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June 2026

tokyo express (Matsumoto) ★★ [read for bookbug] I don't like mystery novels, and I have a hard time reading Japanese novels because their translations are always flat and awkward, and Tokyo express did nothing to change my feelings about either of these things. I have nothing to criticize except that it's not my taste. I was a little intrigued by the four minute train interval, though. and I love public transit, I'm a proud commuter, so I was so endeared by Ryoko's essay on the train timetable that it was my favourite part of the book. I thought the questions of "appetite or affection" and "chance or design" were clever, too; it's cute when Matsumoto has the side characters make the most articulate observations rather than the detectives. But I'm not ever captivated by mysteries and I got very lost in the details by the second half. "Mihara likes to ride the trams of Tokyo. Often, he would board without a specific destination in mind. Odd as it might seem, whenever he was at a loss for ideas, he would simply sit on the tram and allow his thoughts to roam. The tram's steady trundle, its gentle swaying, induced in him an almost euphoric state of contemplation. As the tram made its frequent stops, each time moving off again with a clatter, he relaxed further and further into his seat. And, having thus sealed himself off from the world, he could sink deep into thought." I love the feeling of travelling somewhere alone, it makes for the most peaceful bus ride when no one at all knows where I am or where I'm going.

gravity and grace (weil) dnf Sontag's little essay on Weil was interesting but Weil herself, not so much. I read about 100 pages and half of that was Thibon's introduction. it's the tragedy of intuiting that desire is a greater force than its normal manifestation as unfullfilling wants, but then turning to asceticism. Most of my pleasure came from proving right whatever Kristeva in Powers of Horror says about religion. I thought Weil could trouble my atheism but it rests impenetrable. Her writing did inspire me but I can only appreciate her art in its form than its content, a little like I do for William Blake. I hope Gravity and Grace will come back to me another time in my life.