A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees and other reviews (20-24 out of 52) in Back entries: 2013 - 2015

A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees by Kenko (51 pages) is a short collection of musings by an Japanese monk who lived in the late 1200s/early 1300s. This has some fantastic little gems - one such example is “It is a wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met” (page 8). There’s nothing better. I’m glad I picked this book up.

Speaking of Siva by Anon (56 pages) is a short collection of poetry by four medieval Hindu saints. This collection deals with sex, death and religion. An interesting collection and it’s my first reading of Hindu literature. I might keep an eye out for more of the same, just to expand my horizons a little more. Especially as I have no idea who the four people (Basavanna, Devara Dasimayya, Mahadeviyakka and Allama Prabhu) were.

The Wife Of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer (51 pages) is perhaps one of the more well known of The Canterbury Tales, a selection of tales in poetry form. Each tale is told by a different pilgrim to pass the time as they head to Canterbury. This particular tale discusses sex and marriage in a satirical way - where the only “good” men are the old and rich ones. I’ve already bought a copy of the complete Tales for when I feel up to tackling poetry again.

Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (57 pages) is a bunch of musings by the German thinker. Detailing jottings on art, ambition and self-deceit. Worth dipping into for something a bit different.

Sovereign by C.J. Sansom (662 pages, including Historical Note, Acknowledgements and Select Bibliography) is book three of the Matthew Shardlake series. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak find themselves in York in late 1541. Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, are on Progress to the North to visit rebellious subjects, and Shardlake finds himself not only having to deal with processing local petitions to the King but also to monitor an important prisoner who is to go to London for questioning. When a murder is committed, Shardlake finds himself caught up in a chain of events that could lead him to the most dangerous place in all of England.
A brilliant book - I finished this book this morning, and am still experiencing a “book hangover”. I’m not quite ready to pick up another book just yet, as I’m still savouring this one.

Last updated December 21, 2015