Recently Quoted

• In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount.

  an excerpt from After Dark, written by Haruki Murakami in 2005

• That is the unconsolable heartburn, the lifelong disquietude of having been made in the image of God. All man's love is vast and inconvenient. It is tempting, of course, to blunt its edge by caution. It is so much easier not to get involved- to thirst for nothing and no one, to deny that matter matters and, if you have the stomach for it, to make your bed with meanings which cannot break your heart. But that, it seems to me, is neither human nor Divine. If we are to put up with all other bothers out of love, then no doubt we must put up with the bother of love itself and not just cut and run for cover when it comes.
  
  First of all, such faintness is unworthy of true men. We are the lords, the priests, and the lovers of the world: It is by our hands that its cities will be built if they are built at all. But anything to which we lie so close cannot be a matter of cool detachment and scientific indifference. If I am to lift music, I must lay such hands upon it as not only give me power over it, but also give it power over me. If I am to be the priestly agent by which some girl with high cheekbones enters the exchanges of the city, I must be prepared for the possibility that she may wind my clock beyond all mortal hope of repair. Love is as strong as death.

  an excerpt from The Supper of the Lamb, written by Robert Farrar Capon in 1969

• With that, I leave you. From this point on, a well-made dinner party is on its own. With only minor nudging from time to time to prevent its running aground in the shoal waters of disagreement or bad taste, it should come, with fags flying and bands playing, to a happy berth. I wish you welil May your table be graced with lovely women and good men. May you drink well enough to drown the envy of youth in the satisfactions of maturity. May your men wear their weight with pride, secure in the knowledge that they have at last become considerable. May they rejoice that they will never again be taken for callow, black-haired boys. And your women? Ah Women are like cheese strudels. When first baked, they are crisp and fresh on the outside, but the filling is unsettled and indigestible; in age, the crust may not be so lovely, but the filling comes at last into its own, May you relish them indeed. May we all sit long enough for reserve to give way to ribaldry and for gallantry to grow upon us. May there be singing at our table before the night is done, and old, broad jokes to fling at the stars and tell them we are men.

  an excerpt from The Supper of the Lamb, written by Robert Farrar Capon in 1969

Recently Noted

• Meh? I need a guide for this, I think. Doesn’t have the natural charm of other old difficult literature - which I usually like! Chaucer for example is old and not very novel-shaped, but I have so much cultural affinity for it. Genji feels pretty foreign!
  
  On the other hand… it’s a thousandyear old ‘novel’ from Japan. Foreign is maybe part of the appeal here? IDK.

  an note about The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in 1050

• Re-reading this because I'm headed to Tokyo next week. It's fun, but does feel a bit like Murakami on autopilot.

  an note about After Dark, written by Haruki Murakami in 2005

• I was utterly, utterly charmed by this book before I was done reading page 3. Just gold. Who has been keeping this from me????

  an note about The Supper of the Lamb, written by Robert Farrar Capon in 1969

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