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“A cherry blossom is the flower of the cherry trees known as sakura. In English, “sakura” refers to the Japanese flowering cherry, Prunus serrulata.
In Japan cherry blossoms symbolise clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence, and which is embodied in the concept of mono no aware.
The association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga. The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect.”

Completed reading on November 6th, 2010.

7/10 – Paul Johnson’s ‘Churchill’ is a satisfying, incisive biography relaying Churchill’s ascension to power and his countless failures and victories in varying positions of authority. Often lauded as one of the few historical greats of contemporary times, Churchill’s leadership during the years of the Second World War, were incontrovertibly imperative to the nation’s outcome during such a volatile period. Readers will appreciate the clarity, verve and anecdotal detail which can be found in ‘Churchill’. Perhaps the single downfall is the author’s lack of subtlety in his praise – he endeavours to be impartial but fails; his bias and elevated views of the man very transparent in his literary approach and conduct toward the leader.

Completed reading on October 4th, 2010.

8/10 – This slender volume is a timeless, nostalgic serenade to the city that never sleeps. Containing effortlessly dynamic, voguish prose, it is an essay which limns recollections of things that were, descriptions of things that are, and presentiments of things that will come to be in this enigmatic city. It wistfully encapsulates the city’s tenor and ethos in the 1940s, and what was essentially true then, rings true today irrespective of the dated references. Redolent of an Edward Hopper painting synopsised into print, Here Is New York reads like a beautiful transposition of White’s enduring attachment to the paradox, movement and spirit of this skyward metropolis. One of sweltering summer days with cluttered milk crates, bustling avenues, shoeshine boys, and monochromatic newspapers, this fine portrait romanticises New York, and rightfully so, for it is a city which will quintessentially retain its heart and marrow, in spite of the swing of the pendulum and the inexplicable passage of time.