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"If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers, who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can't be in books. Books need you!"
The Tale of Murasaki - RING
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The Tale of Murasaki - RING
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10 journalers for this copy...
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Released 6 yrs ago (9/17/2005 UTC) at Postal Release in Postal release, Postal Release -- Controlled Releases WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Released 6 yrs ago (10/4/2005 UTC) at Bookring in to another bookcrosser, By Post -- Controlled Releases WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Steep the tea leaves in water. Pass leaves thruogh a fine meshed sieve or cheese cloth and reserve liquid. Place the rice in a saucepan and add 3 cups of the tea liquid to the pan, reserving the remaining 1 cup. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for about 25-30 minutes or until rice is done. This variety of rice will remain chewy, and each kernel seperate. Toast pecans in a 350*F (175*C) oven just until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Pour the additional cup of tea into the finished rice to accentuate the tea flavor. Cover and allow to adsorb. Garnish with a sprinkle of dried cherried or cranberries, toasted pecans, and the chopped chives. Salt if necessary to taste. |
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From the back of the book: In a wonderful world shaped by beauty and poetry, ancient traditions, and popular intrigue, a young woman at the centre of the eleventh-century Japanese imperial court observes the exotic world around her. Murasaki sees everything, the Emperor and Empress, aristocrats and concubines, warriors and servants, her own family. She records a remarkable place of political and sexual plotting, male power and female manipulation, as she writes the Tale of Genji, the masterpiece of Japanese literature. This book took me a long time to slog through. I guess I was expecting something a little more exciting and so that expectation brings down my review for this book. I don't know if I feel like the character of "Murasaki" was sufficiently built up enough for me to have felt like I really understood her or her motivations, enough to care about what happened to her. I guess the closest I came to that was in the part of the book where she has the relationship with the Chinese Ming-gwok. Maybe even her relationship with "Kerria Rose." Once she went into the imperial service it didn't seem to be enough about her to satisfy me. I've never been a fan of most poetry, but I can appreciate the form of the waka and (later) the haiku and so on. I think, however, that the poetry used in this book just bothered me in that they'd been translated into english which made it come off as awkward and then some meanings were hard/lengthy to explain or lost, such as double entendres etc. I'm not saying the book is bad, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I'd hoped. If the Tale of Genji is written in the manner of this book's section in the palaces, then I might have to rethink whether I'd want to read it. For enjoyment at any rate. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. |
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Journal Entry 24 by
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Journal Entry 25 by
Sorry it has taken a while but I was reading Passing Under Heaven and the similarities were so eery I had to space the two books apart. (Passing Under Heaven is about Yu Xianji, a famous female poet in Tang dynasty China. The novel is interwoven with Yu's poems, and tells how the strong willed girl became concubine to a prominent official and later lived in a monastery. And oh did I mention that The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, about Yang Guifei, is Yu's favorite poem? And that while in the capital, there was a visiting convoy from Japan...? The two are like long-lost twins, although in the end, the stories end quite differently.)This historical ficiton is well researched, offering realistic glimpses into the life of a noble woman in 11th century Japan. It’s interesting though hard to imagine how blackened teeth is a symbol of beauty then, and how the Chinese customs differs from the Japanese ones. The story imagines how Fuji's life experience enriches her writing - a discussion she overheard of his brother's and his friends about women inspires Genji's version, for example. Unfortunately, towards the end, the story seems to drag on slightly too long to a fizzled ending, and details such as the colors of the clothings is no more novel but tedious. (Though, as a lady in waiting at the Imperial Palace, life is hardly exciting.) I also love the small novella of Ukifune, the supposed lost final chapter to the Tale of Genji. I am happy to say that the book, after successfully making its round, is now heading home to nut! Yay! Time to toast some sake! Kampai! PS: here are two sites with pictures from the graphic novel series of Tales of Genji. The pic here is one of my favorite. http://www.kodanclub.com/cgi-local/comic.cgi?id=999-00135-01-001 http://www.internal-dream.net/library/yamato.htm |
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