The Book of Tea

This one surprised me. I had never heard of it, and stumbled upon it on an app. It looked short enough and I love tea so said I'd go for it. But it turned out to be so much more. It's about the tea ceremony, and how its tradition reflects the Japanese culture, taoism and zennism. It's about how these traditions are fading with the influence of the west, about materialism and the illusion of progress the more we're further from nature. There are a lot of beautifully written pages, here's an excerpt:

Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and the sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you? Dream on, sway and frolic while you may in the gentle breezes of summer. To- morrow a ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be wrenched, torn asunder limb by limb, and borne away from your quiet homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your blood. Tell me, will this be kindness? It may be your fate to be imprisoned in the hair of one whom you know to be heartless or to be thrust into the buttonhole of one who would not dare to look you in the face were you a man. It may even be your lot to be confined in some narrow vessel with only stagnant water to quench the maddening thirst that warns of ebbing life.