Excerpts from Haruki Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood'

 

Nobody likes being alone that much. I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all. It just leads to disappointment.

.....

I don't like having something control me like that.

....

What makes us most normal is knowing that we're not normal.

....

"What possible is stuff like that for everyday life?"
"None at all. It may not serve any concrete purpose, but it does give you some kind of training to help you grasp things in general more systematically."

...

What if there were a deus ex machina in real life? Everything would be so easy! If you felt stuck or trapped, some god would swing down from up there and solve all your problems. What could be easier than that?

...

No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness, can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. All we can do is see that sadness through to the very end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sadness that comes to us without warning.

...

Mortality

When I saw that stillness, I paused, held my breath, and leaned close to check for breathing. Then, a sense of relief washed all over me. I quietly let out a heavy sigh as I carefully distanced myself from the slumbering body, not wanting to rouse it. My breathing eased, but only by a fraction.

And then, I closed my eyes for a moment, desperately attempting to purge that dreadful thought.

No matter how unwilling I am to accept that inevitability, that day will come, with or without a sign. It dawned upon me that there may be no way to prepare oneself for such a thing.

Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2

Out of a set of 3 nocturnes composed by Frédéric Chopin, this is a considerably popular piece. I grew up playing the piano with heavy exposure to Chopin. Most of his work is exclusive for the piano, and I love his waltzes, nocturnes and études. I've always loved this piece but didn't get the chance to learn it. I was reacquainted with it when Chinese classical pianist Yundi Li performed it in the 2000 International Chopin Piano Competition. The melancholic beauty hit me pretty hard and brought me back to my early years of intense classical music playing. And he won first place.

Not long after I started working, piano was one of the first things I bought. I knew I had to get hold of the score, and I did. I can never understand why I had a particular soft spot for this piece, and it gives me great pleasure playing it every time.