When I first starting reading 'Strange Weather in Tokyo' by Hiromi Kawakami, a translation from the original Japanese, I wasn't so sure how it would go. I didn't find the two central characters particularly appealing and it all felt a little bit lacking in warmth. However! By the time I'd reached the end of the book I desperately wanted it to go on forever, and I was genuinely bereft when I came to the last page. This is an elegant, moving, affecting rendering of a love story that is entirely without any sort of sentimentality or stereotyped notions of romance. I also loved the references to Japanese language and culture and food; it's all bento boxes and Basho and oden and pachinko - it really is an insight into another world.
Well, hello there! It's still January but there's definitely a stretch starting to appear in the evenings and we even had an appearance from the sun this morning - admittedly, this was followed by a torrential grey downpour, but still! I've had a great old time lately, reading lots of interesting books, and I particularly wanted to share this one with you because it's so different to anything I've come across before...
When I first starting reading 'Strange Weather in Tokyo' by Hiromi Kawakami, a translation from the original Japanese, I wasn't so sure how it would go. I didn't find the two central characters particularly appealing and it all felt a little bit lacking in warmth. However! By the time I'd reached the end of the book I desperately wanted it to go on forever, and I was genuinely bereft when I came to the last page. This is an elegant, moving, affecting rendering of a love story that is entirely without any sort of sentimentality or stereotyped notions of romance. I also loved the references to Japanese language and culture and food; it's all bento boxes and Basho and oden and pachinko - it really is an insight into another world.
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It's just over a week into 2018 and we've already had nearly every kind of weather; we've had storms and mad rain and gale-force winds and right now we're enjoying sub-zero temperatures accompanied by lovely, bright sunshine... living on the west coast of Ireland is never boring! I had such a nice Christmas, and got to spend lots of time with loved ones - there were plenty of late nights chatting or playing cards around the kitchen table, and it was great to catch up with everyone. I've said it before, but it's so true; the older I get the more I realize how important my friends and family are to me.
So, it's a new year, a new beginning, and I've been doing a little bit of pre-spring cleaning, which is always liberating. Anthony and I are terrible hoarders (me out of sentimentality, Anthony out of not really noticing that there are piles of rubbish everywhere) and it's good to have a purge every now and then. I've also finished a couple of books recently for my book club and I thought an attempt at some analysis of these might help shake off the Christmas cobwebs still lurking around my brain: here goes! |
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Really, it contains a little bit of everything, from a celebration of science and the English language to the joys of travel and the Shipping Forecast. The title ('Meanderings') is a fairly accurate description of its content: I write about different things as the mood takes me, but hopefully there's something in here for everyone... Categories
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