. I love it on so many levels and for so many reasons. If you haven't read it, do. Go. I'll wait.

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Wasn't that beautiful? It presents so many fascinating ideas and questions. Obviously religion and humans' relationships with animals are the two main themes (which intersect and cascade in such breathtaking ways), and they give the novel structure and force, but there are many other themes and questions (What makes a life worth living? What drives us to survive? What is a story?). The structure of the story is so compelling; I felt a conflict with wanting to read it quickly because of the tension and wanting to savor it because of the beauty. It's surprisingly funny, and some of the passages are so beautiful. The characters are lovingly drawn. I am particularly in love with Pi's relationship with Richard Parker, and all the levels and questions that one relationship creates. I also just loved Pi's voice as the narrator. I can't even really explain why.

There is a quote on the cover of the edition I read from the Los Angeles Tmes Book Review: "A story to make you believe in the soul sustaining power of fiction," That really is a perfect description. It's such an affirming read.

Whenever I read something like this, I want to run out and recommend it to everyone. The problem with something like that, though, is that many do not fall in love with it. I do tend to love Indian novels and novels of the Indian Diaspora (God of Small Things, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Namesake), so if you don't love such novels this may not be one for you.

I also have a thing for Russian novels. Even though the Russian greats had some disagreements amongst themselves about Turgenev, I like him. So there, take that Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or whichever one of you it is who doesn't like Turgenev.

Spring Torrents is seriously, seriously Russian (spoilers: Russian guy in Frankfurt meets beautiful girl, misses train, is broke, meets girl's fiancee, fights a duel with a random person over her honor, she breaks up with fiancee, he attempts to get money, meets sort of horrible but rich woman whom he is sexually attracted to, leaves first love interest to pursue a shallow and ultimately soul-crushing life with horrible woman, and looks back on life with regret later). It also is strangely compelling. I think because it has this internal balance that makes it satisfying rather than frustrating, if you can just wallow in the Russian-ness of it all.This is what cold weather does to people, I think.