When your heart is tired, how about some funny essays? [3 Recommended Books]
When you are tired, reading essays about someone else's life can be a refreshing change of pace.
It's like opening a window in a heart that was full of its own troubles, letting in fresh air, and feeling your mind and body relax.
The books I'm introducing this time are three essay collections I've read recently that I really loved.
What these three have in common is that they are funny enough to make you burst out laughing.
And because they are written in an honest, unpretentious style, they don't tire you out while reading.
1. "I've Turned 50" by Yasuko Mitsuura
The first one is this.
The author decided to study abroad in Canada just before turning 50, but right then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
It's not just about the episodes of preparing for study abroad, like moving out of her house to stay with her sister or attending English conversation classes,
but it's also packed with the author's way of life and thoughts.Written in an unadorned style that feels like the author's own words, reading it made my brain convert the text into the voice of Mitsuura-san, who is familiar from TV (like an Audible recording narrated by the author herself).
I can get depressed from anywhere. I can even create anxiety out of nothing, like a god.
As the author writes this, she is basically a negative person, but because she views it objectively and sublimates it into humor, you can read it with a light heart, and there are many parts you can empathize with.
Her thoughts on being compared to her partner Okubo-san who gets more attention, and her anxiety about the young comedians appearing one after another,
were written so frankly that I thought, "It's hard to write this much."
In an essay titled "Talk about Old Age," there was this passage.
Right now, I have a job, I'm healthy, I have energy, and fortunately my parents are well, so I can use all my time just for myself. In the second half of my life that is about to begin, I am at my strongest right now. I am invincible. I decided that the invincible me would raise the future me. I decided that in the next 5 years? 10 years? I would lay the tracks for this old lady to live happily in the future. It's like what my parents did for me until I was 18, but for myself? It's not child-rearing, it's old-lady-rearing.
"I will raise my future self" is such a powerful and wonderful expression.
I want to enjoy raising myself, too.
2. "Hotate's Letter of Apology: Chaos Edition" by Hotate Niikawa
The author is Hotate Niikawa, also known for works like "The Testament of My Ex-Boyfriend."
She is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law and has experience working as a lawyer.
As a bag enthusiast, she talks passionately about bag situations, calls Gachapin (who apparently looks like the author) her senior and admires him, and the book is full of interesting episodes.
She speaks her mind clearly without sugarcoating, and when the topic is a bit heavy, she breaks it down and explains it.
There were many parts where I felt her thinking was a level or two deeper than mine.
Because she doesn't just state her opinion and leave it at that, but also takes the time to explain, it's easy to read and convincing.
There's no stiffness either.
In an essay titled "The Curse of Being a UTokyo Girl," there is this passage.
It is true that women have the freedom to choose anything compared to men. However, no matter what you choose, you are exposed to criticism. Because the criteria for judgment are diverse—how you are as a working professional, as a woman, as a mother—even if you get a perfect score somewhere, if you look at it from other criteria, there will always be a deduction.
Reading this, I empathized with it, and at the same time,
I realized again that perfection is impossible, which made me feel relieved.
While she makes you laugh by exposing her weaknesses and preferences without hiding them, the author also talks naturally about slightly heavier topics, and combined with her writing style, she leaves a very charming impression.
It was my first time reading the author's work, but I came to love it.
3. "I've Come to Like It." by Shion Miura
Shion Miura's essays are just as exquisite as her novels.
It also includes essays from the COVID-19 pandemic, and while being tossed about by an unknown infectious disease, she doesn't get dark,and it's just like her to always provide laughter..
The story "Sparkle and Fugufugu" about going to an EXILE family concert (referred to as a "glittering group" in the text) during the pandemic is also incredibly funny.
The author's observational eye and descriptive power regarding all things, including living creatures, nature, and people, are extraordinary, and I am convinced, "That's why she can create such wonderful expressions in her novels that convey even the scent and temperature."
There are also several essays introducing books, and it felt luxurious to be able to know a part of the knowledge and thoughts of the author, who must have read a vast number of books since childhood.
Reading the episode about the author going to a nail salon in the neighborhood shopping street, it was also fun to imagine, "Did she get the inspiration for 'Magic at Your Fingertips' from here?"
In conclusion
What I realized after reading these three books is that, after all, unadorned, honest writing reaches people's hearts.
I want to be like that on note as well, but it's quite difficult.
As soon as I put it into writing, it ends up having a slightly formal impression.
When you are tired, you don't want to read books that make you feel heavy or make you carry other people's worries.
The three books I introduced this time are, for me, works that are easy to read and offer plenty of enjoyment and learning.
How about them as a companion for your commute or for your relaxing time before bed?