Welcome to this week’s 5BF: a new all-time favorite novel,
Rilke on embracing life’s ambiguity, the intense and passionately mad lives of
Max Perkins and Thomas Wolfe, and more…
1 – what I read
Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia – following two parallel stories of
Qayum, a master’s student of social sciences in Lahore, and of vultures, who
are put on trial by the jungle birds, Qudsia novel the kinds, causes, and importance
of human madness, and its reverberating consequences. This novel is driven with
intellectual inquisition and heartbreaking roller-coaster of emotions; an epic
novel that reads like one. A must read, especially for my fellow Pakistanis.
Men without Women by Haruki Murakami
2 – this week’s podcast
Life’s Big Questions @MetaphysicalMilkshake – a new podcast
from a very odd duo, Rain Wilson aka Dwight from The Office and the bestselling
nonfiction writer, and one of my recent favorite writers, Reza Aslan, where they
masturbate intellectually and in doing so try to find out key insights into
life and living. This is episode one where in the absence of any guest, the
hosts listen to audience’s biggest questions about life and try their best to
answer them. I am super excited for this podcast and its coming episodes!
3 – what I watched/am watching
Genius (2016) – the true story of Max Perkins, the genius
editor behind the publishing success of Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemmingway,
and in this movie, Thomas Wolfe. This movie reaffirmed my belief that there’s always
some madness in genius, and that it takes a genius to notice another one.
The Year the Earth Changed (Doc, 2020) – narrated by David
Attenborough, this documentary follows the year-long lockdown around the world
and shows the viewers the very immediate and evident proof of how less human
activity can mean paradise for the various animals. Are we really worth the
cruelty we inflict on these animals?
Arrested Development (Sitcom, 2003-2019) – I am about finish
rewatching The Office, and so I needed another sitcom to help me smile through
my otherwise heavy and empty days, so I turned to an old favorite Arrested Development.
It is amazing that with age you come to enjoy things even more, same is the
case with rewatching Arrested Development.
4 – a poem: ‘Live the question now’ by Rilke
and to try to love the questions themselves
like locked rooms
and like books
that are written in a very foreign tongue.
which cannot be given you because
you would not be able to live them.
And the point is,
to live everything.
Live the questions now.
without noticing it,
live along some distant day
into the answer.
5 – this week’s quote
'And at a certain point, losing one woman is like losing all women.'
Haruki Murakami (Men without Women)