I'm reading a book that my mom in law more or less asked me to read because dad-in-law reads it over and over and she wonders why and can't figure it out. It's the memoirs from 1795-1805 of a Korr3an princess and the kicker is (besides the usual court gossip and outfits and "oh this unworthy unfiilial daughter will always regret the time she did whatever it was that's so cryptic the reader can't figure out what the hell it was..." that will be super familiar to anyone who's read anything confuc1anish... the punchline of it all is that her husband the crown prince was batshit crazy and finally someone (his dad? or... WHO) ordered him to climb into a large chest and he was sealed in there and took 8 days to die. Ew! Scary! The especially cool thing about the book is how the princess tells the story 4 times over the years, each time with more gossipy detail.
The pages that are dogeared and underlined are confucian exhortations to behave correctly. Not a surprise. I like to think that my dadinlaw is a lapsed philosopher who is never quite able to live up to his lofty ideals. At times reading his favorite book I feel a little guilty and awed. "Both my sister and I had received particular love and help from Father and had caused him deep worry and anguish. In this, we were both unfilial, but perhaps she was slightly less unfilial than I." That being underlined... how fascinating... I wonder which sister. Probably his oldest one. If I had to guess what his main unfilialness would be... probably marrying Rook's mom.
Seriously, my inlaws are the coolest. Doesn't mean they're easy to take in large doses, though!
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