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The Face
The Face: A Time Code | Ruth Ozeki
15 posts | 13 read | 24 to read
A revelatory short memoir from the bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being and ZenBuddhist priest Ruth Ozeki about how her face has shaped and been shaped by her life.What did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code,bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, in moment-to-moment detail, aprofound encounter with memory and the mirror. According to ancient Zen tradition, your facebefore your parents were born is your original face. Who are you? What is your true self? Whatis your identity before or beyond the dualistic distinctions, like father/mother and good/evil, thatcome to define us? With these questions in mind, Ozeki challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into herown reflection, recording her thoughts, and noticing every possible detail. Those solitary hoursopen up a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, aging, family, death, the body, self doubt, and,finally, acceptance. In this lyrical short memoir, Ozeki calls on her experience of growing up inthe wake of World War II as a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian American; of having a public faceas an author; of studying the intricate art of the Japanese Noh mask; of being ordained as a ZenBuddhist priest; and of her own and her parents' aging, to paint a rich, intimate and utterlyunique portrait of a life as told through a face.
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IndoorDame
Timecode of a Face | Ruth Ozeki
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Pickpick

Is this a memoir, a family history, philosophical musings on Zen Buddhism, Noh theater, or American vanity, a creative experiment, a meditation, all of the above? I didn‘t find anything particularly profound here, but it was a compelling listen and falls under the enjoyable surprise category for me. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

mcctrish I‘m intrigued 7mo
54 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Deblovestoread
Timecode of a Face | Ruth Ozeki
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Pickpick

#AuthorAMonth This was a very short memoir read by Ruth. She sits uncomfortably in front of a mirror for 3 hours and records her thoughts. Starting with the lines and blemishes she sees but leading to memories and tangents about her parents and growing up half Asian and half white. It sounds like an interesting exercise but one I‘m not likely to try.

@Soubhiville

Soubhiville I hadn‘t heard of this one. It sounds like a very unusual take on memoir writing. 7mo
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mhillis
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Another pic from reading by the lake yesterday. This old issue of Granta is amazing! Here is a piece by Ruth Ozeki called Linked which includes a renga on the last page. #poetry

tessavi Cute nails :) 5y
mhillis Thanks ☺️ 5y
59 likes2 comments
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Fhughes
Pickpick

This is cute. I love the way Ruth views the world. A few chuckles were had on my end. Her writing style is unique. A great read. Thought provoking.

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LitsyFeministBookClub
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Happy Birthday to the award winning American- Canadian writer, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest, Ruth Ozeki who turns 61 today! 🎁🎉🎊

rachel_mbc Love her! 8y
Suet624 How touching. I had that happen once to me and it was a very strange experience. 8y
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RebeccaH
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All right, who's helping me get over 5,000? Can I get a "like" for Ruth Ozeki's Face?

Riveted_Reader_Melissa There you go! 8y
RebeccaH Awesome! :) I missed the 5,000 screenshot but I got 5,002 :) thanks @Riveted_Reader_Melissa!! 8y
britt_brooke 🙌🏻🙌🏻 8y
LeahBergen Yay!! 🎉🎉🎉 8y
42 likes4 comments
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RebeccaH
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September stats! A pretty good month for me. Second favorite: Pond, Claire-Louise Bennett.

Shortstack Impressive!!! 8y
Sue We'll done!! 🎉🎉🎉 8y
RebeccaH Thank you @Shortstack and @Sue!! 8y
42 likes3 comments
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Spiderfelt
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Pickpick

Can you imagine staring at your face for three hours? What would the exercise reveal? What would you notice? What would you accept or reject? In her usual way, Ozeki poses the questions in such a way that it leaves me, the reader, wondering what my reactions are to the same question.

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RebeccaH
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Pickpick

This is so good!

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RebeccaH
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Love her.

Spiderfelt She's brilliant. 8y
Megabooks 👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 8y
40 likes1 stack add2 comments
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RebeccaH
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Started this today and so far, very good.

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HardcoverHearts
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Last morning of vacation before starting a hellish 13 hour drive home, starting this little gem that I picked up this weekend! So far I am loving it. In the 90s I read her book My Year of Meats and really enjoyed it. This is right up my alley- an investigation of the Zen Koan- "what did your face look like before your parents were born?".

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shawnmooney
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Twitter told me about restlessbooks.com today - a publisher mostly of international lit in translation. This is just one of many titles that jumped out at me!

Lindy @shawnmooney Anything by Ruth Ozeki looks good to me. 8y
ClairesReads Love her work, hadn't heard about this though!! 8y
Mayread Oh this Face series of mini-memoirs looks interesting. 8y
RebeccaH I have all three books in the series so far -- they look great! 8y
Kosugi "Tale for the Time Being" was great but I haven't quite gotten around to her other work yet. 8y
32 likes7 stack adds5 comments
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RebeccaH
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I'm the owner of these three beauties

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Genrebending
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Morning coffee reading

Nathan I need this! 9y
11 likes4 stack adds1 comment