Hector and the Search for Happiness

Photo Credit: Leave it all behind

Hector and the Search for Happiness

By Francois Lelord

Or, more aptly put, a 200-page long parable on how to find happiness in today's world,in the midst of rampant consumerism, globalization, etc.- told from the perspective of a western psychiatrist named Hector.

I am not one for self help books, which is not to say that I am not a fan of self examination from time to time. I quite enjoyed Lelord's examination of how to be happy. Although, at times it felt a bit trite. It follows a typical western notion that in order to fully obtain/understand something, one must look to foreigners and other ways of living as a way to mirror western ideals to reach clarity. I will prevent a colonial rant, as there are better things to be righteous about.

It was a nice reminder, and perhaps even a much needed one, that happiness is not the destination, but rather the journey. We've heard this before, eh? Because it's true!

Here are a few "Lessons" that Hector picks up on his search:

Lesson no 1: Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

Lesson no 2: Happiness often comes when least expected.

Lesson no 3: Many people see happiness as only in their future

I find lesson no. 3 to be particularly important. At times, delayed gratification and imminent discomfort is sometimes necessary- I am thinking of school, work, etc. here- but there is a balance to be struck. I imagine that a lot us, myself included, find it pleasing, fun, and enticing to spend a lot of time imagining the future and how lovely it will be. You know, a "dream" future, with the perfect apartment in the best location in the city, healthy relationships, a fulfilling job, enough time to explore your hobbies... a future that always seems to feel like a bright, spring, Saturday morning. I've learned that it's important to know what you want, but that you must learn how to embrace those visions in your present, instead of trying to chase them down. Anyway, I am still working on how to fully embrace my "future happiness" in the now. I am getting there, but not enough to give any more advice!

There are many more lessons, than just these three. I am sure somewhere in all of Hector's 20+ lessons there is something to be gleaned for everyone. It's a nice little jaunt of a book, and perhaps a great parable to visit as we shed the bleak winter months.

Rating: *** of *****

The Summer Book (Sommarboken)

Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson is world-famous for her Moomin characters, a legendary cartoon made for children. It would be easy to think of her as only a writer for children, but in fact she has written 11 novels, with only two of them translated into English.

Published in 1972. Fragmented, Beautiful, Simplistic.

The Summer Book was yet another recommendation from my dear Finnish friend, Jenny. She included this book in my Finnish Literature pile, because it is a modern classic in Scandinavia. It was with great pleasure that I began reading this little book.

Quick to read and written in a simplistic style--as if Jansson collected snippets from postcards or brief journal entries-- it was not a quick novel to process. This book is an intense examination of the relationship between a young girl Sophia and her aging grandmother. Sophia recently lost her mother, and her grandmother spends much of her time while on their summer island reflecting on her stage of life.

Attempts to understand unexplainable forces such as death, love, and the passage of time, is what is truly at the heart of this novel. The frank dialogue between these two distantly aged people is at times jarring. Beautiful, yet striking. At times it reads as two adults speaking with each other instead of a young girl and an old women. We slowly glean that the family, and island, are autobiographical. I often wonder if the this novel is more about the island itself, than about the people who inhabit it.

A Finnish Summer Cabin

It is not surprising that this book has never been out of print since it was first published. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but feel the allure of the Summer, and think about what Summer must mean for a nation that is in the dark for most of the year. As I sat and read this during the tail end of a murky-skied Pacific Northwest Winter, I recalled with pleasure the activities that Sophia and her grandmother did during the long summer days. "They make animal sculptures, and carve boats from bark, they gather berries, driftwood and bones. They draw "awful things", tell stories, build Venice in the marsh pool, row across to other islands, sleep and swim and talk."

Grandmother drops her cane into the water and Sophia climbs down from a channel maker, where her father's forbidden her to go, to fish it out: "You're a very good climber," said Grandmother sternly. "And brave too, because you could see you were scared. Shall I tell him about it? Or shouldn't I?" Sophia shrugged one shoulder and looked at her grandmother, "I guess maybe not," she said. "But you can tell it on your deathbed so it doesn't go to waste."

This feels like one of the projects Sophia and her grandmother would make on a long, lethargic summer day.

Oh, Tove Jansson. Such a beautiful book to add to your incredible body of work.

Poetry Performed: How to Be Alone

How to be alone from imSueyeng on Vimeo.

Happily, most readers fall between...

Happily, most readers fall between these two drastic extremes. Most of us neither shun books in veneration of literature, nor shun literature in veneration of books. Our craft is more modest. We pick our way down endless library shelves, choosing this or that volume for no discernible reason: because of a cover, a title, a name, because of something someone said or didn’t say, because of a hunch, a whim, a mistake, because we think we may find in this book a particular tale or character or detail, because we believe it was written for us, because we believe it was written for everyone except us and we want to find out why we were excluded, because we want to learn, or laugh, or lose ourselves in oblivion.

-Anne Fadiman, Rereadings

A Collection a Day: A Book!

Lisa Congdon photographed one of her small, vintage collections each day for 365 days and posted them to her blog. All 365 photos are compiled in her new book!

(Click here to purchase!)

It is a beautiful project. Especially for those who have a soft spot for vintage ephemera.

Day 313

Day 65

Day 66

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

Diane Akerman's work of non-fiction was awarded the 2008 Orion Book Award, which is

conferred annually to a book that deepens our connection to the natural world, presents new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieves excellence in writing.

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story is about one of the most successful hideouts during WWII. At the beginning of WWII, almost 400 thousand Jews lived in Warsaw, most did not survive. The Villa at the Warsaw Zoo, also the Zabinski's home, helped to protect at least 300 Jewish Polish citizens during the German occupation of the city.

I am particularly interested in the way animals, both the zoo animals and the family pets, played essential roles in lives of humans. As the Nazi's dehumanized the Jewish people, the Zabinski's hid them in empty zoo cages to save their lives. Antonina Zabinski, the Zookeeper's Wife, had a gift for working with animals, and was often called upon to calm animals in times of distress. The Nazi's behaved like beasts, and there were countless instances where Antonina, and Jan, were able to use their skill for working with animals to keep SS soliders tamed and at bay through subterfuge and lies in order to save people.

"Why is it, she asked herself, that "animals can sometimes subdue their predatory ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast"?

-Antonina Zabinski

Ackerman, a nature writer and an acclaimed author, enshrines the courage and spirit of the Zabinski's (and the "hidden" Villa Guests) using Antonina's writings. Although Ackerman is writing about a chapter in the world's history that is bleak and where destruction reigns in every corner, it is not the main focus of her work. She reminds us that humans are capable of horrendous ills, and yet we are also bound by our human condition that gives us the capacity to have compassion, forgiveness, and the strength to rebuild. This book celebrates this side of the human condition, the enduring spirit, and the Zabiniski's are a true example of this.

Antonina and Jan Zabinski

While Jan and Antonina served as beacons of hope during the occupation, Ackerman does not fail to position them within the web of the thousands of other courageous members of the underground network and Home Army who saved thousands of people. Figures like Janusz Korczak, who was an advocate for orphaned children, and who, when the Warsaw Ghetto was being liquidated, accompanied his children to the camp in order to "comfort" them. Janusz refused many opportunities to escape into hiding because of his dedication to the orphaned children he served and cared for even until the very end. Read more about this man here, and more about the Warsaw Ghetto here.

Jonusc Korczak and his children

Mrs. Zabinski's life, and the individuals in it, offer us an affirmation of hope and human decency. This is a story about animals, war, and the strength of the human spirit. It was often difficult to read about the terrible circumstances that serves as the backdrop for the Zanbinski's life, but it was also a true pleasure reading about the spirit they kept alive.

Rating: **** of *****

NEW COVERS project

After reading a book Mark Roeser redesigns the cover for it. Below are just a few of the books he's completed. More about his project here. It is quite an undertaking.

New Find: Sofi Oksanen

Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish born contemporary writer. Thanks to my dear friend, Jenny, who included Oksanen's latest novel in a collection of Finnish literature she brought for me from Finland, I recently read Purge. Purge is not Oksanen's first novel, but it is the first to be translated into English.

Verdict: Highly recommended for fans of classic Russian writers like Tolstoy and Pasternak, as well as those who enjoy a contemporary tale of lust and betrayal.

— Library Journal Review (US) (2010)

LJ's review is quite right (though I do wonder at having her work lumped in with the broad genre of "Russian Literature, and I wonder what Oksanen thinks about that). Still, having undergone a pretty extensive Russian literature period in my early years as an undergraduate, it was a refreshing and rejuvenating experience to read Purge. The narrative itself is not a light subject. Set in Estonia, the narrative is spun using the experiences and memories of two women from two generations; during the 1940's Soviet occupation and in the early 1990's, as Estonia is still grappling with a new Europe. As their memories and experiences are distilled, one gleans a remarkable vision of the legacy of a nation's history and systematic violence that carried through the lives of these women.

Rating: **** of *****

new to the collection

Banksy: The illusive British street artist.

Wall and Piece: His collected works from all over the world.

more

And the Pursuit of Happiness: A Book Review

And the Pursuit of Happiness

By Maira Kalman

I brought in the new year reading Kalman's, The Pursuit of Happiness. Having recently discovered a series called "Drunk History" on one of the many nooks and crannies of the interweb, I happily dove into this opportunity to review (with amazing illustrations) some of the figures of American history that I had learned about in school and had recently seen parodied in the aforementioned comedy sketches.

This book is an illustrated, whirlwind tour of American democracy. Kalman 's illustrations are wonderfully done, and they compelled me to keep reading. She is quite obviously optimistic about the country she and I live in, and perhaps I am not as so. Regardless, her work is stunning and it is a great exploration of democracy in the intricate workings of America.

Here is one of her pieces she did for the NY Times and it is also featured in her book.

Rating: *** of *****