Bookish version of pdotb@todon.eu
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46% complete! pdotb has read 24 of 52 books.
The story of the recent uprisings that sought to change the world — and what comes next
From 2010 to …
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned, following years …
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins …
Slow, gentle, and, ultimately, quite beautiful examination of how a couple have adjusted to the restrictions of their lives/life, some of outside origin but most seemingly self-imposed.
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins …
It appeared to Sōsuke that from the moment of his birth it was his fate to remain standing indefinitely outside the gate. This was an indisputable fact. Yet if it were true that, no matter what, he was never meant to pass through this gate, there was something quite absurd about his having approached it in the first place. He looked back. He saw that he lacked the courage to retrace his steps. He looked ahead. The way was forever blocked by firmly closed portals. He was someone destined neither to pass through the gate nor to be satisfied with never having passed through it. He was one of those unfortunate souls fated to stand in the gate's shadow, frozen in his tracks, until the day was done.
— The Gate by Natsume Sōseki (Page 247)
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins …
They went to the draper to buy cloth for their kimonos and to the rice dealer for their rice, but they had very few expectations of the wider world beyond that. Indeed, apart from provisioning their household with everyday necessities, they did little else that acknowledged the existence of society at large. The only absolute need to be fulfilled for each of them was the need for each other; this was not only a necessary but also a sufficient condition for life. They dwelled in the city as though living deep in the mountains.
— The Gate by Natsume Sōseki (Page 166)
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned, following years …
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their misery. But they are haunted: …
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their …
Content warning spoilers, depression, suicide
There's a really interesting take in here -- that the horror of the monster is actually the horror of loneliness, poverty, and depression, and the associated 'deaths of despair'. The problem is that it means that fair chunks of the book are just really hard to get through, particularly if they remind one of one's own situation (and, as a (former?) Brit, it's hard for them not to). I think one of the appeals of something like Dracula is that it's just so removed from our everyday life that it's a form of escapism. Well, this is pretty much the complete opposite :( . Redeemed to some extent by the relationship between Mask and V, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't think of giving up, multiple times, not because it's badly written but because it's just so grim.
Socially Engaged Buddhism is an introduction to the contemporary movement of Buddhists, East and West, who actively engage with the …
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often …
