William James, Essays on Faith and Morals ****

Essays on Faith and Morals collects James' writings about ethics. The bulk of the essays come from the earlier book The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, supplemented from a few from other sources. Most importantly, it includes two essays from Talks to Teachers on Psychology, "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings" and "What Makes a Life Significant?", which contain one of my favorite passages:

Every Jack sees in his own particular Jill charms and perfections to the enchantment of which we stolid onlookers are stone-cold. And which has the superior view of the absolute truth, he or we? Which has the more vital insight into the nature of Jill's existence, as a fact? Is he in excess, being in this matter a maniac? or are we in defect, being victims of a pathological anaesthesia as regards Jill's magical importance? Surely the latter; surely to Jack are the profounder truths revealed; surely poor Jill's palpitating little life-throbs are among the wonders of creation, are worthy of this sympathetic interest; and it is to our shame that the rest of us cannot feel like Jack. For Jack realizes Jill concretely, and we do not.

Overall, I appreciated James' view that our subjective experience of life is richer than pure empiricism can justify. In fact, the feeling of wonder, mystery, and value derives from a part of us that is itself something of a mystery.

The first essay is titled, "Is Life Worth Living?", and James' answer is Yes, life is worth living so long as you believe that it is. The next essay, "The Will to Believe," notes that we don't have complete rational control over what we believe; we can't just decide to believe something. "The Sentiment of Rationality" argues that what we consider rational is largely based on a feeling of rationality.

Two of the extra essays, "The Energies of Men" and "The Gospel of Relaxation," felt like vapid Readers Digest articles offering commonplace life lessons.

I read a musty used copy of this book, which seemed appropriate whenever a contemporary (to the turn of the 20th century) cultural reference went over my head.

Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman ** 1/2

I think I understand, she said. Though not exactly. ("Tony Takitani")

I've read three Murakami novels (The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, After Dark, and Kafka on the Shore). Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a story collection whose virtues and vices are similar to those in the longer works. Murakami has a unique blend of mundane details, such as outlet malls with the Gap, Toys R Us, and the Body Shop, with uncanny situations, like a woman with a kidney-shaped stone that moves off of her desk whenever she leaves the office. His characters often feel like something unusual is happening even when all appearances are normal. Several of the stories are told second-hand, with the narrator hearing a narrative from another character.

As is typical with a story collection, there were stories I really liked (the title story, "The Mirror," "Firefly," "Chance Traveler"), stories that didn't work for me at all ("A 'Poor Aunt' Story," "Crabs"), and those with intriguing elements that lost me partway through (the majority). That's the joy and frustration of reading Murakami: he's got something unusual on his mind, but it can be difficult to stay on his wavelength.