On my bedside table

 

This blog seems to be a running update on what I have been reading of late.  Nevermind, I like to read and really these posts are for my own amusement as much as anything else.  And as I have a terrible memory it can serve as a reminder to me in my enfeebled years as to what I got up to in this period of my life.

So after reading the autobiography of Miles Davis and all that raw reality, I felt like I needed to read some fiction  to restore my sanity a little.  The Miles book was gripping, but also exhausting as the reader delves into the terribleness of his nature.  As I may have said previously, as a jazz musician he made a terrible human being.

So with the need for a psychic reset and without much thought I grabbed the latest Murakami epic (704 pages).  I've read a few of his books, but I wouldn't call myself a fan necessarily; however, he writes in a particular style which I enjoy and makes for a quick read.  So even though this novel was on the hefty side I whipped through it very quickly.

It's an entertaining read for sure, but I'm not sure if it's totally successful.  I'm no literary critic, I failed English lit at school (along with everything else) so it's on the record that my opinion is not to be trusted in these matters.  I had a quick look at the review quotes on his website and all the usual superlatives were there from the newspapers (the Houston Chronicle anyone!?) so maybe it's a good novel.  I shouldn't be too negative as I did actually enjoy the book and it provided the soothing remedy I was looking for following the raw journey through the soul of Miles Davis.

A quick synopsis: a portrait painter moves to a remote mountainous house of a now ailing Japanese master artist to recover from his marriage breakdown.  The master is now ensconced in a care facility to see out his final days.  Our protagonist teaches a little art to adults and children at a local school, has a couple of girlfriends who drop by, but otherwise keeps to himself.  He has given up portrait painting and intends to focus on painting in his preferred style; however, his agent contacts him one day about a proposed commission at a price way above his usual rate.  Short of money he accepts the commission and a strange and wealthy man who happens to live across the valley enters the story, as does a mysterious 13 year old girl.

If you've read Murakami before you won't be surprised the novel enters the supernatural regularly.  Characters from a painting materialise and speak to our artist and there is a journey into the underworld, which if I am to be honest I don't fully understand the point of.  It does correlate with some events in the material world, but I found this section a little weak.

Would I recommend this book?  Well yes, if you are familiar with Murakami and his tales I think you will enjoy this book.  I like him as we don't often hear Japanese voices in English language novels and having visited Japan a couple of times, it's a place I find very interesting and attractive.

My new book is one I have had set aside for a couple of years waiting for the right moment.  That moment has arrived and as of today I am 500 pages into this 1100 page tome.  What can it be you ask? 

Until next time, peace and love.

Mudita - the antonym of schadenfraude

 

 

 

Recently I wrote a small blog about the word schadenfraude, the German word which means to take pleasure from the misfortune of another. I was so arrogant as to declare it the greatest word in the English language, despite it being a German word.  I still love the word schadenfraude, but I recognise that it is not an altogether pleasant human trait which it describes.  Incidentally the Germans do not have an antonym of schadenfraude: I wonder why that is?

Somewhere in recent memory I read one of those short Q&A type pieces in a magazine or on-line where a celebrity/author/musician (whatever) answers a series of questions put to them by a journalist.  Maybe half a page in length and appearing in the back pages, they seem to be the kind of thing organised by a publicist and completed via email rather in person.  The subject has time to choose their thoughts and words and usually comes out looking erudite, rationale and just plain lovely.  In other words nothing like a person in real life!

My silliness aside, there was one piece of knowledge I did pick up from this piece which stuck with me.  The celebrity/author/musician (whatever) was asked their favourite word to which they replied; mudita, a Sanskrit word which means joy and happiness at the good fortune of another person.  The precise opposite of schadenfraude.  The world is a better place for the existence mudita and I hope that we all get to experience a little more of it in 2021.

So there we are dear reader (of one when I last checked the blog stats).  A new word for you and me.  Or perhaps you knew of the existence of mudita already.  In which case I think you are a fine person indeed.

Until next time, peace and love.