Frozen Sea

"One should only read books which bite and sting one. If the book we are reading does not wake us up with a blow to the head, what's the point in reading? A book must be the axe which smashes the frozen sea within us." Franz Kafka.

I've had this quote on my mind for a little while, which got me thinking about the books I have read that have 'smashed the frozen sea' inside me. I remember feeling utterly staggered after finishing George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', and the experience of reading that book has stayed with me for a long time. Phrases like 'Big Brother', 'Orwellian state' and so forth are bandied about so often in the press that the terror that comes across in the novel seems to have been diluted, but when reading it again I'm constantly holding my breath and wondering if Orwell actually did have some kind of grim crystal ball to see the society we find ourselves in now.

Another one that I felt broke my frozen sea is 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell. I'm not much of a romantic but this novel somehow managed to 'melt' me. Not just with her depiction of a blossoming, difficult and angst-ridden relationship between Thornton and Margaret Hale, which I loved, but with her portrayal of the hardships facing the mill-workers. The excrutiating unfairness of the divide between the wealthy and the poor came across so sharply that the novel felt like a portrait of the few that didn't necessarily benefit from the industrial boom in the 19th century; a group we don't always consider. It's a good old romance, too.

'Jane Eyre' is another classic that gets me every time. I realise that it's a bit of a typical 'literary girl' book, but I honestly feel that it's gets better with every reading. As I get older, different parts speak to me more strongly, and I can trace Jane's confusion and growth within the novel alongside my own experiences.

I've recently given a few of my friends a little questionnaire, with one of the questions asking what book has resonated with them, and I'm really excited to read their answers. I'm going to post their completed entries every so often on here. Hurray!