I'm looking at Acts of Worship, a clutch of seven evocative stories by Yukio Mishima this weekend. Sword, with its sweat, blood and amber flesh and the slyly funny Act of Worship, with its symbols and poetry are both memorable. I've loved Mishima since I discovered Confessions of a Mask when I was 15 (Oh yes, such a while ago!). Let's do Japanese shall we? Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales From 17th Century Japan by Ihara Saikaku is bawdy and life-affirming. Those noble ladies are very naughty indeed. I have another anthology of Japanese tales called A Late Chrysanthemum, about beauty fading and falling to pieces:
"Kin never made friends with a man with no money. There was nothing so charmless as a man without money. A man courting her favour who, under a Western suit that hadn't even been brushed, calmly wore long johns with the buttons missing, suddenly became repulsive. "
I shall sit down with with steaming green tea. My ex-boss gave me A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and I shall start on this finally. I think he said it's a best-selling self-help book.
No comments:
Post a Comment