camellias on the moss.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date, I'm a little horrible at this. I also figured no one was reading this blog anyway, but it turns out I have FOUR followers!! So I must be true to the fans and continue putting down my thoughts.

SO the latest in my life would be a book I just finished titled The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which was originally written in French by Muriel Barbery and translated into English by Alison Anderson. The story intertwines two points of view; that of Renee, a Parisian concierge who nurtures a fervent love of art, philosophy, music and Japanese culture, and Paloma, an extremely intelligent twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor and plans to end her life on her next birthday. Both hide their true natures from the rest of the world, instead preferring to keep to themselves and scorning society and its idiosyncracies. However, when a new tenant moves in, Kakuro Ozu, everything begins to change.

I found the book to be humorous, intelligent, sentimental, and a wonderful read. Although sentences such as "The enigma is constantly renewed: great works are the visual forms which attain in us the certainty of timeless consonance" would sometimes discourage me, I pushed through and found it entirely worth it. The story is filled with philisophical observations, which I greatly appreciated, but if you are not a fan of intellectual commentary, I would not recommend this book.

My tastes in literature are extremely varied, however, and I've just begun Chuck Palahniuk's (author of Fight Club and Choke) newest novel, Pygmy. More on that to come. And finally, just for fun, I thought I would throw in a video that my friend showed to me. It's really fascinating, if a little long. Hope you enjoy!