Month: January 2024

Magical Murakami: KILLING COMMENDATORE

January 24, 2024.Reading time 2 minutes.

#WhatchaReadingWednesday

A newly divorced portrait painter retreats to the abandoned and secluded mountain home of a famous artist in hopes of healing and rediscovering his passion for art. Seeking the source of a strange noise in the attic, he discovers a masterpiece wrapped in paper and inexplicably tucked away from the world’s view.

As he unwraps the painting, he reveals a mystery and sets in motion a series of strange happenings. His journey to discover the truth will lead him on a dangerous journey to the underworld.

In this brilliant novel translation, released as two books in Japan, Murakami transcends narrative expectation (if there is such a thing) to envelop the reader in a world that is literal in its loneliness, palpable in its characterizations of person and place, and yet deeply haunting and surreal. The novel weaves subtle threads of suspense, gradually pulling them until the tension, taut as the strings of a highly pitched guitar, bind this reader; I can’t look away. I don’t dare. Following the first-person protagonist, I must travel deep into the netherworld. I must know how it ends.

In Killing Comendatore, Murakami lures his readers to a spellbinding place. It’s easy to convince a reader that the sky is blue. Murakami convinces me that the sky is a gateway to an alternate reality, one as expansive as the universe, as dark as death, as bright and tiny as the tinkling of a small bell.

This is what I am reading this Wednesday.

What’s on your read pile? I’m always looking for a good, next book suggestion. All genres welcome.

Best, Tanya

Cherita #18

January 16, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.
Snow slowly melts.

Frigid rivulets 
form dangling daggers.

Moonlight, through jagged reflections, 
flashes pointed warning—
rising temps release nature’s knives.

©️2024 Tanya Cliff

Husky Dreamscape and Fresh Beginnings

January 9, 2024.Reading time 1 minute.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen this much snow in the Driftless Region. The husky is happy! It’s also been too long since I’ve connected with my WordPress friends and family.

In case you were wondering where I’d run off to, I’ve been working full-time on my MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College in Boston. That, and balancing work and family responsibilities. Thrilled to announced I crossed the thesis threshold in December and have graduated 🎓. I’ve learned so many things about writing, life, and myself on this journey, some of which I hope to share as we get caught up over coffee and maybe a good book or two.

For now, I’ll express my gratitude toward my family, mentors, and amazing Emerson cohort, without whom I wouldn’t have gotten to the finish line. Of course, it’s really the beginning of the next adventure. Glad to have you along for the journey.

Tanya