I love to read, much in the same way I love music. I’ve been reading through one of the classics of ancient China, The Analects of Confucius. There's lots of versions of these writings, and I bought a copy of The Analects of Confucius - A Philosophical Translation by Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont Jr.

Ames' and Rosemont's translation includes both the Chinese and English texts, and is 'A New Translation Based on the Dingzhou Fragments and Other Recent Archaeological Finds' that enhances the texts in much the same way that the Dead Sea Scrolls provide insights into ancient Hebrew writings.

I ran across Confucius’ statement below about music and I marveled how insightful it was:

“Much can be realized with music if one begins playing in unison, and then goes on to improvise with purity of tone and distinctness and flow, thereby bring all to completion,” Confucius, 551 – 479 BCE.

Confucius’ 2500 year old statement accurately characterizes my primary musical interest, jazz, which is all about improvisation, tone, a distinct but recognizable take on a jazz piece, and the flow between the chordal structure and the melodic improvisation of the musicians that makes the piece complete.

There's lots of enjoyable and insightful sayings of Confucius in this text, and I have been enjoying reading through it. If you're a like-minded literature lover, I say grab a copy and give it a read, I don't think you'll be sorry.