Unexpectedly, I Am a Shopping Lover

I love to read. And I pride myself on being among those who read a fair amount. After all, I’m always reading something. But the topics are mostly fixed. Economics, history, and science make up the bulk of it, and I rarely read literature. Essays go without saying. In short, I only seek out practical writing. Naturally, my own writing follows a similar path: I write as if carving every single letter into stone. This kind of tightly wound writing has its own merits, but it comes with the drawback of not being nimble. It can’t keep up with my thoughts, which leap about several times a day. It’s at a time like this that the essay collection [Men Love Shopping] feels so refreshing. At first glance, it’s packed with idle scribblings that others probably wouldn’t even be curious about. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless, though. There are quite a few pieces worth chewing over. Of course, this isn’t the kind of book that demands to be read with a solemn posture. Compared to the countless authors who write as if lecturing you with experiences and themes you can’t even relate to, the strength of this book is clear. He writes the words he wants to write, the stories he wants to tell, and it’s up to the reader to decide how to take them. If you’d rather not become a preachy, know-it-all writer, it’s a genuinely enjoyable read. Still, if someone insists, “How could anyone spend time reading idle scribblings?”—I’d answer that [A ‘Good Mood’ That Lasts a Lifetime] on page 74 alone gives you enough to think about for a whole week. You’ll surely be able to feel “a very quiet sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.”

Men Love Shopping, Minumsa, 2017, Murakami Ryu, translated by Kwon Nam-hee