The Continuing Adventures

I almost finished the book I'm reading- Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami, perhaps my favorite author. This, supposedly, was the book everyone in Japan "had" to read- I guess like an equivalent to the Oprah book club or something. Actually, I really don't know that much about Oprah's book club, only that there are books that have a round sticker on them and are endorsed or something. At any rate, most of my own literary choices come like this- I see a book, read the title, then maybe read the jacket. If it sounds interesting, I read it. Many books do turn out to be good- some do not. If I liked one by that author, I'll keep a lookout for others. That's what happened with this book- I've read, to the best of my knowledge, everything else by this author-mainly because it's good. The same thing with a few obscure authors- Lewis Shiner comes to mind, as does William Kotzwinkle. Actually, my sister got me reading him. I wonder what one's taste in fiction, written or otherwise, says about them? I tend towards kind of offbeat, surrealistic fiction. Does that make me weird? Well, I guess that depends what your definition of weird is. At any rate, the main character of this story is a young twenty-something who is kind of in love with two women- I say kind of, because this is an attempt to accurately mirror life. I can't say I've been in the same situation, but I wind up feeling kind of exasperated with the guy and a little sympathetic. Here's a guy who can't sort out his feelings- he wants to do what's right, as one woman is in a kind of mental institution, and another is just kind of eccentric. He doesn't want to hurt the woman in the hospital, and is afraid if he falls in love with the other woman, that he will. Personally, I think he blames himself too much for her problems, and is trying to shoulder her burden. If the woman in the hospital is to get better, perhaps the key is for people around her to be healthy. I would suggest that, since they're more friends than anything else, that they discuss the situation. But then again, it's fiction, not real life. However, it's believable, and not far removed from something that could actually happen. If I were in a similar situation, I would try to ascertain the hospitalized woman's feelings- will she be crushed if the man falls for someone else? It's obvious it doesn't mean he doesn't care about her- he obviously loves her very much, as well as his eccentric friend. But she may not want a romantic relationship, and I think deep down, neither does he. A good story does tend to draw you in like this, I find.
Things are quiet today- my knee's been bothering me a bit, but it's nothing serious- probably just a little stiff, so I decided to take the day off from running or biking. Maybe I'll settle for a walk in the forest. Maybe not. There's a few things I should get done, but apart from that, nothing left to do but clean up a little bit, get things more in order. I find that sometimes there are things in life for which there are no words- in that case, all you can hope is that what goes unspoken is understood by the both of you.