Five in Five: 19 July 2021
Happy Reading!
What I'm watching —
Idiot: Some books, when they come to an end, leave you wanting more or feeling a weird sense of sadness that the journey you’ve been immersed in is over. After finishing up The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevky last week, I had this immense need to visually experience this story and relive it. I managed to find the link to this movie from 1958. However, it is only the first part, and I'm not sure if I'll find the other parts or if they were made by the same director, using the same actors and crew. If someone finds or knows more, please feel free to share with me. Thanks!
What I'm reading —
The Wisdom of Wolves: Lessons From the Sawtooth Pack: This book by Jim and Jamie Dutcher follows the fascinating lives of three generations of a wolf-pack that the couple followed, observed, protected, loved and lost over a 6-year period. They talk about each of the individual wolves that made this pack, their lives, behaviors, insecurities, struggles, and human-like, individual and social personalities. They interacted with these animals intimately and over the years became trusted friends and partners of the tribe.
The writers have tried to highlight many similarities between humans and wolves and also provided some insightful lessons we could learn from these magnificent creatures. For example, it is important to hold a critical place for elders in a society and caring for children not just as a couple or a nuclear family but as a tribe. However, one idea that truly hit home for me was to know that being an alpha is not about being aggressive, but is all being responsible.
If you have read the more factual and documentary-like book, "Of Wolves and Men," by Barry Lopez, then this one is the emotional, story-like version that helps connect and fall in love with these brilliant and complex animals. For anyone who is more interested in exploring the authors’ work and efforts beyond the book and documentaries, here's the link to their website LivingWithWolves.
Quote I'm pondering —
“Nobody can fall so low unless he has a great depth.
If such a thing can happen to a man, it challenges his best and highest on the other side; that is to say, this depth corresponds to a potential height, and the blackest darkness to a hidden light.”
― C.G. Jung
A song I'm listening to —
Ue o Muite Arukō: Such simple words...a lonely man looks up at the stars and whistles so as to stop his tears from flowing out of his eyes. This melodious Japanese song was performed by Kyu Sakamoto, and written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. This song, the only Japanese song that made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the US in 1963, is best known under an alternative title, "Sukiyaki," and sold more than 13 million copies internationally.
According to a columnist in Newsweek, "The title ‘Sukiyaki,’ a Japanese hot pot dish, has nothing to do with the lyrics or the meaning of the song; the word served the purpose only because it was short, catchy, recognizably Japanese, and more familiar to most English speakers…that the re-titling was like issuing "Moon River" in Japan under the title "Beef Stew."" Sad but true.
An audiobook I loved —
"The Kreutzer Sonata" by Leo Tolstoy: I wish this was a book to be read mandatorily by all. I wish I had read it before. This novella by Leo Tolstoy is difficult to read not because of the complexity of the language or characters or ideas, but because of the simplicity with which it address ideas so ordinary that you can't help but wonder how someone was reading your mind.
It makes you cringe. It makes you argue. And it makes you agree.
It makes you question questions you've thought before and seeks to give answers that seem logical yet difficult to accept. The book asked most questions that have kept me up at night. The purpose of life. Need for procreation. Gender roles. Beauty and its purpose. Contraception. Abortion. Sex, abstinence and indulgence. Addictions. Parenting. Relationships. Conflicts. Growth. Social norms. Evolution and more. It left me feeling exhausted and confused in a connected way. I'll definitely re-read it.