My current read is The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon (affiliate link). I discovered it a little while ago when I was reading a fiction book which quoted extracts at the beginning of chapters - My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (affiliate link).
The Pillow Book was written during the 990s and early 1000s in Japan. It's collection of thoughts, lists, poems, anecdotes and other musings, recorded by Sei Shonagon about her daily life as a court lady to the empress. I've only just started but I'm really enjoying it so far, the translation is really easy to read and many of the sections are really relatable!
My favourite chapters are the lists. They include things like 'Things that make one's heart beat faster', 'Elegant things', 'Surprising and distressing things' and 'Things that should be short'. They make me think of the lists that I compose in my head and then often write up in a blog post (like Things I think about while I'm running or Things I collect that I don't need.) In fact the whole book is a little bit like a blog!
So here is a blog post inspired by Sei Shonagon.
Things that make me uneasy
Large trees, especially when it's windy
Empty plug sockets with the switch left on
Curtains left open after dark
Uneven pavements
Dogs not on a lead
A phone battery below 20%
A cupboard door left open
A letter addressed to me when I'm not expecting anything
Traffic wardens
The back door left unlocked
Level crossings
Temporary traffic lights that haven't changed for a while
Lightning
 |
| Photo credit David Emrich via Unsplash |
Oh yes! All of these things make me feel uneasy. My family think I am crazy for switching off unused plug sockets and shutting the curtains when it's almost dark. x
ReplyDelete